PARAGUAY: MASACRE EN EL DEPARTAMENTO DE CAAGUAZÚ

Javiera Rulli*

Los productores brasileños de soja genéticamente modificada protegidos por la policía y los militares del Paraguay atacaron el último viernes a una comunidad campesina TEKOJOJA, en Caaguazú. Atacaron a 270 personas e incendiaron 54 casas y las cosechas de la región, asesinando a dos personas. - Angel Cristaldo y Luis Torres,- hiriendo además a muchas y muchas otras y deteniendo a mujeres y niños.

La comunidad de Tekojoja es un asentamiento rural de 500 hectáreas en el que viven 56 familias campesinas ubicado a 70km de la ciudad de Caaguzú. Esta comunidad forma parte de la Organización Agraria y Popular y parte del MCNOC (Coordinadora de la Plataforma Nacional de Organizaciones Campesinas). Vía Campesina Paraguay hallámdose también también vinculada al Frente Soberanía y Vida.

Caaguazú junto a San Pedro son las regiones paraguayas donde más se ha expandido el monocultivo de OGM en los últimos cinco años. Existen 2 millones de hectáreas de soja genéticamente modificada en Paraguay y un Plan gubernamental de expansión de dos millones de hectáreas más. En dicho país menos del 2% de la población es dueña del 70% de la tierra de cuyo territorio han sido expulsados sus históricos habitantes. La soja transgénica fundamentalmente dirigida a la exportación es la causa principal de esta grave situación, el promedio de los conflictos relacionados con la tierra ha aumentado en los últimos años considerablemente, solo en el 2004 se produjeron 162 conflictos por el suelo y 118 ocupaciones de tierras

Tekojoja es uno de los asentamiento rurales recuperados por la reforma agraria, aunque muchas de estas tierras volvieron a manos de terratenientes privados mediante maniobras corruptas e ilegales o estafando a los campesinos. Tal es el caso de la comunidad de Tekojoja que fuera desde sus comienzos amenazada por la expansión de los monocultivos de soja transgénica

Adelin Osperman es un productor de soja brasileño que quiere controlar estas tierras y con ese objeto inició un juicio contra los campesinos pese a que el asentamiento se halla legalmente reconocido, desde hace tres años por el actual presidente Nicanor Duarte Frutos. Carlos González miembro de la la Coordinación de la Organización Agraria y popular expresa “El juez que interviene en esta causa no ha tenido en cuenta que estas eran tierras fiscales luego donadas a las organizaciones campesinas mediante el programa de Reforma agraria” En agosto de 2004 la comunidad fue atacada con el resultado de varias personas detenidas y otras heridas

El viernes 25 de junio a las 5,30hs de la mañana los abogados Pedro Torrales y Nelly Varela irrumpieron junto a 150 policías con intenciones de desalojar a toda la comunidad- Durante el desalojo y ante la presencia de los abogados la población fue salvajemente acosada y golpeada. La policía, seguida por paramilitares, desalojó y detuvo a la gente destruyeron las casas con bulldozers y luego las incendiaron. Fueron arrestadas 130 personas. entre ellas 40 chicos. y encarceladas en Caaguazú. Galeano un vocero de la comunidad relató que después del incidente 29 hombres, 119 mujeres y 40 chicos fueron liberados. Algunos campesinos han desaparecido desde el viernes. Durante el desalojo , el pretendido dueño Adelin Osperman (productor de soja brasileño) junto a algunos empleados con escopetas entraron con camiones a la finca baleando a los campesinos y matando a Angel Cristaldo (de 30 años de edad) y a Leopoldo Torres ( de 49 años de edad) hiriendo a otras cinco personas ante la vista de los policías presentes en el terreno. Uno de ellos se halla aún en estado crítico en el Hospital de La Candelaria ( Caaguazú) y Aníbal Fernández tuvo que ser operado en el mismo nosocomio. La Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos de Paraguay está cubriendo los gastos que ocasionan estas internaciones porque los servicios de salud han sido privatizados en el país.

Actualmente Ademir Opperman y varios otros pistoleros fueron detenidos a causa de las muertes. En el momento del arresto les fue incautado un verdadero arsenal, 4 escopetas, dos de calibre 12 y dos de calibre 20, un revólver calibre 38 y varios cajones con balas, en los camiones que entraron en la comunidad y destruyeron las casas y las cosechas,

El accionar de grupos de paramilitares ha sido ampliamente denunciado en los últimos años. La mayoría de los desalojos se realizan siempre bajo el amparo de los militares y de la policía- Ya en enero Jorge Galeano, un líder campesino de la comunidad había denunciado públicamente que Opperman había empleado a grupos armados para aterrorizar a las comunidades campesinas.

Lo más urgente es actualmente ayudar a las 270 personas que perdieron sus casas y sus pertenencias y que han regresado a sus tierras encontrándose sin nada. El invasor se llevó tres camiones pertenecientes a la comunidad aunque el único que encontraron está en poder de la policía. Vale la pena señalar la urgente situación porque está pasando esta comunidad ante la presencia del invierno, sin sus ropas, sus casa y sin alimentación.

La organización campesina ha programado varias manifestaciones para los próximos días. Se hará una marcha en Asunción frente a las oficinas de los abogados denunciado la conducta de los dos que ordenaron el desalojo. Uno de ellos Nelly Varela ordenó a la policía sacar a los chicos de la escuela, arrestarlos y llevarlos a prisión como si fueran criminales, comentó Galeano. La organización campesina tratará de entrevistarse con el Presidente del INDERT ( Instituto de Desarrollo Rural y de Uso del suelo) con el objeto de pedirle protección para la comunidad.

Ko yvyko oremba'e, ha roî roproba haguãicha upéva; roguerekopa la documento ome'eva'ekue oréve Indert ha upévare ndorosê mo'ai ko'águi (esta tierra nos pertenece y podemos demostrarlo, disponemos del instrumento legal que nos otorgara el gobierno a través del INDERT) dijo Galeano.

Pedimos a las organizaciones internacionales que difundan esta situación, acciones solidarias y el envío de observadores de derechos humanos al Paraguay. Se han producido muchos conflictos en la zona a raíz de que en la época de cosecha de la soja (diciembre a marzo) los campesino tratan de impedir las fumigaciones con pesticidas en los alrededores de las comunidades, enfrentando a la policía y a los militares que custodian los campos de soja.

