It’s unbelievable, but Monsanto and Co. are at it again. These profit-hungry biotech companies have found a way to exclusively ‘own’ something that freely belongs to us all — our food! But if we can pressure key European countries to slam the patent door shut on their destructive plans, we can stop this attack on our food. Help build the biggest food defense call ever by clicking here:

It’s unbelievable, but Monsanto and Co. are at it again. These profit-hungry biotech companies have found a way to exclusively ‘own’ something that freely belongs to us all — our food! They’re trying to patent away our everyday vegetables and fruits like cucumber, broccoli and melons, forcing growers to pay them and risk being sued if they don’t.

But we can stop them from buying up Mother Earth. Companies like Monsanto have found loopholes in European law to get away with this, so we just need to close them shut before they set a dangerous global precedent. And to do that, we need key countries like Germany, France and the Netherlands — where opposition is already growing — to call for a vote to stop Monsanto’s plans. The Avaaz community has shifted governments before, and we can do it again.

Many farmers and politicians are already against this — we just need to bring in people power to pressure these countries to keep Monsanto’s hands off our food. Sign now and share with everyone to help build the biggest food defense call ever:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/monsanto_vs_mother_earth_doy/?bdtmtbb&v=23899

Once a patent exists in one country, trade agreements and negotiations often push other countries to honour it as well. That’s why these food patents change everything about how our food chain works: for thousands of years, farmers could choose which seeds they’d use without worrying about getting sued for violating intellectual property rights. But now, companies launch expensive legal campaigns to buy patents on conventional plants and force farmers to pay exorbitant royalty fees. Monsanto and Co. claim that patents drive innovation — but in fact they create a corporate monopoly of our food.

But luckily, the European Patent Office is controlled by 38 member states who, with one vote, can end dangerous patents on food that is bred using conventional methods. Even the European Parliament has issued a statement objecting to these kinds of destructive patents. Now, a massive wave of public outcry could push them to ban the patenting of our everyday food for good.

The situation is dire already — Monsanto alone owns 36% of all tomato, 32% of sweet pepper and 49% of cauliflower varieties registered in the EU. With a simple regulatory change, we could protect our food, our farmers and our planet from corporate control — and it’s up to us to make it happen:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/monsanto_vs_mother_earth_doy/?bdtmtbb&v=23899

The Avaaz community has never been afraid to stand up to corporate capture of our institutions, from pushing back the Rupert Murdoch mafia, to helping ensure that telecoms keep their hands off our Internet. Now it’s time to defend our food supply from this corporate takeover.

With hope and determination,

Jeremy, Michelle, Oli, Dalia, Pascal, Ricken, Diego and the whole Avaaz team

SOURCES:

Conventionally-bred plants or animals should be exempt from patents, say MEPs (EU Parliament)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pressroom/content/20120509IPR44733/html/Conventionally-bred-plants-or-animals-should-be-exempt-from-patents-say-MEPs

President of the European Patent Office gives green light for patents on plants and animals (No Patents on Seeds)
http://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/en/information/background/green-light-for-patents-on-plants-and-animals

Monsanto: All Your Seeds Belong to Us (Mother Jones)
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2013/02/scotus-hears-monsanto-soybean-case

Plant Patentability Questions Deepen In EPO Tomato Patent Case (IP Watch)
http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/06/13/plant-patentability-questions-deepen-in-epo-tomato-patent-case/

Tomato patent back before EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal (Europolitics)
http://europolitics.eis-vt-prod-web01.cyberadm.net/business-competitiveness/tomato-patent-back-before-epo-s-enlarged-board-of-appeal-art336003-7.html

Following the announcement that the UK Government is planning to push ahead with Fracking/Coal Bed Methane Extraction in Wales and the UK despite the obvious and well-documented risks, we are holding a peaceful protest outside the Senedd to highlight the dangers posed by fracking to the general public and the environment.

At the end of the action we will hand a letter and a report written by Andy Chyba (will be published here on 16th April) outlining our concerns to First Minister Carwyn Jones. If you cannot attend and would like to sign the letter please post to that effect on the event wall.

Please share this event widely and invite anyone you feel is as concerned as we are.

