Taking On Big AG—Is Monsanto Useful?

Encouraging as we think of global food security. 

Ira Wallace and other small organic farmers have banded together to challenge an mighty agricultural giant, arguing that Monsanto’s patented transgenic seeds do not benefit society. […] for Ira the lawsuit represents a project with wider impact. “You want to think globally and act locally,” Ira told me in June, “and this is a way to direct my local work and link it with something that might have a larger impact. It seems more urgent to put support behind it now.” As she continues her work with the lawsuit against Monsanto, Ira said that she sees a similarity between environmental work and feminism. “You have small farmers against these huge, monolithic, well-funded entities…who don’t exactly have an interest in the playing field being leveled,” she said. “Farmers are trying to bring to the public awareness of the injustice in a system that operates for the interest of those who have money and power.”

Press Release| Rally at the State Capitol is this Saturday

If you’re in Minnesota, we’d like to see you there! All of you! Your family and friends! We will have representatives from Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, the Brooklyn Park human rights commissioner, as well several local performance artists to keep us inspired.

See you at the Capitol at 3pm. (August 27th, 3-5pm 2011)

Press Release below:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Email earelief@gmail.com

Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN (August 23, 2011) –  East Africans in Minnesota will hold a rally at the south steps of the State Capitol in St. Paul this Saturday, August 27th, 2011 from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. to raise awareness on the devastating drought and famine in East Africa and address specific challenges to aid.  

The rally will lobby the State Department to remove aid restrictions that limit the work of many NGOs working in Somalia. While the state department has eased sanctions on al-Shabaab controlled areas in Somalia, the restrictions from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) fall short of addressing challenges to aid in the famine-stricken areas. The new protection covers specific contractors and grantees of USAID, and many grassroots organizations with deep community roots are left out. As a result, these efforts continue to face funding barriers, as corporations and foundations do not want to support an effort that may be subject to legal entanglements. We must remove these sanctions and protect all IRS-vetted NGOs to operate in this area.

We also believe that it is unacceptable that the Ethiopian government has been holding back aid from people based on political affiliation. Human Rights Watch (HRW) produced a chilling report in 2010 on how aid is used as a weapon to suppress political dissent. A recent BBC investigation confirmed that this practice is happening in drought-impacted areas. Our government must take a stand against the politicization of aid, and follow the recommendations outlined in HRW’s report, “Development without Freedom: How Aid Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia.”

Finally, we ask that Minnesotans make donations and contributions to organizations that offer sustainable aid models that empower recipients. And as media coverage on this important issue continues; we ask for thoughtful analysis. The dignity of those impacted must be considered and images should not caricature them.

East Africa Relief is comprised of a group of Minnesotans, most of us with East African roots, interested in navigating the famine and drought crisis. “What can we do?” we asked ourselves. This is the result: to encourage smart giving. As we look at short-term aid to the famine-stricken regions it is imperative that we discuss the long term effects of climate change and its impact on global food security. We are NOT an aid agency. We have listed, here, organizations that we have identified as grassroots led with a history of working in the region. Please consider making donating either money or your time and skills to them.

Global hunger - the Minnesota connection

Brilliant analysis, by Allen Levine, on why the famine and drought in the Horn of Africa is part of the global food crisis. And what we can do about it. He is the dean of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Minnesota and is director of the Minnesota Obesity Center.

An excerpt: (to read article in its entirety click on title above):

But by making some reasonable — in other words, nonideological — policy changes, we can help mitigate this looming potential disaster. Here are five ways I believe we can reach the goal of sustainably feeding everyone:

  1. Support funding of agricultural research and development.
    Such work will boost the productivity of farms in the United States. The resulting technologies and practices can be transferred to developing countries, along with exported food.
  2. Be vigilant about the effects of climate change, disease and drought, and be prepared to work on a global level to mitigate them before they reach crisis levels.

  3. Accelerate the shift toward second- and third-generation biofuels such as algae and cellulosic material.
    When commodity prices reach record highs, as they did in 2008 and may do again this year, food prices go up, here and around the world. This year, for the first time, more corn will be needed for making fuel than for feeding animals, according to the USDA’s forecasting agency. 
    That’s simply not sustainable.
  4. Concentrate efforts on small-scale farmers, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, where many of the world’s poorest people reside and where much of the population growth will happen.

  5. Recognize that simply having enough food isn’t enough.
    The World Hunger Organization reports that global agriculture currently produces enough food to theoretically give every person about 2,700 calories per day, which is more than enough to survive — if you set aside questions of access and pricing.

    So we have to ask the hard questions about what people eat.

Today’s Reading: Don’t forget Djibouti, HRW report on Somalia

As the drought and famine crisis in East Africa worsens, we’re learning some frustrating details about why aid isn’t getting into the hands of those who need it most. 

