Ayurveda
LIVE STREAM: RIGHTS OF MOTHER EARTH: RESTORING INDIGENOUS LIFE WAYS OF RESPONSIBILITY AND RESPECT
International Indigenous Conference
APRIL 4 – 6, 2012
at Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence Kansas
Click here to learn more and for Conference Details
Click here for registration options
Click here to read the rest of the invitation letter
Law of the Rights of Mother Earth (Spanish: Ley de Derechos de la Madre Tierra) is a Bolivian law (Law 071 of the Plurinational State), that was passed by Bolivia’s Plurinational Legislative Assembly in December 2010. This 10 article law is derived from the first part of a longer draft bill, drafted and released by the Pact of Unity by November 2011. The full bill remains on the country’s legislative agenda.
The law defines Mother Earth as „a collective subject of public interest,“ and declares both Mother Earth and life-systems (which combine human communities and ecosytems) as titleholders of inherent rights specified in the law. The short law proclaims the creation of the Defensoría de la Madre Tierra a counterpart to the human rights ombudsman office known as the Defensoría del Pueblo, but leaves its structuring and creation to future legislation. HERE
Indigenous Environmental Network
„A network of Indigenous Peoples empowering Indigenous Nations and communities towards sustainable livelihoods, demanding environmental justice and maintaining the Sacred Fire of our traditions.“
In April 2010, a historical moment occurred. More than 32,000 people, including Indigenous Peoples, social movements, small farmers and some world governmental leaders, converged in Cochabamba, Bolivia for the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth. Two outcomes of this conference were the Cochabamba Peoples Accord and the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth. The Accord and Declaration gave voice to peoples of the world experiencing the effects of climate chaos and its many accompanying issues, including depletion of freshwater and other natural resources and the problems of food security, poverty and environmental crises, along with the financial meltdown within the United States and globally.
LIVE STREAM: RIGHTS OF MOTHER EARTH: RESTORING INDIGENOUS LIFE WAYS OF RESPONSIBILITY AND RESPECT International Indigenous Conference APRIL 4 – 6, 2012 at Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence Kansas
IEN will be live streaming this conference here on our home page, or … If you would like to join in the conversation we will be moderating and responding to comments as the live stream is taking place on our new blog – Click here to view and participate. Note: Breakout sessions will not be streamed.
Live stream times and the topics/talks/panels that will be streamed are listed on the right side bar.
Rights of Mother Earth
In April 2010, a historical moment occurred. More than 32,000 people, including Indigenous Peoples, social movements, small farmers and some world governmental leaders, converged in Cochabamba, Bolivia for the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth. Two outcomes of this conference were the Cochabamba Peoples Accord and the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth. The Accord and Declaration gave voice to peoples of the world experiencing the effects of climate .
Download and Print Flyer – PDF During the Cochabamba world conference, President Evo Morales of Bolivia officially proposed that the United Nations adopt a declaration that recognizes that Nature or “Mother Earth” has certain inherent rights that we humans must respect and defend. The adoption by the United Nations and national and local governments of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth would expand the class of holders of legally rights and would initiate a global process of transformation.
Our prophecies and teachings tell us that life on Mother Earth is in danger and is coming to a time of great transformation. As Indigenous Peoples, we are accepting the responsibility designated by our prophecies to tell the world that we must live in peace with each other and the Earth to ensure harmony within Creation.
Our Indigenous lifeways are the original “green economies.” This is more than an abstract philosophy. Our Mother Earth is the source of life. Water is her lifeblood. The well-being of the natural environment predicts the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual longevity of our Peoples. Mother Earth’s health and that of our Indigenous Peoples are intrinsically intertwined. When our homelands are in a state of good health our Peoples are truly healthy. This inseparable relationship must be respected for the sake of our future generations and for the well-being of the Earth herself.
Alliances are being formed, globally of Indigenous and non-indigenous groups and individuals committed to creating a system of jurisprudence that sees and treats nature and Mother Earth as a fundamental, rights bearing entity. A paradigm, that is based on Indigenous thought and philosophy needs to be forwarded which grants equal rights to nature and which honors the interrelation in all life.
This is the greatest challenge facing humanity in the 21st Century. How do we re-orientate the dominant industrialized societies so that they pursue human well-being in a manner that contributes to the health of our Mother Earth instead of undermining it? In other words – how do we live in harmony with Nature?
A 3 day conference has been scheduled at HaskellIndian Nations University, in Lawrence, Kansas, April 4-6, 2012 with Indigenous Peoples together from the North and Global South to learn more and to have a discourse about this Rights of Mother Earth, Rights of Nature movement.
We invite humanity to come together to improve our collective human behavior so that we may develop a more sustainable world. We can preserve, protect, and fulfill our sacred duties to live with respect in this wonderful Creation. We have the power and responsibility for change.
Tom B.K. Goldtooth
Indigenous Environmental Network
Dr. Daniel Wildcat
Haskell Indian Nation University
And we’re back! http://t.co/82tyLZf5 – live stream Rights of Mother Earth – #rightsofmotherearth live on http://t.co/7dCTgmAR
See Also
http://www.facebook.com/Ecocide Website: http://www.eradicatingecocide.com/
Book „Eradicating Ecocide“ by Polly Higgins:
http://www.green-shopping.co.uk/books/eradicating-ecocide.html
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/environment/environ/index.htm
Die Adivasi-Koordination – measures to fight impunity in cases of extrajudicial executions, and communal and traditional killings.
http://www.adivasi-koordination.de
Adivasi (Sanskrit: Nepali: Hindi: आदिवासी; ÄdivÄsÄ) is an umbrella term for a heterogeneous set of ethnic and tribal groups claimed to be the aboriginal population of India.[1][2][3] They comprise a substantial indigenous minority of the population of India. The word is used in the same sense in Nepal as is another word janajati (Nepali: जनजाति; janajÄti), although the political context differed historically under the Shah and Rana dynasties. MORE
Who are the Adivasi? – In India the members of the tribal communities are usually called “tribals” in English language and “girijan” (hill people) or “banvasi” (foresters) in Hindi language. The Constitution of the Republic of India applies in its English version the term “scheduled tribes” and in the Hindi version “anusuchit janjati”. All these expressions contain clearly paternalistic and partly even discriminatory connotations.
During the first decades of the 20th century educated and politically active tribals from eastern central India started to use the Hindi/Sanskrit term “Adivasi”. This word consists of “adi” (original) and “vasi” (inhabitant). Irrespective of the various names for individual tribes the self-designated term “Adivasi” has since become widely accepted. “Adivasi” signals awareness of a distinct identity, of a history and culture of one’s own. Moreover it points to a political programme to conserve and promote these cultures and to attain self-determination in a wider political context.
The self-designated name “Adivasi” corresponds with the modern concept of “indigenous peoples”. Since the 1950s representatives of indigenous peoples have been networking on a global level under the auspices of the United Nations. They contributed towards elaborating international legal standards in order to preserve their diverse traditional cultures and in order to work towards an overall self-determined future. Against this backdrop one may refer to the Adivasi movement as a movement for empowerment and assertion of Adivasi identity.
Imran Garda examines the 40-year war that has claimed thousands of lives but been largely ignored outside of India.
