I attended one day of the Seed Freedom Monsanto Tribunal People’s Assembly in The Hague on 15 October 2016, and I thought I would share some of my observations and experiences.
Very Poor Organization
The event was over 3 days. The first day was short and mostly a press conference, and the last 2 days were workshops and some presentations. Literally, 3 days to talk about and listen to others tell about how much they hate Monsanto! There were 3 workshop rounds, with hours between them of largely unscheduled time, and very little else planned.
Not enough good discussion leaders were provided, and there was no transparent or obvious way to influence the direction of the event. For example, I sent an email offering to speak, and this wasn’t even answered.
Racist Hosts and Speakers
The local hosts and speakers were all ethnic Dutch, in a city where half the population comes from somewhere else. There were lots of guests from other places, but the event itself completely ignored local initiatives and personalities of non-Dutch backgrounds.
After I brought this to the attention of the organizers, videos promoting this racism and these people were tentatively not placed on the event website, but instead appeared on the Seed Freedom website and even mailed to participants. I guess there was sort of a concession there, but not much of one.
Non-ethnic Dutch were also all but excluded from attending by the price. For the one day I attended, I paid €70, a small fortune by local standards. I think when the Rolling Stones played in Amsterdam they weren’t even that expensive. Mostly those people who were there were from ethnic Dutch NGOs who could afford to pay their entrance fee.
This was a major insult for those of us who care and try to confront racism.
Completely Infiltrated and Lacking Networks of Trust
A number of the participants were directly and indirectly employed by the seed industry here in The Netherlands, and elsewhere in Europe. They were allowed to freely spread their ‘propaganda’. It wasn’t possible to know who you were talking to, and if you could offer any degree of trust. There also wasn’t any good ways of building or working from within your own networks of trust.
It was almost impossible to have a conversation with anyone.
Conclusions
We have enough problems with racism here in the Netherlands. I hope the Seed Freedom People’s Assembly doesn’t return. It’s also time to stop releasing racist videos.
I don’t know very many people who don’t want companies like Monsanto to go on trial for their crimes, but I think People’s Assemblies should be bottom up and grassroots in origin, rather than top down and rife with commercial interests.
It’s pathetic that Governments and Corporations hide behind these exaggerated laws so that they can profit from others hardships and labors. The very seeds that tbey deny others (less fortunate than them) access to are some of the very seeds that our ancestorsetors saved an passed along to other generations at ‘zero cost ‘ and ‘zero legal stipulations’. It’s not only insulting to these ancestorsetors and the people who were intended for these seeds, but in opinion, also criminal to deny people access to what is inherently theirs in the first p!ace. Dictating the property of all is mindless, cruel and deceptive. You show your inferiorities when you act in this fashion and no can take you seriously when you push false ideologies on them. Your financial insecurities shouldn’t be the fault of or inflicted upon others who are simply trying to preserve their heritage and/or feed themselves. Monsanto and their cohorts are merely ‘deputized bandits’ that are allowed to pillage our lands, deceive the people and profit from THEIR seeds/poisons/ruses/atrocities!!! I don’t see where any of groups of people are for the people or the people’s best interest. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY (OUR MONEY) GOING INTO THEIR POCKETS!!! How these people look at themselves in the mirror each morning and truthfully feel good about themselves is an absolute disgrace and discredit to society and the environment!!! I guess when MONEY becomes YOUR RELIGION this is what you must expect to happen. I’m so GRATEFUL to NOT be one of those types of people!!!