liberty inst india reddy

=2 org with similar names and some ppl in common=<a href="http://www.icfcs.org/">ICCS Home Page</a> 
ICCS Conference at Seattle, Ensuring Open Trade for Global Prosperity, Monday, 29 November 1999.<h4><a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mi/libertyinstitute/iccsgen.html">ICCS General Information</a></h4><a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mi/libertyinstitute/iccsmem.html" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ICCS List of Members</a><h1>International Consumers for Civil Society</h1><hr width="100%" /><center style="text-align: left;">General Information</center><a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mi/libertyinstitute/iccsgen.html#mission">Mission</a> 
<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mi/libertyinstitute/iccsgen.html#principles">Principles</a> 
<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mi/libertyinstitute/iccsgen.html#prog">Programme Activities</a>International Consumers for Civil Society has been formed as an international umbrella group of market-oriented organizations located in different countries. Coalition members will participate as NGOs in international negotiations and meetings on policies that would have a significant impact on consumers.International Consumers for Civil Society will emphasize the benefits of market economies for consumers world-wide. It will seize the high ground by showing, for example, that policies to restrict economic growth or technological advances such as biotechnology can have a devastating impact in developing countries.<a name="mission" />Mission:The mission of the ICCS is: (1) to promote on an international basis a market-oriented view on consumer policy issues through representing non-profit organizations that support the premise that consumer choice and competition best advance consumers' interests; and (2) to act as a clearinghouse for the exchange of information and ideas about market solutions to consumer concerns.The aim of International Consumers for Civil Society is to leverage individual groups' work in the international arena on policy issues relating to consumers, promote proposals that rely on private rather than government solutions to consumer concerns, and counter proposals that would restrict consumer choice, competition, and advances in technology and would negatively affect the poor, especially those in developing countries.<a name="principles" />Principles:The following principles will guide the activities of the international group:<ul><li>Economic growth produces societies that are wealthier and healthier; international policies to restrict that growth can have devastating impacts, particularly on the poor in developing countries.</li></ul><ul><li>A market economy benefits consumers by expanding consumer choice and competition and fostering innovation, which lowers costs and improves consumer health and safety.</li></ul><ul><li>Informed consumers can make their own decisions in the marketplace and hold responsibility for those decisions.</li></ul><ul><li>Government policies that restrict consumer choice and stifle competition harm consumers by substituting policymakers' values for individual values and raising the costs of goods and services to consumers.</li></ul><ul><li>Sound science and sound economic data should underlie international policy relating to consumer issues.</li></ul><a name="prog" />Program Activities:The international organization will provide the members with representation in international bodies' deliberations and the opportunity for better information exchange -- joining resources, time, and man-power in the work on specific issues.<ul><li>Tracking international issues that have an important consumer impact.</li></ul><ul><li>Tracking domestic issues that could become major international initiatives.</li></ul><ul><li>Becoming an international Non-Governmental Organization with international agencies.</li></ul><ul><li>Identifying important international consumer and environmental concerns and identifying ICCS members that have expertise in those areas.</li></ul><ul><li>Enlisting ICCS member groups to serve as "lead groups" on specific issues.</li></ul><ul><li>Participating in international meetings and negotiations on consumer and environmental issues</li></ul><ul><li>Commenting on behalf of ICCS to international organizations on policy issues.</li><li>Coordinating international activities - position papers, conferences, press statements, and publications, such as websites, research papers, issue briefs.</li></ul><a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mi/libertyinstitute/iccsgen.html#top" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Top of Page</a><a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mi/libertyinstitute/iccsform.html">ICCS Membership Form</a> 
<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mi/libertyinstitute/iccsmem.html">ICCS List of Members</a><a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mi/libertyinstitute/main2.html">Home Page of Liberty Institute, New Delhi</a> 
<a href="http://www.consumeralert.org/">Home Page of Consumer Alert</a><center style="text-align: left;">Consumer Alert</center><center style="text-align: left;">1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 1128</center><center style="text-align: left;">Washington, D.C. 20036</center><center style="text-align: left;">tel.: 1(202)467-5809 fax: 1(202)467-5814 e-mail: <a href="mailto:info@consumeralert.org">info@consumeralert.org</a></center><div>=</div><div id="center_article"><div id="center_article"><div class="titre_article">Dead people astroturfing for Monsanto</div><div id="article">GM Watch note: Below is an extract from an interesting article in the New York Times  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/us/politics/31liberty.html which describes how the U.S.’s tea party movement is being manipulated to support big business issues by the likes of Andrew Langer, head of the Institute for Liberty - a conservative astroturf (fake grassroots) group that’s cosied up to tea party supporters to advance causes for corporate interests.Langer freely admits to the Times that various undisclosed interest groups have given him money to push tea party activists on certain issues. The Times also discovered the Institute had used the names of dead people on a "grassroots" petition it sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture supporting Monsanto’s efforts to relax restrictions on its herbicide-resistant GM alfalfa.This astroturfing for Monsanto was undertaken, Langer implies, in conjunction with the Competitive Enterprise Institute. CEI, where Langer used to work, has long been an aggressive lobbyist for GM and has had Monsanto among its donors. <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Competitive_Enterprise_Institute" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Competitive_Enterprise_Institute</a>CEI and its Senior Fellow, Gregory Conko co-founded (with C.S. Prakash) the vociferously pro-GM AgBioWorld campaign. Among other things, AgBioWorld was central to undermining important research that concluded that native maize in Mexico had been contaminated by GM. Some of the most virulent of the AgBioWorld attacks on the research were initiated and fueled by individuals who later turned out to be non-existent!! Their e-mails were traced back eventually to Monsanto’s PR company and even to Monsanto itself.