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This is the weblog of
Raymond Powers.
Here I will be sharing what I find of import, humor, concern, inspiration and on the transformational edge
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A Quote:
Peace is not a season, it is a way of life.
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Raymond lives in Ojai, where the time now is:
02:31AM
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used might or might not be copyrighted, but are considered fair
use. Thus the license here would best be described as:
Primarily Public
Domain.
Please ask permission if there is any question in
regards to public domain usage.
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| Saturday, September 17, 2005 |  |
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17 Sep 2005 @ 00:33
San Francisco Pledges to Use Municipal Purchasing To Promote Sweatshop Reform
SF PLEDGES TO USE PURCHASING POWER TO PRODUCE SWEATSHOP REFORM Sept. 14, 2005
BY LISA LEFF Associated Press
[link]
hern_california/12637082.htm
SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco supervisors unanimously approved a new law Tuesday that requires city contractors to guarantee in writing that the uniforms, computers and other goods they supply were not made by workers exploited in so-called "sweatshops."
By signing the "sweat-free code of conduct," manufacturers and wholesalers that do business with the city would be promising that their workers are paid the local minimum wage, have the right to unionize and enjoy safe working
conditions. The pledge also vouches that no child labor, foreign convict or slave labor was used to produce the merchandise that winds up in San Francisco hospitals, fire stations and City Hall offices.
The cities of Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Newark, N.J. and Albuquerque, N.M., already have anti-sweatshop laws on the books. But Valerie Orth, who campaigned for the ordinance as part of the international human rights group Global Exchange, said San Francisco's law goes the furthest because it includes an initial $100,000 for enforcement and a stricter definition of what constitutes a sweatshop.
Companies with one major violation of the conduct code would be disqualified from future contracts.
The purpose of the pledge is not to force the city to switch contractors, but to use the municipal government's $600 million in purchasing power to effect change at existing factories, according to Orth.
"All of this is going to rest on a test case," she said.
"Once we find a company that signs the code of conduct and then violates it by say hiring a subcontractor in Honduras where the union is busted, the city of San Francisco can say, 'You signed this code ... you have to let the workers organize."
The law, introduced by Supervisor Tom Ammiano and Mayor Gavin Newsom, is scheduled to take effect in 90 days.
During its first year, it will only apply to the garment industry, such as contractors who supply uniforms, sheets and towels. An advisory committee will decide what category of contractors to target next.
As part of the registration process, contractors who sign the sweatshop-free pledge would have to disclose the names of their subcontractors, where their factories and located and what workers are paid.
Randall Harris, executive director the garment industry trade group San Francisco Fashion Industries, said that out of the fewer than 200 companies producing apparel in San Francisco, none are under city contract. Harris said he nonetheless opposed the ordinance because he thinks it puts the industry in a bad light.
"We need support in the city and county for the industry we have left here," he said. "We don't need the city of San Francisco perpetuating a belief that our industry is somehow dirty. We have worked very hard to clean it up."
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| Wednesday, September 7, 2005 | |
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7 Sep 2005 @ 19:33
Hurricane Katrina: Bush's Indifference is a "Weapon of Mass Destruction"
PRESS RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 2, 2005
12:20 PM
CONTACT: Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Doug Gordon (202) 225-5871
Floor Statement of Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich:
The Supplemental for Hurricane Katrina
WASHINGTON - September 2 - Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) gave the
following speech today on the House floor during a special session to
provide relief money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina:
³This amount of money is only a fraction of what is needed and everyone here
knows it. Let it go forward quickly with heart-felt thanks to those who are
helping to save lives with necessary food, water, shelter, medical care and
security. Congress must also demand accountability with the appropriations.
Because until there are basic changes in the direction of this government,
this tragedy will multiply to apocalyptic proportions.
³The Administration yesterday said that no one anticipated the breach of the
levees. Did the Administration not see or care about the 2001 FEMA warning
about the risk of a devastating hurricane hitting the people of New Orleans?
Did it not know or care that civil and army engineers were warning for years
about the consequences of failure to strengthen the flood control system?
Was it aware or did it care that the very same Administration which decries
the plight of the people today, cut from the budget tens of millions needed
for Gulf-area flood control projects?
³Countless lives have been lost throughout the South with a cost of hundreds
of billions in ruined homes, businesses, and the destruction of an entire
physical and social infrastructure.
³The President said an hour ago that the Gulf Coast looks like it has been
obliterated by a weapon. It has. Indifference is a weapon of mass
destruction.
³Our indifferent government is in a crisis of legitimacy. If it continues to
ignore its basic responsibility for the health and welfare of the American
people, will there ever be enough money to clean up after their
indifference?
³As our government continues to squander human and monetary resources of
this country on the war, people are beginning to ask, ³Isn¹t it time we
began to take care of our own people here at home? Isn¹t it time we rescued
our own citizens? Isn¹t it time we fed our own people? Isn¹t it time we
sheltered our own people? Isn¹t it time we provided physical and economic
security for our own people?² And isn¹t it time we stopped the oil companies
from profiting from this tragedy?
³We have plenty of work to do here at home. It is time for America to come
home and take care of its own people who are drowning in the streets,
suffocating in attics, dying from exposure to the elements, oppressed by
poverty and illness, wracked with despair and hunger and thirst.
³The time is NOW to bring back to the United States the 78,000 National
Guard troops currently deployed overseas into the Gulf Coast region.
³The time is NOW to bring back to the US the equipment which will be needed
for search and rescue, for clean up and reclamation.
³The time is NOW for federal resources, including closed Army bases, to be
used for temporary shelter for those who have been displaced by the
hurricane.
³The time is NOW to plan massive public works, with jobs going to the people
of the Gulf Coast states, to build new levees, new roads, bridges,
libraries, schools, colleges and universities and to rebuild all public
institutions, including hospitals. Medicare ought to be extended to
everyone, so every person can get the physical and mental health care they
might need as a result of the disaster.
³The time is NOW for the federal government to take seriously the research
of scientists who have warned for years about the dangers of changes in the
global climate, and to prepare other regions of the country for other
possible weather disasters until we change our disastrous energy policies.
³The time is NOW for changes in our energy policy, to end the domination of
oil and fossil fuel and to invest heavily in alternative energy, including
wind and solar, geothermal and biofuels.
³As bad as this catastrophe will prove to be, it is in fact only a warning.
Our government must change its direction, it must become involved in making
America a better place to live, a place where all may survive and thrive. It
must get off the path of war and seek the path of peace, peace with the
natural environment, peace with other nations, peace with a just economic
system.² More >
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7 Sep 2005 @ 19:32
Hollywood Calls for Action on Perchlorate
August 30, 2005
For further information contact: Sujatha Jahagirdar (323) 309-6120
(cello)
Lucy Williams, (213)251-3688 x312
Hollywood Calls for Schwarzenegger to Take Action on Rocket Fuel in Colorado River Letter signed by Erin Brockovich, Don Cheadle, Alec Baldwin, others calls for perchlorate drinking water standard that will ensure full cleanup of vital waterway Close to twenty members of the entertainment community, including Maria Bello, Edward Norton and Bradley Whitford submitted a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger today, calling for immediate action to clean up rocket fuel contamination of the Colorado River. The letter asked the Governor to immediately establish a drinking water standard for perchlorate, the primary component of rocket fuel at a level that would force the primary company responsible for the contamination, Kerr McGee, to fully clean up the millions of pounds of rocket fuel it has leaked into the river over decades.
"The Schwarzenegger administration should protect our children and not the special interests and get rocket fuel out of drinking water," stated actors Shiva Rose and Dylan McDermott, who also signed the letter.
The administration is moving toward proposing its final standard for perchlorate in drinking water this fall. A final standard issued at the level of the state's health recommendation may leave millions of Californians exposed to Kerr McGee's rocket fuel pollution. A December Environmental Protection Agency reports lists the maximum level of perchlorate in the Colorado River at Parker Dam at 5.7 ppb, just under the new health recommendation.
"Rocket fuel has no place in Southern California¹s most important water supply." stated Sujatha Jahagirdar, Clean Water Advocate for Environment California. "The River provides water to more than 135 California cities, irrigates much of the nation¹s winter produce, and supports a $400 billion Southern California economy." Perchlorate can interfere with the working of the thyroid gland, which is essential to normal brain development in children. An abnormal level of hormones produced by the thyroid gland has been linked to conditions like attention deficit disorder and learning disabilities. Massachusetts regulators have suggested one part per billion as a safer threshold to protect babies. When adjusted to protect infants and account for exposure through food, recent EPA and National Academy of Sciences studies point to the same.
Contaminated water from the Colorado River is currently used to irrigate most of the nation's winter produce crops. Tests conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture have detected perchlorate pollution in lettuce throughout the country. A January study released by Texas Tech University also found perchlorate build up in the milk of nursing mothers. In addition, polluted water from the Colorado River used the recharge groundwater is the suspected source of perchlorate contamination in Orange County.
"The bottom line is that any rocket fuel pollution in the Colorado River is unacceptable." stated Jahagirdar, co-author of the recent Environment California Research & Policy Center study, Perchlorate and Children¹s Health. "As the people's governor, Mr. Schwarzenegger needs to focus attention on cleaning up the most important water supply that Southern Californians have."
The full list of signers is: Alec Baldwin, Ed Begley Jr., Maria Bello, Erin Brockovich, Don Cheadle, Rebecca DeMornay, Mike Farrell, Janet Grillo, Harry Hamlin, Dylan McDermott, Wendie Malick, Edward Norton, Lisa Rinna, Shiva Rose, David O Russell, Amy Smart, Heather Thomas, Bradley Whitford, and Daphne Zuniga More >
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7 Sep 2005 @ 19:31
Worldwide Volunteers on Organic Farms: Training the Next Generation of Farmers
From: www.NewFarm.org (Rodale Institute)
WWOOFing and beyond From one-week volunteer farm stays to three-year diploma courses, the world of international organic ag training opportunities is growing fast.
