The Free

Agribusinessbolivia
… They forced us to go the route to catastrophe at the hands of multinationals, the agribusiness elite in Bolivia and, also, a chain of smaller soybean producers; along with the existence of increasingly marginalized rural workers, and indigenous territories and badly affected peasant family agriculture ...
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Bolivia in the agroextractivist whirlpool. Transgenics and the new offensive of the state, multinationals and agribusiness.

In the midst of quarantine by COVID-19, on May 8, 2020, the transitional government of Añez, gave way to the evaluation of GMOs for soybeans, corn, wheat, cotton and sugar cane, implementing the state policy that in the last fifteen years benefited agroextractivism. The state-capital alliance is renewed and multinational companies such as Monsanto-Bayer, Bioceres come with it, with their genetically modified and agro-toxic seeds. The small peasant and indigenous production that uses and protects native seeds, collectives and organizations that oppose this new attack on comprehensive health and food sovereignty have stood up against this offensive.
On March 18, 2019, the government of Evo Morales, along with private entrepreneurs and the Association of Oilseed and Wheat Producers (ANAPO), an affiliate of the powerful Eastern Agricultural Chamber, signed an agreement to allow the brief evaluation of two GMO soybean seeds (INTACTA and HB4) resistant to glyphosate and glufosinate ammonium, in order to produce the so-called “biodiesel”, according to the “new era of biofuels” in Bolivia and the “ethanolazo” decreed by MAS 2018.
It was a second big step for the agribusiness sectors in Bolivia, after the first one that took place in July 2005, during the transitional presidency of Eduardo Rodriguez Veltzé, who approved the use of the transgenic soybean RR 40-3-2 [1] .
Soybean Producers Conference, March 2019 (Photo: ANF)
The representatives of ANAPO, the Agricultural Chamber of Small Producers of the East, (CAPPO), and the Single Federation of Peasant and Producer Workers of the Four Northern Provinces, who had signed a statement that March 2019, demanding the approval of the use of seeds transgenics, expressed their satisfaction at the new achievement of approval of transgenic evaluation for the production of “biodiesel”. However, they announced that they would also seek the go-ahead for new GMO events for corn, cotton, and sugar cane:
The executive secretary of the producers of the northern Santa Cruz, Deisy Choque, [and candidate for deputy for the MAS] said that it is expected that in a short time the decree will be enacted allowing the use of these biotechnological events of the grain in the summer campaign […] For the president of the Small Producers Agricultural Chamber (CAPPO), Isidoro Barrientos, this measure is a fundamental advance for Bolivian agriculture, but work will continue to access genetically improved seeds for corn, cotton and sugar cane plantations of sugar.
The events of October and November 2019, temporarily stopped the requests and negotiations that the producers were supporting, which resumed this 2020, when in March of this year the transitional regime of Añez authorized the National Biosafety Committee to continue the evaluation for seed HB4 and other transgenic seeds. Business is business and continues no matter what government it is.

On March 6, 2020, in a brief press release, the Vice Ministry of Environment, Biodiversity, Climate Change and Forest Management and Development, as National Competent Environmental Authority (AACN), announced that the National Biosafety Committee had accepted the evaluation of the HB4 transgenic event, based on Supreme Decree 3874 approved by MAS on April 17, 2019.
MONSANTO and Bioceres: Business and state alliances for the health of the population
The introduction of HB4 seed is directly linked to global mega-companies that set the pace and geopolitics of the capitalist “agri-food industry”. In February 2019, the Argentine company Bioceres and ANAPO had presented HB4 seed in Bolivia, resistant to drought and announced as a great alternative for soy producers in the country.
Bioceres is the Argentine company that made a public-private alliance with experts from the UNL – National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), from Argentina, creating INDEAR, which is in charge of “providing R&D services to facilitate the development of new technologies and pro

Continue reading “Bolivia: Drowning in the Agro-Extractivist Whirlpool”

How did the United States — the richest country in the world — become the worldwide epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, with one person dying of COVID-19 every 47 seconds? We spend the hour with Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author, discussing this unprecedented moment in history, and its political implications. Chomsky…

Noam Chomsky on Trump’s Disastrous Coronavirus Response, WHO, China, Gaza and Global Capitalism — Radio Free

The difference is that in working-class neighbourhoods, rather than making noise with pots, people are building incredible networks of solidarity, mutual care and support.

With hard times coming ahead, only solidarity will save us from the ruins. Long queues in foodbanks and support networks indicate that people are beginning to starve in many areas of every city. Uncertainty appears enhanced as a material way of being for many precarious popular classes who lost their jobs and do not know if they will ever return to work. While neighbours are supporting neighbours, the political opportunism of the right is seeking to catalyse the social catastrophe.

