First corporations gained legal personhood, writes Don Fitz. Next they seized the right to force 'free trade' on unwilling populations. Now they are making sure that 'corporate rights' trump citizen rights - like the right to wholesome food and a healthy environment. That's where the 'Right to Farm' constitutional amendments come in ...
… Don Fitz | 22nd August 2014 Activism Corporations Law USA Farming mo-hog-farm-cut.jpg First corporations gained legal personhood, writes … are the most recent phase in a long march of corporations to extend their direct control of …
A key element of the TTIP is the deregulation genetically modified seeds and plants for cultivating in European soils, writes Julian Rose. This alone is reason enough for us to reject it - but it's only the beginning of a huge power grab that would make our governments more accountable to corporations, than to people.
… make our governments more accountable to corporations, than to people. A determined … to their unfettered 'free trade' goals. Corporations, not the people, hold governments … redirect legal rights from citizens to corporations, and consolidate US and European …
The Gates Foundation - widely assumed to be 'doing good', is imposing a neoliberal model of development and corporate domination that's opening up Africa's agriculture to land and seed-grabbing global agribusiness, writes Colin Todhunter. In the process it is foreclosing on the real solutions - enhancing food security, food sovereignty and the move to agroecological farming.
… | 21st January 2016 News Africa Farming Corporations Development GMOs Seeds … and agriculture especially, even though these corporations are responsible for much of the … close relationship that BMGF has with many corporations whose role and policies …
President Obama will shortly be on his way to India. In this Open Letter, Vandana Shiva invites him to join in securing the essential human freedoms to seeds and food - and to set aside any plans to pressure India into changing its laws to allow the corporate domination of life.
… of India and the US, not the freedoms of the Corporations undermining the freedoms of … being put by the US, on behalf of its corporations, to undermine seed freedom in … This distortion was introduced by corporations such as Monsanto in the …
Science is to corporate science as Hyperion to a satyr, writes Ralph Nader. And there is no better example of this than Monsanto's realm of GMOs, biocides, super-aggressive lawyers and tame regulators - brilliantly exposed in this new book of essays, edited by Sheldon Krimsky and Jeremy Gruber.
… Ralph Nader | 24th October 2014 Reviews GMOs Corporations Science Farming … autocratic, commercially-driven multinational corporations. In many disturbing cases, … What You Need to Know about the Food, Corporations, and Government Agencies Putting …
Lured by promises of aid and investment, African governments are rewriting laws to create lucrative opportunities for corporate agribusiness, writes Chris Walker - while consigning their own farmers to servitude and landlessness. But now farmers are rising up, as in Ghana where a new 'Monsanto law' threatens to end their right to grow, save and share their ancestral seeds.
… | 4th June 2015 News Farming Seeds Africa Corporations Finance Law Development … the proposed Plant Breeders Bill would give corporations control over new kinds of seeds. … of Tanzania (SAGCOT), a scheme to help corporations including Monsanto, Unilever and …
Ghana's government is desperate to pass a Plant Breeders Bill that would remove farmers' ancient 'seed freedom' to grow, retain, breed and develop crop varieties - while giving corporate breeders a blanket exemption from seed regulations. Now the farmers are fighting back.
… hand control of the country's seeds to giant corporations like Monsanto. They fear the laws would allow corporations to exploit farmers, capture … the effect of PBB's Clause 23 is to "allow corporations to limit what Ghana's government …
With the Wall Street Journal warning that the GMO crop boom may be over in the face of superweeds, higher seed prices, falling yields and farmer antipathy, writes Pat Thomas, the Monsanto-Bayer merger is a sign of weakness as both companies struggle to deliver growth and profits to match shareholder expectations. We had better be ready to press home our advantage!