By Laura Sayre September 1, 2005
Young people from all over the world are finding ways to combine international travel with practical farming experience.
Amy Sisti had been working with cheese for six years in some of New York City's finest restaurants and retail shops when she decided she "wanted to get back to the roots of it all."
"I always loved learning about the stories behind different types of foods," Sisti recalls. "One of the things I liked about cheese is that it has great stories stories."
Through a group called Women Chefs & Restaurateurs, Sisti learned about an internship program at the Tenuta di Spannocchia, an educational center, organic farm and guest house in Tuscany, Italy. Spannocchia offers three-month internships to young people interested in getting hands-on experience in organic farming and in what might be called sustainable agritourism management. Sisti applied, was accepted and set off on what turned out to be one of the best experiences of her life. Working and traveling in Italy not only gave her the connection to the land she was looking for, she says, it also deepened her understanding of cheesemaking and strengthened her contacts within the world of farmstead cheese production.
"The Spannocchia program is really well designed," she says enthusiastically. "We worked hard, but we also had a lot of free time," she adds, explaining that Spannocchia interns attend Italian classes twice a week and take regular field trips to other organic farms in the region. Ten interns are accepted each session: two to work in guest services, two in the vegetable gardens, one as a shepherd, two with the other animals, one in the wood lot, one in the vineyard and one as an all-rounder.
The Spannocchia internship is becoming increasingly competitive, says Carrie Curtis Sacco, the organization's education director people have romantic images of life under the Tuscan sun. Sisti and her fellow interns are representative of a growing group of young people from all over the world who are keen to enrich their knowledge of sustainable food and farming systems by combining international travel with practical farm work. Fortunately, the range of opportunities for international sustainable ag training short-, long- and medium-term The WWOOF model In the early years of the organic movement, one of the few ways to gain international organic farming experience was through WWOOFing work in exchange for room-and-board arrangements made through a membership network originally known as Working Weekends on Organic Farms. Founded in 1971 by Sue Coppard, a London secretary looking for inexpensive, rewarding short breaks in the countryside, the WWOOF name was later broadened to Willing Workers on Organic Farms (to reflect farmstays longer than a weekend) and more recently to Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (to soothe the concerns of some countries' immigration authorities).
The WWOOFing movement has spread to some 60 countries, with hundreds if not thousands of farms and volunteers participating each year. These days "the sun probably never sets on WWOOF."
From those modest beginnings, the movement has spread to some 60 countries, with hundreds if not thousands of farms and volunteers participating each year. At least 17 countries now have their own national WWOOF organizations, while another 40 or so are grouped as "WWOOF Independents." While some of the latter have just a single participating farm (Cameroon, Estonia, Singapore), others, like France and Spain, have well over a hundred farms on their lists. As the WWOOF UK website puts it, these days "the sun probably never sets on WWOOF."
The popularity of WWOOFing seems to have been expanding faster in the past decade or so, keeping pace with the extraordinary growth of the organic sector generally. WWOOF Italia, for example, has grown from 23 host farms in 1999 to 230 in 2005, according to its coordinator, Bridget Matthews. (The Tenuta di Spannocchia is one of them.) Fran Whittle of WWOOF UK, which also administers the WWOOF Independents, reports that the first international WWOOF conference, held in 2000, attracted participants from 15 countries.
New WWOOF groups have recently been formed in Turkey, Mexico, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. (Past issues of The New Farm have featured columns by WWOOFers traveling in Costa Rica, India, and beyond. "Jason and Derek reflect on their travels" , for example, includes an informative summary of the ups and downs of WWOOFing.)
Aspiring organic farmer Hope Temple, a native of Virginia who went WWOOFing for the first time in New Zealand in February and March of 2005, says her primary goal was to learn more about medium- to large-scale, grass-based sheep and cattle production heard "phenomenal things about the land itself rural, and beautiful." She wasn't disappointed. She worked on four farms, ranging in size from 150 acres to 70,000 acres, for a total of six weeks included mustering 3,000 sheep from a 900-acre 'block' in the early morning, shearing sheep using clippers, and driving sheep through the working pens to sort lambs from mothers, sick from healthy, young from old," she recalls.
Temple's advice to prospective WWOOFers is to "research carefully and reach out, early, to a large number of farms. I have a significant farming background, so this helped me get selected for stays in some more competitive places." As with any type of travel, she adds, you need to ask yourself what you want to get out of it: "education, vacation, a diversity of experiences, or a more grounded, in-depth experience. Working on a large number of farms will give you less knowledge, but you will see more examples of farming and probably, literally, more of a country."
One complaint occasionally heard about WWOOFing is that at least in some countries, the farms that accept WWOOFers and at times unreliable volunteer labor "lifestyle" farms run by ex-pats, as opposed to production-oriented family farms more typical of the host country. But programs and participants vary widely. In New Zealand, for instance, according to Temple, WWOOF listings included everything from small yoga retreat centers to vast sheep ranches, not all of them organic. WWOOFing demands flexibility and open-mindedness on the part of both host farmers and farm volunteers, WWOOFers say, and can lead to many wonderful as well as occasional not-so-wonderful experiences.
Perhaps most importantly, WWOOF UK¹s Whittle points out, as a movement the organization has contributed thousands of hours of labor and innumerable exchanges of insight and good will to the collective force of organic stewardship.
RESOURCES Spannocchia Foundation
www.spannocchia.org
Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA) www.mesaprogram.org European Network for Organic Agriculture Students (ENOAS) www.enoas.org Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF) www.wwoof.org Emerson College Biodynamic Training www.emerson.org.uk/ fulltimecourses/bio.htm AGROASIS www.agroasis.org Laura Sayre is senior writer for NewFarm.org.
CLICK TO READ More >
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| Friday, August 19, 2005 | |
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19 Aug 2005 @ 01:43
Efforts To Rebuild
Kingdom Of Hawaii Continue
'Bumpy' Kanahele has carved out an Oahu village
where native values reign. Many see it as a
steppingstone to the goal of sovereignty.
By Tomas Alex Tizon
LA Times Staff Writer
8-18-5
WAIMANALO, Hawaii -- From Honolulu, it takes an hour to drive here, heading north over dagger-like mountains and then east through rolling farm country to the outermost corner of the island known by some as the Hawaiians' Hawaii.
Tour buses circling the island don't stop here except to gas up.
Those who step off the bus won't find hula dancers greeting them with leis, or five-star hotels, or even two-star ones. They'll find a sleepy, rough-edged, working-class town of 10,000 people, some of whom don't like tourists and don't mind saying so.
"Haole, go home!" and variations of whites-aren't-welcome are occasionally shouted from front porches as a reminder that this isn't Waikiki. It's a different world. Locals rule here.
Half the residents are native Hawaiians, and many more are part Hawaiian. This is a place where Hawaiian is taught as a first language in some schools and spoken among neighbors, a place where it is widely held that Hawaii was stolen by the United States and that someday these lands will return to the Kanaka Maoli, the ancient Polynesians who settled the islands.
Scattered throughout Waimanalo's neighborhoods are state flags hanging upside-down, a symbol of defiance. In this corner of Oahu, Hawaiian sovereignty - a government of Hawaiians for Hawaiians - isn't just a tropical dream. The people have seen a version of it materialize before their eyes.
In the foothills above town, there is a village unlike any other in Hawaii. It's called Pu'uhonua o Waimanalo ("Refuge of Waimanalo"), a community of 80 native Hawaiians living communally on 45 acres. If Waimanalo is a stronghold of Hawaiian sovereignty, the village is its spiritual center.
Some people refer to it as "Bumpy's town," named after the 300-pound, tattooed, activist ex-con who negotiated the village into existence - wrangling with the state's most powerful politicians - more than a decade ago.
Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele, 51, is a descendant of King Kamehameha I and bears some of the warrior's physical presence. When asked how far removed he was from the king, Kanahele thought for a moment, then lifted a massive leg onto a nearby table. He studied a row of blue and red triangular markings tattooed on his calf.
"Eleven generations, brah," he said matter-of-factly. If Kamehameha were here today, he said, the king would be uniting his people as he did two centuries ago.
Kanahele is a folk hero in these parts. He did what no other Hawaii activist had done: carved out a little kingdom within a kingdom, allowing natives to live by their own rules and revive the ways of the Kanaka Maoli. For many locals, the village represents the most tangible gain in more than 30 years of agitating for Hawaiian sovereignty.
When the movement first emerged in the 1970s, even native Hawaiians were skeptical.
"I didn't think it could happen myself, but people like Bumpy made us see it could," said Sandra Barney, 59, a native Hawaiian from Kaneohe Bay who has known Kanahele since he was a young man. "The proof is here. Bumpy stuck his neck out. I thought they were going to chop it. Now there's a village in the mountains."
The idea of sovereignty has become part of Hawaii's mainstream consciousness, with the state's most powerful political leaders - Republican Gov. Linda Lingle and Democratic Sens. Daniel K. Inouye and Daniel K. Akaka - supporting some version of it.
The U.S. Senate is considering a Hawaiian sovereignty law known as the Akaka bill, named after its chief sponsor and the first native Hawaiian in Congress. The bill, which has stalled in the Senate the past five years, was blocked again Wednesday by a Nevada senator concerned that it might encourage Hawaiians to build casinos. Both Hawaii senators said they had secured enough support to pass the bill if it ever made it to a vote. The House passed an earlier version.
The legislation would lead to federal recognition of native Hawaiians in the same way that the government recognizes American Indians and Native Alaskans. It would also initiate a process under which native Hawaiians could set up their own government, giving them the same nation-within-a-nation status as Indian tribes.