Las comunidades campesinas necesitan ayudan bajo la forma de asesorías legales y médicas. Necesitan cubrir el costo de los abogados que asumirán su defensa en los juicios en que necesitan defender sus tierras y denunciar la violación de sus derechos. La medicina se halla privatizada en Paraguay y lo campesinos no tienen accesoa ella. Los envenenan las fumigaciones con pesticidas y los miembros de las comunidades rurales sufren severos problemas de salud y por lo tanto necesitan hacerse chequeos y comprar medicinas. La coordinadora de mujeres campesinas e indígenas –CONAMURI – ha llevado a juicio a dos productores de soja brasileños acusados de haber matado a un chico de 11 años, Silvino Talavera, por haber realizado fumigacionesdel herbicida Roun Ready, sin ninguna precaución,

- *GRR- Grupo de Reflexion Rural javierarulli@yahoo.com - Traducción Susana Merino del original en inglés

Campaña Continental contra el ALCA
-----------------------------------


Excelentísimos señores Presidentes de:México, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panamá, Colombia y Republica Dominicana:

Ustedes celebran esta reunión en el marco de una llamada democracia que está en crisis, por eso todo lo que tratarán tiene ambiente de servilismo y no tiene calor de pueblo. Es el abuso de los políticos lo que pesa sobre el interés general, es el autoritarismo y la represión lo que impera y progresa hacia el combate al terrorismo porque consideran terrorista la resistencia popular, es la búsqueda de la integración de las oligarquías subordinadas al imperio de los Estados Unidos lo que determina sus reuniones, es la entrega de nuestros mercados, riquezas, territorios y mano de obra barata lo que se impone a cambio de migajas. Por eso, porque su reunión no busca dar respuestas a los verdaderos problemas de nuestros pueblos, es que demandamos cambien la agenda, para que esta reunión tenga calor de pueblo.

Ustedes saben que la trampa del sobreendeudamiento externo en las décadas de los setentas y ochentas llevó a gobiernos y empresarios a no ser sujetos de crédito externo a finales de los ochentas, por la incapacidad de pagar su servicio y la mora. Esa nueva crisis nos llevó a otra trampa en 1990, la de la apertura al “libre comercio”, condición exigida para seguir obteniendo prestamos. Esa apertura nos dejó con menos dignidad y sin soberanía.

Fracasada la apertura al “libre comercio”, y para salvar los intereses de las oligarquías y las transnacionales, se nos impone una nueva trampa: la profundización del “libre comercio” con el TLC que tienen para Estados Unidos según sus Leyes (TPA) “el mismo propósito que tuvieron los pactos de seguridad durante la guerra fría”.

Esa profundización exige no solo la aprobación de los TLC ya negociados y su extensión hasta Panamá y Colombia, sino la ampliación del Plan Puebla Panamá también hasta Colombia y la regionalización del Plan Colombia. Latino América queda dividida entre los que apoyan o no el ALCA.

Su Agenda del 29 y 30 de Junio será en lo esencial la que trataron Vicente Fox, George Bush y Paul Martín el pasado 23 de Marzo, al suscribir una declaración sobre una Alianza para la Seguridad y la Prosperidad de América del Norte (ASPAN) vendiendo a los pueblos la idea de la “cooperación” y una integración regional que incluye seguridad, energía, infraestructura y finanzas, así como un pacto energético norte-americano, políticas migratorias “armonizadas” y políticas comunes en la lucha contra el terrorismo.

Frente a esa agenda a la que agregaran el tema del empleo y las maras, nuestra agenda es seguir luchando porque los derechos de los pueblos, la soberanía nacional, la democracia, la solidaridad, la cooperación y el desarrollo sustentable sean los principios de cualquier acuerdo de integración. Por ello decimos no al “libre comercio” y su instrumento el Plan Puebla Panamá que ustedes profundizaran, sin duda, conscientes que es una nueva trampa.


Señores Presidentes:

Ustedes mejor que nosotros saben la gravedad de la crisis que padecemos los pueblos. Bien saben que estamos en una situación extrema de acumulación de pobreza que choca con la riqueza desmedida de unos pocos. Unos andan en harapos y otros con lujo y despilfarro.

Ustedes saben que las cifras de endeudamiento externo son amorales. Esta deuda ya fue pagada por los intereses que superan lo que ingresa por nuevas deudas, donaciones o inversiones y si a ello sumamos el saqueo histórico, somos acreedores y no deudores. Las condonaciones por generosas y humanas que parezcan, no resuelven el problema del endeudamiento, al contrario creemos que muchos, y ustedes saben quienes, se enriquecerán y los gobiernos serán estimulados a contraer más deudas.

Saben que la deuda externa ha sido un camino fácil y rápido para el enriquecimiento ilícito y sus beneficiarios ahora la utilizan la condenación como bandera política.

Por otra parte, el comercio y la compra venta desigual de nuestros productos, ocasionan desequilibrios en la balanza comercial, miles de productores ven como su trabajo es mal pagado por los que manejan las cuotas, las bolsas de valores y el comercio. El trabajo es devaluado mientras que lo que importamos sube sus precios. Eso ustedes lo saben y este trato injusto no debe continuar.

Las devaluaciones son una realidad permanente desde hace muchos años, y ustedes saben perfectamente quiénes las sufren y que, quienes gozan sus beneficios, son aquellos que controlan el capital especulador que no arriesgan en la producción, pero ganan cifras millonarias.

Ustedes mejor que nosotros saben cómo el precio del petróleo y sus derivados suben y va en una carrera de riqueza y miseria. Aumentan los precios y la lista de millonarios. Mientras unos se enriquecen por el contrabando de combustible otros no tienen comida. El impuesto a los combustibles es alto porque se bajaron o eliminaron impuestos a los más ricos y a las transnacionales.

En el campo, hay millones de manzanas de tierras sin cultivar y se continúa profundizando una desigualdad que responde a la ausencia de políticas públicas agrarias y a la decisión de proteger a los grandes terratenientes y a los monopolios agroexportadores en detrimento de la seguridad alimentaria. Esta ausencia de soberanía alimentaria se hará añicos con el TLC.

Ustedes mejor que nosotros saben de los índices de corrupción que hay tanto en los gobiernos como en los empresarios, y saben quien estimula este afán de hacerse rico. Monopolios de toda clase sobornan a empleados del Gobierno incluyendo presidentes o ministros para que se otorguen contratos, licitaciones o concesiones para privatizar los servicios públicos y contrabandear productos.

Ustedes mejor que nosotros saben, que no es el Plan Puebla Panamá o el Tratado de Libre Comercio los que impulsarán el desarrollo, al contrario creemos que habrá más miseria y atraso, los años de apertura al “libre comercio” lo han demostrado en el área.

