From: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com (abolition-usa-digest) To: abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: abolition-usa-digest V1 #243 Reply-To: abolition-usa-digest Sender: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk abolition-usa-digest Saturday, January 1 2000 Volume 01 : Number 243 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 16:18:20 -0500 From: ASlater Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: USDA legalizes meat irradiation Dear Friends, Here's another nuclear horror story. Phone calls and letters are needed to Senators, Congresspeople and Donna Shalala at Health and Human Services to stop the initiation of a whole new nuclear industry, with more waste, more worker and community exposure to cesium and cobalt-60 and the adulteration of our food supply. (see contact info below.) Thanks for your help. Alice Slater >Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 14:42:33 -0500 >Subject: USDA legalizes meat irradiation >To: aslater@gracelinks.org >From: WHAUTER@citizen.org (WHAUTER@citizen.org) > >Consumers Beware: USDA Approves Nuked Meat! > >Under pressure from the meat industry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture >(USDA) announced on December 14, 1999 that refrigerated or frozen raw >beef, pork, lamb, as well as meat products can be treated with radiation >to kill microorganisms that cause disease. USDA also weakened its existing >regulations for poultry, including no longer requiring that poultry be >irradiated in the package in which it is sold. This means that irradiated >poultry products can be used as ingredients in further processed products, >such as TV dinners. > >Unfortunately, rather than cleaning up the filthy conditions at large, >corporate farms and industrial slaughterhouses, the meat industry and >their allies in the U.S. government are promoting food irradiation as a >way to prevent food-borne illness. Food irradiation will not solve the >problems associated with the unsanitary conditions at huge factory sized >farms from which feces-covered animals are transported to >industrialized-size slaughtering facilities. Workers at these facilities >are required to speed-up work, for instance, "processing" as many as 300 >cows an hour, and too few USDA inspectors are on hand to insure that >procedures to prevent contamination are followed. > >USDA's Retail Labeling Requirements for Meat > >While the new USDA rule does include a requirement for labeling irradiated >meat and poultry products sold at retail, meat served in facilities like >restaurants, hospitals or school cafeterias does not have to be labeled. >This means that consumer's will have no way of insuring they the meat they >eat in these establishments is not irradiated. Consumers of fast food >burgers should be especially concerned, since hamburger patties are a >prime candidate for irradiation. > >Moreover, if the FDA does not continue to require labeling, the USDA is >unlikely to require labeling. USDA is "harmonizing" all of their food >regulations with the FDA. Requirements are as follows: > >1) Packaged meat products irradiated in their entirety must bear the >international radura symbol. Unfortunately, the symbol, which contains >simple petals in a broken circle is benevolent looking and its meaning is >not widely recognized. Additionally, products must either include the word >"irradiated" as part of the product name or must bear a statement such as >"Treated with radiation" or "Treated by irradiation." The radura must be >placed in conjunction with the required statement, if the statement is >used. The statement is not required to be more prominent than the >declaration of ingredients and it can be anywhere on the package. > >2) Unpackaged meat products irradiated in their entirety are required to >have the radura symbol and a statement "prominently and conspicuously" >displayed to purchasers either through labeling on a bulk container or >"some other appropriate device." The agency does not define what this >"other appropriate device" could be. > >3) USDA is also allowing labeling statements and claims regarding the >"beneficial effects" and the purpose of irradiation. > >4) Multi-ingredient products, which include an irradiated meat product, >must only reflect its inclusion in the ingredient statement on the >finished product's label. > >5) USDA eliminated two labeling requirements for poultry. The requirements >that "letters used for the qualifying statement shall be no less than >one-third the size of the largest letter in the product name" and second, >that the radura logo on irradiated poultry product labels be colored green >have been eliminated. > >USDA Weakens Food Additive Law > >USDA also ended their requirement for the use of food additives >(irradiation is considered an additive). In the future, the Food and Drug >Administration (FDA) will be the sole agency regulating food additives. >USDA says in its materials about the rule that they will "discuss" with >FDA their concerns about additives used in meat and poultry. The new rule >is the latest in a series of so-called "reforms," which make it easier for >the food industry to get regulatory approval, but decrease the protections >for consumers. The new rule will shorten the approval process for >additives from two to five years. > >USDA Approves Meat Irradiation Without Proof of its Safety > >The legalization of food irradiation is based on a house of cards. No >studies have been done to show that a long-term diet of irradiated foods >is safe. In legalizing the irradiation of raw meat, the USDA relied upon >the FDA's determination that food irradiation is safe. Unfortunately, the >FDA based their legalization of food irradiation on shaky scientific >evidence. > >A special task force of the FDA reviewed a large body of scientific >literature on the toxicological testing of irradiated food, however, they >based their approval of food irradiation on only five studies. The FDA >task force reviewed over 2000 studies, over four hundred of which met a >high enough standard that they could potentially have been reviewed >Obviously, since the FDA used such a small sample, the potential for bias >is great. Furthermore, because they were unable to provide definitive >evidence of the safety of irradiated food, the FDA eventually based their >legalization of food irradiation on a theoretical model about how many new >chemicals (potential carcinogens) are formed in the food products by >irradiation. > >Take Action Now! > >Write or call your member of Congress and voice your concerns about food >irradiation! > >If you need information about your elected representative, call Public >Citizen at 202-546-4996 or email us at the web site below. Ask your >Representatives and Senators to write to Health and Human Services >Secretary, Donna Shalala, about the FDA potentially removing the >requirement that irradiated foods be labeled. > >The Honorable Donna Shalala, US Dept. of Health and Human Services, 200 >Independence Ave., SW. Washington, DC 20201 (For more info: > > > > > > > > >Wenonah Hauter >Director >Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project >202-454-5150 >Visit our Web Site: www.citizen.org/cmep > Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1999 17:11:27 -0500 From: ASlater Subject: (abolition-usa) ACTION ALERT - NPT Review Dear Friends, In Rebecca Johnson's latest posting of Disarmament Diplomacy, N41, she makes an excellent recommendation which our Abolition 2000 Network can support. She suggests that the States Parties should be represented by their Heads of States of Foreign Ministers at during the opening days of the conference which begins on April 24th to indicate the need for "high level political will" for nuclear disarmament. We can begin now to write letters to our heads of states urging them to demonstrate their commitment to Article VI and its promise of nuclear disarmament by showing up at the NPT Review in New York and calling for immediate negotiations on a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. If our Network is able to generate the letters, calls, visits, and special contacts to Heads of State calling on them not to pass up this once in a millenium chance to call for negotiations in New York to ban the bomb, we would be keeping the faith with our original vision of a treaty to be negotiated by the year 2000. It's still not too late!! PLEASE POST TO OUR CAUCUS YOUR PROGRESS IN HAVING YOUR HEAD OF STATE ATTEND THE NPT. LET'S INSPIRE EACH OTHER!! Peace, Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To subscribe to the Abolition Global Caucus, send an email from the account you wish to be subscribed to: "abolition-caucus-subscribe@egroups.com" Do not include a subject line or any text in the body of the message. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ GET $100 IN COUPONS FOR TRYING GATOR! Grab the Gator! Free software does all the typing for you! Gator fills in forms and remembers passwords with NO TYPING at over 100,000 web sites! http://click.egroups.com/1/341/1/_/91925/_/946577218 eGroups.com Home: http://www.egroups.com/group/abolition-caucus/ http://www.egroups.com - Simplifying group communications Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1999 17:12:44 -0500 From: ASlater Subject: (abolition-usa) NPT: letter to head of state Dear Friends, Here's my letter to my head of state urging him to personally represent the US at the NPT. Hope we can get these out all over the world. Peace, Alice Slater December 30, 1999 President Bill Clinton BY FAX: 202-456-2461 Dear President Clinton, On April 24, 1999, the Non-Proliferation Treaty 2000 Review Conference will begin its four week meeting in New York at the United Nations. I urge you to attend and represent our country at this critical crossroads in the new millenium for the safety and well being of humanity. This may be our last opportunity to end the toxic legacy of the nuclear age before the whole treaty unravels. The United States, together with Russia, France, UK and China, promised in 1968 when the NPT was negotiated, that it would make good faith efforts for nuclear disarmament. Yet today, more than 30 years after the treaty entered into force, there are still over 30,000 nuclear weapons on the planet, with more than 10,000 in our own country. Two new countries, India and Pakistan, have announced their nuclear weapons status. Instead of fulfilling our legal obligations we are contributing to the following disturbing developments: the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was defeated in the Senate, and our weapons labs continue to design and test new nuclear weapons in computer-simulated virtual reality with the help of underground “sub-critical” tests at the Nevada test site. You are now considering a decision to employ a missile defense system which would violate the ABM Treaty. Russia and China have threatened to become more reliant on their nuclear arsenals because of our willingness to abrogate a treaty which was able to stop the build up of nuclear arms for two decades. The US Space Command brazenly trumpets its intention for “dominating the space dimension of military operations to protect US interests and investment.” The Article VI provision in the NPT that non-nuclear weapons states would forego the acquisition of nuclear weapons in return for our promise to eliminate our nuclear arsenals is being questioned by many nations around the world given the lack of progress for its fulfillment. Despite a recent World Court ruling that there is an international obligation to conclude negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention, our country has blocked efforts in various international fora to even discuss nuclear disarmament. I urge you to lend your personal attention and whatever