Full details of where to assemble at 2pm will be added soon.

http://frackfreewales.wordpress.com/

F.A.O.
Rt. Hon. Carwyn Jones
First Minister for Wales
Sent to:- carwyn.jones@wales.gsi.gov.uk
16th April 2013
Dear Mr Jones
UNCONVENTIONAL ENERGY EXTRACTION IN WALES: HYDRAULIC FRACTURING AND COAL BED METHANE
We are writing to you to express our concerns about the prospect of unconventional fossil fuel extraction in Wales. We are concerned that these methods will be allowed in Wales despite grave environmental concerns that they are unsafe to our future generations. A summary of our argument can be found as an appendix to this letter.
We respectfully ask that you as First Minister for Wales provide detailed answers to the following questions supported by referable academic evidence: –
1) Is it your personal belief that these methods are a sustainable energy option for Wales? Can you provide evidence that these methods are better than renewable sources of energy such as solar, geothermal, tidal and wind?
2) Please can you provide us with a referable map as to where unconventional fossil fuel extraction is proposed to happen?
3) Please could you provide any plans for pipelines across Wales?
4) Are the people situated directly next to these sites going to be correctly compensated and relocated because of the pollution caused by these methods?
5) Will there be Compulsory Purchase Orders?
6) What are the Economic Benefits of Hydraulic Fracturing and Coal Bed Methane Extraction to the ordinary person in Wales? What are the economic costs?
7) What guarantee do we have that these companies will not be registered offshore for the purposes of taxation and all financial records will be thoroughly transparent?
8) Do you understand that methane is a Greenhouse Gas 20 times as powerful as Carbon Dioxide? What does the WAG plan to do in the case of a large methane accident?
9) Has the WAG considered or calculated increased projected carbon emissions for natural gas extraction in Wales, taking into account WAGs emissions reduction target, and how much this will undermine those targets?
10) Exactly what chemicals will be used in the Hydraulic Fracturing and Coal Bed Methane process in Wales? Please could you provide a COSHH register analysis of all known names to all chemicals in use?
11) What emergency service contingency plans have the WAG in case of earthquakes in Wales?
12) What contingency plans do the WAG/Dwr Cymru have in case of well failure and the pollution of the water table in Wales? How will this affect our ability to supply Wales and indeed England with water?
13) How will the WAG and councils dispose of the excess fluids created by these methods?
14) What are the WAG contingency plans regarding the nuclear material under the ground that may be disturbed by these processes?
Our aim is to open dialogue with yourself and WAG to establish the facts. We look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely

Member
Frack-Free Wales

As I say, I am not proud of taking any sort of satisfaction in the death of a fellow human being – but I know that I am not alone in my reaction to the news. Such is the woman’s legacy.

Every form of media was immediately all over the news. But one blog piece seemed to encapsulate my own memories of her ‘achievements’.
The Politics Blog by Charles P. Pierce is not my usual reading material , but this American commentator’s piece certainly resonated as I made my way across London today:

I am going to leave the encomiums to the late Margaret Thatcher to the people who loved her best, of whom I am decidedly not one. What I remember best about her is that she pretty much invented the modern concept of the distracting Wanking Little War the Falklands begat Grenada and that she allowed an elected member of the British parliament named Bobby Sands to starve himself to death in a British prison rather than dress the way he wanted to dress, and that she once held this view about Nelson Mandela:

The Conservative prime minister had dismissed the ANC as “a typical terrorist organisation” and refused to back sanctions against the apartheid government, pursuing instead a policy of “constructive engagement”. South Africa was then seen as a vital ally in stemming communist expansion.

Her record in Northern Ireland was abysmal, the 1985 Anglo-Irish Treaty be damned. If you want to see where the Bush people got all those bright ideas about preventive detention, and drumhead tribunals, and extrajudicial assassinations, look to Margaret Thatcher’s time as prime minister. (Which, of course, coincided with an appalling over-escalation by Irish nationalist militants. The Enniskillen bombing in 1987, detonated without warning, left what was left of the IRA’s reputation in tatters.) She made it illegal to broadcast the voices of Sinn Fein leaders. She was the last real Unionist, a direct heir to the people whose policies made Ireland bleed unnecessarily for seven centuries, and she allowed the bleeding to go on for nearly two more decades. And that’s not even to get into her role in breaking British trade-unionism and laying the groundwork for the delightful austerity-is-prosperity policies of today. Other people can mourn and they will, God knows. I’m going to give it a good leaving alone.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/margaret-thatcher-death-040813

Andy Chyba.

