Sound Of Sirens

Are you aware of that? Since it’s not so big in the news…

Rich governments and corporations are triggering alarm for the poor as they buy up the rights to millions of hectares of agricultural land in developing countries in an effort to secure their own long-term food supplies. … read more

When the US went to war in Iraq in 2002 there was a movement that formed under the title ‘Not in our Name‘. A lot of artists and activists performed the declaration. This landgrab happening now is continuing colonialism to secure (food for) systems that continue to exploit and destroy. And we are part of these systems. And information is a crucial resource for a system to adapt and to change.

Spread the news and if you want to look for ways to take action (of any kind), browse through this info.

‘Not in our Name’…: Saul Williams reading “The Pledge of Resistance” live

‘Every conflict of our times is around vital access to the vital resources of the planet. But the conflicts are always presented as ethnic, religious and regional…
Many people don’t realize: the pharmaceutical industry is the same as the agrochemical industry is the same as the biotechnology industry, there is no separation…
Throughout history we have know that monopolies mean hunger, monopolies mean famine…’

An Evening with Vandana Shiva:

The development and practices of Monsanto, the worlds largest corporation connected to GMO, pestizides and fertilizer are so outrages and stunning to me and touch on such vital issues for everybodies well-being, that I will continue to write about it and I will call the series ‘About food’ for now. I have the feeling ‘About water’ will follow…

Let’s start with some quotes of the documentary ‘The world according to Monsanto‘, which you should have a look at on youtube! (Note: For people in the US it is very hard to get this information, since ’somebody’ obviously does not want it to be revealed and continues to urge youtube to take the videos off their server…).

‘It shows an organization that is determinded to push its products into countries around the world and is determinded to destroy the reputation of anybody who stands in their way.’

‘They want to control seed. They want to control life.’

‘This is a bigger weapon than bombs.’

‘They are in the process of owning food. All food!’

‘The result is that Monsanto is depriving us of our food sovereignty, of our ability to feed ourselves and that we become dependent on their seeds and products.’

This is not science fiction and we are not talking ‘third world’, we are talking the US and Latin America, we are talking India and China, we are talking the British Islands, we are talking France and Germany, we are talking ‘next to you’.

Ok, there have been a lot of videos lately on Sound Of Sirens. Still, Vandana Shiva is making a point about the global food crisis which i consider very important to be known and understood. For more background info read her book: Earth Democracy (auf deutsch: Erd-Demokratie). By the way: The IMF is the International Monetary Fund, which is an international organization that oversees the global financial system. The headquarters are located in Washington, D.C. USA…

Just click on the play button and let her speak for a minute…She is clear, honest, accessible, intelligent,…

Read also SOS on Tour article on a talk of Vandana Shiva at the Schumacher College in march ‘08 (in german).

Find more articles of her here.

This is one of her book publications: ‘Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace’ / ‘Erd-Demokratie. Alternativen zur Neoliberalen Globalisierung’.

Der relativ kleine Raum des Schumacher Colleges war voll, richtig voll. Klar, Vandana Shiva ist echt ein Erlebnis! Zusammen mit Transition Towns Totnes veranstaltet das Schmacher College regelmässig offene Abende, diesmal war Vandana Shiva eingeladen: ‘Transformation of societies: Development, what next?’

Vandana Shiva ist eine inspirierende Persönlichkeit, einfach und freundlich im Auftreten, mit bestechendem Intellekt. Sie hat die Gabe, ausser den Fakten und Zahlen auch die Dynamiken und Strukturen, die dahinter stehen, anschaulich und sehr zugänglich darzustellen.

Als Einstieg gab Vandana Shiva einen kurzen Abriss über fünf vorherrschende Annahmen, die der westlichen Ökonomie zugrunde liegen und legte deren zerstörerische Auswirkung auf Natur und Menschen dar. Dann ging sie eingehend auf das Thema Biogas und Biodiesel ein. Irgendwo war mir schon klar, dass Biogas/Biodiesel im grossen Stil ‘Schmarrn’ ist, so to speak, aber ich war geplättet, dass weltweit in Biogas/Biodiesel eine ‘Lösung’ gesehen wird und geschockt darüber, wie weit die Umsetzung fortgeschritten ist, geschockt über das Ausmass der Auswirkungen auf die Umwelt, auf Bauern, auf ganze Kulturen. Und alles nur, um den Zusammenbruch unserer bestehenden Ökonomie und unserer Lebensweise, die auf Öl basieren, ein paar Jahre hinaus zu schieben! Macht mich sprachlos. Und was für einen Stellenwert hat Mobilität, das Auto, in unserer Gesellschaft, und was für einen Einfluss die Autoindustrie!