A native government would represent Hawaiians in negotiations with the federal government over contested land and resources, including nearly 2 million acres once owned by the Hawaiian monarchy - nearly half the state.
Forming the new government would take years, not counting legal challenges.
A 2003 survey by the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs, like most in recent years, found that the majority of Hawaii residents supported sovereignty. But the Akaka bill has inspired an odd spectrum of opponents.
On one hand are political conservatives, mostly Caucasian, who call the idea divisive and immoral.
"Every country that has used racial ancestry as the basis for who deserves recognition, who is entitled to privileges, has ended up disastrously," said H. William Burgess, an attorney who has challenged the legality of state-sponsored entitlement programs for native people. Burgess said the Akaka bill would create "a race-based government."
On the other hand are native Hawaiian activists like Kanahele who want nothing less than total independence from the United States.
They see it as the only way to right the wrong of 1893 when U.S. troops helped overthrow the Hawaiian monarchy, leading to annexation and statehood, and, for the Kanaka Maoli, loss of a kingdom and an ancient way of life.
Today, the state's estimated 240,000 native Hawaiians - those with 50% or more Hawaiian blood - make up about 20% of the population and fare poorest in almost all socioeconomic indicators. They have the state's worst health statistics, highest number of school dropouts, highest unemployment rate and highest levels of incarceration.
Kanahele grew up in Waimanalo as one of the statistics, dropping out of high school and serving time for theft and assault. In his 20s, the angry young man transformed into a ferocious advocate for his people, leading protests against the "illegal occupation" of Hawaii.
One day in 1987, Kanahele recalled, he went to a nearby beach and saw homeless people camped under the palm trees. Nearly all of them were Kanaka Maoli. How could this happen in their own homeland? he recalled thinking.
The next thought changed his life:
"The government will never give back our land. How about if we just take it back?"
By that time, Kanahele had a following, many of them friends from Waimanalo. In the spring of that year, he and about 50 protesters took over a former Coast Guard station and the surrounding 300 acres at Makapuu Lighthouse, the easternmost tip of Oahu. The acreage, owned by the state, was part of what Kanahele called "the stolen lands."
Kanahele's group occupied the site for two months. During one confrontation with police, Kanahele pulled out a shotgun. He was arrested and served 14 months in state prison. It turned out to be a fruitful time.
"Most of the people in there were brothers," Kanahele said, fellow native Hawaiians "who were caught up." He proselytized and recruited and, upon his release, had a new army of followers who eventually joined him.
In 1993, the 100-year anniversary of the U.S. takeover of the islands, Kanahele led 300 people in an occupation of Makapuu Beach, a short drive from Waimanalo.
News cameras captured images of Kanahele armed not with guns but copies of President Clinton's newly signed "Apology Resolution," which acknowledged the U.S. role in overthrowing the monarchy.
The political climate had shifted. John Waihee, then the state's governor and the first of Hawaiian ancestry, had recently told constituents that sovereignty was only "a matter of how, when and in what form."
Polls showed that three out of four Hawaiian residents supported sovereignty, and Kanahele - the most militant of the activists - gained a reputation as a thug-hero. Arresting him could have stirred the 40 other Hawaiian sovereignty groups to join the occupation.
Kanahele began building houses on the beach. After 15 months, Waihee finally intervened. The governor's office proposed a deal: If Kanahele and his group vacated the beach peacefully, the state would give them a 45-acre parcel above Waimanalo in the foothills of the Koolau Mountains.
Kanahele accepted.
In June 1994, the protesters disbanded and the core group made its way to the future site of Pu'uhonua o Waimanalo.
Gina Maikai, 44, recalled those first days in the hills:
"It was a forest. There was nothing but trees. At first, we lived in tents while the men made a road. Then we moved onto platforms while the men built houses. We had to find our own lumber. We did all the work. Mosquitoes were a problem."
The entrance to the village lies at the end of a long country road. A swinging metal gate opens up to another road that winds uphill into a clearing, where a string of 22 cottages rests along the sway of the land. It isn't a place of straight lines.
The feel is lush and slightly messy, like a rumpled blanket.
There are no fences. The home sites blend into each other. Wild chickens scamper between cottages, children chasing them. Rising above the clearing are green mountains whose steep curving sides create a hollow that amplifies the sounds of tropical birds, a constant chorus.
A lot has happened in 11 years. Kanahele's group eventually agreed to sign a renewable 55-year lease at a cost of $3,000 a year, which worked out to about $60 annually per adult, a token payment.
No government official will publicly admit it, but the state has adopted a hands-off approach to the village, waiving many regulations - such as building permits and fishing and hunting licenses - and allowing the villagers to govern themselves.
Village affairs are managed by four women - a "council of aunties" - who appoint responsibilities, hear grievances and settle disputes. Recently, a village mother was found to be using cocaine, and the council ordered her to enter drug rehab or face eviction.
"Once I had to evict my own mother-in-law," said Maikai, who heads the council. "You have to be part of the big family, and she couldn't handle it."
When space opens up in the village, the council decides who can move in. Most residents have known each other for years and, in many cases, their families have been acquainted for generations.
One villager is in charge of collecting garbage, one tends the taro patch, one cultivates ti leaf and another provides security by patrolling the village perimeter. Everyone has a job, and every adult contributes to paying the lease and whatever other expenses come up.
Of the 80 residents, half were among the occupying group at Makapuu, and about 30 are children. Most adults work piecemeal jobs on the outside, mainly in the building trades.
Every adult is in charge of instructing the children in at least one traditional skill, such as killing a wild animal or catching reef fish with throw nets. The children learn the Hawaiian language, memorizing names for plants and creatures, such as the reef triggerfish - the state fish - that Hawaiians call humuhumunukunuku apua'a.
As for Kanahele, his life changed along with the village. Not long after his group moved into the hills, he was convicted of harboring an activist who had refused to pay federal taxes. Kanahele spent four months in federal prison and emerged with an even greater reputation among hard-core activists.
The political establishment continued to warm up to him.
In 2002, then-Gov. Ben Cayetano granted Kanahele a full pardon for his prior convictions and hailed him as "a leader in the Hawaiian community." Kanahele thereafter vowed to avoid all violence, choosing instead a Gandhian path of "passive civil resistance" and "throwing spears of aloha" at his opponents.
With his three children grown and his wife of 28 years busy with her own projects, Kanahele spends his days cooped up in his office in the village. He cobbles together a living as a speaker and consultant on native issues, but his main work is here, on the phone, trying to figure out a way to spread the seeds of Pu'uhonua village.
His vision is to form similar villages throughout the islands.
Recently, the president of French Polynesia, Oscar Temaru, visited Kanahele. Temaru has long advocated independence from France. The two longtime friends compared notes. Kanahele showed Temaru the view from the highest point in the village.
"Let me show you what I showed him, brah," Kanahele said to a visitor.
Walking through several doorways, his hulking shoulders filling them as he passed, Kanahele stepped onto the village road and hiked a short distance to the top of a hill. From there, he gestured north toward Waimanalo and beyond, to a white-sand coastline and a slice of crystal blue ocean.
"This is what sovereignty is to me," he said. "Standing here on your land, not owing anything to anybody, not being afraid of anyone, knowing you fought the right fight with attitude - and looking out at that. This is the beginning, brah, just the beginning." More >
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| Friday, August 12, 2005 | |
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12 Aug 2005 @ 05:17
The Wal-Martization of America: Watching the Economy Crumble
August 9, 2005
Good News! Soon You'll No Longer Need an Expensive College Education to Work in the US
Watching the Economy Crumble
[link]
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
The US continues its descent into the Third World, but you would never know
it from news reports of the Bureau of Labor Statistics¹ July payroll jobs
release.
The media gives a bare bones jobs report that is misleading. The public
heard that 207,000 jobs were created in July. If not a reassuring figure, at
least it is not a disturbing one. On the surface things look to be pretty
much OK. It is when you look into the composition of these jobs that the
concern arises.
Of the new jobs, 26,000 (about 13%) are tax-supported government jobs. That
leaves 181,000 private sector jobs. Of these private sector jobs, 177,000,
or 98%, are in the domestic service sector.
Here is the breakdown of the major categories:
* 30,000 food servers and bar tenders;
* 28,000 health care and social assistance:
* 12,000 real estate;
* 6,000 credit intermediation;
* 8,000 transit and ground passenger transportation;
* 50,000 retail trade; and
* 8,000 wholesale trade.
(There were 7,000 construction jobs, most of which were filled by Mexicans
immigrants.)
Not a single one of these jobs produces a tradable good or service that can
be exported or serve as an import substitute to help reduce the massive and
growing US trade deficit. The US economy is employing people to sell things,
to move people around, and to serve them fast food and alcoholic beverages.
The items may have an American brand name, but they are mainly made off
shore. For example, 70% of Wal-Mart¹s goods are made in China.
Where are the jobs for the 65,000 engineers the US graduates each year?
Where are the jobs for the physics, chemistry, and math majors? Who needs a
university degree to wait tables and serve drinks, to build houses, to work
as hospital orderlies, bus drivers, and sales clerks?
In the 21st century job growth in the US economy has consistently reflected
that of a Third World country--low productivity domestic services jobs. This
goes on month after month and no one catches on--least of all the economists
and the policymakers.
Economists assume that every high productivity, high paying job that is
shipped out of the country is a net gain for America. We are getting things
cheaper, they say. Perhaps, for a while, until the dollar goes. What the
cheaper goods argument overlooks are the reductions in the productivity and
pay of employed Americans and in the manufacturing, technical, and
scientific capability of the US economy.
What is the point of higher education when the job opportunities in the
economy do not require it?