… Pat Thomas | 19th September 2016 News Corporations Farming Finance Food US EU … any of these cases and as these international corporations jockey for position, there may be … food sovereignty on a global scale. Large corporations like Monsanto are very good at …
Agroecology is key to retaking control over food, farming and land from the 'monstrous machine' of agribusiness, biotech, big finance and 'free trade', writes Colin Todhunter, as it represents a truly viable alternative to agriculture for corporate profit. But such are the powers ranged against the world's small farmers that it must be supported by a broad-based, global people's movement.
… | 4th March 2016 Comment Food Farming Corporations The Land India USA Mexico Trade … the interests of the powerful agribusiness corporations in the Western countries, … were encouraged to purchase seeds from corporations that were dependent on …
To understand how technology is used in the real world we must appreciate who owns and controls it, writes Colin Todhunter: whose interests it serves, and how it works in an economic system driven by profit, geopolitics and the compulsion to capture and control markets - while the monopolists proclaim a noble ideology of 'free choice' and 'democracy'.
… 14th March 2016 Comment Food Farming Politics Corporations USA kalimantan-cut.jpg To … and the environment by powerful transnational corporations. Look no further to see how … and the WTO serves the interests of these corporations, for instance, or the roles that …
Tickets to today's Feeding the World conference in London cost £695 - a sure way to exclude the small and family farmers that produce 70% of the world's food. Graciela Romero denounces the global corporate takeover of land, food and farming.
… Feeding the World - or feeding the Corporations? Graciela Romero | 13th February … Indeed, they could easily be seen as part of corporations' PR, advertising and lobbying … Small farmers are feeding the world - not corporations High-level conferences explicitly …
Across Africa, corporations are grabbing community land and water - and nowhere more than in Liberia, where half the country has already been lost. But one community has shown it's possible to overcome intimidation, organize and resist.
… epo-women-dancing-cut.jpg Across Africa, corporations are grabbing community land and … Right now in Abuja, Nigeria, agribusiness corporations are courting African governments … to their governments: "Stop selling Africa to corporations!" The Jogbahn Clan in Liberia is …
Across Africa, laws are being rewritten to open farming up to an agribusiness invasion - displacing the millions of small cultivators that now feed the continent, and replacing them with a new model of profit-oriented agriculture using patented seeds and varieties. The agencies effecting the transformation are legion - but they are all marching to a single drum.
… February 2015 News Africa Food Farming Seeds Corporations Un Development sorghum-cut.jpg … theatres of this battle. Governments, corporations, foundations and development … expropriation. But for many governments and corporations, it means the creation of …
Missouri voters have narrowly passed a 'right to farm' amendment to the state constitution. But small farmers already enjoy such rights, writes Ben Whitford. The beneficiaries will be industrial-scale corporate producers who now have a legal shield against regulation on GMOs, pollution, animal welfare and health standards - and, of course, the lawyers.
… 2014 News USA Law Regulation Farming Food Corporations vote-no-right-to-farm-cut.jpg … new amendment most clearly benefits the big corporations and multinational agribusinesses … "we'll be passing those same rights on to big corporations, big agriculture, Monsanto, the …
Newly assertive citizens and consumers are putting the world's most feared and powerful corporations on the defensive, writes Ronnie Cummins. Now is the time to press home our advantage!
… putting the world's most feared and powerful corporations on the defensive, writes Ronnie … shelves - industrial food and biotech corporations are in a panic. After being … heavy restrictions on GMOs and pesticide corporations, and where Hawaii County (Kona) …
The US government is being sued for $15 billion for its cancellation of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline last year in order to combat climate change. The legal challenge under NAFTA sends a warning to all countries contemplating similar 'free trade' agreements.
… Change Law Oil Tar Sands USA Canada EU UK Corporations kxl-protest-cut.jpg The US … for our tax money are too much for many corporations to resist. Expect more of this … of action. 4. The money's so good - for the corporations and their lawyers Finally, win or …
As ever more companies and governments pledge to 'go green' and protect forests, the world's tribal peoples should be among the main beneficiaries, writes Amy Dickens. Yet the reverse is the case. All too often the promises are purest greenwash, used to conceal the human and environmental tragedy of land-grabbing for plantations, mines, logging and even 'conservation'.