Adivasi – Past and Presence – The Adivasi are the descendants of those first inhabitants of India, who resisted the law and order system installed by the respective conquerors. Over quite a long period in history the Adivasi have been left untouched on principal. In many regions of the Indian subcontinent the Adivasi used to live as fishermen, as nomadic shepherds, as shifting agriculturalists and as hunters and gatherers. Between 2500 and 1500 BC cattle-breeding pastoralists from Western Central Asia – they called themselves “arya” i.e. the noble ones – conquered the then densely forested land. In order to confirm their dominance this “elite” created the caste system, which brandmarked the orginal population as “wild” and “uncivilized”. A certain part of the aboriginal people was subjugated and subsequently integrated into the system of dominance at the lowest rung as “outcastes” or “untouchables” (today they are known as “harijans”, “scheduled castes” or “dalits”). Thus racist discrimination started more than three thousand years ago. This was also the beginning of continuous eviction and withdrawal of the Adivasi.
Many communities fled in inaccessible hill areas, where they could preserve their traditional way of life partly to this day. The Adivasi have never been part of the economic system – except that they were exploited as cheap labour. Their economic activities in agriculture, animal husbandry and craft have always been exclusively for their subsistence – not for making profit. The Constitution of India provides quota for the scheduled tribes in education, public service and also in the parliaments. Moreover there are quite a few tribal development programmes. These promotion activities do not address the specific needs of the Adivasi. In addition they aid and abet the formation of an Adivasi elite, which is aloof from the situation of the majority. The government-sponsored industrialization increasingly destroys the last withdrawal areas of the aboriginal inhabitants. The delogging of vast forests, the construction of huge embankment dams, mining projects and test ranges for the army have already devastated large parts of Adivasi areas. They have uprooted millions of them and made them beggars in their own land.
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Intangible Heritage http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intangible_cultural_heritage
Center for Economic and Social Rights http://cesr.org/index.php
#video http://www.amnesty.org/en/economic-social-and-cultural-rights
http://www.facebook.com/SocialWatch
International Context
- Adivasi-Koordination explicitely refers to the international legal context and actively participates in the process of further developing the legal framework:
- International Labour Organisation: ILO first established binding norms in International Law for the protection of indigenous peoples’ rights with ILO Convention 107 (1957). In the year 1969 ILO Convention 169 followed.
- The World Bank released its Operations Directive (OD) 4.20 “Indigenous Peoples” in 1991. From 1st July 2005 onwards OD 4.20 is replaced by Operational Policy (OP) and Briefing Paper (BP) 4.10.
- The United Nations’ Working Group on Indigenous Peoples (UNWGIP), which forms part of the United Nations’ Human Rights Commission, formulated in 1993 a “Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”.
- The United Nations declared 1993 the “International Year of the Indigenous Peoples”, 1995–2004 the “Decade of Indigenous Peoples”, and 2005-2014 the “Second Decade of Indigenous Peoples”.
- In April 2000 the UN Human Rights Commission decided in its Resolution 2000/87 to establish a “Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues”.
BREAKING >> Controversial plans to divert Indian rivers are approved: A controversial plan to connect more than 30 rivers in India to divert water to areas within the country which need it most has been approved by the Indian Supreme Court, sparking concern from neighbouring nations.
The scheme would link 30 rivers and involve the building of 80 dams, with a view to diverting water to areas that need it most for irrigation, power and human consumption. It could cost US$120 billion over the 16 years estimated for its completion http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/water/news/plan-to-divert-indian-rivers-angers-neighbouring-nations.html
Freedom of Religion & Belief – China: Tibetan Monasteries Placed Under Direct Rule
Tibetan Yoga Center – Yoga Retreats
Contact: tibetanyogainfo@gmail.com
www.bhutanzopa.com.bt/AdventureTravel
The practice of Yoga is intimately connected to the religious beliefs and practices of both Buddhism and Hinduism. However there are distinct variations in the usage of yoga terminology in the two religions. In Hinduism, the term „Yoga“ commonly refers to the eight limbs of yoga as defined in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, written some time after 100 BCE, and means „yoke“, with the idea that one’s individual atman, or soul, would yoke or bind with the monistic entity which underlies everything (brahman). In the Vajrayana Buddhism of Tibet, however, the term „Yoga“ is simply used to refer to any type of spiritual practice; from the various types of tantra (like Kriyayoga or Charyayoga) to ‚Deity yoga‘ and ‚guru yoga‘. In the early translation phase of the Sutrayana and Tantrayana from India, China and other regions to Tibet, along with the practice lineages of sadhana, codified in the Nyingmapa canon, the most subtle ‚conveyance‘ (Sanskrit: yana) is Adi Yoga (Sanskrit). A contemporary scholar with a focus on Tibetan Buddhism, Robert Thurman writes that Patanjali was influenced by the success of the Buddhist monastic system to formulate his own matrix for the version of thought he considered orthodox. Read More: HERE
Early Buddhism incorporated meditative absorption states. The most ancient sustained expression of yogic ideas is found in the early sermons of the Buddha. One key innovative teaching of the Buddha was that meditative absorption must be combined with liberating cognition. The difference between the Buddha’s teaching and the yoga presented in early Brahminic texts is striking. Meditative states alone are not an end, for according to the Buddha, even the highest meditative state is not liberating. Instead of attaining a complete cessation of thought, some sort of mental activity must take place: a liberating cognition, based on the practice of mindful awareness. The Buddha also departed from earlier yogic thought in discarding the early Brahminic notion of liberation at death. Liberation for the Brahminic yogin was thought to be the realization at death of a nondual meditative state anticipated in life. In fact, old Brahminic metaphors for the liberation at death of the yogic adept were given a new meaning by the Buddha; their point of reference became the sage who is liberated in life. Read More: HERE
Dream Yoga or Milam (T:rmi-lam or nyilam; S:svapnadarśana)— the Yoga of the Dream State are a suite of advanced tantric sadhana of the entwined Mantrayana lineages of Dzogchen (Nyingmapa, Ngagpa, Mahasiddha, Kagyu and Bönpo). Dream Yoga are tantric processes and techniques within the trance Bardos of Dream and Sleep (Tibetan: mi-lam bardo) and are advanced practices of Yoga Nidra. Aspects of Dream Yoga sadhana are subsumed within the practice suite of the Six Yogas of Naropa. Read More: > HERE <
Tibetan yoga center was established to provide a program of study and practice in the Tibetan Buddhist (Vajrayana) tradition that would integrate the essence of these teachings and present them in a suitable way for practitioners in the West. The program combines the core practices relying on visualizations, yoga of channels, winds and drops, and insight into the nature of the mind (rigpa) for efficient progress on the path. The core teachings of Tibetan Yoga Center are ‚The yogas of the six bardos‘ of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, summarized in the curriculum as seven courses (see the program section). The founder and master teacher of the center, Khenchen Lama Rinpoche, was at numerous occasions encouraged by his teachers to focus on helping Western students, particularly through these practices. To help bring these teachings closer to the background of Western practitioners, the program of the Tibetan Yoga Center also integrates elements of Western neuroscientific research on changes in behavior, mind and brain as a result of meditation. Building on the tradition of enlightened householder yogis in Tibet, the program of the center was developed for yogis of the current era – serious practitioners leading busy lives with work and family commitments who want to bring their spiritual practice to swift fruition to fully benefit sentient beings.
Tibetan Yoga Center operates on principles of a social business, offering teachings mostly by suggested donation and for minimal possible fees to cover expenses. The aim of the Tibetan yoga of mind is to develop universal loving kindness and compassion coupled with the ultimate wisdom of the nature of phenomena, the ultimate truth. At the basic level of achievement, one wishes happiness for oneself as well as other people.
At the medium level of achievement one realizes that the source of ultimate happiness is the understanding of the true nature of phenomena. One realizes that the most profound way to benefit sentient beings is to achieve enlightenment and works very hard towards this goal. On this path, one completely purifies his/her mental afflictions – anger, attachment, ignorance, jealousy and pride. The highest level of achievement in the Tibetan yoga of mind is the experiential understanding of our own Buddha nature – the deepest level of the mind. When one continuously sustains this realization in his/her mind stream, s/he becomes the embodiment of the union of primordial wisdom and compassion, and benefits sentient beings in limitless ways. This achievement is the essence of the Tibetan yoga and the deepest meaning of the term ’naljor‘.