Do you know about the TPP? If not you must watch this video

That Barack Obama is backing this really worries me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=U56ZP3YrTM4

More here: http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-trans-pacific-partnership-obamas-secret-trade-deal/5329911

Note those sinister but innocuous sounding words FREE TRADE cropping up. Not to be confused with FAIR TRADE! Au contraire:

http://fairworldproject.org/voices-of-fair-trade/fair-trade-vs-conventional-free-trade-an-introduction/

Firstly, we are currently calling for nominations for inclusion on the list for the Euro election next year. For this election Wales is classed as one region and can elect four Members to the European Parliament (MEPs) to represent us. Wales Green Party therefore needs to stand a list of at least four people in the Euro elections.

If you are willing to be nominated to be included on that list please contact Ann Were annwere and she will give you all the information and advice you need. The deadline for the receipt of nominations is 13th April so time is of the essence.

Secondly, there is to be a Special Conference held in Cardiff on 11th May. All details are available on the members website but simply contact Ann Were on ann_were12 if there is anything you would like to know or if you would like a copy of the First and Final agendas. The deadline for amendments to the first agenda is 13th April and the final agenda will be available from the 25th April.

We will be proposing important changes to the constitution at this meeting so I would please urge you to try and attend, even if it is for only part of the day. We are specifically looking at the name of the party in Wales and whether or not it should be changed, so your input would be extremely valuable.

I look forward to seeing as many members as possible at the conference on 11th May

Pippa

Leader, Wales Green Party

ADDENDA FROM ANDY CHYBA (Chair, Bridgend Green Party)

1. Amongst the constitutional changes proposed, that Pippa fails to mention above, are changes to allow existing Wales Green Party Council members to circumvent the normal practice within the Party of only being able to serve on such bodies for a maximum of 5 years before having to have at Least a year’s break. This should be resisted. It is an abuse of Wales’ ‘semi-autonomous’ status, in my opinion, to move away from a fundamental principle of how GPEW operates in the way that is being proposed.

It is vital to a healthy and vibrant democratic party that people are encouraged and supported to get more involved and also to share the burden and experience of running things. That this is not happening in Wales is not grounds to change the constitution to allow the same few people to carry on things as they are. There are plenty of things that could and should be happening to avoid this sad state of affairs. As I am unable to attend the ‘Special Conference’, I would encourage people to go and oppose this seriously misguided and retrograde proposal.

2. A good starting point for getting more people involved would be for us to see volunteers to act as at least ‘paper’* candidates in elections in order to raise the Party’s profile. With regards to the Euro Elections mentioned by Pippa above, John Evans, Bridgend Electons Offocer and Wales GP ERO, informs me that it looks like only me, Pippa and Chris Were (WGP Deputy, paper candidate only) standing at present. For gender equality, it would be particularly welcome to have a woman come forward. Let me know if you are interested. The deadline is 13th April.

3. Feel free to call or email me for any further information or advice: bridgendgreens@chyba.go-plus.net

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_candidate

For clarity sake. I resigned purely on the principle of unjustifiable censorship. As for the Population issue, as an ex-geography teacher, I believe I understand the issues better than most. As such I see merit in some things Population Matters say, but disagree with other things they say, especially with regards immigration. But I recognise the legitimacy of their point of view.

There are therefore two very distinct issues.
One is the behaviour and attitude of some current GWEB members. I therefore endorse your point 2 below.
Second is the matter of Green Party Population policy, which given the strength of feelings on the matter, gives a lot of merit to point 4. I will do this and point 5.