talents you can bring to bear on the issue at the NPT in April to work with other governments to begin negotiations on a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. The US public, when polled by Celinda Lake, answered that 87% of us want a treaty to ban the bomb just as we have done for chemical and biological weapons. And 84% said they would feel safer if no country had nuclear weapons including our own. The fate of the earth is in your hands. Please do not miss this millenium opportunity to go down in history as one who dared to do the right thing and make the world safe for our children, grandchildren, and future generations. Sincerely, Alice Slater Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To subscribe to the Abolition Global Caucus, send an email from the account you wish to be subscribed to: "abolition-caucus-subscribe@egroups.com" Do not include a subject line or any text in the body of the message. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ At Esurance.com you can buy customized insurance online. Call 1-800-926-6012 and complete a quote today to start saving money tomorrow or just go to http://click.egroups.com/1/611/1/_/91925/_/946580956 - -- Easily schedule meetings and events using the group calendar! - -- http://www.egroups.com/cal?listname=abolition-caucus&m=1 Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org http://www.gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 02:27:56 PST From: "Abolition2000 Pacific Region" Subject: (abolition-usa) Micronesia has Welcomed the Dawn of the New Millennium! Dear Nuclear Abolitionists, We welcomed the millennium just less than two hours ago! I hope we can keep this Kiribati "torch of hope" brightly lit! The following are brief excerpts from the New York Times (December 31, 1999) about the celebrations about an hour ago on Millennium Island in the Republic of Kiribati (pronounced: Kiribas)! The entire story is found at the URL below. Happy New Year to all of you. Best wishes. Mahalo. Richard Salvador Honolulu, Hawaii - --- The New York Times Millennium Island To Greet New Era http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-MIL-Millennium-Arrives.html A group of Pacific islanders (I-Kiribati) gathered today on Kiribati's Millennium Island less than an hour ago to welcome the New Millennium!! Their celebration was highlighted by dancers in woven grass skirts and headdresses, welcoming the millennium with a shout of congratulations and good luck after chanting farewell to the pain of the past and heralding a new era of unity. ``Let all the world be joined with us to greet the new millennium,'' they sang in rehearsals this week on a tropical beach in their Micronesian language, Kiribati. ``Let us put aside all divisions -- let us unite in love and peace.'' The president of Kiribati, Teburoro Tito (sic), was to take a burning torch from an elderly man and hand it to a young boy in a ceremonial passing of time to a new generation. ``Take this torch of hope and peace from Kiribati so that it may light up the whole world,'' Tito says. The millennial bashes on the islands were a showcase of the region's culture and heritage: a ritual fish catch and feast on Fiji; indigenous Moriori dances on the Chathams; a performance of Handel's ``Messiah'' for 300,000 people in Auckland, New Zealand. The millennium's first dawn over land was to break near Dibble Glacier in Antarctica at 12:08 local time (10:08 a.m. EST). Kiribati was to be the first country to witness the sunrise of the new millennium at 5:43 a.m. local time (10:43 a.m. EST), followed six minutes later by New Zealand's Pitt Island. As the largest -- and the richest -- nation in the group, New Zealand planned the most elaborate celebrations in the area: fireworks, concerts, and several Maori ``haka'' war dances -- including one with a cast of 2,000. The celebrations follow a fierce race in the region to clinch a millennial ``first'' -- and worldwide publicity. - -- ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 10:52:38 -0500 From: "Lachlan Forrow" Subject: (abolition-usa) RE: [abolition-caucus] Dr Bruce Blair, DOD Deputy Secretary Hamre Discuss Y2K/Accidental Nuke War on Jim Lehrer's News Hour Tonight This is a multi-part message in MIME format. - ------=_NextPart_000_0009_01BF537D.2863A6A0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The full text is available at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec99/y2k_12-30.html - --LF -----Original Message----- From: Bill Smirnow [mailto:smirnowb@ix.netcom.com] Sent: Thursday, December 30, 1999 6:43 PM To: Y2K Nuclear Weapons/Power ; Nukenet; Abolition-Europe; Abolition-Caucus; Abolition-USA Subject: [abolition-caucus] Dr Bruce Blair, DOD Deputy Secretary Hamre Discuss Y2K/Accidental Nuke War on Jim Lehrer's News Hour Tonight Jim Lehrer's News Hour will have Dr. Bruce Blair of the Brookings Institute and Dept. Secretary of DOD John Hamre on tonight, Thursday December 30 discussing Y2K and accidental nuclear war. The segment airs in the first half hour. -Bill - ------=_NextPart_000_0009_01BF537D.2863A6A0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
The full text is = available at=20 http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec99/y2k_12-30.html
 
--LF
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Smirnow=20 [mailto:smirnowb@ix.netcom.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 30, = 1999=20 6:43 PM
To: Y2K Nuclear Weapons/Power ; Nukenet; = Abolition-Europe;=20 Abolition-Caucus; Abolition-USA
Subject: [abolition-caucus] = Dr Bruce=20 Blair, DOD Deputy Secretary Hamre Discuss Y2K/Accidental Nuke War on = Jim=20 Lehrer's News Hour Tonight

 
 
 
   Jim Lehrer's News Hour will have Dr. = Bruce=20 Blair of the Brookings Institute and Dept. Secretary of DOD John Hamre = on=20 tonight, Thursday December 30 discussing Y2K and accidental nuclear = war. The=20 segment airs in the first half hour.