TYPES OF YOGA IN TIBETAN BUDDHISM – There are six yanas (modes of spiritual practice) in Vajrayana: 1. Kriyayana, 2. Upayana, 3. Yogayana, 4. Mahayoga, 5. Anuyoga, and 6. Atiyoga. In Nyingma lineage, the main focus of practice is on Mahayoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga.
Teaching and Practice Downloads: This section contains general teachings given by teachers of the Tibetan Yoga Center at various occasions as well as specific teachings that are part of the curriculum of the center. These teachings are available for free, but proper reference to the teachings if used as part of other materials should be included.
Previous some related #articles #videos:
Mountain Minorities and Indigenous Peoples
Yoga of Himalayas – Nuns & Communities
The Ninth Mandaean Camp Niagara Falls
UNESCO – The Tradition of Vedic Chanting
UN – Nagoya biopiracy agreement ‚is unexpected success‘
Saving the Bedouin Heritage and Biodiversity
A Call for Renewable Energy in Brazil – Belo Monte
Indigenous Australien Medicine – Bush Medicine
Build Hope – Sivananda Sevashram
ARGAN TREE – Argan Oil Morocco
Jain Tradition – Mahavir Jayanti India
Monasteries Environmental Himalayaprotection
Monks lead march to save Himalayas
Interfaith Center: Gala Dinner with Yusuf Islam
Gilgit (UNESCO Gilgit Manuscripts) Baltistan – National Conference Sufism
Bahá’í – Religion für eine neue Zeit
Introduction – Swami Vivekananda – Jnana Yoga
The Hindu approach to spiritual evolution leading to liberation or moksha or Self-realization is one of the four major paths or yogas:
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the path of knowledge or Jnana yoga,
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the path of mind control or Raja Yoga ,
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the path of devotion of Bhakti yoga and
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the path of action/work or Karma yoga.
#video Swami Vivekananda 1893 Speech at Parliament of Religions Part 1 of 4
Swami Vivekananda was the chief disciple of the 19th century saint Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. He is considered a key figure in the introduction of Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the „Western“ world, mainly in America and Europe and is also credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the end of the 19th century CE. Vivekananda is considered to be a major force in the revival of Hinduism in modern India.
He is perhaps best known for his inspiring speech which began: „Sisters and Brothers of America,“ through which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893.
The Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions works to cultivate harmony among the world’s religious and spiritual communities to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world.
The first Parliament of Religions was held at the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition, and was the first formal meeting of the religious East and West. In 1988 the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions (CPWR) was founded to organize a centennial celebration of the original Parliament. Since 1993, three Parliaments have been held in Chicago, Cape Town, Barcelona and in 2009 the most recent Parliament was held in Melbourne, Australia.
Dr. Joachim Reinelt: Zur Zeit des indischen Mittelalters wanderten in weiten Teilen Indiens und Tibets tantrische Mystiker umher, die Nathas, Nathayogis oder Nathasiddhas genannt wurden. Sie praktizierten und lehrten Hatha- und Kundaliniyoga und hatten großen Einfluss auf das religiöse Leben der Menschen.
Gorakshanatha Saivism: Gorakhnath or Gorakshanatha Saivism is also known as Siddha Siddhanta and Nath tradition. It was founded by Gorakshanatha (Gorakhnath) who lived about 10th century AD. He is believed to be 3rd, 4th or 5th in a line of 12 prominent teachers of this tradition, which has followers in both Buddhism and Hinduism.
He was said to be a disciple of Matsyendranatha who was from in Nepal. Followers of this sect believe that knowledge of this tradition was received by Matsyendranath directly from Siva himself. Gorakshanatha is credited with such works as Siddha Siddhanta Paddhathi and Viveka Martanda. He composed them in Hindi. He also created 12 monastic orders across Northern India in an effort to preserve the Adinatha tradition. Other important works of this tradition are Hathayoga Pradipika, Gheranda Samhita, Siva Samhita and Jnanamrita.
History of the Nathas – The history of ancient Indian sadhu texts reveals a succession of several main groups. There were the Sadhs, Yatis, Siddhas, Nathas, Pashupatis, Sant-Mats, Dasnamis and Nagas. Apart from these, many small sadhu sects have existed and played their part in the great stream of Indian life. In early history, it would appear that some sects were interwoven with others, and some merged or developed into other sects. Some thus became extinct, and others are still with us.
Full Article: http://www.saivism.net
http://www.facebook.com/parliamentofreligions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Vivekananda
Bhutan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_national_happiness
UN – The Challenge of Human Rights and Cultural Diversity
UNESCO – Intangible Cultural Heritage
UN – Nagoya biopiracy agreement ‚is unexpected success‘
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/books/The.Road.to.an.Anti-Biopiracy.Agreement.htm
Amnesty International – What are economic, social and cultural rights?
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China: Tibetan Monasteries Placed Under Direct Rule
(New York) – The Chinese government has ended a key policy of allowing Tibetan monasteries to be run by monks who comply with government regulations and have instead introduced a system that will place almost every monastery in Tibet under the direct rule of government officials who will be permanently stationed in each religious institution, Human Rights Watch said today.
The new system now requires an unelected „Management Committee“ – also referred to as zhusi danwei/gongzuozu („monastic government work-unit“)- to be established in every monastery, with up to 30 lay officials stationed in each monastery, depending on the size of the institution, according to a February 15, 2012 article in the government-run Global Times. The new „Management Committees“ will run the monasteries and will have authority over the previous „Democratic Management Committees,“ which will now be responsible for rituals and other matters.
The freedom to leave or discontinue membership in a religion or religious group —in religious terms called „apostasy“ —is also a fundamental part of religious freedom, covered by *Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[2]
Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion.[1]
#video Meeting with Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Heiner Bielefeldt As always saying something on the topic of freedom of religion or belief, to say it again, the most shocking experience when dealing with case of violations of freedom of religion is the extreme manifestation and degree of hatred “ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81qyyKzntJw
http://www.hreoc.gov.au/human_rights/religion/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_religion
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/FreedomReligion/Pages/FreedomReligionIndex.aspx
February 29, 2012
Australian Broadcasting Corporation – Exiled PM wants ‚fact finding‘ mission in Tibet
March 3, 2012
UN Human Rights Chief asked when she would visit Tibet
Mar 6, 2012
UN calls on China to stop forced settlement of Tibetan Nomads
8 March 2012
“Unfinished progress” – UN expert examines food systems in emerging countries reports* on China, Mexico and South Africa to the Human Rights Council. In China, local-level authorities often have allowed land-grabbing at the expense of poor rural households. And between 50 and 80 per cent of the 2.25 million nomads on the Tibetan plateau may be relocated into settlements close to rural cities, overhauling the food and farming practices of this vulnerable community as part of a programme to abandon nomadic life and modernize agriculture. ( Latest Water UN Report – World Consumption of modern agriculture on fresh water by 70% )
chinadialogue Tibetan herders are struggling to adjust to sedentary life on the edge of the city of Golmud. Xia Liwei visited one family and listened to their story. http://www.chinadialogue.net/–Who-are-these-people-now
chinadialogue As China seeks to protect a delicate corner of Qinghai, 50,000 herders have been moved off the grasslands. Ill-prepared for urban life, they face a bleak future, write Guan Guixia and Suonan Wangjie. http://www.chinadialogue.net/–Hard-times-for-eco-migrants
TIBETAN NOMADS Tibetan herder with a yak Nomadic herders are known as drokpa. They make up about 25 percent of Tibetans in Tibet. In some Tibetan counties they make up 90 percent of the population. http://factsanddetails.com/china.tibetan nomads
‘Obesogenic’ food systems & Right to food in emerging countries
OLIVIER DE SCHUTTER
U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR
ON THE RIGHT TO FOOD
Newsletter 12 March 2012
Here is the latest news from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier De Schutter. You will find more information on our website.
