Navdanya International press@peoplesassembly.net
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| gmo foods |
Announcing a Public trial of Monsanto for
ecocide and violation of farmers rights at the Monsanto Tribunal and the
People’s Assembly in the Hague-OCT 14-16
THE HAGUE - Navdanya, the organization founded and led by
Vandana Shiva, is co organizing, along with multiple civil society
organizations, the Monsanto Tribunal and People’s Assembly to take place
at the Hague from 14 to 16 October 2016.
The Monsanto Tribunal will hold
Monsanto accountable for their crimes against humanity, human rights violations
and ecocide, in tandem with the People’s Assembly, a gathering of leading
movements and activists working to defend our ecosystem and food sovereignty,
to lay out the effects of industrial agrochemicals on our lives, our soils, our
atmosphere and climate. Over 800 organizations from around the world are
supporting and participating in this process while over 100 people's assemblies
and tribunals are being held across the world.
In the last century, giant agribusiness interests which came out
of the war industry, have poisoned life and our ecosystem, are destroying our
biodiversity and the lives of small farmers, appropriating their land, in an
attempt to control and profit from these essentials for life on earth.
The risks keep increasing as these multinationals diminish in number as a
result of aggressive takeovers and mega-mergers – such is the case with the
recent 66 billion Bayer-Monsanto merger. A merger which serves to further
extend the control of these multinationals over agricultural and food
production systems. There is only one way to translate this process:
maximum focus on potential profit, and a minimal concern towards the
environment, to the quality of our food, to consumers and to workers in the
sector.
Large multinationals are lobbying democratically elected
governments to take on neoliberal policies and international ‘free’ trade
agreements such a TTIP and TTP: the race towards deregulation is an
unprecedented attack on biodiversity and to life itself on Earth.
Multinationals like Monsanto have already expanded their control over our
seeds, our food and our freedom, depriving us of our basic human rights and our
right to democracy. With patents and international property rights (IPRs)
as their tools, they have established monopolies and threatened the rights of
farmers and consumers.
Participating at the People’s Assembly will be leading
representatives of movements and associations, seed custodians, farmers and
journalists from all over the world. The aim of the Assembly is to shine
the light on crimes against nature and humanity of mega chemical and
biotechnological industrial corporations which through patents on seed have
opened the doors to the invasion of GMOs. Based on the ecocide and
genocide of the past century, the Assembly will lay out the necessary actions
for a future based on the rights of small farmers to save and exchange seed, on
self determination of food, on agroecology, the rights of consumers and workers
in the sector, on the commons and a sharing economy, as well as on
the rights of nature and a true Earth Democracy.
Speakers include: Vandana Shiva, Nnimmo Bassey, Andre Leu,
Ronnie Cummins, Hans Herren, Dr. Eric Seralini, Percy Schmeiser, and others.
The People's Assembly will take place, 14 to 16 October in The
Hague, Bazaar of Ideas (next to the Student Hotel) - Hoefkade 9, 2526 BN Den
Haag
For more information, audiovisual material, for accreditation
and to interviews with the president of Navdanya, Vandana Shiva, and with the
Director of Navdanya in Italy, Ruchi Shroff.
Navdanya is a movement for Earth Democracy based on the
philosophy of 'Vasudhaiv
Kutumbakam' (The Earth as one Family). We protect the India's
biodiversity based food heritage through Bija Swaraj, Ann Swaraj, Bhu Swaraj and Gyan swaraj.
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