 
 
  -Bill =
- ------=_NextPart_000_0009_01BF537D.2863A6A0-- - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 22:11:04 -0800 (PST) From: Timothy Bruening Subject: (abolition-usa) Jan 25: Anniversary Of Nearly Accidental Nuke War January 25 is the 5th anniversary of the day Russia nearly launched a nuclear war in response to a Norwegian satellite launch. How are we planning to commemorate the anniversary? - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2000 00:34:00 -0800 (PST) From: Timothy Bruening Subject: (abolition-usa) First E-mail of 2000 To This Mailing List! Dear Abolitionists: Happy New Year, Decade, Century, and Millennium! How are you spending New Year's Day, New Decade's Day, New Century's Day, and New Millennium's Day? Warmly, Timothy Bruening. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2000 17:02:48 -0800 (PST) From: Timothy Bruening Subject: (abolition-usa) World Trade Organization Article Dear Abolitionists: Debbie Davis of the Davis Enterprise has made me a contributing writer for the Enterprise's Op-Ed page. My first assignment (due Jan. 14) is to write an article about the World Trade Organization. What should I say about the WTO? I would like to interview businesses near my workplace (Mengali's Florist at 611 2nd Street in Davis) about their views on the WTO, and also interview local WTO activists. Who should I interview, and what questions should I ask them? Sincerely, Timothy Bruening 1439 Brown Drive Davis, CA 95616 - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2000 19:43:14 PST From: "Abolition2000 Pacific Region" Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: [Indigenous Peoples WTO Declaration] World Trade Organization Article Dear Timothy and other Abolitionists, Happy New Year. I am including below the Indigenous Peoples' Seattle [WTO] Declaration. It presents the issues and expresses some of the concerns we have vis-a-vis WTO and Globalization. I hope that in your writing, you will also acknowledge the impacts of economic globalization on Indigenous communities and peoples and also the work of Indigenous peoples within the context of WTO talks. Please contact Debra Harry at Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism or Victoria Tauli-Corpuz at Tebtebba Foundation for further information, if you need any. Good luck to you and to all of us in this new year! Richard Salvador Honolulu, Hawai`i - --- From: Debra Harry Date: December 28, 1999 12:27 AM Subject: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' SEATTLE DECLARATION From: Victoria Tauli-Corpuz at "Tebtebba Foundation" : INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' SEATTLE DECLARATION on the occasion of the Third Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization November 30-December 3, 1999 We, the Indigenous Peoples from various regions of the world, have come to Seattle to express our great concern over how the World Trade Organization is destroying Mother Earth and the cultural and biological diversity of which we are a part. Trade liberalization and export-oriented development, which are the overriding principles and policies pushed by the WTO, are creating the most adverse impacts on the lives of Indigenous Peoples. Our inherent right to self-determination, our sovereignty as nations, and treaties and other constructive agreements which Indigenous nations and Peoples have negotiated with other nation-states, are undermined by most of the WTO Agreements. The disproportionate impact of these Agreements on our communities, whether through environmental degradation or the militarization and violence that often accompanies development projects, is serious and therefore should be addressed immediately. The WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AOA), which promotes export competition and import liberalization, has allowed the entry of cheap agricultural products into our communities. It is causing the destruction of ecologically rational and sustainable agricultural practices of Indigenous Peoples. Food security and the production of traditional food crops have been seriously compromised. Incidents of diabetes, cancers, and hypertension have significantly increased among Indigenous Peoples because of the scarcity of traditional foods and the dumping of junk food into our communities. Small-scale farm production is giving way to commercial cash-crop plantations further concentrating ancestral lands into the hands of few agri-corporations and landlords. This has led to the dislocation of scores of people from our communities who then migrate to nearby cities and become the urban homeless and jobless. The WTO Forests Products Agreement promotes free trade in forest products. By eliminating developed country tariffs on wood products by the year 2000, and developing country tariffs by 2003, the Agreement will result in the deforestation of many of the world's ecosystems in which Indigenous Peoples live. Mining laws in many countries are being changed to allow free entry of foreign mining corporations, to enable them to buy and own mineral lands, and to freely displace Indigenous Peoples from their ancestral territories. These large-scale commercial mining and oil extraction activities continue to degrade our lands and fragile ecosystems, and pollute the soil, water, and air in our communities. The appropriation of our lands and resources and the aggressive promotion of consumerist and individualistic Western culture continue to destroy traditional lifestyles and cultures. The result is not only environmental degradation but also ill health, alienation, and high levels of stress manifested in