<a href="http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit_index.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit_index.html</a>In the present case, some of Monsanto’s supporters seem to be "real"... just dead, making for yet another lurid entry in the long catalogue of fake citizens, fake organisations, and even fake public protests in support of GM.For more on this GM astroturfing, see the article "Biotech’s Hall of Mirrors". <a href="http://www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/ViewPage.aspx?pageId=128" class="spip_out" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">http://www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/ViewPage.aspx?pageId=128</a><hr class="spip" /><h3 class="spip">Odd Alliance: Business Lobby and Tea Party</h3></div></div></div>dupont spkerhttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/edit-page/Meet-Farmer-Chengal-Reddy-He-wants-us-to-give-up-the-fear-of-GM-crops/articleshow/16327144.cms?prtpage=1
Meet Farmer Chengal Reddy: He wants us to give up the fear of GM cropsP Chengal Reddy | Sep 10, 2012, 12.00 AM IST
The parliamentary committee report on genetically modified (GM) organisms is an attempt to give a quiet burial to biotechnology in India. On behalf of the farmers of India, let me say that this report totally fails to reflect farmers' aspirations, and distorts the scientific significance of biotechnology - including genetic engineering - for the national economy. Instead, it echoes persistent canards by some environmental NGOs.Indian farming suffers losses of up to Rs 1 lakh crore from pests and diseases annually, apart from natural calamities. Till the 1960s, India used only conventional breeding for seeds - but these traditional varieties were insufficient to feed the country, which became totally dependent on food aid from the US. Then came the Green Revolution which harnessed biotechnology. This saved India from starvation and made it a food exporter.But the limits of the Green Revolution technology have been reached. We now need new kinds of biotechnology, including GM crops. The govern-ment has created the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) to regulate the entry of new GM crops.Unfortunately, the parliamentary committee's report seems to have been written for them by green activists without reference to scientists or farmers. Instead of hailing GM crops as a huge success, they are being portrayed as dangerous. This demonisation will demoralise top Indian researchers.Bt cotton, approved by GEAC in 2002, is one of the most successful stories of Indian agriculture after the Green Revolution. Fifty thousand hectares were planted in 2002, and by 2012 this reached 10 million hectares planted by 10 million farmers in nine states. India became the second largest producer of cotton in the world. It was a boon to Indian farmers. Yet, the parliamentary committee has swallowed NGOs' claims that this has been no use at all for farmers.GM crops of maize, soya, potato, sugar beet, canola, cotton and alfalfa are grown across the world. The US, Brazil, Argentina and China are massive producers. The global GM crops area increased from 4.3 million hectares in 1996 to 148 million hectares by 2010. Not a single case of any danger to human health has been reported, yet green activists keep spreading false stories about health hazards.Ten industrial nations and 19 developing countries are producing GM crops. Another 30 countries including EU countries - which do not grow GM crops themselves - are importing and consuming GM foods directly and indirectly.The EU countries that widely oppose GM crops have barely 15 million farmers, and follow double standards. They import huge quantities of cattle feed and beef from GM crop-producing countries including Brazil, so GM crops are very much in the European food chain. Besides, over 20 million European tourists visit the US and Latin America every year and happily consume GM food there with no adverse health effects. Yet, they make a huge noise in their own countries. But today, even the EU has allowed some GM crops: Spain with 76,575 hectares of Bt maize is the leader.China is growing Bt cotton, tomato, papaya and sweet pepper. In 2007, it gave in principle approval for Bt rice and Bt maize. As of 2010, China was cultivating 3.5 million hectares of Bt crops. All other large nations with big populations have also prioritised GM crop production and marketing because of the economic benefits and food needs of their masses. India must do the same.The parliamentary committee report has belittled the hard work by various ministries, the Planning Commission, private companies and the agriculture universities that evolved policies and programmes to propel biotech research to help our nation. Our eminent agriculture scientists such as Gurdev Kush, Ganesh Kishore, C S Prakash, S R Rao, Anand Kumar and Kailash Bansal - along with hundreds of other young and dedicated scientists - have dedicated their lives to this technology.Bt cotton was approved during the NDA rule. In the past five years, the UPA government has granted Rs 350 crore for biotech research, resulting in over 150 research projects. This has the potential to convert India into the world's largest seed producer. But this has now been dealt a setback by the report.If we look at future growth, India's population will rise from the present 1.2 billion to 1.8 bilion by 2050. There is already strong competition on farms for food, fuel, feed and fodder. Huge swathes of farmland are being diverted for infrastructure and urbanisation. This will only grow more acute as our population grows.The solution is to increase per hectare productivity, which includes resistance to pests and diseases. This is possible only with new techno-logies such as GM. We cannot let the report dampen Indian scientific morale; that would have huge adverse effects. We must enable India's 600 million small farmers to compete with farmers in the US, Brazil and China. For that, GM crops are an absolute must.P Chengal Reddy is secretary general,Consortium of Indian Farmers' Associationshttp://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/chengal-reddy-for-davos-meet/article1122734.ece1/11Chengal Reddy, honorary chairman of city-based Federation of Farmers' Associations, has been invited by the World Economic Forum for its annual meeting at Davos, Switzerland, on January 28. He will attend sessions on ‘Genuine green growth: how can agriculture sector drive growth in developing countries', on ‘Collaborative pathways for water secure future' and ‘Leveraging public private investment to achieve a new vision of agriculture'. — Special Correspondenthttp://time.com/3702622/india-narendra-modi-delhi-elections/---