In the spotlight
‘Obesogenic’ food systems must be reformed
“The West is exporting diabetes and heart disease to developing countries, along with the processed foods that line the shelves of global supermarkets,” warned the Special Rapporteur, calling for an urgent response to the public health disaster of poor nutrition.
On March 6th the UN expert presented an official report, entitled ‘The right to an adequate diet: the agriculture-food-health nexus’ to the UN Human Rights Council.
Instead of medicalizing diets, we must tackle the systemic problems that generate poor nutrition in all its forms, he urged, calling for the taxation of unhealthy products, regulation of foods high in saturated fats, salt and sugar and the way they are marketed, reform of wrong-headed agricultural subsidies, and support for local food systems.
Read the press release or the report and recommendations.
“Unfinished progress”
– UN expert examines food systems in emerging countries
[8 March 2012] GENEVA – “The food systems of emerging countries are at a major crossroads. Millions of people have been lifted out of poverty, yet whole communities have been left behind,” warned Olivier De Schutter, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, after presenting his reports* on China, Mexico and South Africa to the Human Rights Council.
“As many as 19 million Mexicans and 12 million South Africans remain food insecure, and China’s rural dwellers are up to six times poorer than urban populations,” the expert said, calling on emerging countries to act now to lay the foundations for fair and sustainable food systems by implementing the following actions:
Mr. De Schutter urged emerging economies to protect the rights of land users, especially minority and vulnerable groups, and to establish in law the right to food, so it can be rapidly translated it into national strategies and institutions. He also advised supporting smallholder agriculture in the face of mega-development projects, and stopping soil and water degradation through a massive shift to agroecological practices. Likewise, the UN expert suggested the adoption of a strategy to tackle rising obesity.
| Read more… |
“Emerging countries face the huge task of feeding fast-growing populations whose increasing wealth is exerting new pressures on scant resources. They must secure and strengthen their food production bases as a matter of urgency; and they will only do so by working with farmers and their organizations, rather than against them,” he urged.
END
(*)Check the reports: China, Mexico and South Africa.
Women’s Voices, Women’s Choices – 100 years of international Women’s Day
http://www.gwi-boell.de/democracy-womens-day-international-womens-voices-womens-choices
International Women’s Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year.[1] In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women’s economic, political and social achievements. Started as a Socialist political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries, primarily Eastern Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet bloc. In many regions, the day lost its political flavour, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love for women in a way somewhat similar to a mixture of Mother’s Day and St Valentine’s Day. In other regions, however, the original political and human rights theme designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Womens_Day
“Our food systems create sick people” – UN rights expert
“Our food systems create sick people” – UN rights expert
Do you agree? Like and share
Five ways to tackle the public health disaster of bad diets– UN expert on the right to food
GENEVA (6 March 2012) – “Our food systems create sick people,” warned today United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter. “One in seven people globally are undernourished, but many more suffer from the ‚hidden hunger‘ of micronutrient deficiency, while 1.3 billion are overweight or obese.”
“Faced with this nutritional crisis, we need to tackle the systemic problems which generate poor nutrition,” the independent expert said as he presented his report* on the agriculture-food-health nexus to the UN Human Rights Council. “However, we continue to prescribe remedies like a doctor: nutrition pills and early-life nutrition strategies for those lacking in calories; slimming pills, lifestyle advice and calorie counting for the overweight.”
In his report, Mr. De Schutter identifies five priority actions for putting nutrition at the heart of food systems in the developed and developing world:
- taxing unhealthy products;
- regulating foods high in saturated fats, salt and sugar;
- cracking down on junk food advertising;
- overhauling wrong-headed agricultural subsidies which make certain ingredients cheaper than others;
- and supporting local food production so that consumers have access to healthy, fresh and nutritious foods.
“Urbanization, supermarketization and the global spread of Western lifestyles have shaken up traditional food habits. The result is a public health disaster,” the Special Rapporteur said. “Governments have been focusing on increasing calorie availability, but they have often been indifferent to what kind of calories are on offer, at what price, to whom they are accessible, and how they are marketed.”
“We have deferred to food companies the responsibility for ensuring that a good nutritional balance emerges. Voluntary guidelines and piecemeal nutrition initiatives have failed to create a system with the right signals, and the odds remain stacked against the achievement of a healthy, balanced diet,” he said.
“The right to food means not only access to an adequate quantity of food, but also the ability to have a balanced and nutritious diet,” Mr. De Schutter noted. “Governments must not abstain from the responsibility to secure this right.”
The Special Rapporteur also identified the abundance of processed food as a major threat to improving nutrition. “Heavy processing thrives in our global food system, and is a win-win for multinational agri-food companies. Processed items can be produced and distributed on a huge scale, thanks to cheap subsidized ingredients and their increased shelf life.”
“But for the people, it is a lose-lose,” he stressed. “Heavily processed foods lead to diets richer in saturated and trans-fatty acids, salt, and sugars. Children become hooked on the junk foods targeted at them. In better-off countries, the poorest population groups are most affected, because foods high in fats, sugar and salt are often cheaper than healthy diets, as a result of wrong-headed subsidies whose health impacts have been wholly ignored.”
The UN expert noted that the West is now exporting diabetes and heart disease in developing countries, along with the processed foods which line the shelves of global supermarkets. By 2030, more than 5 million people will die each year before the age of 60 from non-communicable diseases linked to diets.
“We should not simply invest our hopes in medicalizing our diets with enriched products, or changing people’s choices through health warnings. Ambitious, targeted nutrition strategies can work, but only if the food systems underpinning them are put right,” the Special Rapporteur said.
Olivier De Schutter was appointed the Special Rapporteur on the right to food in May 2008 by the UN Human Rights Council. He is independent from any government or organization.
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session19/A-HRC-19-59_en.pdf
For the full briefing note entitled The World Trade Organization and the Post-Global Food Crisis Agenda: Putting Food Security First in the International Food System, visit: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Food/BN4_SRRTF_WTO_EN.pdf or http://www.srfood.org/images/stories/pdf/otherdocuments/20111116_briefing_note_05_en.pdf
For more information on the mandate and work of the Special Rapporteur, visit: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/food/index.htm or www.srfood.org
Press contacts:
Yoonie Kim or Ulrik Halsteen (OHCHR): +41 22 917 9643 / 9323 / srfood@ohchr.org
UN Human Rights, follow us on social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unitednationshumanrights
Twitter: http://twitter.com/UNrightswire
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/UNOHCHR
Check the Universal Human Rights Index: http://uhri.ohchr.org/en
http://www.facebook.com/ANHInternational
http://www.facebook.com/organicconsumers
http://www.facebook.com/FoodandWaterWatch US , http://foodwatch.de/
http://bikyamasr.com/60747/un-expert-calls-for-junk-food-tax
http://www.foodsovereignty.org http://www.foodsov.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_tax
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_food
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_security
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy
Who Will be The Biggest Farm Bill Loser?
Soil Association annual conference 2012
Soil Association annual conference 2012
Facing the future: Innovation in food and farming
Royal Horticultural Halls, London
02 March 2012 http://www.soilassociation.org/conference
The Soil Association’s Conference 2012 will celebrate innovation in food and farming today. We will explore this through the two major themes of our strategy: Facing the Future, which explores the exciting scientific and technical progress being made in organic and low-input farming systems; and Good Food for All, which contributes to the important debate about food, public health and social justice.