high rates of alcoholism and suicides. The theft and patenting of our biogenetic resources is facilitated by the TRIPs (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) of the WTO. Some plants which Indigenous Peoples have discovered, cultivated, and used for food, medicine, and for sacred rituals are already patented in the United States, Japan, and Europe. A few examples of these are ayahuasca, quinoa, and sangre de drago in forests of South America; kava in the Pacific; turmeric and bitter melon in Asia. Our access and control over our biological diversity and control over our traditional knowledge and intellectual heritage are threatened by the TRIPs Agreement. Article 27.3b of the TRIPs Agreement allows the patenting of life-forms and makes an artificial distinction between plants, animals, and micro-organisms. The distinction between "essentially biological" and "non-biological" and "microbiological" processes is also erroneous. As far as we are concerned all these are life-forms and life-creating processes which are sacred and which should not become the subject of private property ownership. Finally, the liberalization of investments and the service sectors, which is pushed by the General Agreement of Services (GATS), reinforces the domination and monopoly control of foreign corporations over strategic parts of the economy. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund impose conditionalities of liberalization, deregulation and privatization on countries caught in the debt trap. These conditionalities are reinforced further by the WTO. In light of the adverse impacts and consequences of the WTO Agreements identified above, we, Indigenous Peoples present the following demands: We urgently call for a social and environmental justice analysis which will look into the Agreements' cumulative effects on Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous Peoples should be equal participants in establishing the criteria and indicators for these analyses so that they take into consideration spiritual as well as cultural aspects. A review of the Agreements should be done to address all of the inequities and imbalances which adversely affect Indigenous Peoples. The proposals to address some of these are as follows; * For the Agreement on Agriculture ~It should not include in its coverage small-scale farmers who are mainly engaged in production for domestic use and sale in the local markets. ~It should ensure the recognition and protection of rights of Indigenous Peoples to their territories and their resources, as well as their rights to continue practicing their indigenous sustainable agriculture and resource management practices and traditional livelihoods. ~It should ensure the food security and the capacity of Indigenous Peoples to produce, consume and trade their traditional foods. * With regard to the liberalization of services and investments we recommend the following: ~It must stop unsustainable mining, commercial planting of monocrops, dam construction, oil exploration, land conversion to golf clubs, logging, and other activities which destroy Indigenous Peoples' lands and violate the rights of indigenous peoples' to their territories and resources. ~The right of Indigenous Peoples to their traditional lifestyles, cultural norms and values should likewise be recognized and protected. ~The liberalization of services, especially in the areas of health, should not be allowed if it will prevent Indigenous Peoples from having access to free, culturally appropriate as well as quality health services. ~The liberalization of finance services which makes the world a global casino should be regulated. * On the TRIPs Agreement, the proposals are as follows: ~Article 27.3b should be amended to categorically disallow the patenting of life-forms. It should clearly prohibit the patenting of micro-organisms, plants, animals, including all their parts, whether they are genes, gene sequences, cells, cell lines, proteins, or seeds. ~It should also prohibit the patenting of natural processes, whether these are biological or microbiological, involving the use of plants, animals and micro-organisms and their parts in producing variations of plants, animals and micro-organisms. ~It should ensure the exploration and development of alternative forms of protection outside of the dominant western intellectual property rights regime. Such alternatives must protect the knowledge and innovations and practices in agriculture, health care, and conservation of biodiversity, and should build upon indigenous methods and customary laws protecting knowledge, heritage and biological resources. ~It should ensure that the protection offered to indigenous and traditional knowledge, innovation and practices is consistent with the Convention on Biological Diversity (i.e., Articles 8j, 10c, 17.2, and 18.4) and the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources. ~It should allow for the right of Indigenous Peoples and farmers to continue their traditional practices of saving, sharing and exchanging seeds, and cultivating, harvesting and using medicinal plants. ~It should prohibit scientific researchers and corporations from appropriating and patenting indigenous seeds, medicinal plants, and related knowledge about these life-forms. The principles of prior informed consent and right of veto by Indigenous Peoples should be respected. If the earlier proposals cannot be ensured, we call for the removal of the Agreement on Agriculture, the Forest Products Agreements and the TRIPs Agreement from the WTO. We call on the member-states of the WTO not to allow for another