People Putting Food First #113
Food First has a new web site:
www.foodfirst.org
Food riots, hoarding of food, grain speculation and escalating price increases all continue to cause distress among the poor. Read Food First articles analyzing the food crisis on our web site. Listen to our economic analysis: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/episodes/episode_index.php
Hear Eric Holt-Giménez interviewed on Wisconsin Public Radio and a Voice of America international radio program here. 3. http://www.foodfirst.org/en/node/2108
1. Anonymous Online Attacks Against the Coalition of Immokalee Workers Traced to Burger King Vice President
2. May Day strikes, marches, and celebrations
3. Hungry people don’t have peace!
4. Food Sovereignty is our Right!
5. Consumer’s guide to avoid genetically engineered food
1. Anonymous Online Attacks Against the Coalition of Immokalee Workers Traced to Burger King Vice President
Allegations of spying, libelous internet attacks, and infiltration of farm worker groups by Burger King are heating up and so are media reports. The CIW (Coalition of Immokalee Workers) has been leading the fight against slavery in Florida’s tomato fields, particularly against Burger King who refuses to grant the pickers the extra penny a pound that other fast food giants have agreed to. A recent story http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080412/NEWS01/804... in Ft. Meyer’s New Press detailed the sleazy tactics employed by Burger King against the CIW, including hiring spies from an unlicensed firm, Diplomatic Tactical Services, to infiltrate the Student/Farm Worker Alliance (a national farm worker rights group that is an ally of the CIW), and attempting to discredit the CIW by engaging in anonymous online attacks on news sites that covered the story. Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now interviews the reporter who broke the story here: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/14/did_burger_king_target_and_spy
The Nation has also been covering the story in 2 separate articles: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7&pid=311097 and http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?mm=4&yr=2008
And most recently, Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, covered the story for the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/opinion/07schlosser.html?_r=1&oref=slo...
On Monday, April 28, 2008 farm worker advocates delivered an 80,000 signature petition in support of the extra penny a pound to Burger King officials. That same day it was revealed http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008804280351 that the online postings were made by Burger King Vice President, Steven Grover using his middle-school aged daughter’s online identity.
The scandal has prompted editorials across the country condemning Burger King for its role in the online attacks, and the story is even receiving coverage in mainstream outlets including MSNBC. Senate hearings held in April recommended that an investigation into allegations of slavery in Florida’s tomato fields be conducted. Read the resulting editorial by Senators Dick Durbin, Bernie Sanders and Sherrod Brown here http://www.miamiherald.com/851/story/503492.html
As this story develops, stay on top of new developments here: http://www.ciw-online.org/.
Read earlier People Putting Food First Reports on the story here:
http://www.foodfirst.org/en/node/2080
http://www.foodfirst.org/en/node/2097
2. May Day strikes, marches, and celebrations
On May 1, 2008 the International Longshore and Warehouse Union held a one-day work strike against the war in Iraq at ports from the Canadian to the Mexican border. There were also numerous marches and rallies in support to immigrant workers all across the nation. Speakers at the Oakland, CA event acknowledged that immigrant workers make important contributions to the US economy and also to the economies of their home countries. Speakers deplored the fact that immigrants are exploited, poorly paid, and discriminated against. More than 15,000 people marched in Oakland in support of civil and human rights for all immigrants. After a nine-mile march, a rally was held at the Civic Center where Mayor Ronald Dellums declared Oakland a sanctuary city for immigrants.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWKZBpix4pg
3. Hungry people don’t have peace!
This was the unanimous shout of 6,000 Mayan peasants arriving at the Central Plaza in Guatemala City on April 15, 2008 after walking for four days. Marking the 30th anniversary of their organization: Peasants Unity Committee (CUC in Spanish), they demonstrated their strength and unity by presented their demands to the government. On their way to the Plaza, they stopped in front of the U.S. Embassy to denounce the CAFTA free-trade agreement which has profoundly affected them. In front of the Presidential House a group of representatives waited there for more than one hour, but government representatives did not come out to receive their written demands which include:
• An integral agrarian reform,
• Cancellation of the free trade agreement, and
• Change of the mining code.
Though the area was surrounded by police and soldiers, the demonstration ended peacefully with the indigenous peasants returned to their villages on buses. Daniel Pascual, a peasant leader, declared that they have been fighting for 30 years and nothing has changed. But they have grown courageous as they know that now is a good time to act and demand respect for their rights.
4. Food Sovereignty is our Right!
The Conference for Food Sovereignty “In defense of our Rights and our Lives” was held in Brasilia, Brazil with the participation of representatives of 20 Latin-American countries on April 10-13, 2008. Their objective in meeting was to design a social action plan, strengthening strategic alliances to construct food sovereignty and, present recommendations on the 30th FAO’s Regional Conference held April 17-18 in Brasilia, Brazil.
Their declaration stated that hunger and poverty is caused by an economic and political model that violates the right to life for the population. Transnational corporations of Northern countries are the only ones benefiting from the current world food crisis. This is why the world’s food production should not belong to corporations that are only interested in commerce for their own financial benefit. To address this problem, they propose that traditional ways of producing food are a right of the population, and can’t be regulated by the World Trade Organization (WTO). They are against land concentration in few foreign-Northern hands as the World Bank promotes; one of the main causes of the expulsion of indigenous people and traditional fisher communities from their land and territories. They make an urgent plea to reclaim local and national autonomy and food sovereignty as the only way to assure human rights and self-determination. They demand that the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) fulfill its mission to respect international human rights and indigenous people’s rights.
5. Consumer’s guide to avoid genetically engineered food
The U.S. government does not require labeling of genetically engineered ingredients in foods. Unless a product states that it is GE free, most foods with corn, canola oil, cottonseed oil, or sweeteners contain some, though maybe not all, genetically engineered ingredients. Print out you own True Food Guide developed by the Center for Food Safety here:
http://www.truefoodnow.org/documents/guide%208_11%20layout.pdf
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This edition of People Putting Food First was compiled by Vanessa Barrington, Leonor Hurtado, and Marilyn Borchardt.
