Henry Kissinger said "Who controls the oil, controls nations. Who controls the food, controls the people".
It is now illegal in the EU to sell or even distribute freely seeds that are not on the "list" set by the EU for the agricultural norms (based on the catalogue of Monsanto and the other seed multinationals). This means that all the traditional and local foods not considered by the multinationals are now illegal to produce and distribute the seed. There are thousands of varieties of apples in europe...how many of their seeds are in the catalogue? 7? 8? A tremendous blow to biodiversity, an extreme loss for the human race (I want to know what those apples taste like. Why do they all have to taste the same?). And an enormous victory for Agro business, giving a few companies with severely questionable ethics the entire control over our food supply. Monsanto sells seeds that are bred to be infertile, so the farmer can not collect seeds from his fruits and use them next year, but must always every year buy new seeds. What happens when all our food comes from these seeds? What kind of power does monsanto have then? And then they raise the prices...or deny the seeds to certain areas or countries...or only allow seeds to those that follow certain directives?
Heritage seed associations have popped up all over the world in response this globalisation and overall sanitisation and ubercontrol of the food structure happening in these times. A noble and extremely important work, preserving biodiversity and the possibility of the human race to execute agriculture independantly and at a community level, as we have for the last 10000 years.
Heritage seed foundations and their distribution of safe, natural, traditional, and diverse nature are now, effectively, illegal in Europe. The fundamental work of the farmer, to raise food, gather seeds, raise more food next year, is now considered criminal, and to stay within the law the farmer has to buy seeds from the prescribed multinationals.
What the hell are they thinking?? Who paid them to think that way? I can't think of a single rational reason to limit the production and distribution of heritage seeds, except that it means monsanto may have a few less customers. And what the hell does the EU care about monsanto's customer loyalty??
Control. It bothers the powers that be that there is a movement for independant and sustainable agriculture that could provide an alternative to centrally controlled food distribution. Farmers out there that can produce food without participating in the structure of power are a revolutionary threat? Well, yes. And that's why we have to fight them and do it anyway. So now our project not only puts us outside the norms of society, but the norms of the law as well. Come and get me, bastards, cause I'm doing it anyway. (god, I hope they don't speak good english!).
I'll be interested to see the response to this. For now their tactic is to keep it quiet and hope nobody notices, but i can't imagine the French or the British taking something like this lying down...maybe i can still get seeds from my organic pusher in the UK...http://www.tamarorganics.co.uk/
Now let's add insult to injury. Monti has just now made it illegal in Italy to specially promote or favour local and regional produce. A new law has been passed that deems it unfair to the large national and multinational distributors if local produce is promoted or made to seem better. Poor big companies that take tomatoes from China and sell them in Sicily shouldn't have to deal with competition from the local small farmer. For that would be a terrible and unacceptable inhibition of the free market...
Mamma Mia
here's the article, very interesting for those that read italian!
http://www.informarexresistere.fr/2012/09/14/lue-assalta-la-sovranita-alimentare-e-mario-monti-dichiara-illegale-lagricoltura-a-chilometro-zero/#axzz2FeYP1U2r
