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Gates Foundation = Monsanto
http://www.lavidalocavore.org/diary/3059/gates-foundation-monsanto
Gates Foundation = Monsanto
,----[ Quote ]
| Gates Foundations = Monsanto now even more
| than ever. I should refine that statement.
| Gates Foundation = in favor of a pro-
| biotech, for-profit, unsustainable, scary,
| powerful approach to "feeding the world"
| (a.k.a. lining corporate pockets). And they
| have many ties to Monsanto including a
| brand new one. They just filled Rajiv
| Shah's old job with Sam Dryden.
|
| [...]
|
| Sustainability? Crop diversity? Food
| security? Are they joking? Also note that
| he's got some Green Revolution credentials
| in there with his work with CGIAR and the
| Rockefeller Foundation. Then there's his
| work with the World Bank and the Council on
| Foreign Relations. It's not terribly
| surprising that Gates picked him really.
| The Gates Foundation just formally joined
| CGIAR, and Sylvia Mathews Burwell (Dryden's
| new boss) is on the board of the Council on
| Foreign Relations.
`----
http://www.gmwatch.eu/latest-listing/1-news-items/11842-gates-man-ex-monsanto-ex-union-carbide
Gates Foundation throws its lot with agribusiness, by Tom Philpott
,----[ Quote ]
| For a while, the Gates Foundation sought to
| avoid a reputation as a cheerleader for
| biotech âsolutionsâ to Africaâs agriculture
| troubles.
|
| Sure, our nationâs best-funded foundation
| hired a former Monsanto exec, Rob Horsch,
| as a program officer. But its official ag-
| development documents (see, for example,
| this one) brim with statements on the
| importance of small-scale farmingâa wise
| idea, given that a majority of Africaâs
| residents rely on small-scale farming for
| their sustenance.
|
| And the foundation lavished some cashâa
| small amount, relativelyâon appropriate-
| tech, farmer-friendly, ecologically sound
| initiatives.
|
| Then Bill Gates himself gave his blunt pro-
| biotech speech in October 2009âwhich I
| commented on hereâat the awards ceremony of
| the industrial-ag-friendly World Food
| Prize.
`----
http://bioseguridad.blogspot.com/2010/01/gates-foundation-throws-its-lot-with.html
Gates Foundation Investments Often Don't Jibe With Philanthropic Priorities
,----[ Quote ]
| The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has
| invested at least $8.7-billion in companies
| that undercut the organizationâs
| philanthropic efforts or that engage in
| socially irresponsible activities, reports
| the Los Angeles Times, in a two-part
| article on the grant maker and its
| investments.
`----
http://philanthropy.com/blogPost/Gates-Foundation-Investments/12711/
Monsanto's Man in the Obama Administration
,----[ Quote ]
| Michael R. Taylorâs appointment by the
| Obama administration to the Food and Drug
| Administration (FDA) on July 7th sparked
| immediate debate and even outrage among
| many food and agriculture researchers, NGOs
| and activists. The Vice President for
| Public Policy at Monsanto Corp. from 1998
| until 2001, Taylor exemplifies the
| revolving door between the food industry
| and the government agencies that regulate
| it. He is reviled for shaping and
| implementing the governmentâs favorable
| agricultural biotechnology policies during
| the Clinton administration.
|
| Yet what has slipped under everyoneâs radar
| screen is Taylorâs involvement in setting
| U.S. policy on agricultural assistance in
| Africa. In collusion with the Rockefeller
| and Bill and Melinda Gates foundations,
| Taylor is once again the go-between man for
| Monsanto and the U.S. government, this time
| with the goal to open up African markets
| for genetically-modified (GM) seed and
| agrochemicals.
|
| [...]
|
| The Rockefeller Foundation funded the first
| Green Revolution in Asia and Latin America
| in the 1960s, and in 2006, teamed up with
| the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to
| launch the Alliance for a Green Revolution
| in Africa (AGRA). In Taylorâs 2003 paper
| âAmerican Patent Policy, Biotechnology, and
| African Agriculture: The Case for Policy
| Change,â he states: âThe Green Revolution
| largely bypassed sub-Saharan AfricaâAfrican
| farmers often face difficult growing
| conditions, and better access to the basic
| Green Revolution tools of fertilizer,
| pesticides, improved seeds, and irrigation
| certainly can play an important role in
| improving their productivity.â
|
| [...]
