Bearing witness at Syngenta's illegal field site
Elsie has already written a nice piece about the illegal field trials of Syngenta and the Movimento dos Trabalhadores sem Terra (MST). Below is a report from Doreen Stabinsky, Campaigner for Greenpeace International and a College of the Atlantic faculty member. Doreen sent this to me late last night and asked me to post it for her.
We took off from Curitiba at 11 pm on Tuesday night for an overnight bus ride to Cascavel, Brazil, in the state of Parana, where Syngenta's field station is located. On the bus was an international delegation of peasants and environmentalists, organized by Terra de Direitos and La Via Campesina. We had representatives from around the world, including Togo, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Costa Rica, Chile, and Argentina. The purpose of the trip was to show international solidarity with the Movimento dos Trabalhadores sem Terra (MST) landless peoples who have been occupying Syngenta's field station for the past week.
On the day that we left, we learned that the enforcement arm of the Brazilian environmental ministry had fined Syngenta one million reais for the illegal trial of soy at the site. The Syngenta field station is located 6 kilometers from the Iguacu Falls World Heritage Site, but Brazilian law dictates that field trials of GMOs must be at least 10 kilometers from such important ecological reserves. MST first called attention to the illegal site with their invasion last week.
We were greeted at the Syngenta gate by a huge crowd of those occupying the test site. I've heard various estimates for how many are occupying the field station -- from 300 to 800. The people living at the field station are of all ages -- entire families have come here in their stated interest of turning Syngenta's station into a place for conservation of local varieties of maize and soy and agroecological experimentation.
After a short ceremony by MST and testimonies of solidarity by the international participants, we were led around the field station. We ended our tour at the field of genetically engineered soy. IBAMA and Parana state officials are waiting for official confirmation from a judge that the field can be destroyed. Today's newspapers say that Syngenta is contesting the fine and the decision to destroy the fields. In any case, the campers will wait for the authorities to destroy the GE soy, and regardless of the state of the GMO field intend to carry out indefinitely their peaceful occupation.
After our visit to the field station, we went to the town of Cascavel to visit the local judge who last week ordered the eviction of the MST. Our goal was to tell him more about the rationale behind the occupation, to convey international concern over the illegal field trials, and to provide support for the non-violent direct action being taken to protect the planet's biodiversity. Three of us -- from the US, Indonesia, and Costa Rica -- got an opportunity to speak to the judge. He ended the meeting telling us we should pursue legal means to stop field trials if that was our goal. Regardless of the judge's position, the governor of the state of Parana has said he will not use his police to enforce the eviction order.
La Via Campesina, of which MST is a partner group, has a great slogan for their work: let's globalize hope! The occupation of the Syngenta field site, by some of the poorest persons in Brazil -- landless peasants -- is an inspiring act for all of us around the world working against the introduction of GMOs into our environment and our food supply. Let's spread this inspiring story around the world and do our small part to globalize hope.
La lucha sigue!
We took off from Curitiba at 11 pm on Tuesday night for an overnight bus ride to Cascavel, Brazil, in the state of Parana, where Syngenta's field station is located. On the bus was an international delegation of peasants and environmentalists, organized by Terra de Direitos and La Via Campesina. We had representatives from around the world, including Togo, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Costa Rica, Chile, and Argentina. The purpose of the trip was to show international solidarity with the Movimento dos Trabalhadores sem Terra (MST) landless peoples who have been occupying Syngenta's field station for the past week.
On the day that we left, we learned that the enforcement arm of the Brazilian environmental ministry had fined Syngenta one million reais for the illegal trial of soy at the site. The Syngenta field station is located 6 kilometers from the Iguacu Falls World Heritage Site, but Brazilian law dictates that field trials of GMOs must be at least 10 kilometers from such important ecological reserves. MST first called attention to the illegal site with their invasion last week.
We were greeted at the Syngenta gate by a huge crowd of those occupying the test site. I've heard various estimates for how many are occupying the field station -- from 300 to 800. The people living at the field station are of all ages -- entire families have come here in their stated interest of turning Syngenta's station into a place for conservation of local varieties of maize and soy and agroecological experimentation.
After a short ceremony by MST and testimonies of solidarity by the international participants, we were led around the field station. We ended our tour at the field of genetically engineered soy. IBAMA and Parana state officials are waiting for official confirmation from a judge that the field can be destroyed. Today's newspapers say that Syngenta is contesting the fine and the decision to destroy the fields. In any case, the campers will wait for the authorities to destroy the GE soy, and regardless of the state of the GMO field intend to carry out indefinitely their peaceful occupation.
After our visit to the field station, we went to the town of Cascavel to visit the local judge who last week ordered the eviction of the MST. Our goal was to tell him more about the rationale behind the occupation, to convey international concern over the illegal field trials, and to provide support for the non-violent direct action being taken to protect the planet's biodiversity. Three of us -- from the US, Indonesia, and Costa Rica -- got an opportunity to speak to the judge. He ended the meeting telling us we should pursue legal means to stop field trials if that was our goal. Regardless of the judge's position, the governor of the state of Parana has said he will not use his police to enforce the eviction order.
La Via Campesina, of which MST is a partner group, has a great slogan for their work: let's globalize hope! The occupation of the Syngenta field site, by some of the poorest persons in Brazil -- landless peasants -- is an inspiring act for all of us around the world working against the introduction of GMOs into our environment and our food supply. Let's spread this inspiring story around the world and do our small part to globalize hope.
La lucha sigue!
posted by Dave at 2:58 PM
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