Nuestras economías están siendo sometidas a un mercado mundial injusto y controlado por quienes generan pobreza: las transnacionales.

- Se destruirá nuestro ecosistema por la construcción de supercarreteras, canales secos, represas, etc. Se estimulará la economía de servicios y el alto consumo de petróleo. ¿Por qué en vez de supercarreteras, no se hace el ferrocarril interoceánico que una el Atlántico y Pacífico hondureños?

- Los mercados nacionales seguirán invadidos por mercaderías chatarras y aparentemente baratas, continuara desapareciendo la pequeña y mediana industria. Las inversiones seguirán viniendo para comprar mercados adquiriendo las empresas existentes y frustrando el verdadero desarrollo de nuestros pueblos.

- El TLC será nuestra nueva Constitución y garantizara la seguridad nacional de EE.UU. El Plan Puebla Panamá es su infraestructura.

La apertura al “libre comercio” en las ultimas dos décadas ha producido muchos millones de desempleados y “subempleados” ello se prueba a) con los millones de vendedores ambulantes; b) con los millones de emigrantes cuyas remesas también sostienen el consumo suntuario de la oligarquía pero dejan millones de hogares desintegrados; y, c) con el incremento de la delincuencia que no combaten sus causas sino sus efectos como bandera política.

Ustedes conocen los índices de delincuencia, principalmente los del narcotráfico. Estamos concientes que hay que combatirlos, pero con este pretexto se quiere volver a poner en vigencia una nueva política de seguridad y de guerra fría. Se ha declarado la guerra contra nuestra juventud, y ustedes bien saben quienes son los verdaderos delincuentes y en donde están, y son los que hay que combatir.

Nos preocupa que el Plan Puebla Panamá y el Tratado de Libre Comercio sean una continuidad del Plan Colombia, y que la agresión y la militarización sea el ariete de un nuevo colonialismo. Creemos firmemente que hay que desarrollar y poner en marcha planes nacionales e internacionales que estimulen los mercados internos, regionales, antes que el mundial.

Ustedes mejor que nosotros saben que sus políticas han frustrado a los pueblos, y en este tiempo estamos en la calle protestando por el engaño que hemos sufrido al elegir a presidentes o diputados que usaron la demagogia para ser electos y procesos electorales en que los dueños del poder convocan a los pobres para que voten por los ricos.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras 28 de Junio 2005

COORDINADORA NACIONAL DE RESISTENCIA POPULAR
COALICION HONDUREÑA DE ACCION CIUDADANA (CHAAC)

----------
"Sí a la vida, No al ALCA.
Otra América es posible."

Secretaría Operativa: Campaña Continental contra ALCA / ASC
sri_cut@uol.com.br
Telf: (55 11) 3272 9411 ext. 136
Direcci¢n: Rua Caetano Pinto, 575
CEP 03041-000, Sao Paulo, Brasil
----------
Promoción de la Campaña Continental contra el ALCA:
http://movimientos.org/noalca/
----------


Promoción de la Campaña Continental contra el ALCA:
http://movimientos.org/noalca/

Food, Consumer and Environment News Tidbits with an Edge!

ORGANIC BYTES #60
6/28/2005

USDA ATTEMPT TO BURY MAD COW FAILS
Another case of Mad Cow disease (BSE) in the United States has been confirmed. The cow, apparently from Texas, was originally slaughtered and pronounced free of BSE by the USDA in November 2004, under rather suspicious circumstances. Facing mounting criticism by public interest groups, including the OCA, Consumers Union, and the Center for Media and Democracy, the USDA finally allowed a UK lab to retest the brain, revealing that the animal did, indeed, have the fatal brain wasting disease. Despite warnings by scientists and bans on U.S. beef exports, the USDA still refuses to test more than a tiny fraction of U.S. cattle, and continues to allow the routine feeding of blood, manure, and slaughterhouse waste to farm animals. Consumers, responding to the fact that these risky practices are prohibited on organic farms, are turning in droves to organic and grass-fed beef. In 2004 organic beef sales increased by over 120% in the U.S.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/coverup062705.cfm

__________________________________

TOBACCO INDUSTRY LET OFF HOOK
The tobacco industry was given a major break last week by the U.S. Justice Department. During the closing statements of a six-year-old lawsuit that was on the verge of fining the tobacco industry $130 billion, Justice Department lawyer Stephen D. Brody unexpectedly announced the U.S. Government wanted to reduce the fines by 90%. Sources close to the case, including government officials, say trial lawyers reduced their demands due to pressure from the Bush Administration's Attorney General's office, which has recently held several closed door meetings with the tobacco industry. http://www.organicconsumers.org/Politics/tobacco060905.cfm

__________________________________

HELP WANTED: HUMAN LAB ANIMALS
The EPA is now allowing chemical companies to conduct toxic chemical studies on low-income Americans. An analysis of 24 such studies found that 22 involved ethically questionable practices. A new related congressional report states that "nearly one-third of the studies reviewed were specifically designed to cause harm to the human test subjects or to put them at risk of harm." The report said scientists conducting the experiments "failed to obtain informed consent (and) dismissed adverse outcomes," adding that the tests "lacked scientific validity." One study involved paying college students $15 an hour to sit in enclosed chambers while having insecticide vapors sprayed at them. The Bush Administration recently announced the EPA's new policy, which allows these types of human studies for the first time in decades. Chemical companies have welcomed this announcement with the goal of generating studies that would allow their products to be considered "safer" than originally thought. Congress is currently discussing whether or not this process should be alowed to continue. Take Action: http://www.organicconsumers.org/epa5.htm

__________________________________

ORGANIC FARMING IS THE SOLUTION TO AFRICA'S FAMINE
Despite intense pressure from the biotech industry, African nations are increasingly turning to organic farming practices rather than genetically engineered crops. Tewolde Berhan, head of the Environmental Protection Authority of Ethiopia, believes that organic farming is the solution to Africa's famine. "Organic farming disturbs nature as little as possible and reduces risks. Intensive farming has led to the exacerbation of pests and diseases," says Berhan. While the biotech industry pushes expensive synthetic fertilizers on impoverished Third World farmers with claims of high yields, those farmers implementing simple organic soil amending techniques are witnessing higher yields without the chemicals or the cost. According to Berhan, "When well managed, and as fertility builds over years, organic agriculture isn't inferior in yield. Now, farmers don't want chemical fertilisers. They say, 'Why should we pay for something we can get for free?'"
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/famine062705.cfm