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/sonia-gandhi-congress-parliament-narendra-modi-nda-andhra-pradesh-polavaram-dam-tdp/1/424279.htmlMaking a rare intervention in Parliament, Congress president<a href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/people/sonia-gandhi/17940.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; position: relative; box-sizing: initial !important; text-decoration: none !important;">Sonia Gandhi</a> on Tuesday accused the <a href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/people/narendra-modi/17737.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; position: relative; box-sizing: initial !important; text-decoration: none !important;">Narendra Modi</a>government of neglecting Andhra Pradesh and demanded that the state be helped in creating a grand capital as soon as possible.Speaking on the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2015, in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi said the state was suffering from revenue deficit. "The people of Andhra Pradesh are deeply anguished over the apathy shown by this government," Sonia said, adding that she has written twice to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue."Like every other state, Andhra Pradesh should also have a grand capital but nothing substantial has been provided," she said. After Hyderabad went to Telangana, the state government is planning a new capital near Vijayawada.<div id="inarticle_wrapper_div" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; clear: both; line-height: 22px; box-sizing: initial !important;"><div id="inread1_26817" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: initial !important; display: inline-table; clear: both; width: 445px;"><div id="inread_26817" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: initial !important; z-index: 99999999; position: absolute; left: -99999px; visibility: visible;"><table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; box-sizing: initial !important; border: none !important; background-image: none !important; background-attachment: initial !important; background-size: initial !important; background-origin: initial !important; background-clip: initial !important; background-position: initial !important; background-repeat: initial !important;"><tbody style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; box-sizing: initial !important;"><tr id="zd_tr_26817" style="margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; box-sizing: initial !important; border: none !important; background-image: none !important; background-attachment: initial !important; background-size: initial !important; background-origin: initial !important; background-clip: initial !important; background-position: initial !important; background-repeat: initial !important;"><td id="zd_td_26817" style="opacity: 0; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; box-sizing: initial !important; border: none !important; background-image: none !important; background-attachment: initial !important; background-size: initial !important; background-origin: initial !important; background-clip: initial !important; background-position: initial !important; background-repeat: initial !important;"><div id="mainFrame" style="margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; box-sizing: initial !important;"><div id="passbackWrapper" style="margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; box-sizing: initial !important;"><div id="lastFrameWrapper" style="margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; box-sizing: initial !important; position: absolute; left: -99999px;"><div id="lastframe" style="margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; box-sizing: initial !important; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;"><div id="playerBackupAdWrapper" style="margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; box-sizing: initial !important; position: absolute; left: -99999px;"><div id="playerBackupAd" style="margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; box-sizing: initial !important; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;"></div></div></div></div></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div>The Congress chief said the state is facing a "huge revenue deficit" and demanded that projects like Polavaram must get off the ground. She said the 14th Finance Commission also has not done full justice to the state, which is the successor state of the undivided Andhra Pradesh following formation of Telangana.The ruling Telugu Desam Party, also a BJP ally at the Centre, has also accused the government of not fulfilling the promises made to the state in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014. Earlier this month, the NDA government decided to dole out Rs 10,000 crore to the state.<h3>CORE and Monsanto</h3>In 2005, CORE ran <a target="blank" href="http://www.organicconsumers.org/monsanto/parade011905.cfm" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">a pro-genetically modified foods campaign.</a> According to <a target="blank" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20050208040315/http://www.core-online.org/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">an archived version of CORE's website</a> the pro-GM food campaign was sponsored by ag-food and pesticide giant Monsanto. You can click <a target="blank" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28573657@N05/2717795276/in/photostream/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">here</a> to see a screen capture of the CORE site in 2005 where Monsanto is listed as "CORE's corporate partner in the quest for bio-tech information."According to the Wikipedia entry, <a target="blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Monsanto</a> is by far the leading producer of <a target="blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_engineering" title="Genetic engineering" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">genetically engineered</a> (GE) <a target="blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seed" title="Seed" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">seed</a>, holding 70%–100% market share for various <a target="blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture" title="Agriculture" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">crops</a>.In January 2005, Monsanto's Chairman and CEO, Hugh Grant, chaired CORE's celebratory reception in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. A screen shot of the <a target="blank" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28573657@N05/2716995401/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Monsanto photo is archived here.</a>Also, in January 2005, CORE organized what it called the "<a target="blank" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20050112105545/www.core-online.org/events/bio+brochure.htm" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">UN World Conference on Biotechnology</a>." The closing address for the conference was made by Gerald Steiner, Monsanto's Executive Vice President.Roy Innis has penned articles <a target="blank" href="http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=19127" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">promoting the use of DDT</a> in Africa as a means of saving lives. CORE also opened an office in Uganda and<a target="blank" href="http://www.pan-uk.org/Info/DDT/comeback.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">organized pro-DDT rallies.</a>In 2004, <a target="blank" href="http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=14027" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">CORE held an awards ceremony</a> at a World Trade Organization meeting in Cancun, where they announced Greenpeace as a recipient of their "Green Power-Black Death" award. At the ceremony Niger Innis stated: “And the winner is--Greenpeace! For leading million-dollar campaigns against energy, pesticides, biotechnology, trade, and economic development that could improve or save millions of lives."=<header style="margin-bottom: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><h1 class="title" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 20px; line-height: 30px !important; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAMkAAAAICAYAAABTctsUAAAAOklEQVRYw+3WoQEAIADDsP20/28bByCwiLjoqmZbtqVtmfm2CMwPi8D8cERgtlvMdovZbjHbLeZ/fQDGOC9jjq4kiAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg); background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: 0px 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x;">Monsanto's Fake Parade Hits New York</h1>on <time datetime="2005-01-17" pubdate="">17 January 2005</time>.</header><div class="content clearfix" style="line-height: 20px;">1.The Fake Parade hits New York
2.The (original) Fake Parade
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1.The Fake Parade hits New York
by Jonathan Matthews

