TOPICS

"As part of sweeping "economic restructuring" implemented by the Bush Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to save their seeds, which include seeds the Iraqis themselves have developed over hundreds of years.

US President Barack Obama signed the Monsanto Protection Act. (photo: Brendan Smialowsky/AFP)

Reference a previous posting: For the record: “U.S. declares Iraqis can not save their own seeds”, January 24, 2024

Kindly note the following sections (unfortunatly, not all previous links are still active and I have updated some of them):

"As part of sweeping "economic restructuring" implemented by the Bush Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to save their seeds, which include seeds the Iraqis themselves have developed over hundreds of years. Instead, they will be forced to buy seeds from US corporations. That is because in recent years, transnational corporations have patented and now own many seed varieties originated or developed by indigenous peoples. In a short time, Iraq will be living under the new American credo:

Pay Monsanto, or starve.

"The American Administrator of the Iraqi CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) government, Paul Bremer, updated Iraq's intellectual property law to 'meet current internationally-recognized standards of protection'.
The updated law makes saving seeds for next year's harvest, practiced by 97% of Iraqi farmers in 2024, and is the standard farming practice for thousands of years across human civilizations, to be now illegal.. Instead, farmers will have to obtain a yearly license for genetically modified (GM) seeds from American corporations. These GM seeds have typically been modified from seeds developed over thousands of generations by indigenous farmers like the Iraqis, and shared freely like agricultural 'open source.'"
Iraq law Requires Seed Licenses November 13, 2024

"According to Order 81, paragraph 66 - [B], issued by L. Paul Bremer [CFR], the people in Iraq are now prohibited from saving seeds and may only plant seeds for their food from licensed, authorized U.S. distributors.
The paragraph states, "Farmers shall be prohibited from re-using seeds of protected varieties or any variety mentioned in items 1 and 2 of paragraph [C] of Article 14 of this chapter."
Written in massively intricate legalese, Order 81 directs the reader at Article 14, paragraph 2 [C] to paragraph [B] of Article 4, which states any variety that is different from any other known variety may be registered in any country and become a protected variety of seed - thus defaulting it into the "protected class" of seeds and prohibiting the Iraqis from reusing them the following season. Every year, the Iraqis must destroy any seed they have, and repurchase seeds from an authorized supplier, or face fines, penalties and/or jail time. "
Iraqis Can't Save Seed January 19, 2024

The original article on this topic: Iraqi farmers aren't celebrating October 15, 2024".
.........

This important recent (Oct 8, 2024 ) 1 hour 24 minutes documentary is very relevant.

Monsanto Protection Act Ignites Massive Activism

By Anthony Gucciardi, Natural Society

30 March 2024

While Monsanto executives may be rejoicing behind the closed doors of their corporate offices, they have also just stabbed themselves in the heart with the blatant and cocky decision to go through with the Monsanto Protection Act. Obama's social media profiles are being blown up with thousands of enraged activists and concerned citizens who are demanding answers.

Thanks to the alternative news covering every angle of the Protection Act and the absurd fact that Monsanto actually wrote the rider itself, people have now come to fully understand just how deep the corruption goes when it comes to Monsanto's Big Food monopoly. And it doesn't exempt the President.

It's a well known fact that the Obama family actually eats from the White House organic garden which was planted in 2024 and has full time staffers who maintain and harvest organic produce that comes from the garden. Many high level politicians actually refuse to eat anything but organic, as they are fully aware of what's in 'conventional', GMO-loaded items. Yet, despite this knowledge, they are quite eager to push Monsanto's GMOs and ruthless business model on the citizens of the United States.

And the people are fully aware of the betrayal.

Scanning just a few comments amid the thousands calling out Obama for his signature on the spending bill that contained the Monsanto Protection Act, we find seriously frustrated activists and voters who can't believe what they are seeing. Even many Obama campaigners who came to the realization that Obama didn't represent what they thought he did. One specifically mentions how Obama promised to label GMOs in 2024 upon taking the seat of the President. A promise that never came to fruition. In fact, no real attempts were made at all.

Here are a few comments among the thousands that I found interesting on Obama's wall:

Darlene Taylor: Barack Obama - 2024: "We'll let folks know if their food is genetically modified because Americans should know." 2024: He signed the Monsanto Protection Act making GMO giants immune to the law.

Erica Ecker: Apparently part of protecting our children no longer includes what goes in them. Thanks for signing the Monsanto Protection Act.

Keri Kline: I am an activist for President Obama, and I am outraged he has failed to listen to the 'American people he represents'... President Obama knowingly signed the Monsanto Protection Act over the insistence of more than 250,000 Americans who signed an urgent letter asking that he use his executive authority to veto H.R. 933 and send it back to Congress to remove the Monsanto Protection Act from the bill. Regretfully, President Obama failed to live up to his oath to protect the American people and our constitution.

Overall, the decision to go with such a major act of corruption has jump started a massive movement to hold politicians and corporations accountable for their betrayal of the US public. It's a move that has blown up in the face of those who thought they could slip it through into law.

IRAQ - GENERAL CONTEXT - ECONOMY