Ocassional Thoughts of an Independent Progressive Atheistic Humanist
Genetically modified crops (GM crops) sounds scary like some sci-fi story. Think Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But do we need to fear GM crops? We should be concerned about our food supply and what goes into it but the fear over GM crops doesn’t match the facts. However one major worry I have is how much big corporations are involved and how that might hurt some people in the long term either economically or health wise.
Vandana Shiva was on Moyers & Company on July 13th talking about her fight against genetically modified (GM) seeds and other attempts by industrial agriculture companies, like Monsanto, to monopolize the production of food not only in her native India but also here in the US. It’s a great interview and gives a basic overview about our broken our food system. GM seeds and industrial agriculture is making us all sick and less able to afford healthy food while the corporations game the system and rake in huge profits and tax subsidies.
In the first part of the interview Shiva talks about the control of the food system by the big corporations who gain profit from it but show little to no concern for the people who have to buy the food or the small farmers who grow the food who are forced to buy seed from the big corporations:
Some people think the Occupy movement and the issues brought up by the protests is something new. I know I’ve been talking about corporatism and income inequality for many years. While archiving some past writings, I found an essay I wrote in 2003 which has ideas in it that wouldn’t seem out of place today – unfortunately.
Saturday was the big global protest day as part of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement and in Columbus hundreds showed up at the steps of the Ohio State House to join in the event. The top news station in town WBNS 10tv had a surprising objective report allowing for a good bit of face and sign time as well as mentioning the other locations of protest in the almost 4 minute report at the top of the 11 PM newscast.
Last night I was following the continuing protesting against Big Corps and the bankers of Wall Street. The umbrella name is called ‘Occupy Wall Street’. Scores of protesters have been down on Wall Street in New York protesting the actions of the bankers and corporations who subvert our democracy and who didn’t go to jail after crashing the economy in 2008. I support their efforts 100% but one tweet last night kind of shocked me and made me laugh in a sad way. I think the current protesters need a refresher course on how to protest corporate power. It doesn’t include complaining when a big corporation doesn’t serve you food.