Covid19, the far-right and upper-class revolt in Spain — Interregnum

After the right-wing’s performance in the midst of the COVID19 outbreak -with figures like Donald Trump, Boris Johnson or Jair Bolsonaro leading the way -one could reasonably think that popular support for the far-right would plunge after the crisis.

At the very least, that was my deluded hope in the Spanish context, in which particularly VOX[i] -but also the whole right-wing circus- has been accumulating one foolish and impertinent appearance after another. Just to give an example, the voices of the Spanish right -both the ‘old’ one (the conservative Partido Popular) and the ‘not-that-old’ one (VOX or Ciudadanos) – have repeatedly blamed the feminist demonstrations held on the 8^th of March as responsible for the exponential outbreak of the virus.

The fact that this same day VOX organised a multitudinous antifeminist meeting –whereupon leaders like Santiago Abascal or Javier Ortega Smith, who shook hands with all the attendants, were diagnosed with coronavirus- never stopped the most rancid right from making such senseless accusations.

Overall, the actions of the far-right these days merit an entire analysis that I am not able to cover here. The reason that I am writing today refers to some recent events that have been taking place since last week. With almost 30.000 deaths in official statistics, and coinciding with the first government measures easing the quarantine, Spain is witnessing a sort of ‘upper-class revolt’ in which ladies and gentlemen from the wealthiest neighbourhoods of the country are taking over the streets in their Francoist flags, suits, ties and heels demanding freedom and the immediate dismissal of the government.

This image of the same fascists that blamed feminist demonstrations now rallying in the street- during their daily allowance outside the house for exercise- captures the incongruencies of a rancid extreme right that, far from being losing its support, is fully aware that it’s time for class struggle. The Madrilenian ‘Barrio de Salamanca’ -the neighbourhood with the highest GDP per capita- has become the spatial reference of these ‘revolts’, albeit the reality is that they have spread to other -mostly wealthy- areas across the country’s geography.

This discontent was capitalised on by the far-right party VOX, who promoted a national “caravan demonstration” which took place on Saturday in different cities of the state “in the name of Spain and freedom” and demanded the immediate resignation of the government, while obstructing the circulation of ambulances and insulting health workers standing in their way as a form of protest.

Continue reading “Covid19, the far-right and upper-class revolt in Spain —”

IQ Scores Are Falling Due to Environmental Factors … – Time AND IQ scores have been falling, a new study … – USA TODAY

Thousands of more or less toxic chemicals are getting into our bodies, and every month dozens more, creating a Toxic Cocktail and all sorts of unforseeable health issues.

Our Enemy the FDA: Soft Killing The American People

The problem is nowhere more extensive than in the US, which is notorious for allowing any kinds of toxicity, from carcinogenic herbicides, sweeteners, growth boosters etc. , as well as consuming huge quantities of meat and the largest range of semi tested products.

Money talks and corruption is total, lethal products are still legal because they are promoted by the corporate lobbyists

This raises the question, (and we’re NOT anti American).. Is the Toxic Chemical Cocktail Making Americans Stupid?

Explanations are needed, why oh why are millions of US citizens planning to vote again for a man whose unhinged idiocy is destroying the whole planet? Why oh why is it considered un-American to question a diet which is a cocktail of poisons?

see also> American Foods That Are Banned Around The World and.. Feeding the US Toxic Chemicals Banned in Other Countries … and.. Banned & Toxic ingredients Found In U.S Foods

Among the multitude of suspected side effects are damaged immune systems, autism, early senility, low sperm count and IQ deficiency. Few if any products have been adequately tested for their interaction with a multitude of others

Toxic Cocktail – Barbara Demeneix – Oxford University Press

ToxicCocktail How Chemical Pollution Is Poisoning Our Brains, by Barbara Demeneix. Written by an expert who works with international authorities on chemical testing; Provides an easily understandable explanation of the links between between brain development and thyroid hormone, and how chemical pollution is undoing a process honed by evolution Toxic Cocktail provides a clear view of how many environmental chemicals interfere with brain development. As a result, this book looks at how we define and test IQ, the evidence for IQ loss, and how chemical pollution and thyroid hormone disruption can be actors in this process, as well as increasing neurodevelopmental disease risk.

Continue reading “Is Toxic Chemical Cocktail Making Americans Stupid? + Has Trump got the Brain Parasite?”

As of May 23, Brazil is reporting the second highest number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the world at 330,890 and a Covid-19 death toll of 21,048, figures that are widely-believed to dramatically undercount both infections and deaths. Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s support has declined significantly as evidence of his crimes mounts, but he shows […]

People’s impeachment petition in Brazil gathers mass support — No Borders