The future of our food is in flux. According to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture (UNFAO) special Rapporteur, Olivier de Schutter http://www.srfood.org/, ‘keeping blindly on the track of industrial agriculture is clearly unsustainable.’ If this is the case, then we need to galvanize the finest thinkers, technologists, scientists, farmers, entrepreneurs and teachers to develop new and sustainable ways of feeding a growing world population now and in the future.
In addition, the growing challenge of diet-related ill-health, in the UK and internationally, means that we need to explore the relationship between food production and its consumption. With a world that has approximately 1 billion people malnourished and 1 billion obese, there is a powerful case for bringing public health and nutritional expertise to the farming and food production table, to innovate joined-up solutions for our food future.
Navdanya
http://www.navdanya.org/campaigns
Navdanya means “nine seeds” (symbolizing protection of biological and cultural diversity) and also the “new gift” (for seed as commons, based on the right to save and share seeds In today’s context of biological and ecological destruction, seed savers are the true givers of seed. This gift or “dana” of Navadhanyas (nine seeds) is the ultimate gift – it is a gift of life, of heritage and continuity. Conserving seed is conserving biodiversity, conserving knowledge of the seed and its utilization, conserving culture, conserving sustainability.
Navdanya is a network of seed keepers and organic producers spread across 16 states in India.
Navdanya has helped set up 65 community seed banks across the country, trained over 5,00,000 farmers in seed sovereignty, food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture over the past two decades, and helped setup the largest direct marketing, fair trade organic network in the country.
Navdanya has also set up a learning center, Bija Vidyapeeth (School of the Seed) on its biodiversity conservation and organic farm in Doon Valley, Uttarakhand, North India.
2011 marked Earth University/Bija Vidyapeeth’s 10 year anniversary. Located on Navdanya’s Biodiversity and Conservation Farm, Navdanya offers celebrated courses for students to partake in from all over the world.
Our Vision
Vision Statement
“Navdanya’s vision is to accomplish such a development that all beings have a healthy environment to live, should have enough healthy food to eat and also have equal right to live, grow and evolve to their full potential through their self organisation”.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml
Article 25 of United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights –
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of themselves and their family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond their control.
http://www.facebook.com/soilassociation
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Navdanya
Was wären die Schwaben ohne ihre Linsen?
>>> Traditional Food, Medicine & Biodiversity
>>> The Coming Famine: The Global Food Crisis and What We Can Do to Avoid It
Previous #articles #videos on #foodsecurity #agriculture #biodiversity
http://www.scidev.net/en/science-and-innovation-policy/science-at-rio-20
World Youth Congress Rio 2012
About WYC http://wycrio2012.org
The World Youth Congress series was born in 1997 following the frustrations of the Rio+5 Earth Summit conference which highlighted the fact that, far from increasing as the original Rio 1992 Earth Summit had proposed, Overseas Development Aid had, in fact dropped by 17% since 1992.
So the 1st World Youth Congress was conceived as a kind of Young People’s Earth Summit. However by the time it was finally held, in Hawaii in October 1999, it had developed into a much broader process of identifying priorities for the new Millennium. Entitled, the Millennium Young People’s Congress.
It got millions of young people around the world to identify ten key priorities for the new millennium and it turned out that eight of these closely mirrored the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, agreed a year later at the UN Millennium Summit.
In 2012 the United Nations will convene the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio 2012 or Rio+20, hosted by Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, as a 20-year follow-up to the historic 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) that was held in the same city. The conference is organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Conference_on_Sustainable_Development
http://www.amnesty.org/en/economic-social-and-cultural-rights
What is Rio+20?
Simply put:-
20 years after the original Earth Summit, Heads of State will meet again in Rio de Janeiro in May 2012 for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development. . The issues to be discussed are the building of a green economy and a institutional framework for sustainable development.
– 
1992 Earth Summit logo 2012 Rio+20 logo
Detail:-:
The 1992 meeting came about due to a report from the the 1980′s defining sustainable development as
“Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Bruntland Report 1987
However after 20 years, many of the issues discussed in 1992 still persist today and need urgent action.
As well as there being increased interest in issues of environmental, social and economical issues via scientific findings, governmental concern, media attention and NGO’s (non-governmental organisations) campaigns.
Videos explain what happened at the Earth Summit concerning the world leaders and the NGO’s activities.
From this Earth Summit came documents concerning
- Agenda 21
- Convention on Biological Diversity
- Framework on Climate Change
- Forest Principles
- Deceleration on Environment and Development
Since then other UN meetings have taken place concern sustainable development and climate change.
Of note: 1997 Kyoto COP3, 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio+10) & COP15
However after 20 years, many of the issues discussed in 1992 still persist today and need urgent action.
Rio+20 will focus on 2 themes
Green Economy
By focusing the world economy on poverty eradication and sustainable development it is hoped in one case to increase the move from Victorian fossil fuel technologies, to alternative renewable energy resources.
Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development
This is to make governments have a greater focus on Sustainable Development.
In turn these will fulfill the Rio+20 objectives of
- Securing political commitment to Sustainable Development
- Assessing progress towards international agreed commitments
- Pinpointing new and emerging challenges
As well as put us on a path to a more sustainable future that us youth will grow into.
However, pressure is still needed to make this so….
http://www.scidev.net/en/science-and-innovation-policy/science-at-rio-20/
Get active, get involved and join us on the Road to Rio+20
Links:-
http://www.facebook.com/joinundesa
Previous #articles #videos #sources > #sustainable #development
Previous #articles #videos #sources > #millenium #development goals
http://www.facebook.com/WYC2012
FOOD: WTO „must address“ food security
UPDATE 30.01.2012 Haircut Negotiations – Hedge Funds Bet on Profits from Greek Debt Talks SPIEGEL ONLINE – http://www.spiegel.de/international/topic/debt_crisis
The negotiations over the Greek debt haircut are becoming increasingly suspenseful, with euro-zone finance ministers and the IMF pushing investors to accept greater losses. Hedge funds, more than any others, stand to profit, and are betting that the voluntary debt rescheduling will fail. By Stefan Kaiser http://www.facebook.com/spiegelinternational
Coming Events:
7 February 2012: European Economic and Social Committee sustainability conference
Olivier De Schutter will address Workshop 1, entitled „food, water and energy for everyone“, held between 4.30 and 6.00 pm, of the Conference of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) Go sustainable, be responsible! European civil society on the road to Rio+20.
30 January 2012: No enough food, energy for World as population increases: U.N. report | Morocco World News http://moroccoworldnews.com
30 January 2012: With new blueprint in hand, Ban calls for action to chart more sustainable future http://www.un.org/apps/news/sustainable development
http://www.irinnews.org/Report WTO
http://www.ourworldisnotforsale.org/
“ Trade and food security is in effect a WTO issue, and so there is great frustration within the UN that this enormously restricts the role of, for example, the Food and Agriculture Organization-based Committee on Food Security „
Olivier de Schutter, UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, says: “Food security is the elephant in the room, which WTO [the World Trade Organization] must address”, pointing out that food import bills had soared by a third for poor countries this year.
WTO defending an outdated vision of food security [16 December 2011] Geneva – „Globalization creates big winners and big losers. But where food systems are concerned, losing out means sinking into poverty and hunger. A vision of food security that deepens the divide between food-surplus and food-deficit regions, between exporters and importers, and between winners and losers, simply cannot be accepted.