__________________________________

WHILE MILLIONS STARVE, U.S. WASTES BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN FOOD
New statistics show that $100 billion of food in the U.S. is wasted annually. As a result, the USDA is being asked to consider a proposal from the University of Arizona to create a "Food Loss Center" that would analyze methods of reducing food waste in the shipping, retail and home sectors. At present, the USDA is claiming it does not have the budget to create such a program. According to Dr. Timothy Jones, an anthropologist at the University of Arizona's Bureau for Applied Research in Anthropology, "Huge amounts of food are being wasted throughout the industry. A proportion of this waste is inevitable, but a large part of it can be eliminated and lead to increased profit, not only through cutting losses but also through increasing efficiency."
http://www.organicconsumers.org/OFGU/waste062105.cfm

__________________________________

QUICK NEWS TIDBITS
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) investigators have obtained video footage of inhumane treatment of chickens in a Tyson Foods plant in Alabama, which supplies KFC. The footage shows chickens' heads being routinely ripped off by hand, and large numbers of birds being scalded alive. Tyson has responded by accusing the undercover PETA investigator of violating the company's privacy policies.http://www.organicconsumers.org/OFGU/tyson060605.cfm

New studies in Richland, Washington have revealed that the local Hanford Nuclear site has contaminated the area far more than previously thought. For the first time, plutonium has been found in clams and fish in the Columbia River. In addition, radiation levels of area mulberries are so high, eating less than a teaspoon full of the berries would cause a person to exceed EPA maximum allowable risk levels for an entire year.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/Politics/nuclear061605.cfm

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has announced that farmed salmon contains roughly 6-7 times as many PCBs as wild salmon. A total of 29 tests were conducted on salmon in the British Columbia area, and the results support previous studies revealing higher levels of toxins in farmed salmon, due to the compact manner in which they are raised. http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/pcbs060805.cfm

Wal-mart recently held its annual meeting, during which CEO F. Lee Scott announced that the mega-retail chain will take a leading role in the exploding organic market by sharply increasing the selection of organic foods at its supercenters. At present, Wal-mart operates 1,700 supercenters across the U.S. with short term plans to more than double that number.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/walmart.cfm

____________________________________

SNEAK ATTACK: CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE MAY PASS "MONSANTO LAW"
Just as we are going to press, OCA has been informed that California state legislators may try to pass a law shortly that would take away counties' rights to ban genetically engineered crops. So far three of California's 59 counties have passed GE crop bans, with Sonoma County slated to vote on a ban in November. Across the U.S. 11 states have already passed these "Monsanto Laws." Stay tuned to OCA's website and the next issue of Organic Bytes, for further information. The apparent ringleader of this nefarious scheme to suppress Biodemocracy and spread Frankencrops across California is State Assemblyman Simon Salinas of District 29 (representing Santa Clara, Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties). You may want to call or fax Salinas' office and tell him to back off. Simon Salinas' office can be reached at Phone: (916) 319-2028 or Fax: (916) 319-2128.

____________________________________

********sponsored message**********

Last Call for Great Organic Wines that Help the OCA
Savor delicious, award-winning wine varieties from Frey Vineyards - California’s oldest organic winery… Appreciate layers of vibrant flavors not masked by the added sulfites found in most other wines… And help the Organic Consumers Association – all at the same time! For the last time until at least autumn, Frey is making an exceptional online-only offer. Order a three-pack of our award-winning wine varieties at a 10% discount or greater, by June 30, and we'll donate 5% of sales to the OCA. Learn more about Frey’s special offer here.

Smile, Laugh & Cry with Ode
As you read Ode you will realize it is an international news magazine unlike any other. Ode reports on sustainability, natural health, leading-edge science & spirituality, inspiring people & ideas, and much more. Ode, a successful European-based magazine since 1995, has been making lots of waves in the U.S. and elsewhere recently. Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop, calls Ode "essential reading," and Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic calls Ode a "way of life." Now, for a limited time, you can get an introductory subscription to Ode of 6 issues for only $10! Smile, laugh and cry with Ode. Order Ode now online.

*****************************

__________________________________

Please forward this publication to family and friends, place it on websites, print it, duplicate it and post it freely. Knowledge is power!

Help others learn about food safety, organics, and related topics. Place a link on YOUR website to http://OrganicConsumers.org Banners for your use - http://OrganicConsumers.org/logos.htm
__________________________________

NOTE TO CO-OP AND NATURAL FOOD STORE SUBSCRIBERS:
Organic Bytes is a great tool for keeping your staff and customers up to date on the latest issues. Feel free to forward this email to your staff and print for posting on bulletin boards and staff break tables. You are also welcome to use this material for your newsletters. Within 24 hours of the release of each email version of Organic Bytes, an attractive print-friendly PDF version is posted and available for free download at http://www.organicconsumers.org/organicbytes.htm
_________________________________

ORGANIC BYTES is a publication of:
ORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION
6771 South Silver Hill Drive
Finland, MN 55603
Phone: (218)-353-7454 Fax: (218) 353-7652

DONATE TO THE OCA

http://www.organicconsumers.org/donations.htm

__________________________________

Subscribe: http://www.organicconsumers.org/organicbytes.htm
Unsubscribe: http://organicconsumers.org/unsuborganicbytes.cfm

Change your subscription settings to receive Organic Bytes as plain text here:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/campaign.cfm

CAFTA - The Central American Free Trade Agreement

Food First

The Central American Free Trade Agreement, CAFTA, is a proposed trade agreement between the U.S. government and five Central American countries: Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. CAFTA has been met by mass protests in Central America, and the Bush administration is having trouble garnering even Republican votes in the US Congress. Ratifying CAFTA promises to be a highly symbolic legislative struggle, with the potential to significantly stall the free trade agenda. Citizen pressure is working and needs to continue! Tell your Representative to publicly oppose CAFTA: see the action steps below.

The CAFTA agreement is based on the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, which is almost ten years old. Like NAFTA, CAFTA’s agreement on investment gives corporations the right to sue governments if their right to profit is restricted in any way. [1] CAFTA fundamentally undermines democracy by allowing corporations to sue state and local governments for implementing the public health, labor, and environmental protections mandated by voters.

