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Films
-- not to miss
"There's
a revolution going on in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of
America -- a revolution that's being fought behind closed doors of corporate
boardrooms and government agencies over the use of genetically modified
organisms in our food.
THE FUTURE
OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth
behind the unlabeled GMO products that have quietly filled grocery store
shelves over the past decade... THE FUTURE OF FOOD unravels the complex
web of market and political forces that are changing the nature of what
we eat."
Meet the women
behind the film: Deborah Koons Garcia – Director, Writer, Producer,
Catherine Lynn Butler – Producer, Vivien Hillgrove – Editor, Sara Maamouri
- Associate Producer/Assistant Editor/Narrator, Sara Needham - Associate
Producer/Assistant Editor
"The Future of Food was shown over a dozen times as a work in progress
in Mendocino County, California before the March 2004 election and was
the primary element in passing Measure H which bans the planting of
genetically engineered crops in the county. It is the first time U.S.
citizens have voted on this very important issue. The California Secretary
of Food and Agriculture requested a copy of The Future of Food while
he was considering whether to allow the planting of rice genetically
engineered with a human gene that creates breast milk and tears. He
subsequently vetoed the planting of the GMO rice. All the people who
worked on The Future of Food are proud that our efforts have had a real
impact in the real world."
Listening
to Women
"For
centuries, women have developed the tools of non-violence. Their expertise
in peacemaking has always been the seedbed for conflict resolution within
families, communities and nations.
Now more than ever women are speaking out and taking leadership in turning
the tide of violent conflict. And now more than ever women around the
globe are pioneering new and effective models for grassroots, non-violent
activism. Many unique approaches to non-violence are found among women
in the traditional cultures of the Pacific Islands and the Asian Pacific
Rim—cultures in which notions of economic and cultural sustainability
are inherent. However these women are largely unknown in Western circles.
Not only are they unable to solicit international support for their
own work, but they are unable to share their ideas and models for change
with other activists around the world.
Outer Voices is working to change this. It’s time to learn from each
other’s example by listening to each other.
Outer Voices is a six-part multi-media project devoted to sharing the
stories, strategies, and tools of women peace activists from the traditional
cultures of the Pacific Islands and the Asian Pacific Rim. Through collaboration
with six women peace activists and their organizations, we are creating
a series of six hour long radio broadcasts for airing on public radio,
to help bring international attention and support to their work into
action."
"Tell
us about it" - learning from women, on cassette
Alternative
Radio, based in Colorado, USA, has an
excellent collection of radio shows and interviews. Check current listings
for Arundhati Roy, Naomi Klein, Angela Davis, Medea Benjamin and others.
Here are tapes available on the work of
Vandana
Shiva BIO -
"Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature & Knowledge"
Vandana
Shiva of India is one of the Third World's most eloquent voices on the
environment, women's rights and sustainable development. She directs
the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in New Delhi.
In this program, she describes the impact that giant agribusiness is
having on global food production and the effects intellectual property
rights and patents are having on traditional communities.
April 29, 1997.
(national broadcast) #VSHI2
"Democracy
and Biodiversity"
Vandana Shiva discusses
the corporatization of the rural economy in India and the efforts to
resist it. "I have recognized that civil disobedience is a way
to create permanent democracy, perennial democracy, a direct democracy.
Gandhi's idea of swadeshi, that society should put its own resources
and its local capacities to use to meet its needs as a basic element
of freedom, the economic pillar of political freedom, is becoming increasingly
relevant." Interview. June 20, 1997. #VSHI4
"Globalization,
Women & Agriculture"
Much of the Third
World is being recolonized under the rubric of free trade. You can't
miss the KFCs, Pizza Huts and McDonald's. But there is more to it than
that. Multinationals like Monsanto and Cargill have penetrated the agricultural
sector. They promise green revolutions and greater yields. As chemical
inputs increase, monocultures replace biodiverse crops. In India, farmers
are fighting back corporate attempts to patent seeds and herbs. Women
are central in the struggle to protect traditional agriculture. They
are the seed keepers. April 13, 2000. (national broadcast) #VSHI6
"Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of Global Food"
Multinational
corporations are transforming global agriculture. Using the WTO as a wedge,
they seek to patent seeds and life forms. Citizens from all over the world
are questioning the impact of industrial agriculture and biotechnology
on small farmers, the environment, and the quality and safety of food.
Perhaps nowhere is resistance to the practices of giant agribusiness as
strong as in India, where hundreds of thousands protest and demonstrate.
March 16, 2000.
(national broadcast) #VSHI5
"The
Recovery of the Commons"
It is almost
a given that the industrialized countries, the North, are the epitome
of progress and wisdom. The South, the Third World, is a place of backwardness
and ignorance, but it does have lots of resources. The North wants to
use those resources to continue to enrich itself. Today parts of the South
are redefining and challenging conventional notions of growth and development.
There is resistance to the destructive effects of transnational corporations
and global capitalism and a new awareness of the value of indigenous knowledge
and centuries-old diverse agriculture. September 25, 1994.
(national broadcast) #VSHI1
"Women's Power"
In this
interview, Vandana Shiva talks about the central role of women in resistance
struggles in India and throughout the Third World. David Barsamian: "On
the other side of India in Orissa there was also another movement that
you write about. The women's slogan is, Soil is our goddess, it's our
religion." Vandana Shiva: "A new steel plant is coming up. This
really tells the story of the perversion of the global economy. Bethlehem
Steel is closing down. U.K. steel mills have closed down. In Gopalpur,
Nippon is involved with Tata (an Indian conglomerate) in setting up this
new steel plant, for which they have to displace twenty very prosperous
villages.
And the women are saying, We will not let you move into our villages.
We will not give up our land. The earth is our mother. She has looked
after us in this part of the earth, and we are going to die here. Because
uprooted from here we would die anyway. They're not allowing either the
government or the company to enter, to even start doing the surveys. They
have this tremendous direct action. They have a stri shakti watch. Basically
the defense committee is run a hundred percent by women."
Interview. April 29, 1997. #VSHI3
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Vandana Shiva
Vandana Shiva of
India is a leading voice for sustainable development and social justice.
A Renaissance-type woman, she's an internationally-renowned physicist,
philosopher, social and environmental activist and feminist and a featured
speaker at major environmental conferences in the U.S. and around the
world. The director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology
and Natural Resource Policy in New Delhi, she is has pioneered research
on biodiversity and indigenous ethnoscience and is perhaps best known
for her efforts in behalf of the Chipko anti-deforestation campaign
among peasantry of the Himalayan foothills. She is the recipient of
the Right Livelihood Award (the alternative Nobel Prize) and a leading
voice for sustainable development. She is the author of Staying Alive,
The Violence of the Green Revolution, Monocultures of the Mind, Biopiracy:
The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge and Stolen Harvest.
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