Food security hostage to trade in WTO negotiations: UN right to food expert [16 November 2011] Geneva – „The world is in the midst of a food crisis which requires a rapid policy response. But the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agenda has failed to adapt, and developing countries are rightly concerned that their hands will be tied by trade rules.”
Is the Doha round delivering on poverty?
Food aid on the back burner as WTO talks collapse
Some issues WTO needs to address in agriculture:
Ceilings on subsidies: Current ceilings on how much the US and the EU can spend on subsidies that distort trade are still rather high
Cotton subsidies: The US has still not fully complied with a WTO ruling in 2009 to remove subsidies for its cotton producers. African farmers could have gained from a 3.5 percent average increase in world cotton prices, if the US had cut subsidies.
Biofuel Subsidies : Not covered yet. A new study found that US ethanol subsidies may have artificially inflated maize prices by as much as 17 percent in 2011. Source: ICTSD
Some Further Sources such as http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml
Read http://www.srfood.org/ Press release, „Eco-Farming Can Double Food Production in 10 Years, says UN Report“, 8 March 2011.
FARMAfrica FARM-Africa http://www.farmafrica.org.uk
Research by American Prof of International Development shows that small farms in Africa could be the solution to hunger http://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/01/13/
http://www.righttofood.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/Right_to_food
http://cesr.org/index.php Center for Economic and Social Rights
http://www.facebook.com/World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO)
The G20 & Food Security – missing the big picture? World Trade
https://www.facebook.com/boellstiftung
http://www.business-humanrights.org/Categories/Issues/Other/Righttofood
http://www.stwr.org/imf-world-bank-trade/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals
http://donttradeourlivesaway.wordpress.com/
http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/issues
http://farmlandgrab.org/Olivier De Schutter: “Principles for responsible investment in agriculture”
http://www.ourworldisnotforsale.org/en/signon/stop-wto-s-doha-development-round-and-other-FTAs
The right to food, and its variations, is a human right derived from the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food in 2002 defined it as follows: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_food
http://www.amnesty.org/en/economic-social-and-cultural-rights
Join the energy [r]evolution! http://www.energyblueprint.info/ The report: ‘Energy [R]evolution: A Sustainable World Energy Outlook’, provides a detailed practical blueprint for cutting carbon emissions while achieving economic growth by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy and energy efficiency. This phase-out of fossil fuels offers substantial benefits such as energy security, independence from world market fuel prices as well as the creation of millions of new green jobs.
Celebrate the 2012 Sundance Film Festival From Anywhere
http://www.sundance.org/festival
http://www.sundance.org/stories/blog
http://www.sundance.org/programs/native-film
“Storytellers broaden our minds: engage, provoke, inspire, and ultimately, connect us.”
—Robert Redford, President and Founder
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. HERE
Charity biography #433 Robert Redford has addressed environmental issues in documentaries and film for over 30 years. Read more: http://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/443-robert-redford
Sundance Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the discovery and development of independent artists and audiences. Through its programs, the Institute seeks to discover, support, and inspire independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work.
Since 1981, Sundance Institute has evolved to become an internationally-recognized nonprofit organization that actively advances the work of risk-taking storytellers worldwide. Originally founded by Robert Redford in the mountains of Sundance, Utah, Sundance Institute has always provided a space for independent artists to explore their stories free from commercial and political pressures. By providing year-round creative and financial support for the development of original stories for the screen and stage, Sundance Institute remains committed to its mission to discover and develop independent artists and audiences across the globe.
#VIDEO 2012 Festival Kickoff http://www.youtube.com/sff
Sundance Film Festival Director John Cooper, and Director of Programming Trevor Groth, share some of the great things about to happen at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.
Artist Programs
http://www.sundance.org/programs/
Through year-round support, including a series of Labs and Fellowships for screenwriters, directors, documentarians, producers, composers, and theatre artists, the Institute’s artist programs have supported more than 5,000 artists and their films.
Feature Film
The longest-running of Sundance Institute’s artist development programs, the Feature Film Program (FFP) was founded in 1981 and has since supported more than 500 independent filmmakers whose distinctive, singular films have engaged audiences worldwide. We hope to embrace the unique vision of each filmmaker we support and encourage a rigorous creative process with a focus on original storytelling. Led by Michelle Satter, each year the Program advances the work of as many as 65 emerging filmmakers from the U.S. and around the world through a year-round continuum of support from development, to production and postproduction, all the way through to festival strategy and creative marketing/distribution.
#video http://www.aiweiweineversorry.com
http://filmguide.sundance.org/ai_weiwei_never_sorry
Ai Weiwei is China’s most famous international artist, and its most outspoken domestic critic. Against a backdrop of strict censorship and an unresponsive legal system, Ai expresses himself and organizes people through art and social media. In response, Chinese authorities have shut down his blog, beat him up, bulldozed his newly built studio, and held him in secret detention.
AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY is the inside story of a dissident for the digital age who inspires global audiences and blurs the boundaries of art and politics. First-time director Alison Klayman gained unprecedented access to Ai while working as a journalist in China. Her detailed portrait provides a nuanced exploration of contemporary China and one of its most compelling public figures.
http://www.financialtaskforce.org/2011/12/07/an-artists-stand
Ai Weiwei is known for many things—great architecture, subversive in-your-face art, and political activism. He has also called for greater transparency on the part of the Chinese state. Director Alison Klayman chronicles the complexities of Ai’s life for three years, beginning with his rise to public prominence via blog and Twitter after he questioned the deaths of more than 5,000 students in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. The record continues through his widely publicized arrest in Beijing in April of 2011. As Ai prepares various works of art for major international exhibitions, his activism heats up, and his run-ins with China’s authorities become more and more frequent.
In this unprecedented look at Ai and those close to him, Klayman’s camera captures his forthrightness and unequivocal stance. She gives a larger picture of the artist as an individual, a symbol of China’s oppression, and a powerful voice against a country that still denies its citizens many basic freedoms. – K.Y.
http://www.sundance.org/filmforward/destinations
http://www.sundance.org/filmforward/destination/china-2012/
Sundance Spotlights Spacey’s Wall Street Boss,
Al Pacino’s Cop
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-17/austerity-wrong-way-to-fight-eu-crisis-stiglitz.html
Two movies about the *financial crisis — a drama starring Kevin Spacey and a documentary featuring Nobel Prize-winner Joseph Stiglitz — will be showcased at the Sundance Film Festival opening today in Utah.
On China, Stiglitz said an easing in its economic expansion to 7 percent to 8 percent is in some sense probably a “good thing.” He later told reporters at a Hong Kong briefing growth in the world’s second-largest economy is now more “sustainable.”
http://genevalunch.com/blog/2011/11/29/swiss-chinese-free-trade-good-progress-made
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bilateral_free_trade_agreements
Not to be confused with Free market or Fair Trade. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_trade
In “Margin Call,” Spacey plays an executive at a troubled Wall Street investment firm during the early days of the economic meltdown. “The Flaw,” directed by British filmmaker David Sington, explores the causes of the crisis through interviews with leading economists, Wall Street insiders and victims of the Great Recession.
Celebrate the 2012 Sundance Film Festival From Anywhere
Digital Initiatives Bring the Festival to You!
Livestream Events │ Exclusive Online Content │Social Media
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http://www.sundance.org/video/live/ LIVE Streaming
http://www.facebook.com/sundance
http://twitter.com/sundancefest
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION : Live Webcast
http://www.belurmath.org/news_archives/swami-vivekanandas-birthday-celebration-live-webcast/
http://www.belurmath.org/news_archives/2012/01/10/national-youth-day-12-january-2/
Previous #articles #videos # development #reliefwork
http://ramakrishna.org Ramakrishna – Vivekananda Center of New York
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedanta
Via Campesina „It is time to end the WTO“!