Farmers in Central America are vehemently opposed to CAFTA. They recognize that they stand little chance of being able to compete against the massively subsidized US agribusiness machine. The 2002 US Farm Bill apportioned $180bn in new subsidies for the industry over ten years. By comparison, the total GDP for all five countries last year was a little under $140bn. In Mexico, similar policies under NAFTA have contributed to wide-spread rural poverty by driving down the prices that Mexican farmers earn from growing corn, their ancestral food. Farmers in United States ranging from advocates of sustainable agriculture to conventional sugar beet growers have joined their colleagues to the south in voicing concerns over CAFTA as well.

We can look to the history of NAFTA to assess the likely impacts of CAFTA. Over the past ten years, this deal between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico has had the following effects:

• From 1994 to 2000, the United States experienced a net loss of 3.2 million jobs due to trade.[2]
• Even accounting for increased employment in maquiladoras, more than 1 million jobs were lost in Mexico.[3]
• Agricultural poverty in Mexico has increased from 54% before NAFTA to 68% after NAFTA.[4] Farmers have been pushed to the wall, and the biggest Mexican peasant protest since 1930 was organized in January 2003, involving 200,000 campesinos, under the slogan "El campo no aguanta mas" (The countryside can't take it any more).[5]
• U.S. genetically modified crops imported without restriction into the Mexican market have contaminated local crops and reduced yields.[6]
• As a result of the catastrophic consequences of NAFTA on Mexican agriculture,[10] Mexico is becoming increasingly dependent on imports from the U.S.[7]

Urgent Action: Stop CAFTA Before the 4th of July

Now is the time to declare independence from corporate trade agreements! George Bush is asking Congress to vote on the Central American Free Trade Agreement before the 4th of July. It is absolutely urgent to call your congressional representative today to tell them to oppose CAFTA.

Please call 1-866-340-9281, a toll-free number sponsored by the United Steelworkers of America, and urge Congress to vote NO on CAFTA!

CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement that will include Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic, endangers labor and environmental standards and will exacerbate poverty at home and abroad.

U.S. corporations stand to profit extraordinarily from this unpopular agreement which may be why the public knows so little about it. CAFTA signs away sovereign democratic rights, tramples hard-fought environmental and labor protections, privatizes public resources, holds governments hostage to frivolous corporate lawsuits and further marginalizes working families in Central America and the United States.

On Thursday, June 23rd George Bush sent the implementing legislation for CAFTA to the US Congress, signaling that it would be scheduled for a vote before the July weeklong Congressional recess, which starts Monday July 4th. CAFTA could be voted on as soon as Thursday, June 30th.

Don't let the bad policies of NAFTA get repeated with CAFTA. Declare independence from corporate trade agreements by telling your congressional representative why CAFTA is bad for working families, bad for the environment, and bad for democracy. Go ahead, get on the phone! 1-866-340-9281

For more information on CAFTA, read Food First's CAFTA fact sheet and our News and Views article It's Time to Defeat CAFTA.

Reclaiming the Commons:

from BioDevastation

to BioDemocracy

25.06.2005 01:53

From June 19 to June 22 in Philadelphia, USA, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) held its annual international convention. The convention was the world’s largest gathering of biotech and pharmaceutical executives, as 18,730 representatives from 56 countries and all 50 U.S. states, gathered for 900 business presentations on health-care, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products.

Running opposite the BIO convention was a counter-convention called "BioDemocracy 2005", which consisted of a smorgasbord of activities aimed at challenging the biotech industry with an alternative vision of peaceful, sustainable and grassroots democracy. As they have done at previous BIO conventions, activists from across the country converged on the "City of Brotherly Love" to bring attention to BIO's closed-door agenda of medicine for profit, genetically engineered agriculture and bioweapons proliferation. previous conventions: San Francisco, 2004 | St. Louis, 2003 I WTO/USDA Sacramento, 2003 I Washington, DC, 2003

BioDemocracy 2005 kicked off on Friday with a Critical Mass bike ride (photos) against Biotech. The following day, a "Reclaim the Commons" open-air Festival brought together organic farmers, community gardeners, alternative health practitioners, artists, puppets, musicians, families, and activists to share knowledge, give-aways, and skills. Food Not Bombs, which was having a concurrent international gathering in Philadelphia to celebrate its 25th anniversary, provided food at the festival as well as at other BioDemocracy events.

audio: Audio Recordings of BioDemocracy Conference | Audio from morning biotech - Philly | More audio from morning rally at biodev | GE Trees I Food Not Bombs 25th Anniversary, Keith McHenry Reflections | Scientific Controversies in Genetic Engineering | Percy Schmeiser at BioDemocracy

other media: photos 1, 2 video 1

personal accounts: Reportaje personal del BioDemocracy2005 (es) | A Firsthand Account In Philadephia Part One (en)

legal situation: Bail for Protesters set at $50,000 | Legal Situation in Philly

related sites: phillyimc.org | Reclaim the Commons | biodev.org

Audio Recordings from BioDemocracy Conference

21.06.2005 12:26

Dozens of workshops, screenings, and lectures took place during the BioDemocracy convergence. Independent journalists have recorded the very best of these important sources of information that highlight the current dangers Biotech poses and the mounting resistance.

Corruption of Science Panel | Biotech Corporations and Global Trade

GMO's in Latin America | Biotechnology in the Global South

Communities Resisting Genetic Engineering | Ignacio Chapela @ Reclaim the Commons

Fellow activists have been jailed in Philadelphia and are seeking financial assistance for bail. Contributions are greatly appreciated and needed! Please click here for instructions on wiring money.

---

Thanks to all who united for "BioDemocracy" in Philly, to oppose the June 19-22, 2005 annual international closed-door corporate convention of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), and to demonstrate resistance to their agenda of genetically engineered trees and agriculture, healthcare for profit and bioweapons proliferation! With your help, we were able to raise our voices and educate thousands about the hazards of corporate biotech and our different vision of sustainable alternatives -- local food sovereignty, community power, justice for small farmers, fair trade, healthcare for all, biodiversity and honest science. Please visit the Philadelphia Independent Media Center for full coverage of BioDemocracy events and actions, including photos of actions, interviews, audio recordings of teach-in sessions, and updates about the legal situation of arrested protesters.

In 2006, BIO will hold their convention in Chicago, from April 9th to 12th. Activists in Chicago are already beginning to organize grassroots resistance.

Stop the GATS Power Play Against Citizens of the World!

Oakland Institute

Developing countries are facing enormous pressure to open their service markets to powerful foreign-based, for-profit corporations from the industrialized countries. Forty developing countries and 32 less-developed countries are being told to open up their finance, energy, environment, water, tourism, distribution and transportation services to foreign market forces while the big business lobby machines like the U.S. Coalition of Service Industries and the European Services Forum are pushing hard for developing countries to make commitments now – without democratic mandate. These commitments are socially irresponsible. What’s worse, they are effectively irreversible.