… Cameroon Philippines Paraguay Farming Finance Corporations Conservation … Compact's lax membership requirements allow corporations to engage in bad practices while … organizations collaborate with irresponsible corporations, the distinction between …
Ecuador is the latest country to tear up 'free trade' agreements that have so far cost the country $21 billion in damages awarded to foreign companies by 'corporate courts', and yielded next to nothing in return, writes Nick Dearden. So the outgoing President Correa did the only sensible thing: in one of his final executive acts this month, he scrapped 16 toxic trade and investment treaties.
… Global Justice Now | 31st May 2017 News Trade Corporations EU US UK Finance Pollution Oil …
On Monday the World Bank's Conference on Land and Poverty begins in the US. But farmer organizations, indigenous groups, trade unions and others denounce the whole exercise as a sham that, in tandem with other Bank initiatives, is all about accelerating corporate land grabs and robbing the poor that the Bank was founded to assist.
… on Land and Poverty ', which brings together corporations, governments and civil society … make it as easy as possible for agribusiness corporations to get access to developing … market commodity and by its agency to enable corporations' exploitation of natural …
The Gates Foundation is spending half a billion dollars a year to 'feed the world', most of it aimed at Africa. But as GRAIN discovers, it is imposing a model of high-tech, high-input 'green revolution' farming, complete with GMOs, agro-chemicals and a pro-business neoliberal agenda, all in in alliance with corporate agriculture.
… the high-tech seeds and chemicals sold by US corporations. They say the foundation is … and, globally, the CGIAR lost relevance as corporations like Syngenta and Monsanto took … out this work through partnerships with food corporations such as Cargill, Unilever, Coca …
An elite group of aid donors and agribusiness corporations met in London this week to plan the takeover of Africa's seeds, writes Ian Fitzpatrick, replacing traditional seed breeding and saving by small farmers with a corporate model of privatized, 'improved', patented, genetically uniform and hybrid seeds in a profit-driven market.
… | 26th March 2015 News Africa Food Farming Corporations Seeds USA UK teff-harvest-cut.jpg … An elite group of aid donors and agribusiness corporations met in London this week to plan … for free market obsessed 'aid' donors and corporations to discuss how to increase their …
‘Climate Smart Agriculture' can be applied to anything from industrial monocultures to agroecology, writes Helena Paul - and fertiliser, biotech and agribusiness corporations are seizing the chance to cash in. Now COP21 host France is proposing to use soils as a giant carbon sink - a fine idea in itself, but not if it's used to 'offset' continued fossil fuel emissions, and to greenwash industrial agriculture.
… The Land Climate Change Emissions France Corporations farm.jpg ‘Climate Smart … - and fertiliser, biotech and agribusiness corporations are seizing the chance to cash … be called 'Climate Smart'. "Agribusiness corporations that promote synthetic …
A farming revolution is under way in Africa, pushed by giant corporations and the UK's aid budget. It will surely be good for the global economy, writes Sophie Morlin-Yron, but will Africa's small farmers see the benefit?
… | 18th February 2014 News Food Farming Africa Corporations moz-farmers-1.png A farming … is under way in Africa, pushed by giant corporations and the UK's aid budget. It will … small farmers are feeding the world - not corporations: "Millions of small-scale farmers …
The organizers of tomorrow's International Monsanto Tribunal describe it as a 'moral trial', while the company dismisses it as a 'mock trial' and 'stunt'. The truth, writes Pete Dolack, is that it's about much more than this one company. On trial is the entire neoliberal system of 'free market' finance and monopoly capitalism.
… Pete Dolack | 13th October 2016 Comment Corporations Finance Law GMOs Food Farming … a paradigm for the impunity of transnational corporations and their management, who … benefit its bottom line. Monsanto and other corporations have increasingly funded academic …