Press Release @via_campesina Jakarta – Indonesia (IOS)
The international movement of peasants, small- and medium-sized producers, landless, rural women, indigenous people, rural youth and agricultural workers. http://www.viacampesina.org
(Jakarta, December 16, 2011) The WTO ministerial meeting on December 15-17, 2011, is taking place at a time of a crisis of growth for neoliberal regimes worldwide. This crisis started in 2007 with the food crisis, which is still not resolved. Since the WTO was created 16 years ago, millions of people’s lives have been ruined. At the time of its inception, Europe and the US were in the forefront of the creation of this trade organization.
Opening the market by cutting tariffs and cutting subsidies that favored the people was at the core of the neoliberal policies pushed by the WTO. Their policies were peddled under the belief that all would benefit and the environment would be protected, as mentioned in the WTO’s mission statement. But the stark reality of the past 16 years have showed us otherwise.
Since the beginning of the Doha Round of negotiation in 2003 (also called the „Development Round“), La Via Campesina suspected that it would fail. There can be no development for the people under neoliberal policies.
Now people are marching and protesting in Spain, Italy and around the world, including the „Occupy Wall Street“ movement in the United States. The 2008 Wall Street financial meltdown, caused by years of deregulation and a lack of government oversight, cost Americans $14 trillion and eight million jobs. Today some 25 million people are unemployed or underemployed in the United States. Neoliberal policies such as those advocated by the WTO were born in Europe and the US, but they are now turning on their own people, creating a social and economical crisis of historic proportions.
Farmers need access to credit, a fair mortgage on their land, fair prices for the food they produce, and seeds that are not patented and owned by Monsanto or other big corporations. Consumers need to be able to purchase healthy and local food and earn a living wage, as Jim Goodman wrote in his article on „Occupy the Food System“ (http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/12/12-0 ). He is a dairy farmer from Wisconsin and a member of Family Farm Defenders and the National Family Farm Coalition, a member of La Via Campesina in the US.
„The WTO is one of the neoliberal policies pillars – along with the World Bank and the IMF. The truth is that the neoliberal regime only benefits big transnational companies. Neoliberalism is nothing more than a corporate driven agenda” said Henry Saragih from Indonesia – general coordinator of Via Campesina.
In the WTO ministerial summit in Seattle in 1999, La Via Campesina stated on record that the neo-liberal agricultural policies were leading to the destruction of our family farm economies, to a profound crisis in our societies, and that they were threatening the very existence of our societies. The current global crisis shows that this analysis was right.
“WTO Kills Farmers” said Lee Kyung Hae, a farmer from South Korea during the fifth WTO ministerial meeting in Cancun in 2003, before stabbing himself to death during the protest. His sacrifice will never be forgotten. In 2005, thousands of peasants and small farmers were arrested during their struggle against the WTO in Hongkong during the 6th WTO ministerial meeting.
“Food sovereignty is our answer to our common challenges. Too many people are suffering as a result of the WTO’s policies. WTO out of agriculture and food has become a strong demand of Via Campesina from Seattle until now. The current global food crisis is due to the very fact that food trade is in hands of a few TNCs“ said Yudvhir Singh, a La Via Campesina leader from India.
During the climate talks in Durban last week, some efforts were made to include the WTO principles in order to solve the climate crisis. This move was clearly driven by the Neoliberal free market strategy of considering climate ( CAN International http://www.climatenetwork.org ) as a commodity. Free trade will not solve the climate crisis. The free trade regime has led to the accumulation of capital (and power) in the hands of a few and has allowed the destruction of climate for profit’s sake.
We saw at the last G-20 Summit in Cannes, France that the prevailing economic model was no longer sustainable. An economic model that is primarily designed to increase industrial and economic growth is no solution to the economic and environmental crises we now face. There is a need for a profound change in the modes of production and consumption.
La Via Campesina, representing 200 million farmers around the world repeats that it is time to end WTO. It is time to end „One Size Fits All“ policies.
We call on all governments, local authorities, national and international institutions to implement the concept of Food Sovereignty. Food sovereignty is based upon the people’s rights to feed themselves and to chose their own food policies. The implementation of those rights will allow peasants and small farmers to feed the world.
Via Campesina Österreich: http://www.viacampesina.at
Sources on trade, foodsecurity, humanrights
http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org
http://www.stwr.org/imf-world-bank-trade
http://www.sourcewatch.org/Portal:Food_Sovereignty
http://cesr.org/Time to address the economic and social rights deficit.
An International Human Rights Day reflection
http://www.amnesty.org/en/economic-and-social-cultural-rights/ai-action-escr
Previous #articles #videos
http://www.srfood.org UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
#video Eco-Farming CAN Feed the World
Jean Ziegler: The Empire of Shame
Food crises: five priorities for the G20
Urgent: sign-on letter on G20 infrastructure report (incl. dams)
Int. Peasant Conference : Stop the land grab
Sign the Dakar appeal against land grabbing!!
Climate Change, Food Sovereignty & Security
http://www.world-economy-and-development.org
INSIDE OUT: a large-scale participatory art project
http://www.insideoutproject.net
The TED Prize http://www.tedprize.org/ „One Wish to Change the World.“
INSIDE OUT: a large-scale participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work. A collaboration between the artist JR, the TED Prize #video ( JR’s TED Prize wish: Use art to turn the world inside out ) and you!
INSIDE OUT: a large-scale participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work. A collaboration between the artist JR, the TED Prize and you!
Everyone is challenged to use black and white photographic portraits to discover, reveal and share the untold stories and images of people around the world. These digitally uploaded images will be made into posters and sent back to the project’s co-creators for them to exhibit in their own communities. People can participate as an individual or in a group; posters can be placed anywhere, from a solitary image in an office window to a wall of portraits on an abandoned building or a full stadium. These exhibitions will be documented, archived and viewable virtually.
Upload a portrait. Receive a poster. Paste it for the world to see!
http://www.facebook.com/InsideOutProject
http://twitter.com/InsideOutProj
Human Rights Day 2011
http://www.celebratehumanrights.org/
The Week Ahead: December 5-11 – The Week Ahead is a handy listing of key events of the coming week affecting RFE/RL’s broadcast region. Now on Twitter! Daily updates at @The_Week_Ahead.
SATURDAY, December 10: UN: Human Rights Day
This year thousands of people decided the time had come to claim their rights. They took to the streets and demanded change. Many found their voices using the internet and instant messaging to inform, inspire and mobilize supporters to seek their basic human rights.
Social media helped activists organize peaceful protest movements in cities across the globe—in Tunis, in Cairo, in Madrid, in New York, and in cities and towns across the globe—at times in the face of violent repression.
It has been a year like no other for human rights. Human rights activism has never been more topical or more vital. And through the transforming power of social media, ordinary people have become human rights activists.
VIDEO 2011: An extraordinary year for human rights – 2011 has been an extraordinary year for human rights, UN Human Rights Chief, Navi Pillay says in her message to mark Human Rights Day.
Human Rights Day is marked annually on 10 December, it commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN General Assembly in 1948. Videos: The videos found here are available for use on Human Rights Day.
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Day2011/Pages/Videos.aspx
Human rights belong equally to each of us and bind us together as a global community with the same ideals and values. As a global community we all share a day in common: Human Rights Day on 10 December, when we remember the creation 63 years ago of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On Human Rights Day 2011 we pay tribute to all human rights defenders and ask you to get involved in the global human rights movement.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights will host a global conversation on human rights through social media on Friday, 9 December at 9:30 A.M., New York time.
