It is fitting that Vandana Shiva and the Seed Freedom movement has chosen Gandhi’s birthday to launch two weeks’ of protest to reject restrictions on ownership and the natural diversity of seed. And it is fitting that exactly two weeks after October 2, it is World Food Day.
Seed is crucial to life, she says, and food security and farmers livelihoods depend on the natural order – not one imposed by large multinational companies such as Monsanto, which is trying to grab ownership of seed.
The 59-year-old recipient of the 1993 Right Livelihood Award is an environmentalist, philosopher, author and eco-feminist. Time magazine named her an environmental hero in 2003 and Asiaweek magazine called her one of the most powerful communicators of Asia.
The activist would reject any similarity to Gandhi, yet she is calling on not only Indian farmers and concerned citizens to defy unjust laws but people around the world – a theme Gandhi relentlessly pushed.
A new Gandhi?
Gandhi rallied the people in India during British Colonial rule to walk to the sea and collect salt, then under the control of the country’s rulers.
Vandana is calling for farmers all around the world to defy controls on seed.
As she says, seed is the source of life and the first link in the food chain. “Control over seed means a control over our lives, our food and our freedom.”
She claims corporations like Monsanto have created a seed emergency, a seed emergency through patents on seeds, seed monopolies, biopiracy genetic engineering and creation of non renewable sterile seeds.
This has hit hard in India, her home. Seed monopolies have pushed into debt and dependence and led to 250,000 farmers committing suicide.
This is not just in India. It is happening around the world, even in the United States. After contaminating farmer’s seeds and crops, Monsanto sues farmers “for stealing their gene,” putting the polluter pays principle on its head, and making it the polluter gets paid principle.
Enough is enough
Vandana says this multidimensional emergency created by patents on seeds and GMOs needs “a global collective response.”
She is calling on farmers and all concerned citizens to join the “Global campaign on Seed Freedom” to stop the corporate hijack of seed which threatens the freedom of farmers and citizens and threatens people’s future.
Who owns seed?
According to Seed Freedom, “seed is owned by farmers who sowed, bread, saved and exchanged it for thousands of years. Sadly, the arrival of commercial seed industries changed the whole picture. These multinational corporations have successfully taken away the ownership of seeds from the hands of the farmers in the form of patents. At present, seeds are largely controlled by industrial giants like Monsanto, Du Pont, Syngenta and Bayer.”
Seed Freedom’s Fortnight of Action
From 2nd October (Gandhi’s Birth Anniversary), to 16th October (World Food Day) the Global Alliance for Seed Freedom is planning intensive actions to create a global citizens’ response on the issue of Seed Freedom that we hope will act as a wake up call for citizens and the government. Gandhi had said, “as long as the superstition that unjust laws must be obeyed exist, so will slavery exist”. Humanity and diverse species on the Earth are being pushed into a new form of seed slavery. In the spirit of Gandhi, we therefore call for a civil disobedience against unjust laws. Below, we outline a number of ideas for actions that we emphasize are only a starting point. We look forward to planning common strategies and actions together as the campaign for Seed Freedom becomes stronger and louder.
For more details, check out Seed Freedom.
