ECHOES

Today's faces of racism


Table of Contents
issue 17/2000





ECHOES
justice, peace and creation news


ECHOES is an occasional publication of the World Council of Churches' cluster on "Issues and Themes", Justice, Peace & Creation team.

Publisher
The executive Director of the Cluster on "Issues and Themes", Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia

Publication Staff Team:
Susie Harrison, Bob Scott, Eugenio Poma, Miriam Reidy-Prost

Layout and design:
Marie Arnaud Snakkers

Printed on environmentally friendly paper

Cover photos: WCC
Cover photomontage: Marie Arnaud Snakkers Articles for future publications are welcome.

Articles published in ECHOES are WCC copyright, however permission will be granted to reproduce most material on application.

All correspondence and inquiries should be directed to:

Justice, Peace & Creation
ECHOES
World Council of Churches
150 rte de Ferney
P.O. Box 2100
1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland

Tel: (41 22) 791 6111
Fax: (41 22) 791 6409
Email: WCC Contact

Echoes from elsewhere

An introduction to Echoes magazine in reactions, facts and issues from all over the world.

In memory of Te Rua Winiata

It was with deep shock and sadness that the WCC received the news of the death of Te Rua Winiata from Aotearoa-New Zealand. From 1991-97 she was a member of the Justice, Peace and Creation Commission. During that time she played a significant role in the development of the Indigenous Peoples’ Programme. She was often quoted here in ECHOES.

Writes acting WCC cluster director Aruna Gnanadason, "We who have had the privilege of working with her and knowing her many skills will miss her and the great contribution she made to our common work. We remember her as a dynamic woman leader of the Church, but also as a woman of immense compassion and strength. She was an asset to the work on justice, peace and creation and to the Indigenous People’s programme - to each of which she brought humour, sensitivity and great commitment.

We had been negotiating with her to work with us on the internationally constituted Reference Group for the soon-to-be-launched Decade to Overcome Violence, which had its first meeting in May this year, when we heard the news of her death. We have lost her contribution to this process.

A mighty tree has fallen, and for this there can be no substitute. We can only be faithful to her memory by living up to the example she was to us all."



Suicide Seeds on the Fast Track

A report released by the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) reveals that Terminator and Traitor technology are riding a fast track to commercialisation.

Terminator technology, the genetic engineering of plants to produce sterile seeds, is universally considered the most morally offensive application of agricultural biotechnology, since over 1.4 billion people depend on farm-saved seeds.

"After Monsanto and AstraZeneca publicly vowed not to commercialise terminator seeds in 1999, governments and civil society organisations were lulled into thinking that the crisis had passed. Nothing could be further from the truth," said RAFI’s Executive Director Pat Mooney. "Despite mounting opposition from national governments and United Nations’ agencies, research on Terminator and Traitor (genetic trait control) is moving full speed ahead."

And despite massive protests, the US Department of Agriculture supports and defends its anti-farmer patent and research on suicide seeds.

The Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Jacques Diouf recently declared his opposition to Terminator. In publicly rejecting Terminator, Diouf has come to the defence of the 1.4 billion people who depend upon farm-saved seed for their survival.

Among the national governments that have announced their intention to oppose Terminator technology are Panama, India, Ghana, and Uganda.

According to RAFI, the future of Terminator/Traitor Technology rests with national governments and multinational corporations. The pressure points for political action are, first and foremost, with national governments around the world. Second, pressure should be applied at key international fora such as through the BioSafety Protocol at the Convention on Biological Diversity, and intellectual property negotiations at the World Trade Organisation.

"Terminator has grabbed the spotlight, but we are equally concerned about the closely related genetic trait control technologies (Traitor Tech) which enables a plant’s genetic traits to be turned on or off with the application of an external chemical - the company’s proprietary chemical," adds Ribeiro. "Although the USDA and Delta & Pine Land are the high-profile crusaders, the goal of genetic trait control is industry-wide," concludes Silvia Ribeiro, RAFI Programme Officer.

References
Visible links:

1. http://www.rafi.org/ 2. rafi@rafi.org 3. panna@panna.org 4. http://www.panna.org/ 5. panups-subscribe@igc.topica.com 6. http://204.255.211.112/ColdFusion/news_top10.cfm?start=1

Hidden links:
7. http://204.255.211.112/ColdFusion/News_Page1.cfm?NewsID=9657&start=1

In May, 2000 RAFI released a status report on Terminator and Traitor patents, which will examine the current goals of private and public sector institutions that are promoting bioserfdom with genetic trait control technology.

For more information:
Hope Shand, RAFI
Tel: 919 960-5223
Email: hope@rafi.org

Silvia Ribeiro, RAFI
Email: silvia@rafi.org

Julie Delahanty, RAFI
Tel: 819 827-9949
Email: julie@rafi.org

Rafael Alegria, General Coordinator, Via Campesina
Tegucigalpa, Honduras, C.A.
email: viacam@gbm.hn

Neth Dano, Executive Director, SEARICE,
The Philippines
Tel: 63-2-922-6710
Email: SEARICE@philonline.com.ph

Gary Goldberg, CEO, American Corn Growers Association,
Tel: 918 488-1829
http://www.acga.org


© 2000 world council of churches | remarks to webeditor