Best wishes,

Andy Chyba

Population (Still) Matters

Green World editorial board (GWEB) has recently confirmed its refusal to accept a Population Matters flyer as an insert in the Green World magazine. GWEB’s stance contradicts party policy. This fully recognises the threats posed by population growth. Even dissenters from policy must accept that Population Matters is a respected charity whose views are in line with policy and widely shared within the membership, and so should not be censored. (http://www.populationmatters.org)

One GWEB member, Andy Chyba resigned over this matter and another, Miriam Kennet, has disassociated herself from the decision. Caroline Lucas too has said that Population Matters should not be censored in this way. GWEB is treating Green World as the voice of a faction within the party, not the voice of the party.

So, I ask you to:

1. Write to the Green World Editorial Board demanding that they abandon their censorship:

gweb@greenworld.org.uk

contact@matthewbutcher.org.uk

and copy in the Green World Advertising Manager:

shasha.khan@greenparty.org.uk

2. Vote in the next GWEB election or by-election for candidates standing on a ‘no censorship’ platform;

3. Write to party leaders Natalie Bennett and Will Duckworth, requesting that they clarify their views on this whole matter:

natalie.bennett@greenparty.org.uk

willjduckworth@gmail.com

4. Request that the next national conference devotes a plenary session to debate the whole population issue (email the organiser: louisa.greenbaum@greenparty.org.uk);

5. Forward this note to the membership in your area.

It is worrying that many rank and file members of the Party do not seem to know about the on-going manoeuvres against Population Matters.

There has been no better time than now to discuss this issue, given the country’s rising population and the unsustainable demands it helps to generate. On present trends, the population will rise from 62 million in 2010 to 73 million by 2035. England is already the most densely populated large European country. The UK as a whole is currently growing at the unprecedented rate of about 450,000 (one new Liverpool) per year. We have to provide enough new jobs, power stations, housing, hospitals, schools, roads, etc. for a new Liverpool every year, just to stand still in terms of living standards.

Such unsustainable pressure surely merits serious discussion at conference.

Sandy Irvine (member, Newcastle Green Party)

Communism, welfare state what’s the next big idea?

Any attempt to challenge the elite needs courage, inspiration and a truly groundbreaking proposal. Here are two to set us off

“So where do we look for the idea that can make hope more powerful than fear? Not to the Labour party. If Ed Miliband cannot bring himself even to oppose a bill which retrospectively denies compensation to cheated jobseekers, the most we can expect from him is a low-alcohol conservatism of the kind that doused all aspiration under Tony Blair.”

“Last week I ran a small online poll, asking people to nominate inspiring, transfiguring ideas. The two mentioned most often were land value taxation and a basic income. As it happens, both are championed by the Green party. On this and other measures, its policies are by a long way more progressive than Labour’s.”

Bedroom tax will be costly disaster, says housing chief

Cost-cutting policy will push up benefit bill, cause social disruption and create widespread misery, say critics.

Key paragraphs:

“Research by the NHF says that while there are currently 180,000 households that are “underoccupying two-bedroom homes”, there are far fewer smaller properties in the social housing sector available to move into. Last year only 85,000 one-bedroom homes became available. The federation has calculated that if all those available places were taken up by people moving as a result of the “bedroom tax”, the remaining 95,000 households would be faced with the choice of staying put and taking a cut in income, or renting a home in the private sector.”

“If all 95,000 moved into the private sector, it says the cost of housing benefit would increase by £143m, and by millions more if others among the remaining 480,000 affected chose to rent privately.”

Observer: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/mar/30/eu-cameron-xenophobia-immigration

EU warns Cameron over ‘knee-jerk xenophobia’

Employment commissioner condemns prime minister’s speech

Key paragraphs:

“Responding to Cameron’s speech last week in which he pledged to restrict access to housing benefits and the NHS for those coming to the UK under EU free-movement rules, the European commissioner for employment, social affairs and inclusion, László Andor, told the Observer that his claims were misleading and very unfortunate.”

“”There is a serious risk of pandering to knee-jerk xenophobia,” he said. “Blaming poor people or migrants for hardships at the time of economic crisis is not entirely unknown, but it is not intelligent politics in my view.”

“”I think it would be more responsible to confront mistaken perceptions about immigration from other EU countries and so-called ‘benefit tourism’, and instead to explain the facts.”