We want you to be part of it: join the conversation, send a question, watch it live. More details coming soon.
Join us on Facebook as we countdown to Human Rights Day with a „30 days and 30 rights“ discussion on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or follow us on Twitter #CelebrateRights.
Help us celebrate human rights!
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Day2011/Pages/HRD2011.aspx
International human rights law refers to the body of international law designed to promote and protect human rights at the international, regional and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law is primarily made up of treaties, agreements between states intended to have binding legal effect between the parties that have agreed to them; and customary international law, rules of law derived from the consistent conduct of states acting out of the belief that the law required them to act that way. HERE
Watch LIVE tomorrow on UN Webcast @ 10:30am Geneva time. http://bit.ly/bjdKsc „Social Media and Human Rights“ Panel participants include acclaimed activists: Wael Abbas, Maite Azuela, Bassem Bouguerra, Ednah Karamagi, Meg Pickard and Salil Tripathi. Read on: http://bit.ly/vaWr6Y
Celebrating the birthday of human rights!
http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2011/12/human-rights-go-viral.html
During the event in New York, UN High Commissioner for human rights answered questions from multiple social media platforms. Through Skype, UN Messenger of Peace and writer Paulo Coelho, asked about the role of culture and art in protecting and promoting human rights. “Art and music,” stressed Pillay “can reach out to a wider audience and carry very powerful human rights messages.”
Happy Human Rights Day! uploaded by UNOHCHR on Dec 10, 2011:
Endless Poverty is a Human Rights Failure, December 7, 2011, By Thomas Pogge – Dr. Pogge is Director of the Global Justice Program and Leitner Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs at Yale University. He serves on Global Financial Integrity’s Advisory Board.
This Human Right Day, let us be mindful of the ways in which our emerging supranational institutional architecture can be reformed to ensure that the poorer half of humanity, too, can achieve at least a proportionate share of global economic growth.
Socioeconomic rights, such as that “to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself and one’s family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care” (UDHR, Article 25), are currently, and by far, the most frequently unfulfilled human rights. Their widespread under fulfillment also plays a major role in explaining global deficits in civil and political human rights demanding democracy, due process, and the rule of law.
Extremely poor people — often physically and mentally stunted due to malnutrition in infancy, illiterate due to lack of schooling, and much preoccupied with their family’s survival — can cause little harm or benefit to the politicians and civil servants who rule them. Such officials therefore pay much less attention to the interests of the poor than to the interests of agents more capable of reciprocation, including foreign governments, companies, and tourists.
Read on Global Financial Integrity’s Blog:
http://www.financialtaskforce.org/endless-poverty-is-a-human-rights-failure
http://www.amnesty.org/en/economic-social-and-cultural-rights
http://degrowthpedia.org/index.php
http://www.facebook.com/FinancialTaskForce
http://www.facebook.com/United Nations Millennium Campaign
#video What is your wish? #CelebrateRights
http://twitter.com/unrightswire
http://www.youtube.com/user/UNOHCHR
http://www.facebook.com/unitednationshumanrights
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/environment/environ/index.htm
Mikhail Gorbachev: Prophet of Change
http://www.gcint.org http://www.gci.ch
http://www.climatechangetaskforce.org
To respond to combined challenges of security, poverty and environmental degradation to ensure a sustainable and secure future.
In recognition of President Gorbachev’s 80th birthday, the founding President of Green Cross and his lifelong commitment to sustainability, GCI has published a book honouring the former President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev: Prophet of Change.
The publication traces the evolution of Gorbachev’s vision, in particular the origins and outcomes of his environmental agenda, which belong to the important legacy of changes Gorbachev initiated in the Soviet Union and the world.
This anthology, features select speeches and writings by President Gorbachev, as well as tributes from political contemporaries and partners in the environmental and peace movements. The tributes from colleagues and friends – ranging from political heavyweights President George Bush Sr. and Margaret Thatcher to renowned champions of sustainability Maurice Strong and Achim Steiner – reflect the esteem in which Mikhail Gorbachev is held, and the special place he occupies in the history of our times.
Mikhail Gorbachev: Prophet of Change is published by Clairview Books and is avaliable now. For ordering information please visit Amazon or Clairview Books.
„Governments are still not doing enough to protect the environment, countries should adhere to environmental principles to avoid irreparable damage to the planet – it’s five minutes to midnight.“
– Mikhail Gorbachev, Founding President and Member of the Board, Green Cross International
The Future We Want Campaign has been embraced by the United Nations to help promote next June’s “Rio+20” United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.
A co-founder of the Future We Want campaign is Bill Becker, climate policy expert and member of the Climate Change Task Force.
Green Cross is a supporter of the “Rio+20: The Future We Want” campaign, that will work through public participation to envision how societies in all parts of the world can build a future that promotes prosperity and improves the quality of people’s lives without further degrading the natural environment.
“We need to imagine a different future,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “What would our world look like if everyone had access to the food they need, to an education, and to the energy that is required to develop? What would our communities look like if we created a vibrant, job-rich, green economy? This is the future we want.”
The campaign aims to encourage people everywhere to engage in a global conversation that will be collected and melded into visions of the future, to be exhibited at the Conference in June 2012. Rio+20 will bring together world leaders and thousands of participants representing all sectors of society, including academia, agriculture, business and industry, indigenous peoples, mayors and local authorities, non-governmental organizations, trade unions, women and youth.
Related materials:
UN Conference on Sustainable Development 2012
Future We Want on Facebook and Twitter
Contacts:
Paul Garwood
Director of Communications
Green Cross International
Email: paul.garwood@gci.ch
Mob: +41797760454
Off: +41227891662
Skype: paul.garwood
Website: www.gcint.org
Follow Green Cross International on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube
http://www.barentsobserver.com/nature.html
http://www.facebook.com/greencrossint
http://www.facebook.com/road2rio20
http://www.facebook.com/The Climate Change Task Force
https://www.facebook.com/FutureWeWant
http://www.facebook.com/GreenpeaceRussia
http://www.facebook.com/TheVoiceofRussia
http://www.facebook.com/Institute of Modern Russia
http://www.facebook.com/russianow
http://www.facebook.com/Demotivacija.mk
http://www.rferl.org/section/Russia Radio Free Europe
http://www.eurasianet.org Russia by Regions
http://www.euronews.net/nocomment TV without any opinion
http://www.facebook.com/rethinkafghanistan
http://www.facebook.com/India Against Corruption
Green Cross International
Check new 1 minute Green Cross video interview from COP17 in Durban with Mubarick Masawudu, president of Green Cross Ghana, discussing the links between climate change and humanity. http://bit.ly/ru5Wnh
Science on the road to Rio+20 & Innovation Policy: Read our news and analysis about the role of science at next June’s sustainable development meeting. Science at Rio+20 – The Rio+20 UN Conference in June 2012 provides a chance to reflect on science’s contribution to sustainable development since the first Earth Summit 20 years ago, and on how it can contribute most effectively in the future. http://www.scidev.net/en/science and innovation policy/science at rio 20
The coming famine: risks and solutions for global food security – sciencealert – Global funding for agricultural research, public and private, is estimated to total around $40 billion. There is a stark contrast with the $1500 billion the world now spends on weapons. @ComingFamine, twitter Headline issues on the global food crisis and how to avoid it. If you eat or know someone who does, this concerns you… http://paper.li/ComingFamine
News and Issues for Sustainable Development:
Gazprom to boost gas to India from 2016-18 – source Reuters
Afghanistan: Will TAPI Pipeline Be Able to Beat Back the Taliban? – eurasia.net
Missile Defense Dispute: Russia Threatens to Block NATO Supply Route – Antiwar.com