round whilst the review and rectification of the implementation of existing agreements has not been done. We reject the proposals for an investment treaty, competition, accelerated industrial tariffs, government procurement, and the creation of a working group on biotechnology. We urge the WTO to reform itself to become democratic, transparent and accountable. If it fails to do this we call for the abolition of the WTO. We urge the member nation-states of the WTO to endorse the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the current text of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the ratification of ILO Convention l69. We call on the peoples' organizations and NGOs to support this "Indigenous Peoples' Seattle Declaration" and to promote it among their members. We believe that the whole philosophy underpinning the WTO Agreements and the principles and policies it promotes contradict our core values, spirituality and worldviews, as well as our concepts and practices of development, trade and environmental protection. Therefore, we challenge the WTO to redefine its principles and practices toward a "sustainable communities" paradigm, and to recognize and allow for the continuation of other worldviews and models of development. Indigenous peoples, undoubtedly, are the ones most adversely affected by globalization and by the WTO Agreements. However, we believe that it is also us who can offer viable alternatives to the dominant economic growth, export-oriented development model. Our sustainable lifestyles and cultures, traditional knowledge, cosmologies, spirituality, values of collectivity, reciprocity, respect and reverence for Mother Earth, are crucial in the search for a transformed society where justice, equity, and sustainability will prevail. Statement by the Indigenous Peoples' Caucus convened and sponsored by the Indigenous Environmental Network USA/CANADA, Seventh Generation Fund USA, International Indian Treaty Council, Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism, the Abya Yala Fund, and TEBTEBBA (Indigenous Peoples' International Centre for Policy Research and Education), 1 December 1999, Seattle, Washington, USA. Other indigenous peoples' organizations, NGOs and individuals who wish to sign on to this statement, send email to ien@igc.org or tebtebba@skyinet.net. ________________________________________ Debra Harry, Director Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism Tel: (775) 574-0248 Fax: (775) 574-0259 Cell: (775) 848-0073 Email text message to cell: mailto:7758480073@mobile.att.net Email: dharry@ipcb.org Website: www.ipcb.org _______________________________________ - --- From: Timothy Bruening To: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com Subject: World Trade Organization Article Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2000 17:02:48 -0800 (PST) Dear Abolitionists: Debbie Davis of the Davis Enterprise has made me a contributing writer for the Enterprise's Op-Ed page. My first assignment (due Jan. 14) is to write an article about the World Trade Organization. What should I say about the WTO? I would like to interview businesses near my workplace (Mengali's Florist at 611 2nd Street in Davis) about their views on the WTO, and also interview local WTO activists. Who should I interview, and what questions should I ask them? Sincerely, Timothy Bruening 1439 Brown Drive Davis, CA 95616 - - ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2000 19:43:56 PST From: "Abolition2000 Pacific Region" Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: [Indigenous Peoples WTO Declaration] World Trade Organization Article Dear Timothy and other Abolitionists, Happy New Year. I am including below the Indigenous Peoples' Seattle [WTO] Declaration. It presents the issues and expresses some of the concerns we have vis-a-vis WTO and Globalization. I hope that in your writing, you will also acknowledge the impacts of economic globalization on Indigenous communities and peoples and also the work of Indigenous peoples within the context of WTO talks. Please contact Debra Harry at Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism or Victoria Tauli-Corpuz at Tebtebba Foundation for further information, if you need any. Good luck to you and to all of us in this new year! Richard Salvador Honolulu, Hawai`i - --- From: Debra Harry Date: December 28, 1999 12:27 AM Subject: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' SEATTLE DECLARATION From: Victoria Tauli-Corpuz at "Tebtebba Foundation" : INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' SEATTLE DECLARATION on the occasion of the Third Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization November 30-December 3, 1999 We, the Indigenous Peoples from various regions of the world, have come to Seattle to express our great concern over how the World Trade Organization is destroying Mother Earth and the cultural and biological diversity of which we are a part. Trade liberalization and export-oriented development, which are the overriding principles and policies pushed by the WTO, are creating the most adverse impacts on the lives of Indigenous Peoples. Our inherent right to self-determination, our sovereignty as nations, and treaties and other constructive agreements which Indigenous nations and Peoples have negotiated with other nation-states, are undermined by most of the WTO Agreements. The disproportionate impact of these Agreements on our communities, whether through environmental degradation or the militarization and violence that often accompanies development projects, is serious and therefore should be addressed