On June 15, 2005, NGOs and unions sent a joint statement to all WTO delegations in Geneva, outlining a number of concerns dealing with deregulation, investment policies, employment impacts, and the dangers of privatization that GATS could lock in for the future. The statement also makes a number of demands aimed at allowing developing countries to regain and retain ownership of their trade and services policies.

La soberanía alimentaria: un nuevo paradigma

La Soberanía Alimentaria es una propuesta con una base social sólida, pues surge del campesinado y las organizaciones sociales de los países empobrecidos. Es una alternativa consensuada y seria, que parte de un análisis profundo de las causas del hambre y la pobreza en el mundo; que propugna la combinación de las capacidades productivas de la agricultura campesina, con una gestión sustentable de los recursos productivos y con políticas gubernamentales que garanticen la alimentación adecuada de la ciudadanía con independencia de las leyes que rigen el comercio internacional

Definición y completa descripción de los argumentos que defiende y las propuestas que promueve la Soberanía Alimentaria según la Vía Campesina

Estamos en el siglo XXI y según cifras oficiales hay 800 millones de personas en el mundo que pasan hambre. Los organismos internacionales se reúnen en cumbres, reflexionan, consensúan y determinan políticas encaminadas a erradicar el hambre. También muchas ONG y agencias de desarrollo intentan implementar estrategias para combatir el hambre. Pero contrariamente a lo que cabría esperar de la cantidad de esfuerzos y recursos empeñados en la persecución de este objetivo, el número de personas hambrientas, lejos de disminuir, continúa acrecentándose en un mundo en el que se producen alimentos en abundancia.

El problema del hambre es acuciante para todas las personas que lo padecen, sin embargo, para los sectores oficiales que tienen relación con el tema, estas personas se convierten en estadísticas, y tras las reuniones lo que resta son compromisos para disminuir las cifras en un período determinado de tiempo, sin cuestionar y cambiar las políticas que inciden en la cuestión. Y es que a las hambrientas y hambrientos de este mundo sólo se les considera como sujetos pasivos receptores de ayuda.

No obstante, los millones de pobres y hambrientos del mundo son personas con cara y con nombre que luchan por mejorar su existencia. Precisamente de su lucha y movilización en organizaciones campesinas y movimientos sociales surge una alternativa para combatir las verdaderas causas del hambre y la pobreza y que se conoce como Soberanía Alimentaria.

Precisamente una de las primeras y principales demandas que parte de la Soberanía Alimentaria es que los alimentos no sean considerados como una mercancía más en los circuitos del mercado internacional sometidos a la especulación sin límites, y dejen de ser utilizados como arma política y de guerra contra las poblaciones de los países empobrecidos.

En el documento que se presenta a continuación, se exponen las tesis de la Soberanía Alimentaria mediante el análisis de la situación actual de la producción y la comercialización de alimentos en el mundo globalizado. Situación que se revela insostenible por sus graves repercusiones sociales (migración campo-ciudad, explotación laboral, pauperización creciente), económicas (destrucción de mercados locales y regionales, destrucción de puestos de trabajo en la agricultura...) y ambientales (destrucción de recursos agroecológicos, degradación de la biodiversidad, utilización de técnicas de producción cuya inocuidad no está demostrada...).

Para acceder a este documento en formato PDF haga clic sobre el archivo adjunto al pie

La soberanía alimentaria: un nuevo paradigma

Latin America: Biotech Crops' Brave New Frontier

By Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero

The ever-growing global controversy over genetically engineered (GE) crops is particularly intense in Latin America, which has become the biotech industry's brave new frontier. In fact, South America alone has most of the world's GE crop acreage outside the United States and Canada.

Biotech supporters are euphoric, claiming GE seeds will help feed the poor, provide badly needed foreign exchange to the countries of the global South, benefit all farmers, and pave the way to an eco-friendly agriculture that uses less agrochemicals. But opponents and skeptics warn that GE technology is inherently risky, is based on a flawed and obsolete scientific paradigm, and is a technical fix that will not solve the problems of hunger and poverty, which are essentially social and political, not technical. Furthermore, they hold that these novel crops herald new forms of dependence and domination because they are no more than a continuation of the economically inequitable and ecologically unsustainable model of corporate-controlled industrial agriculture.

The struggle over biotech crops has everything to do with politics. The technology's supporters include the U.S. government and agribusiness giants that describe themselves as "life sciences" corporations, such as Monsanto. Incidentally, the same geopolitical and business interests are pushing the neoliberal free trade agenda in the Americas. Standing in opposition are environmentalists, grassroots activists, indigenous peoples and popular movements like Brazil's Landless People's Movement—the same sectors that crashed the U.S. attempt to establish the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and are now spearheading the opposition to U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and bilateral free trade treaties.

Corn and Mexico

The North America Free Trade Agreement, in effect since 1994, turned Mexico into a net importer of American corn. Since then, approximately one-third of the U.S. corn acreage has been planted with a GE insecticidal variety known as Bt. For the last nine years, millions of tons of Bt corn have entered Mexico, mixed with non-GE conventional corn.

Inevitably, some farmers and peasants started using the imported corn as seed, setting off a process of genetic contamination. Corn is an open pollinated plant, which facilitated the proliferation of the Bt gene and its furtive introduction into the genomes of local varieties. The contamination has been scientifically documented since 2001 and has since spread at an alarming rate all over Mexico.

Soy and South America

In South America, the biotech invasion began in Argentina, a country that in the 1990s embraced GE soy as enthusiastically as it embraced neoliberal economic policies. Today Argentina has over 14 million hectares planted with soy, 95 percent of which is genetically engineered. The GE soy grown there, known as Roundup Ready, has been genetically altered to be inmune to glyphosate, the active ingredient of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide.

The environmental effect of this new agriculture has been devastating. The monoculture zone, drenched with glyphosate, has witnessed the disappearance of birds, rabbits, crustaceans, mollusks and beneficial insects. The soil microbiology, responsible for the soil's natural fertility, has been particularly affected.

The expansion of soy has come at the expense not only of other crops but also of forests and wilderness areas. To expand the monoculture, land owners and agribusinesses are deforesting broad swaths of the forested mountains at the foot of the Andes, known as the Yungas, and of the Chaco, on the border with Bolivia and Paraguay. In the province of Entre Rios, north of Buenos Aires and bordering Uruguay, over one million hectares were deforested between 1994 and 2003 to make way for soy. This deforestation has caused disastrous and unprecedented floods, especially in the province of Santa Fe.

