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O'siyo Brothers and Sister!
For some time now I
have been witnessing a situation with alarm and sincere concern; but was
having difficulty making a case for
it being a Native issue. An article in this issue by John Ross "JOHN
ROSS: Plot Against Mexican Maize" (Big Biotech take advantage of the
corn crisis to force farmers to buy GMO seeds) turned on the light!
It is clearly a Native issue when traditional, sacred
crops are in danger of being altered and/or eliminated by genetic
altering
as a result of being exposed to GMO genes.
On a much larger scale, control of the world's food
crops is very rapidly falling into the hands of one
manufacturer/distributor -
Monsanto. It doesn't take a conspiracy theorist to understand the threat
of having world domination of food crops in the hands of one source. Go
to your elders and ask them how this relates to prophecy.
Twelve thousand years ago agriculture was created by
people saving seeds that best met their community's needs and tastes.
That practice lead to biodiversity that has literally saved mankind from
famine several times throughout history. Lack of biodiversity in the
Irish potato crop is exactly what helped create the potato famine of
1845-1849 when blight invaded their crop and there were no blight
resistant potatoes to replace them, though such potatoes existed in
other parts of the world.
Our Peoples have developed crops that are unique to
them and sacred to them. The Tarahumara alone have developed a vast
array of crop plants, some of which perform well in desert valley and
others that are highly successful in the mountain highlands. Many of
these unique crops are Sacred to the Tarahumara, as are many of the
crops unique to Hopi, Navajo, Zuni and many others throughout the
southwestern desert. Mandan, Arikara, Iroquois and countless other
nations have also produced food crops that are as individual to them as
their clans and societies.
As John's article makes clear, one exposure to
Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) crops is all it takes to destroy
these ancient, Sacred crops. Furthermore, as has been discovered in
India and other World nations, the destruction of traditional foods by
GMO gene infestation is exponential. Eighteen affected acres this year
leads to over a hundred the following year.
How deliberate is Monsanto (with US Government
blessings) in their control of food crops? Iraqi farmers were forced to
plant Monsanto seeds rather than traditional saved and traded seeds.
This fact is documented by the International Relations and Security
Network, Center for Security Studies, Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology.
In the meantime Monsanto, through its subsidiary,
American Seeds, Inc. is in the process of acquiring every major producer
of crop seeds. In just the past three years ASI has acquired NC+
Hybrids, Fontanelle Hybrids, Stewart Seeds, Trelay Seeds, Stone Seeds
and Seminis, who at one time controlled roughly 80% of the commercial
open pollinated crop market. Seminis advertising still brags "If You've
Eaten a Salad, You've Had a Seminis Product."
Terminator seeds (seeds that grow a crop this year, but
have only sterile seeds that cannot be replanted) tested in Thailand
created what can only be termed a disaster.
Elimination of our sacred plants and control of the
vegetables at our tables is enough of a Native issue that I felt
obligated to share.
Dohiyi Ani Oginalii
Gary Smith (*,*)
wotanging@bellsouth.net
P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org
Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. ===w=w===
http://www.nanews.org
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CONTENTS LIST OF ARTICLES IN
VOLUME 15, ISSUE 008
FOR ARTICLES GOT TO
WOTANGING IKCHE-Native American News
Editorial Section: . GMOs Threaten Our Sacred
Crops
- Rep. Jo Ann Davis Introduces Apology Bill
- Navajos File Petition Against Uranium Mining
- Panel Rejects Liquor-Free Buffer At Bear Butte
- Wampanoag To Get Early Ruling On Recognition Bid
- U.S. Recognises Tribe That Met British Settlers
- Little Shell Chippewa Tribe May Secure Land
- Yakamas Want Damage Assessment From Hanford
- Judge Says Mattaponi Can Claim Water Rights
- Split-Apart Nation Comes Together
- Karuk Tribal Health Clinic
- U. of I. Ends Chief Illiniwek's Run
- Stop Killing Wolves
- Choctaw Owned Pyke Mountain Holsters
- Court Rules Against Bid to Halt Funding of OHA
- Native American Populations Share Gene Signature
- Giago: Traditional Indians Buried by New Casino Indians
- Opinion: Desperation in Pine Ridge
- Jodi Rave: Questionable Spending Damages Future
- Stokes: Time For New Eagle Feather Law
- Wagamese: One Native Life
- John Ross: Plot Against Mexican Maiz
- Murder And Other High Crimes In Lacandon Jungle
- Fontaine Offers Natives Vision Of Better Future
- Onkwehonwe Plan - Taking Over Turtle Island
- Inuit Accuse Us Of Destroying Their Way Of Life
- 9 Judges Set To Formally Approve School Deal
- It's Time For Canada To Pay Up
- First Nation Was Not Consulted, Tells Shareholders
- MLA Demands Answers Over Police Drug Experiments
- A Legal Gathering Of Tribes
- 'Lost Tribe' Hoping To Collect U.S. Payout
- Meth Use, Murder Rates Up
- Native Justice -- Indians Sue Officials At Maine Prison
- Rustywire: Melting Snow And Ice
- History: Carlisle Indian School
- Lee Goins Poem: Ancestor Ceremony
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Along the U.S.-Mexico border, the
body count continues to pile up daily. Meanwhile, the Minutemen patrol
the U.S.-Mexico border and shameless politicians find it easy to
denounce illegal immigration as the cause of all the nation's problems -
including linking it with "the war on terror."
Amidst all the clatter, the only views not being heard are the ones that
matter most. Thus here, we bring you a truly historic column,
featuring the views of those that have come before us to these lands:
American Indians:"... I suspect at
least half those people coming across that southern border are
indigenous peoples who have been directly or indirectly affected by
anti-indigenous rights policies and U.S. lead neo-liberal free trade
regimes often resulting in the privatization of land. I am concerned the
U.S-Mexico border is becoming a war zone giving rise to old world
colonial attitudes spawning white-lead vigilante militias with U.S.
military support. Indigenous peoples of the U.S. and our tribal
governments must demand border justice and not be used by the homeland
security program of the U.S. to undermine the civil liberties of our
indigenous peoples and mestizo brothers and sisters of the Latin
American countries." -- Tom Goldtooth, Exec. Dir., Indigenous
Environmental Network |