Patents / ACTION
Action
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Nick Cobbing / Still Pictures / www.stillpictures.com
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Entry points
The most current reading on patents on life is on the web. Tracking the progress of the enormous quantity of applications and shifting industry alliances and making sense of it all is no mean feat. Two groups do it particularly well:
The Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration (the ETC Group) despite its academic-sounding name offers accessible information that combines naming and shaming with witty analysis.
Genetic Resources Action International (GRAIN) provides excellent updates on agricultural patenting. Their newly launched ‘Growing diversity’ section promotes local efforts to manage biodiversity from around the world.
Further resources and campaigns
http://www.actionaid.org/ourpriorities/foodrights/aachip.shtml British charity ActionAid attempts to patent the potato chip to highlight the injustice of patents on food.
http://www.canadians.org/ The Council of Canadians’ biotech campaign.
http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/ The dirt on biotech corps (among other things)
http://www.genecampaign.org/ – a nationwide Indian campaign opposing the privatization of genetic resources.
http://www.devp.org/ Canadian Catholic agency Development and Peace’s postcard campaign against biotech seeds has collected over 175,000 signatures.
http://www.foei.org/gmo/index.html Friends of the Earth’s anti-GM food campaign.
http://www.genewatch.org/ Top-notch information, thoroughly researched, from GeneWatch UK.
http://www.greenpeace.org/campaigns/ Greenpeace campaigns within an anti-genetic engineering context.
http://www.grain.org/publications/rice-no-patents-en.cfm Support the ‘No patents on rice! No patents on life!’ campaign here. Contact MASIPAG (Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Development via masipag@mozcom.com]
http://www.hgalert.org/ Human Genetics Alert – ethical arguments against some areas of genetic research.
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/ Institute of Science in Society – down-to-earth views from concerned scientists.
http://www.resistanceisfertile.com/ Action for biodiversity from the Netherlands.
http://www.seedsavers.net/ The Seed Savers’ Network which aims to protect plant genetic diversity.
http://www.twnside.org.sg/ The Third World Network – patents and indigenous knowledge examined.
http://www.vshiva.net/Nine.htm Biodiversity, food security and sustainability with Vandana Shiva as the guiding spirit.
http://www.wen.org.uk/ The Women’s Environmental Network’s campaigns.
Action addresses
International
Indigenous People’s Biodiversity Network PO Box 567 Cusco, Peru. Tel: +51 84 232 603 Fax: +51 84 245 021 Email: ipbn@web.net
A global network of indigenous peoples’ organizations working to conserve biodiversity and protect indigenous knowledge.
Activist groups by country
Aotearoa / New Zealand
Whanganui Iwi Law Centre
PO Box 817
Whanganui
Email: kmoa@xtra.co.nz
Against the commodification of indigenous knowledge, but not patents specific.
Australia
GeneEthics Network
340 Gore St, Fitzroy 3065
Tel: +61 (0)3 9416 2222 or (Australia only) 1300 133868
Fax: +61 (0)3 9416 0767
Email: info@geneethics.org
Web: http://www.genethics.org/
Britain
GAIA Foundation
18 Well Walk
London NW3 1LD
Tel: + 44 (0)20 7435 5000
Fax: +44 (0)20 7431 0551
Email: gaia@gaianet.org
Canada
Polaris Institute
312 Cooper Street
Ottawa, ON
K2P 0G7
Tel: + 1 (613) 237-1717
Fax: + 1 (613) 237-3359
Email: polarisinstitute@on.aibn.com Web: http://www.polarisinstitute.org/
US
Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism
PO Box 818
Wadsworth, NV 89442
Tel: +1 775 835-6932
Fax: +1 775 835-6934
Email: ipcb@ipcb.org
Web: http://www.ipcb.org/
Worth reading
Vandana Shiva is the best commentator – intelligent, engaged and rigorous. Two of her books tell it like it is – Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge (Green Books 1998) and Protect or Plunder? Understanding Intellectual Property Rights (Zed Books 2001). A short, lucid synthesis of the issues surrounding food production can be found in Luke Anderson’s Genetic Engineering, Food and Our Environment (Green Books 1999).
A fascinating (if somewhat jargon-heavy) document is The Crucible II Group’s Seeding Solutions: Volume 1, a non-consensus briefing that brings activist and industry voices together. Jeremy Rifkin’s The Biotech Century: How Genetic Commerce Will Change the World (Phoenix 1999) is wide-ranging in scope, tracking the implications of biotechnology for our world.
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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