“”The reality is that migrants from other EU countries are very beneficial to the UK’s economy, notably because they help to address skills shortages and pay more tax and social security contributions per head, and get fewer benefits, than UK workers; that free movement of workers is a key part of the EU’s single market; that hundreds of thousands of UK nationals work in other EU countries.””

The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/farewell-to-the-nhs-19482013-a-dear-and-trusted-friend-finally-murdered-by-tory-ideologues-8555503.html

Farewell to the NHS, 1948-2013: a dear and trusted friend finally murdered by Tory ideologues

This week’s ‘reforms’ of a treasured institution – by people who came to power promising not to mess with it – is yet another sickening assault on the poor by the rich

“Nothing is more gut-wrenching than watching a close friend dying in front of you. And I mean beyond close: a friend who brought you into the world, helped raise you, and was there whenever you were most desperately in need. So, spare a moment for our National Health Service. Time of death: midnight, 1st April 2013. Cause of death: murder.”

“That this will strike many as hyperbole is because the assault on the NHS is one of the most scandalously under-reported issues in modern British history.”

“A charitable explanation would be the sheer complexity of the Tory assault. The Health and Social Care Act is more than three times longer than the legislation that established the NHS in the first place. When I asked journalists adamantly opposed to the Tory plans why they had failed to adequately cover this travesty, they sheepishly responded it was too complicated: it went over their heads.”

“Cynical though it may be, that so many of those running our glorious free media are covered by private health insurance should not be ignored either.”

“From today, strategic health authorities and primary care trusts are formally abolished. Some £60bn of the NHS budget is now in the hands of clinical commissioning groups, supposedly run by GPs. This is a sham, though one which turns local doctors into human shields for the privatisers. In reality, the vast majority of GPs will keep on doing what they do already looking after patients while commissioning will be managed by private companies.”

“Its worse than that. Under the Governments Section 75 regulations even after they were revised after huge political pressure all NHS services must be put out to competitive tender unless the commissioning groups are satisfied a single provider can deliver that service. But as the British Medical Journal has asked, how can they be sure there is only one possible provider except by undertaking an expensive tender?”

Published on 26 Mar 2013

Caroline Lucas joins a panel of activists and campaigners including Mark Steel to launch the People’s Assembly event in June this year.

The People’s Assembly – a new initiative backed by major trade unions including Unite, Unison, NUT, PCS, TSSA; the Green Party, Labour MPs, Coalition of Resistance, National Pensioners Convention and campaigning groups – hosted a press conference to launch the campaign today (26th March)

Thousands will converge at the People’s Assembly at WESTMINSTER CENTRAL HALL ON SATURDAY 22ND JUNE 2013, as well as at meetings and rallies across the country.

The People’s Assembly will be an alternative democratic forum to a Parliament that has failed the people it is supposed to represent. It will be the launch-pad for mass resistance to austerity.

The new alliance aims to _play a key role in ensuring that this uncaring government faces a movement of opposition broad enough and powerful enough to generate successful co-ordinated action, including strike action.

This new movement will be forcing anti-austerity politics onto the mainstream agenda, and fighting for all those people currently hit by Government policies: whether low-paid workers, disabled people, unemployed people, the young, women, BME people and others.

The People’s Assembly Against Austerity will meet at Central Hall, Westminster on 22 June 2013.

More here: https://bridgendgreens.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/the-people%C2%92s-assembly-against-austerity-join-the-bridgend-greens-delegation/

Disillusioned Labour voters can vote Green with confidence now that social justice is front and centre of the party’s agenda

• 
• Wednesday 3 June 2009 21.30 BST

• Jump to comments (264)

What are Labour voters to do? Party loyalty is understandable, but the party they once supported is no more. During 12 years of Labour rule, social inequality has returned with a vengeance, with a widening gap between rich and poor, including more children and pensioners living in poverty. By the end of last year, income inequality under Labour was greater than during the reign of Margaret Thatcher.

Isn’t it time for Labour voters to revolt? Why keep voting for a party whose government has betrayed its roots and values?