These questions are too difficult for economists, politicians, and
newscasters. Instead, we hear that ³last month the US economy created
207,000 jobs.²
Television has an inexhaustible supply of optimistic economists.
Last weekend CNN had John Rutledge (erroneously billed as the person who
drafted President Reagan¹s economic program) explaining that the strength of
the US economy was ³mom and pop businesses.² The college student with whom I
was watching the program broke out laughing.
What mom and pop businesses? Everything that used to be mom and pop
businesses has been replaced with chains and discount retailers. Auto parts
stores are chains, pharmacies are chains, restaurants are chains. Wal-Mart,
Home Depot, and Lowes, have destroyed hardware stores, clothing stores,
appliance stores, building supply stores, gardening shops, whatever--you
name it.
Just try starting a small business today. Most gasoline station/convenience
stores seem to be the property of immigrant ethnic groups who acquired them
with the aid of a taxpayer-financed US government loan.
Today a mom and pop business is a cleaning service that employs Mexicans, a
pool service, a lawn service, or a limo service.
In recent years the US economy has been kept afloat by low interest rates.
The low interest rates have fueled a real estate boom. As housing prices
rise, people refinance their mortgages, take equity out of their homes and
spend the money, thus keeping the consumer economy going.
The massive American trade and budget deficits are covered by the
willingness of Asian countries, principally Japan and China, to hold US
government bonds and to continue to acquire ownership of America¹s real
assets in exchange for their penetration of US markets.
This game will not go on forever. When it stops, what is left to drive the
US economy?
Paul Craig Roberts has held a number of academic appointments and has
contributed to numerous scholarly publications. He served as Assistant
Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. His graduate
economics education was at the University of Virginia, the University of
California at Berkeley, and Oxford University. He is coauthor of The Tyranny
of Good Intentions.
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12 Aug 2005 @ 05:16
Rich Liberals Vow to Raise Hundreds of Millions of Dollars to Compete with Radical Right ThinkTanks
washingtonpost.com
[link]
848.html
Rich Liberals Vow to Fund Think Tanks
Aim Is to Compete With Conservatives
By Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 7, 2005; A01
At least 80 wealthy liberals have pledged to contribute $1 million or more
apiece to fund a network of think tanks and advocacy groups to compete with
the potent conservative infrastructure built up over the past three decades.
The money will be channeled through a new partnership called the Democracy
Alliance, which was founded last spring -- the latest in a series of liberal
initiatives as the Democratic Party and its allies continue to struggle with
the loss of the House and the Senate in 1994 and the presidency in 2000.
Many influential Democratic contributors were left angry and despairing over
the party's poor showing in last year's elections, and are looking for what
they hope will be more effective ways to invest their support.
Financial commitments totaling at least $80 million over the next five years
generated by the Democracy Alliance in recent months -- at a time when some
liberal groups, such as the George Soros-backed America Coming Together, are
floundering -- suggest that the group is becoming a player in the long-term
effort to reinvigorate the left. The group has a goal of raising $200
million -- a sum that would inevitably come in part at the expense of more
traditional Democratic groups, although alliance officials say donors have
committed to maintaining past contribution levels.
Alliance chairman Steven Gluckstern, a retired investment banker, said that
President Bush's victory over Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) last year after
millions of dollars had been poured into pro-Democratic "527" groups caused
many contributors to think that a dramatically new approach is needed.
"It wasn't only the failure to win, it was the question 'What does it take
to win?' " Gluckstern said. "Among the lessons learned was that to bring
back the progressive majority in this country is not just a periodic
election investment strategy."
The Democracy Alliance will act as a financial clearing house. Its staff
members and board of directors will develop a lineup of established and
proposed groups that they believe will develop and promote ideas on the
left. To fulfill their million-dollar pledge, each partner must agree to
give $200,000 or more a year for at least five years to alliance-endorsed
groups.
The alliance is the brainchild of longtime Democratic strategist Rob Stein,
who spent years studying conservative groups -- in particular their success
in sustaining GOP politicians and achieving many of their policy goals.
Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democrat Network, is working with
Stein and is a leading promoter of his effort.
Rosenberg said liberals and Democrats now face a conservative
"information-age Tammany Hall, a 21st century political machine, that is
simply better than what we have on our side.
"The infrastructure we have was built for a different time and mission. It
was built around the congressional majority we had for 60 years in the 20th
century, the labor movement and the urban-ethnic city machines," he added.
CLICK TO READ More >
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12 Aug 2005 @ 05:10
Celebrate International Kitchen Garden Day, Aug. 28
Kitchen Garden Day is an annual, decentralized celebration of delicious
foods produced on a human scale. It is an opportunity for people around the
world to gather in their gardens with friends, family, and members of their
local communities to enjoy the multiple pleasures and benefits of
home-grown, hand-made, organic foods.
Kitchen Garden Day is coordinated by Kitchen Gardeners International (KGI),
a 501c3 nonprofit organization based in the US with friends and supporters
in over 40 countries. KGI¹s mission is to celebrate home-grown, home-cooked
foods in their many international forms and to promote their role in
bringing about a healthier, more sustainable, and more pleasurable food
system.
³With gas prices hovering at record highs and consumer confidence in
industrial, processed foods at an all-time low, the case for eating foods of
local and known origin has never been stronger,² says Roger Doiron, founder
of KGI. "Kitchen Garden Day is about celebrating the bounty and diversity
of delicious foods coming from our own backyards, both literally and
figuratively."
For more information about Kitchen Garden Day, see:
[link]
To stay abreast of Kitchen Garden Day and KGI¹s other activities, please
sign up
for our free monthly e-newsletter here:
[link]
Media contact: Roger Doiron, tel: (207) 883-5341, e-mail:
info@kitchengardeners.org
Background article:
Let One Million Gardens Bloom
Brian Halweil
³I see the kitchen garden as being both a means and a universal metaphor for
a healthier, tastier, and more sustainable way of eating,² Roger Doiron of
Scarborough, Maine, explains. ³Parents disappointed with the offerings in
supermarkets might decide to put in their own garden. Doctors might suggest
that obese patients get some exercise vegetable box. Overstressed urbanites might find some peace while weeding.²
In December of 2003, Doiron founded Kitchen Gardeners International, a sort
of political and intellectual clearinghouse for folks who grow their own.
The group¹s goal is simple: bring people into closer contact with their food
by celebrating home-grown, home-cooked foods in their many international
forms. Think of it as a cross between Slow Food and the back-to-the-land
movement.
But Doiron, previously head of the European office of Friends of the Earth,
has his work cut out for him. Back in 1900, Americans raised 30 percent of
their own food. Today, the share stands at a meager 1.5 percent.
Luckily, Kitchen Gardeners depends on the notion that small doesn¹t
necessarily mean insignificant. ³A miniature salad garden is a really good
way to start,² Doiron says, suggesting a ³cut-and-come-again² mix of greens
that might yield four or so crops in a season.
³You just need to break a little bit of ground,² Doiron says. He harbors no
illusions about the scale of his challenge. ³When you¹re talking about
moving the Krafts, Unilevers, the whole convenience food mentality, that
involves moving some pretty heavy objects. It will take a lot of little
kitchen gardens to do that.²
For now, Kitchen Gardeners¹ activities are low-budget and largely virtual:
an electronic newsletter, articles on gardening and cooking on the web
(www.kitchengardeners.org ) , links to relevant news from around the world.
The group acquired the webdomain, www.eatrealfood.org , which features an
upbeat flash animation showing a precocious girl skipping through a Red
Riding Hood-esque world where she avoids persistent junk food solicitations
in favor of her homegrown carrots, peas, and other delights. Shortly after
launchingthe site, the number of people who have signed up for the
newsletter jumped past 1,000, with over 30 countries on all five continents
represented. An agricultural extension worker in Lusaka, Zambia, checks out
the site ³to be abreast with Agriculture Development,² and finds the
information useful for both her work and home garden. One urbanite in São
Paolo, Brazil, said that Kitchen Gardeners inspired her to learn about
³native vegetables, fruits, the climates where they can grow, and at this moment
Doiron is banking on publicity from the Kitchen Garden Day, planned for the
fourth Sunday in August to coincide with the height of harvest period in the
northern hemisphere. And while some people have greeted the idea with
skepticism<³international day fatigue² February is National Snack Food month, for instance. ³If they have a whole
month for promoting their products, then we can at least have a day,² Doiron
says.
When Doiron isn¹t managing this fledgling organization, he is honing his own
gardening skills and doing what he can to include his children in back-yard
work. Doiron notes that gardening is a skill that largely gets passed person
to person, and that the majority of people in an urban nation like the
United States probably have little exposure to making pickles, planting
seeds, weeding, or even the most basic garden chores.
In the fall of 2003, Doiron built a small greenhouse and made his first
batch of sauerkraut, which his family enjoyed for the better part of the
winter. ³We tend to think of the kitchen garden as this brief explosion of
vegetables,² Doiron says, who sees foods that keep well, like sauerkraut and
tomato sauce, as the logical extension of gardening.
He also planted some mache and claytonia in his greenhouse, planning to pick
these hardy salad greens throughout the winter. Several weeks later, he
concluded that the plants had succumbed, yet another horticultural victim
claimed by the New England winter. But he was hopeful about the spring. It
seemed he had stumbled upon another metaphor for his work. Looking to the
greenhouse, as the days got longer and warmer, Doiron was pleasantly
surprised to see the same greens resurrected. ³What I thought was simply
dead has snapped back to life,² he says.
Brian Halweil is a senior researcher with the Worldwatch Institute. He lives
in Sag Harbor, where he and his wife tend a kitchen garden and orchard. This
article was adapted from his new book, Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown
Pleasures in a Global Supermarket (W.W. Norton, 2004).
