Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge
- Product information
- by Star Rating
- Star rating
- Publisher
- Green Books/Gaia Foundation
- Product number
- ISBN 1–870098–74–9
|
|
|
Few in the West truly have the gift to stand outside the dominant cultural assumptions about science, economics, nature and technology. Fortunately, we can read Vandana Shiva.
Her latest book Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge is a critique of the colonization of life itself by transnational corporations through genetic engineering, patents and intellectual property rights.
Biotechnology, Shiva argues, is the product of a Eurocentric and reductionist world view which regards nature and indigenous knowledge of local ecosystems as ‘empty’ resources to be enclosed and exploited for Western capital, much as the ‘New World’ was regarded as empty land by the colonists. ‘The duty to incorporate savages into Christianity has been replaced by the duty to incorporate non-Western systems of knowledge into the reductionism of commercialized Western science and technology,’ she writes. For example, while traditional knowledge may increase the efficiency of pinpointing plants’ medicinal uses by more than 400 per cent, the system of Intellectual Property Rights only recognizes the ‘ownership’ of this knowledge by transnational corporations.
For Shiva biopiracy is fuelled by the monocultural logic of free trade and globalization, which are the latest manifestation of the colonial mindset. Monoculture, in agriculture as in society, leads to breakdown and fundamentally threatens sustainability.
In a world in which the US Commerce Secretary ‘owns’ the cell lines of the Hagahai of Papua New Guinea, and seeds themselves no longer regenerate life, this book moves the biotech debate deep into fundamentals. Shiva may not be the liveliest writer, but her analytic strength and perceptiveness make her essential reading.
Join over 10,000 people just like you. Get e-mail updates about new content, issue alerts, contests, and more!
Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
New Internationalist (NI) workers' co-operative exists to report on issues of world poverty and inequality; to focus attention on the unjust relationship between the powerful and the powerless worldwide; to debate and campaign for the radical changes necessary to meet the basic needs of all; and to bring to life the people, the ideas and the action in the fight for global justice.
Except where otherwise noted, images on this site are copyright of the photographer/illustrator or representative agency.Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.