|
| The âpenultimate draftâ of Taylorâs 2002
| paper was reviewed by Dr. Robert Horsch, a
| Monsanto executive for more than 25 years,
| who left in 2006 to work at the Bill and
| Melinda Gates Foundation. It states, âThe
| ultimate concern of this report is how
| innovative seed technology derived from
| patented tools of biotechnology can be
| developed and disseminated for the benefit
| of small-scale and subsistence African
| farmers.â
|
| [...]
|
| As it arrived in D.C., the Obama
| Administration received a report from the
| Chicago Council on Global Affairs titled
| âRenewing American Leadership in the Fight
| Against Hunger and Poverty: The Chicago
| Initiative on Global Agricultural
| Development.â The report was funded by the
| Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and co-
| authored by its senior fellow Catherine
| Bertini. âThe United States should thus
| remain willing to support research on all
| forms of modern crop biotechnology by local
| scientists in Sub-Saharan Africa,â it
| reads.
|
| [...]
|
| While people have been debating about
| whether Michael R. Taylor might support
| labeling of GM foods (as he is aware, a
| moot point in the U.S. due to widespread
| contamination by GM pollen), he has been
| literally writing the book on U.S.
| agricultural aid to Africa. While the
| motives, beliefs and interests of Taylor,
| the Obama administration, the Gates,
| Rockefellers and everyone in support of a
| Green Revolution in Africa are debatable,
| those of Monsanto are not.
`----
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14826
Bill Gates talks "free education"
,----[ Quote ]
| It's the difference between "free beer" and
| "free speech" -- which is a difference that
| we understand extremely well in our little
| corner of the world.
`----
http://opensource.com/education/10/1/bill-gates-talks-free-education
"There's free software [gratis, dumpware] and then thereâs
open source... there is this thing called the GPL, which we disagree with."
--Bill Gates, April 2008
Recent:
Monsoft or Microsanto?
,----[ Quote ]
| Amazingly, David Boies, the lawyer that
| led the attack on Microsoft during that
| investigation, is also invovled: he is
| representing Du Pont, one of Monsanto's
| rivals concerned about the latter's
| monopoly power.
|
| Let's just hope that Monsanto becomes the
| subject of a full anti-trust action, and
| that the result is more effective than
| that applied to Microsoft. After all,
| we're not talking about software here, but
| the world's food supply, and monopolies -
| both intellectual and otherwise - are
| simply morally indefensible when billions
| of lives are stake.
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/12/monsoft-or-microsanto.html
AP INVESTIGATION: Monsanto seed biz role revealed
,----[ Quote ]
| Confidential contracts detailing Monsanto
| Co.'s business practices reveal how the
| world's biggest seed developer is
| squeezing competitors, controlling smaller
| seed companies and protecting its
| dominance over the multibillion-dollar
| market for genetically altered crops, an
| Associated Press investigation has found.
`----
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/AP-INVESTIGATION-Monsanto-apf-1335374142.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=
AP INVESTIGATION: Monsanto seed biz role revealed
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8855598
How Monsanto owns and manipulates the world's food supply
,----[ Quote ]
| Steve Silberman sends us "A major AP
| expose of how Monsanto uses secret
| licensing agreements for its genetically
| manipulated crops to squeeze smaller seed
| companies, lock out competition, and keep
| food prices high.".
`----
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/13/how-monsanto-owns-an.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29
The Gates Foundationâs agriculture program: experimenting or floundering?
,----[ Quote ]
| Hereâs what we know about the Gates
| Foundationâs agriculture program:
|
| * Gates believes itâs suggestive that
| âApart from a few states and small, oil-
| rich countries, no country has managed a
| rapid rise from poverty without
| increasing agricultural productivity. In
| the poorest countries, agriculture
| employs a majority of the people.â
| * This isnât a new argument or an
| undisputed one. See Peter Timmer on
| Green Revolution âoptimistsâ vs.
| âpessimistsâ.
| * Gatesâs approach is âcomprehensive,â
| targets âno single, simple solutionâ,
| and includes farmer training/support,
| irrigation initiatives, market access
| initiatives, and funding of agricultural
| research with a focus on gender
| empowerment.
| * This isnât a new approach or a
| historically successful one. The World
| Bank has focused on essentially the same
| set of interventions recently, with
| unclear results, and the previous
| âholisticâ approach of âIntegrated Rural
| Developmentâ is widely considered to
| have failed. Details at our overview of
| agriculture aid.
|
| In other words, the Gates Foundation
| approach â as described â appears to be
| neither a continuation of things that have
| worked before nor a fundamentally new
| approach to the problem. So what might be
| different this time around?