Kitchen Gardeners International, 7 Flintlock Drive, Scarborough, ME, 04074,
USA
tel: (207) 883-5341, e-mail: info at kitchengardeners.org, web:
www.kitchengardeners.org
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| Tuesday, August 9, 2005 | |
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9 Aug 2005 @ 06:12
Factory Style Dairies in Southern California Emit Tremendous Amounts of Greenhouse Gases
From Grist Magazine
www.grist.org
Heifer Madness
Thanks to booming dairy biz, cows out-pollute cars in California valley
In California's San Joaquin Valley, air-quality regulators are squaring off against the area's lucrative dairy industry over cow gas: Each dairy cow in the valley emits nearly 20 pounds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) a year, according to official estimates. (Sadly, more of the gas comes from burps than flatulence, sharply lowering humor emissions.) VOCs combine with other pollutants to cause ground-level ozone, and with 2.5 million bovines and counting in the valley, that makes cows -- not cars, trucks, or pesticides -- the leading cause of smog. Officials may require emission-control measures at feedlots and waste lagoons, and are considering regulating cow chow to control the animals' gassiness. Noting the area's high rates of childhood asthma, one eco-justice advocate calls the situation "a public health crisis." And community activist Tom Frantz says regulations can't come fast enough: "Our lungs will not become an agricultural subsidy."
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Miguel Bustillo, 02 Aug 2005 [link],0,5709626.story?coll=la-home-headlines
San Joaquin Valley, Cows Pass Cars as Polluters Air district says bovines on the region's booming dairy farms are the biggest single source of smog-forming gases. The industry takes issue.
By Miguel Bustillo, Times Staff Writer
Got smog?
California's San Joaquin Valley for some time has had the dirtiest air in the country. Monday, officials said gases from ruminating dairy cows, not exhaust from cars, are the region's biggest single source of a chief smog-forming pollutant.
Every year, the average dairy cow produces 19.3 pounds of gases, called volatile organic compounds, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District said. Those gases react with other pollutants to form ground-level ozone, or smog.
With 2.5 million dairy cows < roughly one of every five in the country < emissions of almost 20 pounds per cow mean that cattle in the San Joaquin Valley produce more organic compounds than are generated by either cars or trucks or pesticides, the air district said. The finding will serve as the basis for strict air-quality regulations on the region's booming dairy
industry.
The San Joaquin Valley, Houston and Los Angeles have the three worst air-pollution problems in America. Their relative rank varies from year to year depending in part on weather conditions. Over the last six years, however, the San Joaquin Valley has violated the federal limit on ozone smog over an eight-hour period more than any other region. That "eight-hour standard" is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's main barometer for the severity of smog.
The dairy industry will be forced to invest millions of dollars in expensive pollution-control technology in feedlots and waste lagoons, and may even have to consider altering animals' diets to meet the region's planned air-quality regulations. Not surprisingly, industry officials challenged the estimate as scientifically unsound.
"Science is supposed to guide this regulation, not fairy dust," said Michael Marsh, chief executive officer of Western United Dairymen, a lobbying group that said it was considering a lawsuit to block regulations based on the new finding. "It's impossible to capture emissions that scientists can't even detect."
Air-quality regulators defended their estimate as a conservative one based on the best available research. But it was criticized by some scientists < including one whose work was used by the district to arrive at the figure. "If you closed all the dairies in California tomorrow, you would not see much of an impact on ozone formation," said the scientist, Frank Mitloehner of UC Davis, who was hired by air-quality officials to study cow emissions and now contends his findings were misconstrued.
"We really don't have the science to back this number up," he said.
Five members of Congress and 12 state legislators had demanded that the district reconsider a similar draft estimate, calling it absurdly high. Environmentalists and some community groups, meanwhile, called the same figure too low.
The entire exercise of estimating cow emissions has been lampooned on talk radio as "fart science" run amok front end of the cow.
CLICK TO READ More >
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9 Aug 2005 @ 06:11
Factory Style Dairies in Southern California Emit Tremendous Amounts of Greenhouse Gases
From Grist Magazine
www.grist.org
Heifer Madness
Thanks to booming dairy biz, cows out-pollute cars in California valley
In California's San Joaquin Valley, air-quality regulators are squaring off against the area's lucrative dairy industry over cow gas: Each dairy cow in the valley emits nearly 20 pounds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) a year, according to official estimates. (Sadly, more of the gas comes from burps than flatulence, sharply lowering humor emissions.) VOCs combine with other pollutants to cause ground-level ozone, and with 2.5 million bovines and counting in the valley, that makes cows -- not cars, trucks, or pesticides -- the leading cause of smog. Officials may require emission-control measures at feedlots and waste lagoons, and are considering regulating cow chow to control the animals' gassiness. Noting the area's high rates of childhood asthma, one eco-justice advocate calls the situation "a public health crisis." And community activist Tom Frantz says regulations can't come fast enough: "Our lungs will not become an agricultural subsidy."
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Miguel Bustillo, 02 Aug 2005 [link],0,5709626.story?coll=la-home-headlines
San Joaquin Valley, Cows Pass Cars as Polluters Air district says bovines on the region's booming dairy farms are the biggest single source of smog-forming gases. The industry takes issue.
By Miguel Bustillo, Times Staff Writer
Got smog?
California's San Joaquin Valley for some time has had the dirtiest air in the country. Monday, officials said gases from ruminating dairy cows, not exhaust from cars, are the region's biggest single source of a chief smog-forming pollutant.
Every year, the average dairy cow produces 19.3 pounds of gases, called volatile organic compounds, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District said. Those gases react with other pollutants to form ground-level ozone, or smog.
With 2.5 million dairy cows < roughly one of every five in the country < emissions of almost 20 pounds per cow mean that cattle in the San Joaquin Valley produce more organic compounds than are generated by either cars or trucks or pesticides, the air district said. The finding will serve as the basis for strict air-quality regulations on the region's booming dairy
industry.
The San Joaquin Valley, Houston and Los Angeles have the three worst air-pollution problems in America. Their relative rank varies from year to year depending in part on weather conditions. Over the last six years, however, the San Joaquin Valley has violated the federal limit on ozone smog over an eight-hour period more than any other region. That "eight-hour standard" is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's main barometer for the severity of smog.
The dairy industry will be forced to invest millions of dollars in expensive pollution-control technology in feedlots and waste lagoons, and may even have to consider altering animals' diets to meet the region's planned air-quality regulations. Not surprisingly, industry officials challenged the estimate as scientifically unsound.
"Science is supposed to guide this regulation, not fairy dust," said Michael Marsh, chief executive officer of Western United Dairymen, a lobbying group that said it was considering a lawsuit to block regulations based on the new finding. "It's impossible to capture emissions that scientists can't even detect."
Air-quality regulators defended their estimate as a conservative one based on the best available research. But it was criticized by some scientists < including one whose work was used by the district to arrive at the figure. "If you closed all the dairies in California tomorrow, you would not see much of an impact on ozone formation," said the scientist, Frank Mitloehner of UC Davis, who was hired by air-quality officials to study cow emissions and now contends his findings were misconstrued.
"We really don't have the science to back this number up," he said.
Five members of Congress and 12 state legislators had demanded that the district reconsider a similar draft estimate, calling it absurdly high. Environmentalists and some community groups, meanwhile, called the same figure too low.
The entire exercise of estimating cow emissions has been lampooned on talk radio as "fart science" run amok front end of the cow.
CLICK TO READ More >
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9 Aug 2005 @ 06:09
Greenpeace Exposes Monsanto's Attempt to Patent Pigs & Their Offspring Worldwide
Source: Greenpeace International
Posted by: Greenpeace International
Aug 2, 2005
[link]
Greenpeace reveals Biotech giant Monsanto application for global pig patent Amsterdam/New Delhi, 2 August 2005 -- Greenpeace researchers have uncovered patent application from the biotech giant Monsanto which, if granted, would give the company world-wide control over breeding of pigs and their off spring. Greenpeace warns that Monsanto's aggressive patent practices covering genetically modified (GM) crops and normal seeds threaten biodiversity, endanger world food security and ruin the livelihoods of farmers and calls for the patent applications to be withdrawn.
Speaking at an international conference on Biodiversity, Biopiracy and Patents (1), being held in New Delhi, Eric Gall of Greenpeace International said: "Monsanto is once again trying to control the food we grow. This is patenting life. This is abuse of patent laws and it is an outright offence to farmers world-wide."
Filed at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva (2)
the patent application stakes a claim on pig rights in more than 160
countries, including the UK, Germany, the US, Russia, Brazil, Australia,
China and India. If granted, US-based Monsanto will be in a position to prevent breeders and farmers from breeding pigs with certain characteristics or methods of breeding, or force them to pay royalties. The patents cover methods of conventional breeding and also the screening for naturally occurring genetic conditions that can make pigs grow faster.
Monsanto wants to enter a growing market with an increasing consumer demand for meat products globally. The Monsanto patents pretend to speed up breeding for higher economical profit. The hitch is that these pigs and their descendants would all be patented - and royalties would have to be paid to Monsanto.
Monsanto is already infamous for its aggressive marketing of GM crops such as GM soy and GM maize, as well as for its far-reaching monopolies on all kind of seeds (3). Greenpeace wants Monsanto to drop patent applications on farm animals and seeds, and stop the abuse of patent law, bio-piracy, animal patents and seed monopolies. Greenpeace also launched a cyberaction against Monsanto today.
"If this patent gets granted, Monsanto could control the normal breeding of pigs to a large extent, without any real invention behind it. The experience farmers have with this company so far (4) let them expect a further shocking exercise of squeezing royalties and suing farmers on global scale," warned Gall. "This patent application is so absurd we wonder what Monsanto will come up with next?"