immediately. The WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AOA), which promotes export competition and import liberalization, has allowed the entry of cheap agricultural products into our communities. It is causing the destruction of ecologically rational and sustainable agricultural practices of Indigenous Peoples. Food security and the production of traditional food crops have been seriously compromised. Incidents of diabetes, cancers, and hypertension have significantly increased among Indigenous Peoples because of the scarcity of traditional foods and the dumping of junk food into our communities. Small-scale farm production is giving way to commercial cash-crop plantations further concentrating ancestral lands into the hands of few agri-corporations and landlords. This has led to the dislocation of scores of people from our communities who then migrate to nearby cities and become the urban homeless and jobless. The WTO Forests Products Agreement promotes free trade in forest products. By eliminating developed country tariffs on wood products by the year 2000, and developing country tariffs by 2003, the Agreement will result in the deforestation of many of the world's ecosystems in which Indigenous Peoples live. Mining laws in many countries are being changed to allow free entry of foreign mining corporations, to enable them to buy and own mineral lands, and to freely displace Indigenous Peoples from their ancestral territories. These large-scale commercial mining and oil extraction activities continue to degrade our lands and fragile ecosystems, and pollute the soil, water, and air in our communities. The appropriation of our lands and resources and the aggressive promotion of consumerist and individualistic Western culture continue to destroy traditional lifestyles and cultures. The result is not only environmental degradation but also ill health, alienation, and high levels of stress manifested in high rates of alcoholism and suicides. The theft and patenting of our biogenetic resources is facilitated by the TRIPs (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) of the WTO. Some plants which Indigenous Peoples have discovered, cultivated, and used for food, medicine, and for sacred rituals are already patented in the United States, Japan, and Europe. A few examples of these are ayahuasca, quinoa, and sangre de drago in forests of South America; kava in the Pacific; turmeric and bitter melon in Asia. Our access and control over our biological diversity and control over our traditional knowledge and intellectual heritage are threatened by the TRIPs Agreement. Article 27.3b of the TRIPs Agreement allows the patenting of life-forms and makes an artificial distinction between plants, animals, and micro-organisms. The distinction between "essentially biological" and "non-biological" and "microbiological" processes is also erroneous. As far as we are concerned all these are life-forms and life-creating processes which are sacred and which should not become the subject of private property ownership. Finally, the liberalization of investments and the service sectors, which is pushed by the General Agreement of Services (GATS), reinforces the domination and monopoly control of foreign corporations over strategic parts of the economy. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund impose conditionalities of liberalization, deregulation and privatization on countries caught in the debt trap. These conditionalities are reinforced further by the WTO. In light of the adverse impacts and consequences of the WTO Agreements identified above, we, Indigenous Peoples present the following demands: We urgently call for a social and environmental justice analysis which will look into the Agreements' cumulative effects on Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous Peoples should be equal participants in establishing the criteria and indicators for these analyses so that they take into consideration spiritual as well as cultural aspects. A review of the Agreements should be done to address all of the inequities and imbalances which adversely affect Indigenous Peoples. The proposals to address some of these are as follows; * For the Agreement on Agriculture ~It should not include in its coverage small-scale farmers who are mainly engaged in production for domestic use and sale in the local markets. ~It should ensure the recognition and protection of rights of Indigenous Peoples to their territories and their resources, as well as their rights to continue practicing their indigenous sustainable agriculture and resource management practices and traditional livelihoods. ~It should ensure the food security and the capacity of Indigenous Peoples to produce, consume and trade their traditional foods. * With regard to the liberalization of services and investments we recommend the following: ~It must stop unsustainable mining, commercial planting of monocrops, dam construction, oil exploration, land conversion to golf clubs, logging, and other activities which destroy Indigenous Peoples' lands and violate the rights of indigenous peoples' to their territories and resources. ~The right of Indigenous Peoples to their traditional lifestyles, cultural norms and values should likewise be recognized and protected. ~The liberalization of services, especially in the areas of health, should not be allowed if it will prevent Indigenous Peoples from having access to free, culturally appropriate as well as quality health services. ~The liberalization of finance services which makes the world a global casino should be regulated. * On the TRIPs Agreement, the