Just over 2 years ago I wrote an article called The Fake Parade which was all about how Monsanto and their associates were trying to hide the company's "soapbox behind a black man's face".

The article noted, amongst other things, how in late 1999 the New York Times reported that a street protest against genetic engineering outside an FDA public hearing in Washington DC was disrupted by a group of African-Americans carrying placards such as "Biotech saves children's lives" and "Biotech equals jobs." The Times learned that Monsanto's PR company, Burson-Marsteller, had paid a Baptist Church from a poor neighborhood to bus in these "demonstrators" as part of a wider campaign "to get groups of church members, union workers and the elderly to speak in favor of genetically engineered foods."

Now Monsanto has gone one better and has signed up its very own black advocacy group. If you don't believe me, visit the home page of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and beside images of freedom riders and civil rights activists murdered by the KKK, you'll see the Monsanto logo under the legend CORE's "corporate partner".
http://www.core-online.org

Tonight (17th) Monsanto's Chairman and CEO, Hugh Grant is chairing CORE's celebratory reception in honour of the Martin Luther King National Holiday.
http://www.core-online.org/events/current_mlk.htm

Tomorrow (18th) at CORE's "UN World Conference on Biotechnology" Monsanto's Executive Vice President will make the closing address.
http://www.core-online.org/events/biotech%20seminar.htm

The contributors to the conference, apart from Monsanto, are a mix of rabidly pro-GM scientists and rightwing lobbyists, like Paul Driessen CORE's Senior Policy Advisor, who is part of the Wise Use-founding Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise. The aim of Wise Use was to counter the environmental movement with a broad-ranging coalition of interest groups, including industry-funded front groups and 'grassroots groups', often organised by PR consultants on behalf of corporations or trade associations.
http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=248

Julian Morris who is among the contributors to CORE's "UN World Conference on Biotechnology" also features in The Fake Parade. Originally billed as being present was Chengal Reddy who also played a key role in The Fake Parade (see below). His Indian Farmers Federation will be represented.

Someone else who is part of the "UN World Conference" is CORE's Niger Innis. Innis is a protege of black broadcaster Armstrong Williams. Innis stands in for Williams on the TV show America's Black Forum whenever Williams is otherwise engaged.

Williams was recently revealed as having pocketed $240,000 in federal taxpayer money for PR promotion of Bush's educational policy. The journalists who started America's Black Forum , and who now disown it, describe Williams as "the premiere Black political whore in America".
http://www.blackcommentator.com/20_commentary_1.html
http://www.suntimes.com/output/mitchell/cst-nws-mitch16.html

Tomorrow the stand-in and protege of America's "premiere Black political whore" will be standing alongside the Executive Vice President of CORE's "corporate partner" when he rounds up a day spent considering the remarkable contribution that GM can make to helping the world's poor and the evil people who selfishly try and obstruct its global adoption.
http://www.core-online.org/events/biotech%20seminar.htm
------

THE FAKE PARADE
Under the banner of populist protest, multinational corporations manufacture the poor
By Jonathan Matthews
http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/article.asp?id=254
Environment, 3 December 2002

"Carrying his placard the man in front of me was clearly one of the poorest of the poor. His shoes were not only threadbare, they were tattered, merely rags barely being held together."

So begins a graphic description of a demonstration that took place at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg. The protesters were "mainly poor, virtually all black, and mostly women... street traders and farmers" with an unpalatable message. As an article in a South African periodical put it, "Surely this must have been the environmentalists”š worst nightmare. Real poor people marching in the streets and demanding development while opposing the eco-agenda of the Green Left."

And seldom can the views of the poor, in this case a few hundred demonstrators, have been paid so much attention. Articles highlighting the Johannesburg march popped up the world over, in Africa, North America, India, Australia and Israel. In Britain even The Times ran a commentary, under the heading, "I do not need white NGOs to speak for me".

With the summit's passing, the Johannesburg march, far from fading from view, has taken on a still deeper significance. In the November issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology, Val Giddings, the President of the Biotech Industry Organization (BIO), argues that the event marked "something new, something very big" that will make us "look back on Johannesburg as something of a watershed event - a turning point." What made the march so pivotal, he said, was that for the very first time, "real, live, developing-world farmers" were "speaking for themselves" and challenging the "empty arguments of the self-appointed individuals who have professed to speak on their behalf."

To help give them a voice, Giddings singles out the statement of one of the marchers, Chengal Reddy, leader of the Indian Farmers Federation. "Traditional organic farming...," Reddy says, "led to mass starvation in India for centuries... Indian farmers need access to new technologies and especially to biotechnologies."

Giddings also notes that the farmers expressed their contempt for the "empty arguments" of many of the Earth Summiteers by honoring them with a "Bullshit Award" made from two varnished piles of cow dung. The award was given, in particular, to the Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva, for her role in "advancing policies that perpetuate poverty and hunger"

A powerful rebuke, no doubt. But if anyone deserves the cow dung, it is the President of BIO, for almost every element of the spectacle he describes has been carefully contrived and orchestrated. Take, for instance, Chengal Reddy, the "farmer" that Giddings quotes. Reddy is not a poor farmer, nor even the representative of poor farmers. Indeed, there is precious little to suggest he is even well-disposed towards the poor. The "Indian Farmers Federation" that he leads is a lobby of big commercial farmers in Andhra Pradesh. On occasion Reddy has admitted to knowing very little about farming, having never farmed in his life. He is, in reality, a politician and businessman whose family are a prominent right-wing political force in Andhra Pradesh - his father having coined the saying, "There is only one thing Dalits (members of the untouchable caste) are good for, and that is being kicked".

If it seems open to doubt that Reddy was in Johannesburg to help the poor speak for themselves, the identity of the march”šs organizers is also not a source of confidence. Although the Times”š headline said "I do not need white NGOs to speak for me", the media contact on the organizers' press release was "Kendra Okonski", the daughter of a US lumber industrialist who has worked for various right wing anti-regulatory NGOs - all funded and directed, needless to say, by "whites". These include the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based "think tank" whose multi-million dollar budget comes from major US corporations, among them BIO member Dow Chemicals. Okonski also runs the website Counterprotest.net, where her specialty is helping right wing lobbyists take to the streets in mimicry of popular protesters.

Given this, it hardly needs saying that Giddings' "Bullshit Award" was far from, as he suggests, the imaginative riposte of impoverished farmers to India's most celebrated environmentalist. It was, in fact, the creation of another right-wing pressure group "the Liberty Institute" based in New Delhi and well known for its fervent support of deregulation, GM crops and Big Tobacco.

The Liberty Institute is part of the same network that organized the rally: the deceptively-named "Sustainable Development Network." In London, the SDN shares offices, along with many of its key personnelËœincluding OkonskiËœwith the International Policy Network, a group whose Washington address just happens to be that of the CEI. The SDN is run by Julian Morris, its ubiquitous director, who also claims the title of Environment and Technology Programme Director for the Institute of Economic Affairs, a think tank that has advocated, amongst other interesting ideas, that African countries be sold off to multinational corporations in the interests of "good government".

