Farmers, Scientists Push Fight vs GMOs, Agrochem TNCs

Organized farmers momentarily leave their fields and scientists their labs as they join ranks again to mark Science and Technology for the People Week. This week’s activities are a tune-up for bigger fights and global conferences against GMOs and agrochemical TNCs in the country and elsewhere early next year.

By Gerry Albert Corpuz
Bulatlat.com

Organized farmers and scientists groups close ranks again this week with the launching of series of science and technology activities. Organized by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP – Peasant Movement in the Philippines) and Agham, a group of scientists and technologists, the Science and Technology (S&T) for the People Week will be held Dec. 2-6.

This week’s activities follow the successful People's Street Conference, a parallel protest conference coinciding with the general annual meeting of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) on Oct. 29-30 in Makati, Philippines. The October conference, capped by peasant and scientists’ marches joined by foreign peasant activists, stepped up the campaign against agro-chemical TNCs and the corporate obsession for super profits.

In a statement sent to Bulatlat.com, Rafael Mariano, KMP chair and Agham president Giovanni Tapang, both convenors of the RESIST! Agrochem TNCs said the S&T for People Week seeks to preserve the gains and raise to higher levels the unities reached during the People's Street Conference ago among activists resisting agrochemical TNCs.

Lecture series and a photo exhibit on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the impact and threats of research agenda of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), CGIAR, the controversial Plant Variety Protection (PVP) and other intellectual property systems will highlight the five-day S&T for the People Week.

Bhopal tragedy

The activities will also coincide with the 18th anniversary of the Bhopal incident where thousands of people die after the Union Carbide Pesticide Plant in India exploded 18 years ago, Mariano said. On Dec. 3, 1984, the pesticide plant exploded killing over 5,000 people within three days and added 20,000 more in the past 18 years.

On Dec. 2, organizers will sponsor a forum on Science and Globalization at the Recreation Hall of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Sta.Mesa, Manila to be followed by another forum on GMOs and their Implications to Development Work on Dec. 4 to be hosted by the College of Social Work and Community Development (CSWCD) in UP-Diliman.

On Dec. 5, the organizers will discuss to the public the peasants and scientists campaign against the IRRI, CGIAR and PVP. The forum will be led and facilitated by KMP, the Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE) and National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates (Nnara) in cooperation with UP's CSWCD.

Tune up for 2003

KMP's Mariano described the week-long S&T for the People Week as a tune-up and a major preparation for next year's international conferences that will deal on agrochemical products, GMOs and other property systems.

Mariano said that the KMP is preparing for the Asian Social Forum (ASF) in early January next year and is committed to uphold the peasants and scientists' stand on issues pertaining but not limited to agrochemicals, GMO and intellectual property rights and systems.

The national peasant movement is also gearing up for other conferences, including the World Social Forum (late January) and the international congress of Pesticide Action Network in Asia Pacific or PAN-AP which KMP will host on March 31-April 4 also next year.

Among the issues to be taken up in the congress are pesticides and health, genetic engineering in food and agriculture, women in agriculture, globalization, food sovereignty and consumer issues. Bulatlat.com

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