For more information Eric Gall, Greenpeace European Unit GMO policy adviser, mobile +91 98 116 82601 (in India) and +32 (0)496 161 582 Christoph Then, GE campaigner, Greenpeace International, mobile +49 171 878 0832 Judit L. Kalovits, media officer, Greenpeace International, mobile +31 621 296 914 Notes to Editors
(1) "EU - India Dialogue cum Strategy Session on Biodiversity, Indigenous Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights" conference between the European Union and India is held in New Delhi, India on the 1-2 August 2005.
(2) Patent applications WO 2005/017204 and WO 2005/015989 were filed in February 2005 at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva. There are more than 160 countries mentioned where the patent should be granted, such as in Europe, Russian Federation, Asia (India, China, Philippines) America (USA, Brazil, Mexico), Australia and New Zealand. The WIPO itself can only receive applications, but does not grant any patents; it will forward the applications to regional patent offices in the US, Europe or elsewhere. At this stage the patent are not granted yet, but they could be accepted for example under European and US Regulation. For the full document see: [link] 256+4+20872+BASICHTML-ENG+1+1+1+25+SEP-0/HITNUM,B,,SCORE+2005015989
(3) The company has spent about 10 billions US $ over the last ten years to buy a large range of companies involved in seed and agricultural production. According to Greenpeace, such patents and monopolies lead to a decrease of biodiversity in agriculture, endanger global food security and put pressure on farmers' livelihoods worldwide. For more on patents at [link]
(4) The way Monsanto tries to control its genetically manipulated seeds such as herbicide resistant soybeans by taking farmers to court has already led to worldwide controversies and protests. Recently it was made public that Monsanto even tries to get additional royalties for harvests from Argentinean soybean farmers exported to Europe by filing court cases in Denmark, claiming the cargo of shipments was their intellectual property.
Take Action against Monsanto at [link]
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9 Aug 2005 @ 06:04
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney Reopens Hearings on 9/11--What Really Happened?
From
McKinney Reopens 9/11
- Conspiracy theories implicating president aired at 8-hour hearing
By Bob Kemper
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
07/23/05
McKinney's entire hearing is being archived for viewing on her website -
[link] - and videos of all the DC Emergency Truth
Convergence events will also be available online by August 10th. We will
post links here as segments are posted. - Ed.
Rep. Cynthia McKinney chairs Friday's hearing, reopening the issue that
brought her criticism and her 2002 ouster. Photo: Rick McKay/AJC
Washington < Revisiting the issue that helped spur her ouster from Congress
three years ago, Rep. Cynthia McKinney led a Capitol Hill hearing Friday on
whether the Bush administration was involved in the terrorist attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001.
The eight-hour hearing, timed to mark the first anniversary of the release
of the Sept. 11 commission's report on the attacks, drew dozens of
contrarians and conspiracy theorists who suggest President Bush purposely
ignored warnings or may even have had a hand in the attack < claims
participants said the commission ignored. "The commission's report was not
a rush to judgment, it was a rush to exoneration," said John Judge, a member
of McKinney's staff and a representative of a Web site dedicated to raising
questions about the Sept. 11 commission's report.
The White House and the commission have dismissed such questions as
unfounded conspiracy theories.
McKinney first raised questions about Bush's involvement shortly after the
attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, generating a furious
response from fellow Democrats in Washington and voters in Georgia, who
ousted her in 2002.
"What we are doing is asking the unanswered questions of the 9/11 families,"
McKinney, a DeKalb County Democrat who won back her seat in 2004, said
during the proceedings.
She rebuffed a reporter's repeated attempts to ask her why she would so
boldly embrace the same claims that led to her downfall.
"Congresswoman McKinney is viewed as a contrarian," panelist Melvin Goodman,
a former CIA official, said. "And I hope someday her views will be
considered conventional wisdom."
Though she left the testimony and questioning of panelists to others,
McKinney was the main attraction, presiding over more than two dozen
participants, including the author of a book that claims the U.S. government
had advance knowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack and allowed it to happen,
and Peter Dale Scott, who wrote three books on President John F. Kennedy's
assassination.
Georgia peanuts, Cokes and coffee were available to more than 50 attendees,
whose casual dress was a decided change from the gangs of blue-suited
lobbyists who usually crowd Capitol Hill hearings.
McKinney herself offered witnesses bottled water and found additional trash
cans to place around the room.
Nearly a dozen 9/11 enthusiasts lined one side of the room, camcorders at
the ready, broadcasting the hearing live over the Internet or recording it
for later release. C-SPAN cameras documented the hearing, and a DVD
recording of the proceedings will soon be available.
Ten people sat in a section reserved for family members of 9/11 victims.
"Nine-eleven could have been prevented," said Marilyn Rosenthal, a
University of Michigan professor who lost a son in the attacks, echoing the
premise of the hearing.
Panelists maintained that Bush ignored numerous warnings from the CIA, the
Federal Aviation Administration, foreign governments and others who told him
before 9/11 that Osama bin Laden was planning to attack the United States
and that terrorists were likely to use hijacked airliners as weapons.
But why would the president or his administration want the 9/11 attacks to
occur? Power, the panelists agreed.
In the wake of the attacks, the administration was able to greatly expand
the president's power and the reach of the federal government, they said,
but whistle-blowers and other potential witnesses who could have testified
to the Sept. 11 commission about such things were either prevented from
speaking or ignored in the commission's final report. Panelists called the
commission's report "a cover-up."
"The American people have been seriously misled," said Scott.
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| Saturday, August 6, 2005 | |
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6 Aug 2005 @ 04:34
CALLING ALL LUDDITES
By Thomas L. Friedman
New York Times
August 3, 2005
[link]
I've been thinking of running for high office on a one-issue platform: I
promise, if elected, that within four years America will have cellphone
service as good as Ghana's. If re-elected, I promise that in eight years
America will have cellphone service as good as Japan's, provided Japan
agrees not to forge ahead on wireless technology. My campaign bumper
sticker: "Can You Hear Me Now?"
I began thinking about this after watching the Japanese use cellphones and
laptops to get on the Internet from speeding bullet trains and subways deep
underground. But the last straw was when I couldn't get cellphone service
while visiting I.B.M.'s headquarters in Armonk, N.Y.
But don't worry - Congress is on the case. It dropped everything last week
to pass a bill to protect gun makers from shooting victims' lawsuits. The
fact that the U.S. has fallen to 16th in the world in broadband connectivity
aroused no interest. Look, I don't even like cellphones, but this is not
about gadgets. The world is moving to an Internet-based platform for
commerce, education, innovation and entertainment. Wealth and productivity
will go to those countries or companies that get more of their innovators,
educators, students, workers and suppliers connected to this platform via
computers, phones and P.D.A.'s.
A new generation of politicians is waking up to this issue. For instance,
Andrew Rasiej is running in New York City's Democratic primary for public
advocate on a platform calling for wireless (Wi-Fi) and cellphone Internet
access from every home, business and school in the city. If, God forbid, a
London-like attack happens in a New York subway, don't trying calling 911.
Your phone won't work down there. No wireless infrastructure. This ain't
Tokyo, pal.
At the City Hall subway stop this morning, Mr. Rasiej plans to show how one
makes a 911 call from the subway. He will have one aide with a tin can in
the subway send a message to another aide holding a tin can connected by a
string. Then the message will be passed by tin can and string up to Mr.
Rasiej on the street, who will call 911 with his cellphone.
"That is how you say something if you see something today in a New York
subway - tin cans connected to someone with a cellphone on the street," said
Mr. Rasiej, a 47-year-old entrepreneur who founded an educational-technology
nonprofit.
Mr. Rasiej wants to see New York follow Philadelphia, which decided it
wouldn't wait for private companies to provide connectivity to all. Instead,
Philly made it a city-led project - like sewers and electricity. The whole
city will be a "hot zone," where any resident anywhere with a computer,
cellphone or P.D.A. will have cheap high-speed Wi-Fi access to the Internet.
Mr. Rasiej argues that we can't trust the telecom companies to make sure
that everyone is connected because new technologies, like free Internet
telephony, threaten their business models. "We can't trust the traditional
politicians to be the engines of change for how people connect to their
government and each other," he said. By the way, he added, "If New York City
goes wireless, the whole country goes wireless."
Mr. Rasiej is also promoting civic photo-blogging - having people use their
cellphones to take pictures of potholes or crime, and then, using Google
maps, e-mailing the pictures and precise locations to City Hall.
Message: In U.S. politics, the party that most quickly absorbs the latest
technology often dominates. F.D.R. dominated radio and the fireside chat;
J.F.K., televised debates; Republicans, direct mail and then talk radio, and
now Karl Rove's networked voter databases.
The technological model coming next - which Howard Dean accidentally
uncovered but never fully developed - will revolve around the power of
networks and blogging. The public official or candidate will no longer just
be the one who talks to the many or tries to listen to the many. Rather, he
or she will be a hub of connectivity for the many to work with the many -
creating networks of public advocates to identify and solve problems and get
behind politicians who get it.
"One elected official by himself can't solve the problems of eight million
people," Mr. Rasiej argued, "but eight million people networked together can
solve one city's problems. They can spot and offer solutions better and
faster than any bureaucrat. ... The party that stakes out this new frontier
will be the majority party in the 21st century. And the Democrats better
understand something - their base right now is the most disconnected from
the network."
Can you hear me now?