The involvement of the likes of Morris, Okonski and Reddy doesn't mean, of course, that no "real poor people," were involved in the Johannesburg march. There were indeed poor people there. James MacKinnon, who reported on the summit for the North American magazine Adbusters, witnessed the march first hand and told of seeing many impoverished street traders, who seemed genuinely aggrieved with the authorities for denying them their usual trading places in the streets around the summit. The flier distributed by the march organizers to recruit these people played on this grievance, and presented the march as a chance to demand, "Freedom to trade". The flier made no mention of "biotechnology" or "development", nor any other issue on the "eco-agenda of the Green Left".

For all that, there were some real farmers present as well. Mackinnon says he spotted some wearing anti-environmentalist t-shirts, with slogans like "Stop Global Whining." This aroused his curiousity, since small-scale African farmers are not normally to be found among those jeering the "bogus science" of climate change. Yet here they were, with slogans on placards and T-shirts: "Save the Planet from Sustainable Development", "Say No To Eco-Imperialism", "Greens: Stop Hurting the Poor" and "Biotechnology for Africa". On approaching the protesters, however, Mackinnon discovered that all of the props had been made available to the marchers by the organizers. When he tried to converse with some of the farmers about their pro-GM T-shirts, "They smiled shyly; none of them could speak or read English."

Another irresistible question is how impoverished farmers - according to Giddings, there were farmers on the march from five different countries - afforded the journey to Johannesburg from lands as far away as the Philippines and India. Here, too, there is reason for suspicion. In late 1999 the New York Times reported that a street protest against genetic engineering outside an FDA public hearing in Washington DC was disrupted by a group of African-Americans carrying placards such as "Biotech saves children's lives" and "Biotech equals jobs." The Times learned that Monsanto's PR company, Burson-Marsteller, had paid a Baptist Church from a poor neighborhood to bus in these "demonstrators" as part of a wider campaign "to get groups of church members, union workers and the elderly to speak in favor of genetically engineered foods."

The industry”šs fingerprints are all over Johannesburg as well. Chengal Reddy, the "farmer" that the President of BIO singled out as an example of farmers from the poorer world "speaking for themselves", has for at least a decade featured prominently in Monsanto'spromotional work in India. Other groups represented on the march, including AfricaBio, have also been closely aligned with Monsanto's lobbying for its products. Reddy is known to have been brought to Johannesburg by AfricaBio.

And here lies the real key to the President of BIO's account of the march, and specifically to the attack on Vandana Shiva. Monsanto and BIO want to project an image of GM crop acceptance with a Southern face. That's why Monsanto's Internet homepage used to be adorned with the faces of smiling Asian children. So when an Indian critic of the biotech industry gets featured, as Shiva was recently, on the cover of Time magazine as an environmental hero, the brand is under attack, and has to be protected.

The counterattack takes place via a contrarian lens, one that projects the attackers' vices onto their target. Thus the problem becomes not Monsanto using questionable tactics to push its products onto a wary South, but malevolent agents of the rich world obstructing Monsanto's acceptance in a welcoming Third World. For this reason the press release for the "Bullshit Award" accuses Shiva, amongst other things, of being "a mouthpiece of western eco-imperialism". The media contact for this symbolic rejection of neocolonialism? The American, Kendra Okonski. The mouthpiece denouncing an Indian environmentalist as an agent of the West is a Western mouthpiece.

The careful framing of the messages and the actors in the rally in Johannesburg provides but one particularly gaudy spectacle in a continuing fake parade. In particular, the Internet provides a perfect medium for such showcases, where the gap between the virtual and the real is easily erased.

Take the South-facing website Foodsecurity.net, which promotes itself as "the web's most complete source of news and information about global food security concerns and sustainable agricultural practices". Foodsecurity.net claims to be "an independent, non-profit coalition of people throughout the world". Despite its global reach, however, Foodsecurity.net's only named staff member is its "African Director", Dr. Michael Mbwille, a Tanzanian doctor who's forever penning articles defending Monsanto and attacking the likes of Greenpeace.

The news and information at Foodsecurity.net is largely pro-GM articles, often vituperative in content and boasting headlines like "The Villainous Vandana Shiva" or "Altered Crops Called Boon for Poor". When one penetrates beyond the news pages, the content is very limited. A single message graces the messageboard posted by an <a href="mailto:myoung@bivwood.com" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">myoung@bivwood.com</a> - the domain name of The Bivings Group, an internet PR company that numbers Monsanto among its clients. There's also an event posting from an Andura Smetacek, recently identified in an article in The Guardian as an e-mail front used by Monsanto to run a campaign of character assassination against its scientific and environmental critics.

The site is registered to a Graydon Forrer, currently the managing director of Life Sciences Strategies, a company that specializes in "communications programmes" for the bio-science industries. A piece of information that is not usually disclosed in Graydon Forrer”šs self-presentation is that he was previously Monsanto”šs director of executive communications. Indeed, he seems to have been working for the company in 1999 - the same year the site of this "independent, non-profit coalition of people throughout the world" was first registered. Foodsecurity”šs "African Director", Dr. Mbwille, is not, incidentally, in Africa at the moment. He is enjoying a sabbatical observing medical practice in St. Louis, MissouriËœthe home town, as it happens, of the Monsanto Corporation.

Foodsecurity.net forms but one of a whole series of websites with undisclosed links to biotech industry lobbyists or PR companies, as our previous research has demonstrated. But despite the virtual circus oscillating about him, if the President of BIO were really interested in hearing poor "live, developing-world farmers... speaking for themselves", he need look no further than Chengal Reddy's home state of Andhra Pradesh. Here small-scale farmers and landless laborers were consulted as part of a meticulously conducted "citizens' jury" on World Bank-backed proposals to industrialize local agriculture and introduce GM crops. Having heard all sides of the argument, including as it happens the views of Chengal Reddy, the jury unanimously rejected these proposals, which are likely to force more than 100,000 people off the land. Similar citizens' juries on GM crops in Brazil and in the Indian state of Karnataka have come to similar conclusions - something that the President of BIO is almost certainly aware of.

But rainchecks on the real views of the poor count for little in a world where "something new, something very big" and "a turning point" in the global march towards our corporate future, turns out to be Monsanto's soapbox behind a black man's face.

