Author: Raj

Via Campesina Africa Solidarity Statement on the farmworkers mobilization in South Africa

Stop rural slavery! Respect the farmworkers!

(Maputo 14th January 2013) – During the month of November last year, the world watched farmworkers strikes, particularly those working in vinyards, in the Western Cape Province, in South Africa. They were protesting against exploitation and poor working and living conditions on farms, demanding an increase in minimum wages. In many cases, South African police responded to the demonstrations with violence and intolerance and showed no respect for laws. Many farmworkers and activists were arrested, including peasants of The Agrarian Reform for Food Sovereignty Campaign, a member of La Via Campesina.

Continue reading “Stop rural slavery! Respect the farmworkers! Via Campesina Africa Solidarity Statement on the farmworkers mobilization in South Africa”

It was such a non-issue that I really didn’t want to write about it at all. I didn’t know who Mark Lynas was and didn’t know that he had changed his mind about genetically modified crops from being an opponent to a fan. But, clearly, it was a slow news week. The killing and the rape and the corporate crime and the climate change had been successfully reported. So a range of news outlets decided to give Lynas the air time he wanted, following this speech.

Continue reading “Man Reads Book”

Big Ag is running a massive misinformation campaign here in California to persuade people to vote against labeling genetically modified crops. (Michele Simon has been following it diligently.) Yesterday, the campaign’s endgame fluttered through Berkeley residents’ mail boxes.

It’s a strange voter guide that looks sufficiently like the California Democratic Party’s actual endorsements to be plausible, but with two changes.

Continue reading “More Dirty Tricks in California’s GMO labeling Campaign”

The fine Anna Lappé has put together a splendid short film on the lies told by industrial agriculture lobbyists, and the ad agencies that love them.

Please share far and wide, and check out the resources at FoodMythBusters.

The top grossing film in the United States this weekend was Argo, an above average caper about how the CIA smuggled six embassy staff out of the country during the Iran hostage crisis.

Argo’s Agricultural Attaché (right)

Continue reading “The Soils of War”

It’s not just pith-helmeted Europeans or slick North Americans headed off to buy up Africa. Brazil and Japan are in on the game too. But there’s always a fight back – this time from the UNAC peasant movement in Mozambique. Below the fold, you can read their views on this exciting development opportunity. Continue reading “ProSavana, AntiPeasant”

Here’s a guest posting from the splendid Rupa of Rupa and the April Fishes. Their album, Build, is just out, and you might recognise the title track from the Generation Food trailer. Below, a video for “Weeds”, and a story of the video’s director. Continue reading “Sorry for the late but I was in prison”