proposals are as follows: ~Article 27.3b should be amended to categorically disallow the patenting of life-forms. It should clearly prohibit the patenting of micro-organisms, plants, animals, including all their parts, whether they are genes, gene sequences, cells, cell lines, proteins, or seeds. ~It should also prohibit the patenting of natural processes, whether these are biological or microbiological, involving the use of plants, animals and micro-organisms and their parts in producing variations of plants, animals and micro-organisms. ~It should ensure the exploration and development of alternative forms of protection outside of the dominant western intellectual property rights regime. Such alternatives must protect the knowledge and innovations and practices in agriculture, health care, and conservation of biodiversity, and should build upon indigenous methods and customary laws protecting knowledge, heritage and biological resources. ~It should ensure that the protection offered to indigenous and traditional knowledge, innovation and practices is consistent with the Convention on Biological Diversity (i.e., Articles 8j, 10c, 17.2, and 18.4) and the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources. ~It should allow for the right of Indigenous Peoples and farmers to continue their traditional practices of saving, sharing and exchanging seeds, and cultivating, harvesting and using medicinal plants. ~It should prohibit scientific researchers and corporations from appropriating and patenting indigenous seeds, medicinal plants, and related knowledge about these life-forms. The principles of prior informed consent and right of veto by Indigenous Peoples should be respected. If the earlier proposals cannot be ensured, we call for the removal of the Agreement on Agriculture, the Forest Products Agreements and the TRIPs Agreement from the WTO. We call on the member-states of the WTO not to allow for another round whilst the review and rectification of the implementation of existing agreements has not been done. We reject the proposals for an investment treaty, competition, accelerated industrial tariffs, government procurement, and the creation of a working group on biotechnology. We urge the WTO to reform itself to become democratic, transparent and accountable. If it fails to do this we call for the abolition of the WTO. We urge the member nation-states of the WTO to endorse the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the current text of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the ratification of ILO Convention l69. We call on the peoples' organizations and NGOs to support this "Indigenous Peoples' Seattle Declaration" and to promote it among their members. We believe that the whole philosophy underpinning the WTO Agreements and the principles and policies it promotes contradict our core values, spirituality and worldviews, as well as our concepts and practices of development, trade and environmental protection. Therefore, we challenge the WTO to redefine its principles and practices toward a "sustainable communities" paradigm, and to recognize and allow for the continuation of other worldviews and models of development. Indigenous peoples, undoubtedly, are the ones most adversely affected by globalization and by the WTO Agreements. However, we believe that it is also us who can offer viable alternatives to the dominant economic growth, export-oriented development model. Our sustainable lifestyles and cultures, traditional knowledge, cosmologies, spirituality, values of collectivity, reciprocity, respect and reverence for Mother Earth, are crucial in the search for a transformed society where justice, equity, and sustainability will prevail. Statement by the Indigenous Peoples' Caucus convened and sponsored by the Indigenous Environmental Network USA/CANADA, Seventh Generation Fund USA, International Indian Treaty Council, Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism, the Abya Yala Fund, and TEBTEBBA (Indigenous Peoples' International Centre for Policy Research and Education), 1 December 1999, Seattle, Washington, USA. Other indigenous peoples' organizations, NGOs and individuals who wish to sign on to this statement, send email to ien@igc.org or tebtebba@skyinet.net. ________________________________________ Debra Harry, Director Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism Tel: (775) 574-0248 Fax: (775) 574-0259 Cell: (775) 848-0073 Email text message to cell: mailto:7758480073@mobile.att.net Email: dharry@ipcb.org Website: www.ipcb.org _______________________________________ - --- From: Timothy Bruening To: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com Subject: World Trade Organization Article Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2000 17:02:48 -0800 (PST) Dear Abolitionists: Debbie Davis of the Davis Enterprise has made me a contributing writer for the Enterprise's Op-Ed page. My first assignment (due Jan. 14) is to write an article about the World Trade Organization. What should I say about the WTO? I would like to interview businesses near my workplace (Mengali's Florist at 611 2nd Street in Davis) about their views on the WTO, and also interview local WTO activists. Who should I interview, and what questions should I ask them? Sincerely, Timothy Bruening 1439 Brown Drive Davis, CA 95616 - - ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ End of abolition-usa-digest V1 #243 *********************************** - To unsubscribe to $LIST, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe $LIST" in the body of the message. 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