`----
http://blog.givewell.net/?p=437
Kenya: Gates Foundation and Monsanto to Develop Genetically
Modified Seeds for Small Farmers
,----[ Quote ]
| Many of the emotionally charged headlines
| that drive Africaâs food security debate
| are intricately connected to the critical
| and complex Kenyan seed industry: Kenya is
| the second largest seed consumer in sub-
| Saharan Africa, and a key driver of
| agricultural research on the continent. For
| decades, donors and private interests have
| been funneling millions of dollars into the
| Kenya Agricultural Research Institute
| (KARI), in an effort to develop new plant
| varieties that can repel pests, withstand
| disease and produce higher yields.
|
| KARI is now one of the main partners in a
| new programme funded by the Gates
| Foundation that will attempt to develop
| genetically modified (GM) maize that can
| withstand drought. The plan is to
| distribute the seeds to small farmers in
| Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania
| and Uganda. The technology is coming from
| Monsanto, the American corporate seed giant
| that does a lot of work for the Gates
| Foundation in Africa. Normally Monsantoâs
| patented seeds come at a high price, which
| has inspired an endless stream of vitriol
| from activists who accuse the company of
| exploiting poor farmers for obscene
| profits. This time, farmers will receive
| the seeds royalty free â indefinitely â as
| part of Gatesâ push for a âgreen
| revolutionâ in Africa.
`----
http://www.ratio-magazine.com/200911261425/Kenya/Kenya-Gates-Foundation-and-Monsanto-to-Develop-Genetically-Modified-Seeds-for-Small-Farmers.html
Kenya: Gates Foundation and Monsanto to develop GM seeds for small farmers
http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=54698
Hunger, Hypocrisy And The U.N.
,----[ Quote ]
| This is hypocrisy of the vilest sort. In
| fact, U.N. agencies, programs and policies
| themselves have prevented farmers in the
| developing world from obtaining the tools
| they need to become more productive. That
| gets us back to Bill Gates and his big
| plans: His choice last year of former U.N.
| Secretary General Kofi Annan to head a new
| group intended to achieve a "green
| revolution" in African agriculture, the
| Alliance for a Green Revolution--established
| with an initial $150 million grant from the
| Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the
| Rockefeller Foundation--was
| incomprehensible. If past performance is any
| indication, the only things likely to become
| greener are the numbered bank accounts of
| Annan and his cronies.
`----
http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/20/united-nations-bill-gates-world-hunger-opinions-contributors-henry-i-miller.html
Chinese copy of the Gates Foundation
,----[ Quote ]
| Monday the papers were all asplash with
| announcements that there would be a Chinese
| copy of the Gates Foundation. Now it appears
| that the celebration might have been premature.
| Perhaps New Huadu is a perfect imitator, as
| Microsoft also engaged in illegal activities
| before the Gates Foundation emerged.
`----
http://gateskeepers.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2009/10/22/4358475.html
Chinese innovation and the Gates Foundation
,----[ Quote ]
| If this is how the Gates Foundation tries to
| support innovation in China it is not trying
| very hard. China has lots of new tech talent
| educated in the US. If the environment is right
| in the next twenty years there will be lots of
| innovation. But are small timebound grants the
| way to support it?
`----
http://gateskeepers.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2009/10/19/4354533.html
Unions, Bill Gates pump last-minute cash against Wash. ballot issue slowing gov't growth
,----[ Quote ]
| National labor unions and Microsoft Corp. co-
| founder Bill Gates are among the donors who
| have poured nearly $1.5 million of last-minute
| cash into the campaign against Initiative 1033,
| a ballot measure that would slow the growth of
| state and local governments.
`----
http://gateskeepers.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2009/10/16/4352483.html
Gates Foundation program advisory panel member speaks out on war and security
http://gateskeepers.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2009/10/14/4350448.html
Is the Gates Foundation listening?
,----[ Quote ]
| Gates Keepers thinks there will be no Gates
| Foundation grants for Reganold or Herren
| forthcoming.
|
| Isn't it governance that is lacking for the
| Green Revolution in Africa? Does blaming people
| who question genetically modified plants help?
| Heim is asking the right questions of the right
| people. Is the Foundation listening?
