CHENNAI MARCHES AGAINST MONSANTO, AND FOR
SAFE FOOD:
Chennaites’ loud NO to GMOs and
corporatisation of food/farming systems
Chennai, October 12th 2013: Chennai was not to be left behind in a Global
March Against Monsanto on October 12th – a very impressive and
colorful gathering of citizens on Marina Beach loudly pronounced the rejection
of the public here of GMOs in our food and farming, and of corporatisation of
our food systems. Cab drivers, students, IT sector employees, activists, film
actors, artists and numerous others jostled with each other this evening, while
proclaiming that their right to safe food cannot be violated by anyone.
“We are Marching Against
Monsanto here today because Monsanto is really the poster-child of corporate
greed and corporate crimes against citizens and the environment. Monsanto is
notorious for a variety of misdeeds. In India, our governments seem to be
putting out the red carpet for Monsanto, projecting it as a corporation which
will save our farmers and farming. However, it is important to note that
Monsanto’s history has lessons to teach us about what this corporation is
actually all about: it has not hesitated to sue and jail farmers in the name of
intellectual property rights, on the ‘crime’ of having used its proprietary
products when they use farm-saved seed or even when a farmer’s crop gets
contaminated from neighboring fields! It is notorious for polluting natural
resources of communities, killing and maiming humans with its products, bribing
officials for approvals, falsifying safety reports to show the toxic products
as safe, colluding with regulators through a system of revolving doors, false
advertising etc. It is a matter of great alarm that governments are getting
into partnerships with this corporation and jeopardizing seed sovereignty of
Indian farmers. We are here to show corporations like Monsanto that citizens of
India do care about the distress of Indian farmers and will not tolerate
Monsanto jeopardizing our farming, food and environment”, said Ananthoo of Safe
Food Alliance.
The gathering on the Beach was
supported by noted celebrities like Pasupathy, Gowthami, Rohini, Director
Vasanth, AAdhi, singer Sangeetha Sivakumar and others.
Kumari
from Gandhi farmers collective, Villupuram observed that given Monsanto’s
controversial history and given the huge money power that it holds (its annual
gross profit for 2012 was around 46,500 crores of rupees, which is more than
five years’ outlays for India’s National Agriculture Development Programme!),
it is not surprising that some Ministries of the Government of India and some
state governments are going against citizens’ demand for a GM-Free India and
promoting the corporation’s interests, including by using taxpayers’ funds.
“We
are under threat from the hazardous products that Monsanto wants to profiteer
from - these are products that affect the very food that
we eat to survive and stay healthy and our environment. These are products that
have the potential to jeopardise future generations too. I want to protect my
children from the threat of GMOs and pesticides. That is why I am marching here
today. I want the government also to take note of my demand, and to uphold my
right to safe and nutritious food”, said Shuba, a Chennai housewife.
Vettavalam Manikandan, State President of Tamil Nadu farmers
association explained that while the protest was against Monsanto in
particular, this is also a message to all such corporations that citizens are
conscious of developments in the areas of food and farming and that they will
not tolerate scaremongering by GM proponents that without GM crops, the country
will starve. “Our farmers have always produced enough and more to feed the
country – however, the government and these corporations do not always have the
best interests of our anna daatas in
mind. As a prominent farmers’ union of the state, this is a clear statement
from us: we will not allow any open air field trials of GM food crops in the
state”.
“This is a corporation that has not hesitated to
sue governments – whether it was a matter related to exorbitant
royalties/licensing fees being collected from Indian farmers, or whether it was
about being transparent about the data related to safety of products like Bt
brinjal, or whether it was about paying up compensation to farmers incurring
losses due to poor seed quality, Monsanto and its associates have defied public
interest time and again. Why should anyone be trusting this company to stand on
the side of the public, or our anna daatas?
If any government/party is siding with this corporation and the agriculture
development model it stands for, including its hazardous technologies, we want
to tell that government that we as citizens are not in support of that
government/party”, said Sheelu Francis, of
Tamil Nadu Womens Collective.
Dr V Suresh, National General Secretary of PUCL said, “While real
issues of hunger and malnutrition stare us in the face in India due to access
and distribution issues related to structural inequities, it is disgusting to
see the PR stunts of corporations like Monsanto and Syngenta, where they first
sponsor the World Food Prize Foundation and then award themselves and their
scientists this year’s World Food Prize. This year, the World Food Prize forum
stands exposed for what it is, much more than in the past. We are here to
emphasise that the Right To Food, and Food Security and Sovereignty lie
elsewhere and cannot be entrusted to these corporations”.
Similar Marches were held all over India as well as the world today,
including protest events organized in Tanjavur, Erode etc. In Tiruvarur this
morning over 1000 farmers participated in an event organized by “Save our Rice
Campaign TN” led by R Jayaraman, and listened to the keynote address by Dr G
Nammalvar, organic farming pioneer and scientist.
Marchers in Chennai, including physicians, farmers, social activists,
lawyers, students, home makers, food and grain traders, also took part in an
exchange of traditional seeds. There was a street play by koothu-p-pattarai and
a thudumbattam performance (an old Tamil percussion instrument with a
traditional dance) which attracted a large crowd of onlookers, many of whom
joined the protest.
For
more information, contact: Ananthoo, Safe Food
Alliance via email at ananthoo@gmail.com.
9444166779; Dr.
Shivaraman, SFA : 9444027455; Ram, Samanvaya : 9444957781