...
For further information about citizens”š juries on GM food and farming in the Global South see:
the report on Food and Farming Futures for Andhra Pradesh,
http://www.iied.org/pdf/Prajateerpu.pdf,
the press article, "The Locals Know What Aid They Need",
http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=276687,
and the website of the development charity, ActionAid,
http://www.actionaid.org/ourpriorities/foodrights/gmtechnology/gmtechnology.shtml

For more information about Monsanto's cyberwar against its critics:
<a href="http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit_index.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit_index.html</a></div>==

===

<a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Liberty_Institute">http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Liberty_Institute</a>

The Liberty Institute (aka the <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Julian_Simon_Centre&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Julian Simon Centre (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Julian Simon Centre</a>) is an anti-regulation pressure group based in New Delhi, India. It's also part of right-wing coalitions like the US-based <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=International_Consumers_for_Civil_Society&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="International Consumers for Civil Society (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">International Consumers for Civil Society</a> (ICCS) and the London-based <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/International_Policy_Network" title="International Policy Network" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">International Policy Network</a> (IPN).

The institute's founder and director is <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Barun_Mitra" title="Barun Mitra" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Barun Mitra</a>. Mitra and Liberty lobbied hard for commercial approval for <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Monsanto" title="Monsanto" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Monsanto</a>'s GM cotton, claiming there should be <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.libertyindia.org/policy_reports/bt_cotton_info_march2002.htm" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;">'free access'</a> to new technologies without any government interference: 'Any government is ill-placed to judge the merits and the potential of any frontier technology. The vetoing power of the government is susceptible to being misused by vested interests who concoct pseudo-scientific arguments and often use unethical means for influencing government's decisions.'

In March 2002 in the run up to India's approval of the commercialisation of Monsanto's GM cotton, the Liberty Institute hosted a <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.libertyindia.org/events/bt_cotton_march2002invite.htm" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;">press conference</a> at which representatives of large corporate farmers threatened to grow Monsanto's GM cotton regardless of regulatory approval. The group of farmers' leaders present included <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Sharad_Joshi" title="Sharad Joshi" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Sharad Joshi</a>, <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Chengal_Reddy" title="Chengal Reddy" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Chengal Reddy</a> of what was billed as the '<a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Indian_Farmers_Federation" title="Indian Farmers Federation" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Indian Farmers Federation</a>', Mrs. <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Saroja_Kashikar&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Saroja Kashikar (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Saroja Kashikar</a> of the <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Kisan_Coordination_Committee" title="Kisan Coordination Committee" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Kisan Coordination Committee</a> (KCC) and <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Bhupinder_Singh_Mann&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bhupinder Singh Mann (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Bhupinder Singh Mann</a> who is also part of the KCC. None of these 'farmers' leaders' has a significant constituency.

Liberty and Mitra have strong <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/AgBioWorld" title="AgBioWorld" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">AgBioWorld</a> connections. Mitra collaborated on a pro-GM <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/AgBioWorld" title="AgBioWorld" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">AgBioWorld</a> document called <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.agbioworld.org/biotech-info/articles/agbio-articles/critical.html" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;">'critical questions in agricultural biotechnology'</a> with AgBioWorld co-founder, <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Greg_Conko" title="Greg Conko" class="mw-redirect" style="background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Greg Conko</a> of the <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Competitive_Enterprise_Institute" title="Competitive Enterprise Institute" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Competitive Enterprise Institute</a> (described by PR Watch as a 'well-funded front for corporations') and <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Matt_Metz" title="Matt Metz" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Matt Metz</a>. AgBioWorld's <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/CS_Prakash" title="CS Prakash" class="mw-redirect" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">CS Prakash</a>, has taken part in Liberty <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.libertyindia.org/seminars/biotech_forum_april01.htm" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;">events</a> in support of GM.

Liberty has also been a strong supporter of Big Tobacco, publishing an attack on the World Health Organisation by <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Roger_Scruton" title="Roger Scruton" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Roger Scruton</a> - the British philosopher recently exposed as being in the pay of the tobacco industry - with a forward by <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Barun_Mitra" title="Barun Mitra" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Barun Mitra</a>. In Liberty's <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.angelfire.com/mi/libertyinstitute/tobacco2.html" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;">press release</a> for the book it is claimed, 'The anti-tobacco crusade from the West, like the environmental one as manifested at the WTO meeting Seattle last December, is the newest manifestation of the neo-imperialistic desires.'

Attacking corporate critics as 'neo-colonialists' is a frequent ploy. The Liberty Institute and Mitra are used in this way, as is the Kenyan <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=James_Shikwati&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="James Shikwati (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">James Shikwati</a> and the US-based Indian scientist <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/CS_Prakash" title="CS Prakash" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">CS Prakash</a>, to put a Third World face on a pro-corporate agenda and to denigrate and discredit civil society movements in the Third World who challenge corporate interests.

An example of this was a march in support of free trade and biotechnology, involving farmers like <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Chengal_Reddy" title="Chengal Reddy" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Chengal Reddy</a>, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in August 2002. <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=James_Shikwati&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="James Shikwati (page does not exist)" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">James Shikwati</a> wrote a commentary about the march for The (London) Times headlined, 'I do not need white NGOs to speak for me'. Mitra made a speech during the march in which he gave a <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.libertyindia.org/events/barun_award.htm" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;">'Bullshit award for Sustaining Poverty'</a> to the Indian environmentalist <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Vandana_Shiva&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Vandana Shiva (page does not exist)" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Vandana Shiva</a>. In making the award, Mitra condemned Shiva as 'a mouthpiece of western eco-imperialism'.

However, the media contact given on the <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.libertyindia.org/events/bullshit_award_28august2002.htm" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;">press releases</a> for both the march and for Mitra's award was <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Kendra_Okonski" title="Kendra Okonski" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Kendra Okonski</a>, the daughter of a US lumber industrialist who has worked for various right wing anti-regulatory NGOs - all funded and directed by 'whites'. These include the <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Competitive_Enterprise_Institute" title="Competitive Enterprise Institute" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Competitive Enterprise Institute</a>, a Washington-based 'think tank' whose multi-million dollar budget comes from major US corporations, amongst them [BIO] member <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Dow_Chemicals&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Dow Chemicals (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Dow Chemicals</a>. Okonski also runs the website <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Counterprotest.net&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Counterprotest.net (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Counterprotest.net</a>, where her specialty is helping right wing lobbyists take to the streets in mimicry of popular protesters.[where isshe now?]

