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Announcement :: Agriculture : Civil & Human Rights : Environment : Health : Peace : Political-Economy |
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Reclaim The Commons in Chicago! April 8-10 No to Big Biotech! |
Current rating: 0 |
by RTC
Email: reclaimthecommons (nospam) gmail.com (unverified!) |
02 Mar 2006
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A call to Reclaim The Commons! Chicago April 8-10
Contact: reclaimthecommons (at) gmail.com
Website: www.reclaimthecommons.net
Calling gardeners and farmers, ecologists and healthcare workers, mothers and fathers, children and grandparents, musicians, dancers, and all who work for social justice and peace in the world.
The Biotech Industry Organization (BIO) is coming to Chicago this April for their annual convention and PR extravaganza – BIO 2006. There they will plot marketing schemes for genetically modified terminator seeds and pesticide-producing plants to populate our agricultural, wild and urban landscapes. Pharmaceutical Executives will swap stories about Celebrex and Vioxx and speak to the media about the market-driven healthcare products of the future. Experts on patent law will expound on new ways to appropriate living creatures for corporate ownership. Biological weapons technicians will review in their minds the last steps they took as they exited the lab that handles the incurable genetically engineered measles and headed out the door to catch a cab to the airport.
What we want to make happen: Elsewhere in Chicago, puppeteers and farmers will be heading up a parade from the offices of Monsanto to the beach on a beautiful spring day. Gardeners will lead a work party to reclaim a vacant lot for food production and a space to teach kids about growing things. Seed-savers and composters will share their knowledge. Scientists will be speaking out about how they were fired from the university for publishing research that demonstrated health hazards caused by genetically engineered foods. A farmer will tell the story of how he was sued for patent infringements when genetically modified pollen contaminated his crop. A parent will decide to buy juice instead of corn-syrup-sweetened soft drinks known to cause diabetes and obesity. Farmers and social justice activists from North and South will present a panel about Genetic Engineering and Human Rights. Organizers from Michigan will be getting ideas for a referendum that outlaws GMO crops in their county. Banners critical of big biotech will blossom around the city. Mayor Daley and others will be thinking that maybe GMOs don’t fit with his campaign to make Chicago known as a “green city.”
Reclaim The Commons takes place on the weekend of April 8th, from Saturday to Monday. There will be music, free food, free speech, and the growing of a movement about growing!
If you have an idea for a workshop, skillshare, presentation or activity, or if you want to come to a meeting or organize outreach in your community, please contact us! [reclaimthecommons (at) gmail.com] We have a video lending library, downloadable flyers (soon!), and can help you get more information about the issues.
Also, if you are part of an organization or affinity group that could help, please think about cosponsoring RTC! We need lots of help of all kinds, including actions and events planning, art and puppet making, spaces for workshops and art making, funding, and spreading the word.
Here are some websites where you can find information about biotech, genetic engineering, past mobilizations at BIO conventions, and related movements.
www.seedsofdeception.com, www.sunshine-project.org, www.geaction.org, www.bio.org, www.foodfirst.org, www.genetics-and-society.org, www.biodev.org, www.oaklandinstitute.org, www.carmeloruiz.blogspot.com, www.centerforfoodsafety.org/Monsantovsusfarmersreport.cfm, www.biotech.indymedia.org, www.savewildrice.org, www.familyfarmdefenders.org
For information about more alternative events being planned in response to the 2006 BIO convention, go to www.bioethics2006.org. |
See also:
http://reclaimthecommons.net
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This work is in the public domain |
