Act for Seed & Food Freedom, 2-16 October 2013
1. Letter from Vandana Shiva
Dear lovers of life’s diversity and lovers of freedom,
It is time to organise and concentrate our energies to liberate our seeds and our food from the toxic, greedy and lethal clutches of global corporations like Monsanto; from the laws the corporations are writing, stealing our democracies in order to steal our seeds and food, our health and livelihoods, our cultures and our lives. We need to break from the sense of powerlessness the corporations would like us to experience to make us believe they are all powerful and we have no power to change. But we do. We just have to combine our collective energies. We must become the change we want to see.
I invite you to unleash your creative energies during the Fortnight of Action for Seed Freedom and Food Freedom – 2nd October to 16th October.
2nd October is Gandhi’s birth anniversary. Gandhi left us the legacy of “Swaraj”- self-organised freedom and “Satyagraha”- the force of truth. Let us dedicate ourselves to celebrating 2nd October as the day for a worldwide “Seed Satyagraha”. A day when we defend Seed Freedom and Food Freedom by identifying every regional law written by corporations to undermine these freedoms by criminalizing diversity, seed saving and seed exchange, farmers innovations and farmers rights; whilst establishing illegitimate seed monopolies through patents and privileging of uniformity and monocultures.
After having identified laws for seed slavery, let us commit ourselves to not obey these unethical and brute laws which threaten life on earth, including our lives and the lives of our children. Gandhi had reminded us 100 years ago, that “As long as the superstition remains that unjust laws must be obeyed, so long will slavery exist”. We have a dream, and our dream is that every seed, every bee, every butterfly, every earthworm, every person, every child be free of manipulation and control, hunger and disease; that they evolve and co-evolve in freedom, well-being and health. We must not allow ourselves to be subjected to the superstition that Monsanto Laws must be obeyed. For the sake of Gaia’s laws, of life’s renewal in freedom and the laws of justice, it is our ecological and ethical duty to disobey Monsanto’s laws. And while resisting and not co-operating with destructive laws of seed dictatorship, let us celebrate Seed Freedom and Food Freedom through adopting The Law of the Seed and creating Gardens of Hope – seed sanctuaries – and GMO-free, patent free Seed Freedom Zones.
On 12th October we will self-organise to March against Monsanto across the world, like we did on the 25th May.
16th October is World Food Day. Monsanto and other Biotech giants have been foolish and arrogant enough to award themselves The World Food Prize they sponsor that day. Let us give Real Food Prizes to Real Food Heroes in our communities, who bring us real and healthy food instead. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, 72% of the food that people eat comes from small farms and gardens. We can make the 72% a 100% by saving Seeds of Freedom and planting Gardens of Hope everywhere. Industrial agriculture driven by corporations has destroyed 75% of the planet’s biodiversity resulting in hunger and disease. 1 billion are hungry, 2 billion suffer from food related diseases. This is not a food system that brings us life and health. It is a greed and profit-driven, commodity producing system that has unleashed death and destruction. We have to stop this destruction. There is no place for poisons and corporate slavery in the food system. We are what we eat.
Our seeds and food are vital to life. We cannot afford to allow the destruction of the planet and our health to continue. We cannot allow seed slavery and food dictatorship to continue. We must take back our seeds, our food, our freedom.
With love and strength to each and every one of you to evolve your highest powers and unleash your highest creative and collaborative energies, so that together we shape a food system that protects life on earth, our small farmers, our health and our future.
Vandana Shiva
Key Days of Action / Ideas for Action
2 Oct: Seed Satyagraha – Worldwide civil disobedience against unjust seed laws in the spirit of Gandhi
12 Oct: Global March Against Monsanto
16 Oct: World Food Day Celebrations & Honouring Real Food Heroes – Identify and honour Real Food Heroes in your community and around the world
2-16 Oct: Seed Freedom Actions – Start Seed Banks and GMO-Free/Seed-Freedom Zones; create Gardens of Hope; organise Seed Swaps and Seed Bomb actions
