In a recent episode of Act Out! host Eleanor Goldfield looked into Monsanto’s secretive history beyond glyphosate and GMO seeds:
“For 4 decades Monsanto has been poisoning this town (and others) with a poison so serious, even their own scientists note it as “100% kill.” Nope, it’s not Roundup and it’s not Agent Orange. Meet Monsanto’s poison that you might never hear about again after this Congress wipes the slate clean.”
Ukraine has become a nation synonymous with the daily headlines, from the trail of western intervention and subversion that lead to a violent coup in 2013 to the devastating civil war that has torn the nation apart. These stories, as crucial as they are to investigate, have provided the perfect cover for international corporations to exploit Ukraine’s resources.
This exploitation accelerated when Ukraine declared its independence in 1992. From this period onward, Ukraine has experienced the colonization of its vastly important agricultural sector. International agribusiness and biotechnology firms have steadily been reforming Ukraine’s agricultural laws in order to eventually allow for an explosion in the production of genetically modified organisms.
Recent efforts to speed up this annexation of Ukrainian agriculture have been documented by the Oakland Institute. Their fact-sheet on the “Corporate Takeover of Ukrainian Agriculture” shows how the law firm Frishberg and Partners found loopholes in a moratorium on Ukrainian agricultural land sales. The law firm suggested a two-pronged approach to circumventing this moratorium, which remains in force until January 1, 2016. These loopholes are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the multinational effort to subdue and mold a potentially lucrative agriculture market for maximum profit. While Ukraine currently enforces a ban on GMO products, it has become apparent that this is a temporary state of affairs.
The stage was set for the impending removal of this ban when Ukraine and the EU signed an association agreement in 2014.
On the 12th of January 2010, Haiti was devastated by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake. An estimated 3 million people were affected, with upwards of 160,000 to 316,000 people killed. In the wake of this disaster a massive aid-campaign was initiated, with the United States leading the charge.
However the allotted funds have not been used to help the people of Haiti, instead they have been funneled towards programs managed by USAID and Monsanto. The goals of these programs are to fundamentally restructure the Haitian economy, particularly the agricultural sectors. This is being done in order to maintain a corporate monopoly on both the import of food products into Haiti, as well as the means of food production within the country.
At the head of the post-earthquake aid effort was the the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which reported that in 2013 alone it had spent over $270m in Haiti. From this significant figure, American non-profits received 40% and a further 50% went to US-based corporations. One such company is Chemonics International, which was allotted more than $58m. Chemonics claimed this would be dedicated to further “promoting recovery and laying the foundation for long term development in Haiti.” Unfortunately Haiti’s recovery is not being pursued and the only long term foundations that are being laid are for the total corporate annexation of Haiti’s economy.