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| Friday, July 22, 2005 | |
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22 Jul 2005 @ 01:39
DM, Nestle & Cargill Sued for Sourcing Cocoa Beans for Chocolate from Slave Labor Plantations in Africa
THE AGRIBUSINESS EXAMINER July 19, 2005, Issue #414 Monitoring Corporate Agribusiness From a Public Interest Perspective
ADM, CARGILL AND NESTLE SUED TO END TRAFFICING, TORTURE AND FORCED CHILD LABOR ON AFRICAN COCOA FARMS
GINA KEATING, REUTERS: A human rights group has sued three U.S. companies in federal court in Los Angeles to force them to step up efforts to end child labor on African farms that supply cocoa beans used to make chocolate products.
The International Labor Right Fund filed suit on behalf of former child laborers against Nestle, Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) and privately held Cargill Inc. on Thursday claiming the companies are involved in trafficking, torture and forced labor of Mali children who were enslaved to work on Ivory Coast farms.
The lawsuit comes soon after U.S. and European chocolate and cocoa industry missed a July 1 deadline imposed by federal law for adopting protocols to eliminate child labor from the West African cocoa supply chain.
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, one of the protocol's authors, said earlier this month he was disappointed that the industry had been unable to certify that its chocolate products were not made with child labor but was satisfied it was "committed to moving forward."
In a statement, the International Labor Rights Fund blasted the industry for dragging its feet and refusing "to exchange a small portion of its massive profits to ensure sufficient return for farmers and workers."
Representatives for Archer Daniels Midland of Decatur, Illinois, one of world's largest agricultural processing companies, and Cargill, an agricultural products and services provider, had no comment on the lawsuit.
A Nestle spokeswoman also would not comment on the lawsuit, but said the company was working with the International Cocoa Initiative foundation created by the Harkin-Engel protocol.
"Obviously we strongly believe it is important to make sure that cocoa is grown responsibly without abusive labor practices," Nestle spokeswoman Barb Skoog said.
The lawsuit claims the Mali children were beaten and forced to work 12 to 14 hours a day with no pay and little food or sleep.
The three main plaintiffs said they were ages 12 to 14 when were taken from their homes, but the lawsuit covers "thousands" of children who were allegedly enslaved from 1996 until the present to work in the Ivory Coast region.
The claims were brought under the Alien Tort Claims Act, which has recently been used by human rights groups to sue multinational corporations for violations of international law in countries outside the United States. Similar lawsuits were brought against Unocal Corp by villagers who claimed they were enslaved by Myanmar's military government to work on a pipeline for Unocal and other entities.
Settlements in those cases were finalized earlier this year. [ July 16, 2005 More >
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| Tuesday, July 19, 2005 | |
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19 Jul 2005 @ 07:05
Use your old canvas tote bags to change the world!
Last February one of my bi-annual trips to Africa I had the privilege of visiting many families living in remote villages in Tanzania. I drove for days on dirt-covered roads in an area outside of the city of Arusha. which is tucked under a beautiful mountain range and is surrounded by wildlife reserves. As we drove, I was mesmerized by the beauty of the surrounding mountains, the lush vegetation, and the vast blue sky. But at the same time I was disturbed because everywhere I looked was littered with plastic bags. The kind we use in America for groceries. These bags are lining the roadside, stuck randomly on bushes and trees, and blowing in the wind EVERYWHERE.
And the bags that end up on the land are not only a sore sight in this otherwise beautiful countryside, but they cause many problems. They are ingested by livestock (goats and cows are a precious source of milk for nutrition and income) and wild animals alike, which then die from having the bags in their intestines. The bags also are a health hazard. In a recent Kenyan government study it was found that the bags collect stagnant water, which in turn provides a breeding ground for malarial mosquitoes. Some of the used bags are burned in each family’s garbage fire releasing harmful toxins to the environment.
As we drove, I noticed almost every single woman I saw walking was carrying a plastic bag full of food items. I learned that the bags have replaced the traditional way of carrying goods in sturdy woven baskets on the top of their head. But the plastic bags are not a practical replacement. They are small, flimsy, and thin, and thus rarely last past one shopping trip. The bags cost money too. Albeit cheaper than a more traditional option, any money spent just adds to an already desperate economic situation.
Mostly because they end up as litter, the ever popular plastic bag is a serious cause of health, aesthetic, and economic problems.
I have a simple solution that won't cost you a penny. All I need is your old canvas tote bags that all of us collect from events, conferences, etc. Those bags that are sitting in the back of your closet here will be treasured items for these women in Tanzania, Africa.
Here is the plan.
On my bi-annual trips to Africa I will take with me all the canvas totes I can gather here. I have set up a distribution network of women in Tanzania who will advertise by word of mouth that they can get one of these canvas bags in exchange for bringing in 20 bags from the roadside. Slowly but surely this will make an impact. Assuming I take 200 bags each trip, the first year we can save 128,000 bags from floating around in the environment. And that is a conservative estimate. Here is the math. The canvas bags can be used for years, eliminating on average 300 bags from being purchased for shopping each year per woman. I bring 200 canvas bags two times per year (400) and they are each used to save a minimum of 300 bags. That is 120,000 less bags purchased. Now add the 20 bags cleaned from the environment by each of the 400 recipients. That is another 8,000. So, with this little act WE can stop 128,000 bags in one year from causing economic, health and aesthetic problems. Not bad. Won’t you join me in ridding your closet of unwanted totes so they can be used for change in Africa. This project is sustainable. Nothing is being made to solve this problem. This only works by donating totes you already own. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING NEW TO MAKE THIS CONTRIBUTION. The totes can be any color, shape or have any logo or words on it. It does not matter. For this trip I need them before Aug 1, 2005. If you don’t have any totes and wish to support the project I am looking for someone to pay the Tanzanian woman who has graciously put in a lot of effort and time on this project. She should be paid $100.
For further questions about this project please call Lori Robinson at (805)898-4436 or email me at lori@robinsonvaluegroup.com
Thank you for helping. More >
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| Monday, July 18, 2005 | |
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18 Jul 2005 @ 18:07
To me water rights are one of the most important issues in our lives. Though we read about what is happening in other parts of the world, privatization is happening here in the US as well. There are counties in Californina looking at selling water rights to outside investors and doing so under the radar of the media and consumer groups. Alos, our own governments abuse of water rights in Africa is killing entire communities. What to do? Educate ourselves and follow our hearts.
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Privatization of Water in India Ignites Water Wars
July 14, 2005 By Vandana Shiva
1. Will Muradnagar be the next Tonk?
On 13th June 2005, 5 farmers were shot dead in Tonk during a protest demanding their share in the water from Bisalpur dam, which is diverting water from villages to the city of Jaipur under an ADB project for water sector "reforms" in the State of Rajasthan currently ruled by a BJP government.
Sonia Gandhi, President of the Congress Party, rushed to Tonk, called the firing barbaric and offered relief to the families of the farmers killed.
Yet the Congress government in Delhi is determined to create another Tonk in Muradnagar, with its demand to divert 635 million litres of Ganga water per day to the Sonia Vihar Plant, which has been privatized to Ondeo Degrement a subsidiary of Suez.
The real politics of water is not Congress vs BJP. It is World Bank/ADB and other aid agencies creating water markets for global water MNCs while robbing the Indian people both hydrologically and financially.
Delhi, India's capital has been sustained for centuries by the river Yamuna. Two decades of industrialization have turned the Yamuna into a sewer and toxic drain.
Instead of stopping the pollution, using the scarcity created by the pollution, the World Bank started to push the Delhi government to privatize Delhi's water supply and get water from the Tehri Dam on the Ganges, hundreds of miles away.
The privatization of Delhi's water supply is central on the Sonia Vihar Plant. The Sonia Vihar water treatment plant, which was inaugurated on June 21, 2002 by Chief Minister of Delhi, is designed for a capacity of 635 million litres a day on a 10 year BOT (build-operate-transfer) basis, at a cost of 1.8 billion rupees (approx. 50 million dollars). The contract between Delhi Jal Board (The Water Supply Department of the Delhi Government) and the French company Ondeo Degremont (subsidiary of Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux Water Division - the water giant of the world), is supposed to provide safe drinking water for the city.
The water for the Suez-Degremont plant in Delhi will come from Tehri Dam through the Upper Ganga Canal upto Muradnagar in Western Uttar Pradesh and then through the giant pipeline to Delhi. The Upper Ganga Canal, which starts at Haridwar and carries the holy water of Ganga upto Kanpur via Muradnagar, is the main source of irrigation for this region.
Delhi's ever growing water demands have already led to major diversions of water from other regions. Delhi already gets 455 million litres from the Ganga. With the Sonia Vihar plants demand of 635 million litres, this is 1090 million litres per day of diversion from Ganga. Further diversion of 3000 million cubic metres per second from the Ganga is built into the Sharda and Yamuna river link.
Delhi is also demanding 180 million litres per day to be diverted from Punjab's Dhakra Dam. Water will also be diverted to Delhi from the Renuka dam on Giri River (1250 million cubic litres per day) and Keshau Dam on Tons River (610 million cubic litres per day) from distant Himachal in the Himalayas.
On December 1, 2004 water tariffs were increased in Delhi. While the government stated this was necessary for recovering costs of operation and maintenance, the tariff increase is ten times more than what is needed to run Delhi's water supply. The increase is to lay the ground for the privatization of Delhi's water, and ensure super profits for the private operators.
Increasing tariffs before pivatisation is part of World Bank's "tool kit".
It is part of a stepwise approach to "secure at least some private sector involvement in risky countries". Before full privatization, the "private-public partnership" is to increase tariffs through a public utility, so that increased tariffs can support a commercial operation (ie "guarantee profit margins"). Service and management contracts can be introduced while the government increases tariff.
The tariff increase is not a democratic decision, nor a need based decision. It has been imposed by the World Bank. The Delhi Jal Board cites the justification for increase in tariff as based on a study done by Price Waterhouse Cooper under the World Bank study on privatization. It also cites World Bank technical paper No. 386 of 1997 on water pricing.