The economic effect has been no less devastating. Roundup Ready soy monoculture creates unemployment since it requires hardly any labor. And those who have turned their backs on the soy model to engage in traditional subsistence agriculture have found it nearly impossible since the clouds of airplane-sprayed glyphosate travel great distances, leaving trails of death and destruction in their wake.

In Argentina, “soy is causing disintegration not only of the very essence of the land but also of society", denounce Facundo Arrizabalaga and Ann Scholl, lawyer and social anthropologist respectively, "Shanty towns are expanding on the outskirts of major cities with farmers displaced by airplanes loaded with glyphosate. Soy does not generate jobs, it is an agriculture with no people, no culture. The rural exodus in recent years has increased at an alarming rate: 300,000 farmers abandoned the countryside and almost 500 towns have been left deserted. As a consequence, crime and violence are increasing day by day, and with that, marginalization increases.”

Roundup Ready soy seed is being smuggled from Argentina to neighboring countries, with the complicity (at least passive) of agribusiness and major land owners. Much of this smuggled seed goes to Brazil, where GE crops are illegal. Brazil is the number two soy producer worldwide and an undetermined percentage of its crop is GE.

This situation has put Brazilian president Lula da Silva in a bind. During his electoral campaign, he promised to address the concerns of sectors that denounced the illegal entry of biotech crops into the country. Once in power, however, he signed provisional decrees that temporarily legalized GE crops.

Biotech foes were greatly disappointed with Lula's government when it openly sided with the United States and the “life sciences industry” in negotiations of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in Montreal, between May and June 2005. The Protocol is an international agreement that aims to address potential hazards of GE crops. The United States is opposing and boycotting the Protocol, claiming concerns about biotech are unscientific and can lead to illegal trade barriers.

The patenting of life

On top of all the actual and potential environmental and health hazards of GE crops, there's the issue of intellectual property rights (IPRs). Every biotech seed is private property, so any farmer who wishes to plant them is obligated sign a contract with the biotech company that "owns" the germplasm.

The contracts commit the farmers to not save seed from the harvest for planting in the following season. That would be copyright infringement. The farmer must purchase the seed year after year, putting an end to the age-old practice of saving and sharing seed.

What if your farm is contaminated by GE pollen or seeds blown from upwind? Tough break, you are guilty as charged. When Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser found that his field had been overrun by Monsanto's RR canola, the company sued him for "piracy." In 2004 the Canadian Supreme Court ruled in Monsanto's favor, declaring de facto that the polluted party must pay the polluter. Lawyers and private detectives, dubbed by Schmeiser as "Monsanto's gene police", are already combing farming communities in the United States and Canada and suing non-GE farmers whose fields were contaminated with "copyright-protected" genes.

Latin American observers fear that this "agro-police state" will extend itself all over Latin America with the free trade agenda being pushed by Washington. The free trade agreements that the United states seeks with Latin American countries include stringent IPR protections that would allow biotech corporations to claim broad patent rights over the region's rich biodiversity, not just the legal and illegal GE crops.

As an alternative to the free trade-IPR-corporate biotech model, progressive sectors in Latin America propose chemical-free organic agriculture oriented toward small farmers and local consumption, together with a number of economic and political proposals, such as land reform, food sovereignty, debt cancellation, and an end to the subsidized dumping of agricultural products by the United States and Europe.

Carmelo Ruiz Marrero is a Puerto Rican freelance journalist and environmental educator. He is a Research Associate of the Institute for Social Ecology (social-ecology.org) and a Senior Fellow of the Environmental Leadership Program (elpnet.org). He is also the founding director of the Puerto Rico Project on Biosafety (bioseguridad.blogspot.com). His bilingual web page (carmeloruiz.blogspot.com) is devoted to global environmental and development issues.

Dudas y mitos de la privatización del agua

Raúl Wiener
Rebelión

Los Estados tiene la responsabilidad de atender necesidades sociales, como explican las mineras ahora que los pueblos de su entorno les recuerdan las riquezas que se llevan de su subsuelo y su baja contribución al desarrollo local. Las empresas privadas existen para ganar dinero y pagar sus impuestos, aclaran sus voceros.

Las consultoras también están ahí para hacer contratos con las empresas para fundamentar técnicamente lo que les conviene. Y los medios de comunicación para transmitir el punto de vista de sus propietarios, que no pocas veces están asociados a los de las grandes empresas, que además son las que ponen avisos y suelen contratar formal o informalmente a muchos periodistas.

Todo esto se sabe.

Pero igual, para abusar de que no siempre estamos atentos, nos venden la privatización con el argumento que las privadas deben cumplir la “meta social” que el Estado no estaría cumpliendo (¡!) por falta de recursos (entre otras cosas porque las empresas pagan pocos impuestos), por ejemplo ponerle agua a los que no tienen. Después de la privatización nos aclararán que se trata de un “error de concepto”

Nos presentan la opinión de los consultores económicos privados en los medios como neutra, como si nadie pagara sus investigaciones e informes.

ETC Group
News Release
16 June 2005
www.etcgroup.org

ETC Group Releases New Report on Nanotechnology and Intellectual Property: Nanotech's "Second Nature" Patents

The full text of the 36-page report is available here:
http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=509

Twenty-five years after the biotech industry got the green light to patent life, nanotech goes after the building blocks of life.

On the 25th anniversary of Diamond vs. Chakrabarty,* the US Supreme Court's landmark decision (June 16, 1980) that opened the floodgates to the patenting of living organisms, ETC Group releases a new report, "Nanotech's 'Second Nature' Patents."

Since Chakrabarty, the biotech industry has worked hand-in-hand with governments to allow for the patenting of all biological products - the first monopoly grab over life. Chakrabarty set the stage for today's nanotechnology patents, where the reach of exclusive monopoly is not just on life - but the building blocks of life - nanotech's 'second nature' patents," explains Hope Shand, Research Director of ETC Group.

ETC Group's new report examines current trends in intellectual property and nanotechnology and the implications for the developing world. Nanotechnology refers to the manipulation of matter at the scale of atoms and molecules, where size is measured in billionths of meters.

The world's largest transnationals, leading academic labs and nanotech start-ups are all racing to win monopoly control of tiny tech's colossal market. "Control and ownership of nanotech is a vital issue for all governments and civil society because nanomaterials and processes can be applied to virtually any manufactured good across all industry sectors," said Kathy Jo Wetter of ETC Group. "Patents are being granted that cut across multiple industry sectors - a single nano-scale innovation may span pharma, food, electronics and materials alike," continues Wetter. The US National Science Foundation predicts that nanotechnology will capture a $1 trillion dollar market within six or seven years.