`----
http://gateskeepers.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2009/10/21/4357663.html
Will Bill Gates Come to the Rescue of Journalists?
,----[ Quote ]
| Online news site Crosscut's announcement
| yesterday of a $100,000 grant from the Bill and
| Melinda Gates Foundation surely raised some
| hopes in the tumultuous world of journalism. Is
| Bill Gates waking up to the havoc caused by the
| digital technology he has unleashed? Will his
| enormously deep-pocketed philanthropy come to
| the rescue of a profession--and means of
| informing that the public-- that threatens to
| disappear? Can the New York Times expect a
| bailout next?
`----
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2009/10/will_bill_gates_come_to_the_re.php
Vanessa Mazal talks about how the Gates Foundation is getting into the media
,----[ Quote ]
| This is frightening. She tries to simplify
| media development and media for development but
| in the end it all sounds manipulative ... like
| our strings are being pulled by the Gates
| Foundation.
`----
http://gateskeepers.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2009/10/13/4349646.html
Former Gates Foundation CEO's new employer gets a big grant from the Gates Foundation
http://gateskeepers.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2009/10/20/4356547.html
Does the Gates Foundation support circumcision coercion?
http://gateskeepers.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2009/10/12/4348746.html
Monsanto: Making Microsoft Look Good
,----[ Quote ]
| Do genetically-modified seeds bring
| increased productivity? There seem doubts;
| but even assuming it's true, Gates sets up a
| false dichotomy: one reason GMO seeds aren't
| sustainable is because they are patented.
| That is, farmers must buy them year after
| year, and can't produce their own seeds.
| It's a situation that's relatively easy to
| solve: make GMOs patent-free; do not place
| restrictions on their use; let farmers do
| what farmers have done for millennia.
|
| And look, there you have it, potentially: productivity and
| sustainability. But we won't get that, not because the idealistic
| environmentalist are blocking it, but because the seed industry
| wants farmers dependent on their technology, not liberated
| by it. It is sheer hypocrisy for a fan of patents to
| accuse environmentalists of being the obstacle to
| productivity and sustainability: that would be the
| industrial model of dependence, enforced by
| intellectual monopolies, and espoused by big
| companies like Monsanto, the Microsoft of
| plant software.
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/10/monsanto-making-microsoft-look-good.html
No Patents on Seeds...or We're Really Stuffed
,----[ Quote ]
| Good to see that I'm not a lone voice crying
| in the wilderness:
|
| The continuing patenting of seeds,
| conventional plant varieties and animal
| species leads to far-reaching
| expropriations of farmers and breeders:
| farmers are deprived of their rights to
| save their seeds, and breeders are under
| strong limitations to use the patented
| seeds freely for further breeding. The
| patent holder controlls the sale of the
| seeds and the planting, decides about
| the use of herbicides and can even
| collect royalties at the harvest â up to
| the finished food product.
|
| Our food security is increasingly
| dependent on a few transnational
| chemical and biotechnological companies.
| The European Patent Office (EPO) has
| continuasly broadened the scope of
| patentability and undermined existing
| restrictions, in the interest of
| multinational companies.
|
| [..]
|
| This exactly parallels the situation with
| software patents, where the EPO is using
| every trick in the book to approve them;
| except it's even worse.
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/10/no-patents-on-seedsor-were-really.html
Related:
Dark cloud over good works of Gates Found
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gatesx07jan07,0,6827615.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Gates Foundation Revokes Pledge to Review Portfolio
,----[ Quote ]
| ...the Gates Foundation took down their public statement on this
| and replaced it with a significantly altered version which seems to
| say that investing responsibly would just be too complex for them
| and that they need to focus on their core mission: 'There are
| dozens of factors that could be considered, almost all of which
| are outside the foundation's areas of expertise. The issues
| involved are quite complex...
`----
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/12/1756212&from=rss
Gates Foundationâs Influence Criticized
,----[ Quote ]
| The chief of malaria for the World Health Organization has complained that
| the growing dominance of malaria research by the Bill and Melinda Gates
| Foundation risks stifling a diversity of views among scientists and wiping
| out the world health agencyâs policy-making function.
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/16/science/16malaria.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation- Truth Revealed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttq0IdULfjg
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation- Truth Revealed Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVlnqnMHQ1c
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