Human Rights Watch released a chilling report on abuses on civilians by al-Shabaab, the Somali Transitional Government (TFG), the African Union forces, as well as Kenya- and Ethiopia-backed Somali militias. These violations continue to fuel the humanitarian catastrophe in Somalia, and violators represent both internationally-recognized authorities and oppositional groups. While blame has been placed on al-Shabaab, the international community has largely turned a blind eye to the TFG, African Union, and others. We believe that all human rights violators in Somalia — regardless of affiliation and status — must be placed under scrutiny and held accountable for their actions. In the end, regardless of who the perpetrator is, the experience of abuse is the same and the identity of the violator does nothing to ease the trauma of their horrific actions. Read more about the abuses, restrictions to humanitarian aid, and recommendations. 

Djibouti has received little attention in the press, yet it is also one of the East African countries badly hit by the drought. The Guardian reports that this small country is experiencing four consecutive years of drought resulting in loss of livestock and skyrocketing food prices. 

Finally, what are some of the causes of drought and why are some areas hit harder than others? And as Al Jazeera put aptly, “is the reason weather or war?” Watch this episode of Inside Story for some answers. 

  • 20 Plays
Download External Audio

Over the weekend, we were on Reflections of New Minnesotans on AM950 discussing the politics of aid, poverty porn, climate change and smart giving. 

“There is a serious sustainability question. People are helping, but how they help is an important conversation to have because there are certain aid models that really damage the communities in question and have long-term ramifications that again, create cyclical cycles of dependency that isn’t very solutions-oriented. - Ramla Bile

Download audio here

Aid to Somalia Fraught with Legal Uncertainty and Bureaucratic Tangles

InterAction, an organization bringing together several non-profit aid groups, sees the potential for legal risk stemming from possible payments, fees, and consultations that al-Shabab may demand in order for the groups to carry out their work. “The realities are, that it is very likely… that these types of interactions will occur,” said Eric Johnson, associate general counsel of CARE USA, a humanitarian organization that fights global poverty, in a teleconference this week.

In the teleconference, and in a separate phone interview, Johnson stressed that the NGOs do no want to violate U.S. law and that they need more legal assurance than they currently have in order to program relief efforts. For that reason, InterAction is petitioning the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for a general license that would give them wider latitude to conduct operations in southern and western Somalia. 

Without further guarantees, these NGOs say, they cannot tap the coffers of foundations and corporations. “Money from private sources and European donors is not covered by the [current] provisions,” Johnson said.

The aid situation in Somalia, a country that has been without a stable government for 20 years, stands in sharp contrast to Haiti, which received a flood of corporate aid donations after the devastating January 2010 earthquake.  

Click through title to read article in its entirety. 

Famine Awareness Rally| SATURDAY, AUGUST 27th | 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Our request for a permit to rally at the State Capitol in St. Paul has been approved!

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27th | 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

We will meet at the south steps of the State Capitol Building
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in St. Paul.

The following are our goals for the rally:

  • Raise awareness on the humanitarian crisis 
  • Lobby the State Department via Congress to remove aid restrictions especially those that specifically bar non-profits from working in specific regions in Somalia 
  • Speak out against aid being used as a weapon to squash political opposition in parts of East Africa.
  • Depoliticize food: the drought and food crisis in East Africa is a global food security issue 
  • Aid with dignity: we are anti-poverty porn and we urge the media and aid agencies to respect the women, men and children affected by the famine and drought. 
  • Sustainable aid models: even as we give aid, let us support aid organizations that don’t hinder the growth of local economies

We have created a static page here—-> St. Paul, Awareness Rally

Minnesota’s response to famine different for Somalia in 2011, Ethiopia in 1984

Daniel Abebe“It pains me that the world is watching as Somalia experiences extreme famine. Is the world watching as a country is wiped out? Why is there no outcry?” Daniel Abebe asks.

Back in 1984, Abebe saw a dramatically different response when famine hit his home country, Ethiopia. Then he was a graduate student in Minnesota, working at the university hospital. Today he’s a university dean at Metropolitan State University. The Daily Planet spoke to him on Minnesota’s responses to famine in Ethiopia in 1984 and in Somalia today.

[…]

Abebe, who headed the local Ethiopian organizing relief committee spoke to churches, schools, universities and Rotary clubs. The  famine, he said, presented itself as a perfect opportunity to “save” Ethiopians.

Commending the Somali diaspora’s fundraising efforts, Abebe urged everyone to get involved: “The Somali diaspora cannot deal with this on their own. They could raise several million dollars among themselves, but this alone will not be enough. We need a global response. This is an opportunity for the world to demonstrate that we care about humanity; and not just about the war of terror.”

Click here to read article in its entirety.