ETC Group finds that breathtakingly broad nanotech patents have been granted that cut across multiple industry sectors and include sweeping claims on entire areas of the Periodic Table. Although industry analysts assert that nanotechnology is in its infancy, "patent thickets" on fundamental nano-scale materials, tools and processes are already creating thorny barriers for would-be innovators. Claims are often broad, overlapping and conflicting - a scenario ripe for massive patent litigation battles in the future.

ETC Group's report provides case studies of patent activity involving four of nanotech's hottest and potentially most lucrative nanomaterials and one essential tool: carbon nanotubes; inorganic nanostructures; quantum dots; dendrimers; scanning probe microscopes.

G8: Downsizing Development? When the G8 Summit meets in Scotland next month, the leaders of the world's most powerful countries will unveil a "Pro-Poor Science" strategy to turn new technologies like nanotech into a silver bullet for social injustice.

"Despite rosy predictions that nanotech will provide a technical fix for hunger, disease and the environment, the extraordinary pace of nanotech patenting suggests that developing nations will participate primarily via royalty payments," said Pat Mooney, Executive Director of ETC Group. "In a world dominated by proprietary science, researchers in the global South are likely to find that participation in the nanotech revolution is highly restricted by patent tollbooths, obliging them to pay royalties and licensing fees to gain access," said Mooney.

"Ultimately, nanotech will profoundly affect the South's economy, regardless of its handling of intellectual property," explains Silvia Ribeiro from ETC Group's Mexico City office. "Nano-scale technologies will revolutionize the way that new materials are designed and manufactured - changes that could turn commodity markets upside-down and make geography, raw materials, even labour, irrelevant. Nanotech underpins a new strategic platform for global control of materials, food, agriculture and health, and patent monopoly is a powerful tool for realizing that strategy," said Ribeiro.

Many South nations are still grappling with unresolved controversies over biotechnology, but by the end of this year, ready or not, even the world's "least developed" nations who are members of the World Trade Organization will be obligated by its Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (WTO-TRIPs) to evaluate and enforce nanotech patents.

Lessons learned from Diamond v. Chakrabarty: Despite all the hype about Mr. Chakrabarty's oil-eating microbe and how it would gobble up oil spills, the patented microorganism never worked. Instead of curing environmental ills, the biotech industry has introduced its own contamination problems - unwanted gene flow from genetically modified crops, a particularly serious problem for centres of genetic diversity in the developing world.

Unlike 25 years ago, today's nanotech-related patents have not required major rule changes. As a result, many governments are unaware of the nanotech patent rush. ETC Group recommends that the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) initiate a global suspension of patent approvals related to nanotechnology until South governments and countries-in-transition can undertake a full evaluation of their impacts, and until social movements can cooperate with WIPO, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to examine the impact of nanotech-related intellectual property on monopoly practices, technology transfer and trade.

The full text of the 36-page report is available for downloading,
free-of-charge,
on the ETC Group website: http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=509


For more information:

Hope Shand: hope@etcgroup.org Carrboro, NC (USA) +1 919 960-5767
Pat Mooney: etc@etcgroup.org Ottawa, ON (Canada) +1 613 241-2267
Kathy Jo Wetter: kjo@etcgroup.org Carrboro, NC (USA) +1 919 960-5223
Silvia Ribeiro: silvia@etcgroup.org Mexico City (Mexico) +52 5555 632664
Jim Thomas: jim@etcgroup.org Oxford (UK) +44 7752 106806

*Note to Editors: In 1971, Ananda Chakrabarty, an employee of General Electric, applied for a patent on a genetically modified oil-eating microbe. The US Patent & Trademark Office rejected his patent application on the grounds that animate life forms were not patentable. On June 16, 1980 by a narrow 5-4 margin, the US Supreme Court ruled that Chakrabarty's oil-eating microbe was not a product of nature; living organisms could be seen as human made inventions and are therefore patentable subject matter.

Slow Food: unidos por el buen comer

Pedro Mocholí

Slow Food es un movimiento que nace en Italia en 1986 de la mano del periodista Carlo Petrini, como respuesta al desembarco y aparición del “fast food”, al “vivir deprisa” y que ellos denominan “Fastlife”. Hoy, casi veinte años después han logrado una total identificación en la sociedad con cerca de 750 Convivia, o grupos de trabajo que repartidos por medio mundo, agrupan a más de 80.000 miembros.

Aunque puedan acercarse al epicureismo es sólo un pequeño reflejo. Se mueven más por la ética y placer. Las actividades del Slow Food comprende lo que se podría definir como la eco-gastronomía, valorando sobre manera la diferencia de sabores, la producción alimentaria artesanal, la pequeña agricultura, técnicas de pesca y de ganadería sostenible.

Desde esta asociación también se intenta restituir la dignidad cultural a la comida, devolviendo la educación por el buen gusto y se bate por la defensa de la biodiversidad, intentando sobre todo preservar un ambiente. Salvar desde una raza a una especie vegetal en vías de extinción, recuperar una receta, apoyar un cultivo, intentando ante todo, educar al paladar para que sepa apreciarlo.

Como vemos se enarbola la defensa de la biodiversidad, denunciando a través del Arca del Gusto, las especies animales y las variedades vegetales que estén en peligro de desaparecer. Pero no sólo se denuncia, gracias a proyectos y a los baluartes se intenta recuperar estas especies por medio de la recuperación de técnicas de producción ancestrales, valorando más las calidades de los productos que en la sobreexplotación de zonas agrícolas.

Para apoyar la existencia de grupos de trabajo que intenten relanzar todos estos postulados promueven el Premio Slow Food por la defensa de la biodiversidad.

Los recursos de la asociación se redistribuyen a través de una fundación que es la encargada de administrar los recursos económicos que generan y que son necesarios para llevar a buen puerto, todas sus excelentes actividades.

Como una de las maneras de dar conocer todas sus actividades el Slow Food organiza el Salón del buen gusto de Turín donde se presentan los logros que año tras años han logrado presentar.

En su web (www.slowfood.com) hay un noticiario donde aparecen artículos escritos por reconocidos autores de nivel mundial y de los editoriales de su presidente Carlo Petrini.

gastronomia@lasprovincias.es

Publicado en Las Provincias, España, 19-6-05