Delhi's water operation and maintenance budget is Rs. 3.44 billion. The public utility has been recovering Rs. 2.7 billion due to 40-50% non-revenue losses such as leaks and thefts. During a conference on public-public participation, we showed how public and community participation can recover revenues of Rs. 5.00 by preventing leaks and theft. This allows Rs. 7 to 8 billion recovery, which is twice the amount needed to operate and maintain the water system.
However, the tariff increase will allow a recovery of Rs. 30 billion, tenfold more than needed, guaranteeing a super profit of Rs. 26.66 billion to the corporations waiting to grab Delhi's water supply. A 10% increase is built into the tariff restricting which will double the profits for water privateers in 7 years. This profit is created not by better services but by doubling the financial burden on citizens, especially the poor.
The tariff increase hides significant increases through changes in
categories. Schools and agriculture have been redefined as "industry". "Piaos", a core part of India's culture of the gift of water, must also pay for water. How will they give water to the thirsty? Cremation grounds, temples, homes for the disabled, orphanages which paid Rs. 30 will now pay thousands of rupees, the cash strapped social institutions cannot pay.
The World Bank driven policies explicitly state that there needs to be a shift from the social perception to a commercial orientation. This worldview conflict lies at the root of conflicts between water privatization and water democracy. Will water be viewed and treated as a commodity, or will it be viewed and treated as the very basis of life?
Many privatization myths have been used to justify the tariff increase. The first is the myth of "full cost recovery" the mantra for privatization. However, as far as operations are concerned, the tariff increase implies a "ten-fold recovery", ten times more than "full cost". As far as investments are concerned, the private operators have made no investment, but will harvest public investment of Rs. 1 trillion. The "full cost recovery" logic when applied fully requires that water systems stay in the public domain as a common good.
At the National Development Council Meeting on June 28th 2005, Shiela Dixit,
the Chief Minister of Delhi called for the federalization and prioritization
of drinking water. (Pioneer, 29th June, 2005) However, the World Bank
driven 24x7 scheme is not to provide drinking water to Delhi's slums, it is
to provide rich colonies with the luxury of 24 hour running water seven days
a week in a period of severe water crisis. The water crisis demands
reductions in water use Privatisation is encouraging increased water use.
This increase in urban consumption will come at the cost of rural areas.
This is part of the privatization process. Four global companies are already in the bid for the 24x7 distribution including Suez, Bechtel and Saur.
The common argument for privatization and price increase is that higher costs will reduce water use. However, given the extreme income inequities.
A tariff increase that can destroy a slum dweller or poor farmer is an insignificant expenditure for the rich. Privatisation as dictated by ADB and the Wrold Bank thus means that water will be diverted from the poor to the rich, from rural areas to urban/industrialized areas. And each diversion will create water wars as it did in Tonk. This is why U.P. has been refusing to divert Ganga water to SoniaVihar. Non-sustainable and inequitable use will increase with privatization because the rich can afford to pay for water waste.
2. The Planning Commission as Water Privateer
The government' priority for commodification and privatization of water was clearly stated by the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia's statement in his opening remarks at the NDC that farmers should pay for water. While Mr. Ahluwalia argued that rich farmers are the real beneficiaries of free water, the reality is that when water is commodified, it is the rich who can afford to pay. The poor peasant, already struggling under the burden of debt, driven to suicide, will be wiped out of she/he is denied access to water and made to pay for a resource that is their common property. If poor peasants are pitted against rich agribusiness in competition for water through water markets, agribusiness will monopolise
irrigation. If poor villagers are pitted against rich city dwellers in a water war, the rich will win.
The problem of water waste is not agriculture per se but chemical industrial farming mistakenly referred to as the Green Revolution. It is possible to produce more nutrition per acre growing millets that need only 200 mm of water. We can increase food availability 200 fold through simultaneously conserving our biodiversity and scarce water resources. It is possible to decrease water use while increasing food output by shifting from chemical farming to organic farming. However, these water conservation strategies were not what Mr. Ahluwalia proposed He proposed more water intensive cultivation of fruits, vegetables, shrimps for exports. In other words, while India is gripped by a severe water crisis, and even more severe water conflicts, our Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission is recommending that we export water as a "virtual water" subsidy to the rich consumers of the North and instead of calling for water conservation through organic farming, be wants the impover ished peasantry to finance insane schemes like the $200 billion River Linking Scheme. The Deputy Chairman stated that "chasing short term benefits that accrue from vote bank politics, instead of seeking long term gains that flow from prudent economic policies, has become the bane of our decision-making process." (Pioneer editorial, 29th June) What Mr. Ahluwalia is calling "short term benefits that accrue from vote bank politics" others call democracy. What he refers to as "prudent economic policies" are the World Bank/IMF/ADB paradigm of water privatization which has already led to the killing of farmers in Tonk and could lead to many more water wars.
The only long-term and prudent water policy is to recognize nature's limits, live within the water cycle, and guarantee every Indian their fundamental right to water. Privatisation is not a solution to our water crisis. Conservation and Community rights can help overcome the scarcity we face in both rural and urban area.
Water is a commons, a public good. Privatisation is the enclosure of the water commons. Water privatization aggravates the water crisis because it rewards the waste of the effluent, not the conservation of resource prudent
communities.
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| Wednesday, July 13, 2005 | |
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13 Jul 2005 @ 16:09
Farm Aid Returns To Roots, Promotes Food from Family Farms
Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews Headline 20th
Anniversary Concert on Sept. 18 in Chicago
CHICAGO - July 11 - Farm Aid founder Willie Nelson and co-founder John
Mellencamp today announced that the nation's leading family farm advocacy
organization will mark its 20th anniversary by returning to Illinois -- the
state where it all began.
Farm Aid 2005 Presented by Silk Soymilk will urge Americans to choose food
from family farms. The 20th anniversary celebration will kick off with a
week of food and music events in Chicago. Pre-concert events will showcase
the city's efforts to promote family farm food by linking rural and urban
communities. The events will culminate with Farm Aid's 20th anniversary
all-star fundraising concert to take place on Sept. 18 at the Tweeter Center
in Tinley Park, IL.
The 20th anniversary concert will feature Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John
Mellencamp and Dave Matthews, plus other top artists to be announced later.
Farm Aid week in Chicago will include the County Fair at the Garfield
Conservatory on September 17, a film festival, possible small-venue
performances, educational and restaurant events, as well as the release of
Farm Aid's book, FARM AID: A Song for America. During the week, Farm Aid
will spotlight activities at Chicago-area farmers markets.
Farm Aid began in 1985 when Willie Nelson, inspired by comments from Bob
Dylan at Live Aid, along with Neil Young and John Mellencamp, hosted a
day-long music benefit for family farmers in Champaign, IL. From that moment
forward, Farm Aid's activist board has shown relentless commitment and
dedication, motivating support from millions of Americans and providing hope
for struggling family farmers.
"From small towns to folks in the city, everybody knows family farm food is
the best," said Farm Aid President Willie Nelson. "It's good to be back in
Illinois where it all started. This state is showing how good food can
connect places like Champaign and Chicago. It inspires us to think about
family farmers every day. I'm looking forward to playing on the Farm Aid
stage, playing music with my friends."
"Farmers have a tremendous impact on the quality of food that we eat," said
Farm Aid Board Member John Mellencamp. "Farm Aid is always a great show, but
even more important is that Farm Aid helps the consumer and the family
farmer work together for the benefit of all of us."
Since its beginning, Farm Aid has traveled the country, supporting local
organizations working to strengthen and promote family farms. From
Washington state to Washington, DC, Farm Aid has established a platform for
family farmers to help create a movement that increases the supply and
demand for family farm- identified food. Farm Aid's vision is to offer as
many opportunities as possible for farmers to provide us with good
products-food and alternative fuels that protect our land, our health and
our environment.
"Right now, America is on the cusp of a "good food" movement, promoted and
supported by Farm Aid," said Farm Aid Executive Director Carolyn Mugar. "The
American public recognizes family farmers as their resource for food that is
local, humanely- raised, organic, and sustainable, and consumers are
reaching for these foods in grocery stores, at farmers markets, in schools
and even in hospitals. This demand offers growing economic opportunity for
family farmers to thrive. Farm Aid will continue to work to increase the
options for all family farmers in order to secure a safe, healthy food
supply for our future."
"I am pleased to welcome Farm Aid to Chicago to celebrate its 20th
anniversary," said Mayor Daley. "Chicago is committed to supporting small
businesses and improving the quality of life for its residents, and Farm Aid
helps family farmers do their job of producing the highest quality food for
our City and for people all over the country."
For the third year, Silk Soymilk is the presenting sponsor of the Farm Aid
concert. "Silk Soymilk is proud to present Farm Aid's 20th anniversary
concert," states Mike Keown, Senior Vice President of Marketing for
WhiteWave Foods. "We salute the important role that family farmers serve in
promoting sustainable agriculture and providing healthy food to American
families. We look forward to this celebratory event in the Chicago area-
centrally located in the heart of our nation's Farm Belt."
Tickets for Farm Aid 2005 Presented by Silk Soymilk are on sale July 30 at
10 a.m. CDT and are available at all Ticketmaster outlets, the Tweeter
Center box office, charge by phone in Chicago at 312-559-1212, or online at
[link] For more information about Farm Aid's
20th anniversary, visit [link]
Farm Aid will offer special advance sale tickets to its FarmYard members. To
become a member of Farm Aid's FarmYard, visit [link]
For directions, venue rules and regulations, parking and general
information, please visit [link] or call
708-614-1616.
Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid
concert in 1985 to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to
raise funds to keep farm families on their land. Dave Matth |
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Sounding Circle - Category: Activism