There is an alternative. The Green party embraces the social justice agenda that Labour has long abandoned. We are more than a party of environmental protection. We are also a party of fairness and equality, with progressive policies on jobs, housing, education, health and pensions. Unlike the Liberal Democrats, we don’t support free market capitalism or use dirty tricks during election campaigns and we don’t talk green in national politics only to do something else entirely at the local level.

Under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, Labour lost its heart and soul. It has become the party of war, privatisation and attacks on civil liberties. The Labour government promoted the financial deregulation that led to the banking crisis, resulting in bankruptcies and mass unemployment. It refuses to take legal action against the corporate criminals who have pushed Britain to the precipice of a full-blown economic depression.

Labour’s policy rot was not caused by Brown alone. The whole Labour government including Alan Johnson backed the party’s rightward drift.

When a Labour government pursues anti-Labour policies it no longer deserves respect or loyalty from Labour members and voters. Arrogant, out of touch, complacent and authoritarian, Labour is not Labour any more. It’s time has passed.

For all these reasons, after 22 years’ membership I left Labour and joined the Green party. It isn’t perfect no party ever is. But compared to Labour and the other political alternatives, the Greens are now the most progressive force in British politics, with our visionary agenda for grassroots democracy, social justice, human rights, global equity, environmental protection, peace and internationalism.

The Greens now occupy the emancipationist political space that was once occupied by Labour. We offer the most credible progressive alternative to Labour.

To deal with the economic crisis, our agenda includes a Roosevelt-style Green New Deal to simultaneously tackle unemployment and climate destruction. The Greens would invest in new green industries to create a million green collar jobs. We would put money into energy conservation, which would lead to tens of thousands of jobs in double-glazing, loft insulation and the fitting of energy efficient boilers. This would also help cut fuel poverty and reduce household energy bills. We’d also invest in renewable energy, including wind, tidal, wave and solar. This would help revive Britain’s decimated engineering industry and establish new technologies that could be exported worldwide at great financial benefit to the UK.

Labour’s great, historic achievement was the creation of the NHS and the welfare state, but Blair and Brown sought to dismantle them. Their commercialisation and semi-privatisation of health and education is something that not even Margaret Thatcher attempted. They have out-Thatchered Thatcher.

While the Labour government has promoted a stealthy privatisation of public services, the Greens oppose privatisation and defend public services as essential components of a just society and a decent quality of life for all citizens. We reject Labour plans to close post offices and to privatise the Royal Mail.

In contrast to the anti-trade union policies of Labour, the Greens support the rights enshrined in the trade union freedom bill which gives new protection to employees.

Similarly, the Blair-Brown government sought an opt-out from key sections of the EU social chapter on workers’ rights. The Greens, however, have been steadfast in opposing the opt-out and insisting on the fair treatment of employees.

While Labour’s policies for senior citizens have been miserly, it is Green policy to end pensioner poverty by providing free social care to the elderly and raising the single person’s state pension to £165 per week and linking it to average earnings.

We are also pushing for a major house-building programme and the refurbishment of older and disused properties, in order to give low-income families the chance to have a good quality home at a rent they can afford.

These measures could be paid for by cancelling Labour’s wasteful and reactionary expenditure of more than £100bn on new Trident nuclear missiles, ID cards, two super aircraft carriers, the botched computerisation of the NHS and further motorway expansion.

This is crunch time for progressive politics. Labour has turned its back on its traditional values, torn up previously cherished socialist ideals, sidelined the trade union movement, waged an illegal war, tried to impose 42 days’ detention without charge, and made unsavoury pacts with big business and George W Bush.

The Labour leadership has pandered to prejudice and irrationality on issues including asylum, drugs, terrorism, Europe and crime. Principles have been abandoned for the sake of a few more sympathetic headlines in the Daily Mail and for another cup of tea with Rupert Murdoch.

Labour voters don’t have to put up with this rightwing nonsense. They can vote Green in the knowledge that they are voting for a party that offers a powerful challenge to neo-liberal economics and globalisation.

Greens put the common good before corporate greed, and the public interest before private profit. Our synthesis of the best of the red and the green integrates policies for social justice and human rights with policies for tackling the life-threatening dangers posed by global warming, environmental pollution, resource depletion and species extinction. The future is bright bright Green.