Okonski works for the London-based <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/International_Policy_Network" title="International Policy Network" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">International Policy Network</a> and the deceptively named <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Sustainable_Development_Network" title="Sustainable Development Network" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Sustainable Development Network</a>.

The Liberty Institute is believed to receive funds from the <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Atlas_Foundation" title="Atlas Foundation" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Atlas Foundation</a>, founded by <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Anthony_Fisher&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Anthony Fisher (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Anthony Fisher</a>, whose money backs other far right 'think tanks' like the <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/International_Policy_Network" title="International Policy Network" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">International Policy Network</a> and the <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Institute_of_Economic_Affairs" title="Institute of Economic Affairs" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Institute of Economic Affairs</a>. Other sources of funding are unknown. Dr Vandana Shiva has alledged that Mitra is in the pay of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Monsanto" class="extiw" title="sourcewatch:Monsanto" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Monsanto</a>. In May 2001 Mitra was awarded the Sir <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Anthony_Fisher&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Anthony Fisher (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Anthony Fisher</a> Memorial Award at a meeting of the <a href="http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Atlas_Foundation" title="Atlas Foundation" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Atlas Foundation</a>. He's been <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.isil.org/resources/fnn/2001june/news-barun-mitra-award.html" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;">described</a> as 'definitely one of a number of emerging young superstars in the international (libertarian) movement'.

Liberty's Board of Advisors includes directors or former directors of large companies as well as the executive director of a casino based in Nepal. Liberty <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.libertyindia.org/jscentre.htm" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAAFZJREFUeF59z4EJADEIQ1F36k7u5E7ZKXeUQPACJ3wK7UNokVxVk9kHnQH7bY9hbDyDhNXgjpRLqFlo4M2GgfyJHhjq8V4agfrgPQX3JtJQGbofmCHgA/nAKks+JAjFAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;">supports</a> the need for reforms aimed at greater regulatory flexibility and freedom of choice for consumers in the case of gambling.

<h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); width: auto; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Notes</h2>

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==P Chengal Reddy is President of the <a href="http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=196&page=F" style="text-decoration: none;">Federation of Farmers’ Associations (FFA)</a> based in the city of Hyderabad in the Indian State of Andhra Pradesh. Although little known in India outside of Andhra Pradesh, he has been placed at the forefront of support for GM crops in India together with the Kisan Coordination Committee and the Liberty Institute. The FFA claims to be an 'independent organisation representing some two million members from 500 farmers organisations in Andhra Pradesh', its real constituency appears to be quite small.  Pro-GM lobbyists, like AfricaBio, describe Reddy as speaking <a href="http://www.africabio.com/wssd/s&t.htm" style="text-decoration: none;">'on behalf of small-holder farmers'</a> but the FFA is actually a lobby for Andhra Pradesh's big commercial farmers.   Although Reddy sometimes presents himself as 'a farmer', in interviews he has admitted to knowing little about farming having never farmed in his life. He is a member though of the Peddireddy Thimma Reddy Farm Foundation, a family Trust established in 1990. His family have long been a prominent rightwing political force in Andhra Pradesh -- his father having coined the saying, 'There is only one thing Dalits [untouchable caste members] are good for, and that's being kicked'.   He has worked closely with Monsanto since the mid-1990s, and  features prominently in Monsanto glossy brochure A Celebration of Fifty Years in India(Monsanto 2000). The current <a href="http://www.monsantoindia.com/" style="text-decoration: none;">www.monsantoindia.com</a> website features at least ten separate items in which Reddy features. Reddy appeared alongside GM lobbyist  <a href="http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=106" style="text-decoration: none;">CS Prakash</a> at a workshop organised by the FFA in 1999 and again a year later at a pro-GM Delhi <a href="http://www.libertyindia.org/seminars/biotech_forum_april01.htm" style="text-decoration: none;">conference</a> organised by the extreme right-wing anti-regulation pressure group, the <a href="http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=156" style="text-decoration: none;">Liberty Institute</a> at their Julian Simon Centre.Reddy has been used by the GM lobby as a representative of 'Third World farmers' on a number of occasions, including at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 where he was the guest of <a href="http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=66" style="text-decoration: none;">ISAAA</a>and <a href="http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=170" style="text-decoration: none;">AfricaBio</a> . India's <a href="http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=70" style="text-decoration: none;">Kisan Coordination Committee</a> was also present and together with Reddy and <a href="http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=184" style="text-decoration: none;">TJ Buthelezi</a> they participated in a <a href="http://www.mindfully.org/GE/GE4/Fake-Parade-Matthews3dec02.htm" style="text-decoration: none;">carefully choreographed pro-GM demonstration</a> at which Reddy was one of the speakers. He attacked organic farming and called for access to 'new technologies and especially to biotechnologies.'  http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=108

