New from GRAIN
17 November 2005

Latest issue of Seedling available - 'convergence' issue

New from GRAIN November 2005

The latest issue of Seedling is now available at:
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?type=62

CONVERGENCE?

The latest issue of Seedling further explores what we have come to call 'convergence': the ways in which people are resisting the push for monopoly rights over information in different sectors. The main feature is a panel interview from people working in different sectors in the fields of free and open software (FOSS), access to medicines, seeds, communications and the media. There is also an article about the synergies between the movements fighting for free seeds and free software, and some other convergence-related and -unrelated pieces.

EDITORIAL

IPR EPICENTRES: A GEOGRAPHY OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY by Peter Drahos
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=408
Where is intellectual property policy made? Governments make intellectual property law, but where does the policy thinking that lies behind the law come from? Peter Drahos suggests that there are four cities around the world that act as epicenters of intellectual property policy, from which invisible tsunamis spread around the globe, turning national systems into debris.

ARTICLES

CONVERGENCE ZONE? Panel interview
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=409
Ten people working in different sectors and from different perspectives offer their views on the possibilities for convergence. The panel includes people working in the fields of free and open software (FOSS), access to medicines, seeds, communications and the media. We didn't expect consensus on the answers to our questions about convergence and we didn't get it. What we did get is some very thought-provoking and insightful perspectives to stimulate further thinking about the overlap in our various struggles, and the creative ways in which these might be brought together.

SOFTWARE AND SEEDS: LESSONS IN COMMUNITY SHARING by Roberto Verzola
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=410
In many countries, control over information has become a big issue. An underlying aspect of this control has been the use - or threat of use - of force to establish control. The aim is often to prevent information from being freely exchanged, creating an artificial scarcity that keeps information prices high. The fight to protect such freedoms is being fought out in many different arenas. Roberto Verzola explores the synergies, similarities and differences between those trying to protect the freedom of innovators in the worlds of software and seeds.

THE FAO SEED TREATY: FROM FARMERS' RIGHTS TO BREEDERS' PRIVILEGES by GRAIN
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=411
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture - sometimes called the 'seed treaty' - was adopted by UN Food and Agriculture (FAO) member states in 2001 and came into force in 2004. Governments that signed on are now working out implementation details. Far from its roots in the struggle to assert farmers' rights as a counterforce to breeders' rights, the Treaty has ended up being mainly about granting new privileges to industry. It will give seed companies free access to most of the world's public genebanks without any obligation to share their own materials in return.

BLUE FISHERS, BLUE GENES: FISHY UNDERCURRENTS IN POST-TSUNAMI ASIA by GRAIN
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=412
At the same time as Asia's fisherfolk are urging their governments to help re-establish artisanal fisheries after last year's tsunami, an international 'tsunami-recovery' consortium is suggesting that they should abandon their livelihoods and find employment elsewhere. The fisherfolk also face other challenges - from growing pressures to switch over to industrial aquaculture and fishering, and the introduction of genetically modified fish.

SPROUTING UP

TRIBAL RIGHTS (F)OR WRONGS IN INDIA
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=415

RESOURCES

THE CORPORATION - PSYCHOPATHIC AND IMMORTAL Review and summary by GRAIN of the book and film "The Corporation" by Joel Bakan
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=413

HOME PAGE GRAIN'S CHANGE OF NAME ... AND AN AWARD
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=416

=========================================================== DOWNLOAD SEEDLING

All articles are available in PDF and HTML format or Download the entire issue in PDF format from:
http://www.grain.org/seedling/?id=417

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BIO-IPR

BIO-IPR is an email list to circulate information about recent developments in the field of intellectual property rights related to biodiversity & associated knowledge. To subscribe visit:
http://www.grain.org/go/subbioipr