=1 September 2002MR CHENGAL REDDY, THE FAKE PERSUADER?Yesterday we had a report from Biowatch on Joburg on how the biotech industry has not limited itself to forming part of government delegations, and participating and organising events in the business and science forums, but has used Africabio to influence the civil society debate and limit its impact, and has even organised a march of pro-GE farmers. Here's more astroturfing.*From: "Praja teerpu" <prajateerpu hotmail.com="hotmail.com" />On 21 August 2002, Mr Chengal Reddy issued a statement in which he said "I  feel sorry for the ignorance and innocence displayed" by the organisers of Prajateerpu.In the same statement he asserted that "the biggest problem confronting most rural people, including farmers, is the hue and cry of many NGOs who totally oppose [Vision 2020] development schemes. They have set themselves up in opposition to modernisation, mechanisation and the latest technologies, such as providing new irrigation facilities".Most of the opinions given in Mr Reddy's statement are bizarre -  and often offensive to the various Indian and foreign groups who have devoted their lives to citizen empowerment - but we should defend his right to express such views.  The problem comes when Reddy describes himself as head of the "Andhra Pradesh Federation of Farmers' Associations, a non-profit, independent organisation, representing some two million members from 500 farmers organisations in the State of Andhra Pradesh".What Mr Reddy does NOT state is that he is a semi-official mouthpiece for  Monsanto, the world's largest promoter of un-sustainable and anti-poor  agriculture. He has worked closely with them since the mid-1990s, and  features prominently in Monsanto glossy brochure "A Celebration of Fifty  Years in India" (Monsanto 2000). The current www.monsantoindia.com website features at least ten separate items in which Reddy backs Monsanto's policies in India (Monsanto India, 2002).  He also works closely with C.S. Prakash, President on the corporate-funded pro-GM website www.AgBioWorld.org. He recently appeared alongside Prakash at a pro-GM Delhi conference organised by the Liberty Institute at their Julian Simon Centre (The "Liberty Institute" is an extreme right-wing anti-regulation pressure group linked to the UK's ultra-Thatcherite "Centre for Policy Studies" - http://www.cps.org.uk/start.htm).In interviews Reddy has admitted that he knows little about farming and has never farmed in his life. Indeed, his family are major property tycoons and a prominent right-wing political force in Andhra - his father having coined the phrase "There is only one thing Dalits [untouchable caste members] are good for, and that's being kicked".Although the organisers of Prajateerpu were careful to introduce Reddy, both at the hearings, and in subsequent reports as "a leader of a lobby group for large farmers", this Email is to re-assure non-Andhra readers who may have been confused by Reddy's extravagant claims. (His tactics are not unique to the pro-GM lobby. Professor Nanjundaswamy, then President of the KRRS farmers group, similarly claimed to represent farmers in Karnataka when he initiated the series of publicity stunts known as "cremate Monsanto" - which fooled many non-Indian observers).For general information on the use of quasi-people from the Third World for what is becoming known as "viral marketing", readers are recommended a the following article from Manchester UK's Guardian newspaper "THE FAKE PERSUADERS: Corporations are inventing people to rubbish their opponents on the internet" 
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,715153,00.html) 
from earlier this year. Sadly Mr Reddy is all to real, but many of his apparent credentials need to exposed as fake.Rather than being applied to those many Andhra academics and NGOs who  organised Prajateerpu,  "ignorance" and "innocence" might be better labels for anyone in the development world who sees Mr Reddy's views as  representing anyone except the greedy millionaire-landlord class of Andhra Pradesh.http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=575--wsj 2011Pakistan has been moving to fill part of the gap left by India in export markets. A large part of its surplus has been sold to Bangladesh, which traditionally consumed Indian grain.Until three years ago, India used to have a large rice export market in Africa. But the subsequent ban on exports of non-basmati grades of rice resulted in Pakistan and Thailand stepping in instead. Pakistan has also shipped out wheat to southeast Asian countries and the Middle East, filling a crucial gap for milling wheat in global trade, due to a drought in Russia last year. However, traders point out that many of these buyers would have snapped up India’s cheaper grain,  had it been available.P. Chengal Reddy, the head of an Indian farming lobby, the Consortium of Indian Farmers Associations, told India Real Time that, at a time when many farmers have to sell their grain below the government-set intervention price, loosening up exports would be welcome. He said allowing exports of at least 10 million tons of wheat and rice would be “prudent.”For instance. Mr. Reddy mentioned farmers in Andhra Pradesh, who are holding 3 million-4 million tons of unmilled rice they are unable to sell it because of abysmally low market prices. Exports could have given a boost to their earnings, said Mr. Reddy.A decade ago, India exported millions of tons of food grains to get rid of the surplus stock. One of the reasons why the government may be wary of letting go of its stocks this time around, is because it is drafting <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/06/02/economics-without-numbers-on-food-security/" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none; font-weight: bold;">new legislation on food security</a> that is likely to significantly extend food subsidies to a large share of the country’s population.On paper, the Indian government had agreed to make an exception: last year, it agreed to allow exports of 500,000 tons of grains to Bangladesh following a diplomatic request. But 13 months after the permission to export the first batch of rice was granted, none has yet been shipped.=2008 http://www.drc-citizenship.org/system/assets/1052734558/original/1052734558-scoones.2008-mobilizing.pdf?1289926559The media debate continued at a high pitch through 1999 and 2000, with plentyof opportunity for press commentary prompted by a number of workshops andconsultations.8 Monsanto was still in the spotlight following its attempts toimport plasmids for transgenic crop research at their Bangalore research centre(Economic Times 1999; The Hindu 1999). There were by now some more concertedcounter-moves by the pro-GM lobby, with interventions from non-residentIndian scientists (most notably C. S. Prakash, from Tuskegee University in theUSA, who made several visits to India and managed to place a wide range ofarticles in the press), other farmer leaders (including Sharad Joshi of ShektariSanghatana and Chengal Reddy of the Andhra Pradesh Farmers’ Association)9and industry commentators, including a more measured contribution fromMonsanto, which had commissioned a public opinion survey, unsurprisinglyshowing how farmers were in support of biotechnology. There remained veryfew local Indian scientists prepared to enter the fray, although the likes of theNobel laureate and Green Revolution hero Norman Borlaug were not shy ofoffering their opinion in pieces placed in the Indian press.Soon after Bt material was imported, objections were presented as a court petitionby the Research Foundation for Science Technology and Ecology (RFSTE),headed by Vandana Shiva, disputing the form and content of the regulations(Shiva et al. 1999). Since then, the courts have seen continued action, with publicinterest litigation following thick-and-fast. The RFSTE petition involved extensivehearings at the Supreme Court and vast amounts of evidence. A Delhi HighCourt action by the Gene Campaign in 2001 claimed that the illegal sales of GMseeds in Gujarat were made with the knowledge of the government. A furtherpetition by the Gene Campaign argued for the right to information disclosureon trial results under the Freedom of Information Act.

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liberty inst india reddy

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