I posted a few days ago about the issue of patents on plants. Now it seems the latest victim of patents is cannabis. It also seems the problem is not uniquely European…
Humbolt County GMO Campaign
Humbolt County, CA banned cultivation of GMOs in 2014 with Proposition P. Below are some videos from this campaign. They are pretty long, and I haven’t watched all of them myself. I also haven’t tried publishing videos in exactly this way before. If you notice anything like incorrect titles, corrupted files or anything else, please let me know!
Howard Vlieger and The Truth About GMOs
Dr. Ignacio Chapela and GMOs Who Wins and Who Loses
George Stevens and Bill Chaser on Broken Promises and Lifting the Veil on GMO foods
Bubbles, Circles, Friends and Foes
Information Bubbles
It’s in the news in Europe right now, that many people are looking within their own bubbles of information that reinforce their own pre-existing beliefs, and not looking as much to the outside world. I’ve also written about this before. The monarchy in Europe often makes Christmas addresses to their people, and the king of The Netherlands used his address to focus on this. Former US president Obama also had an interview with Prince Harry of the UK where he addressed this point — irresponsible social media use. How many of you readers out there are using this blog irresponsibly?
In particular, in countries like here in the Netherlands, language plays an important role in these information bubbles. People tend to feel most comfortable in the language they grew up with, and tend to exclude other languages. Here in the Netherlands the primary language is Dutch, which in relative terms is spoken by only a few people in the world, meaning those people who’s life is centered around Dutch live in a pretty small world. This is especially true since the Dutch language itself is fragmented, with lots of dialects and accents. There are also large numbers of people here who speak other languages, like English, Turkish and Arabic, creating strong social barriers.
Honestly, I hope most people reading this blog are doing it as part of a ‘healthy diet’ of information from the Internet. I hope most of you, as I do, regularly search the Internet and read the ‘other’ side of the story. I think that’s an important part of being able to understand what I write here. Although it doesn’t happen as much as I like, I also appreciate when discussions develop here and readers bring other ideas and information from other places on the Internet. As gardeners and human beings it’s very common we disagree with one another.
It’s true, there’s lots of garbage on the Internet, but reading this garbage sometimes and being able to understand where it comes from and why it’s there, is key to being able to appreciate sites like this one.
Circles of Trust
This blog is really all about circles of trust. I’m not paid at all for what I do here. There are no commercial interests behind this blog. There are no advertisements on this blog. I spend a lot of time forming opinions about others, and making decisions about what to include or exclude from this blog. Not only this blog, but I travel and visit other gardeners and seed savers, and I talk with them and exchange opinions. I also participate on a couple of mailing lists, and exchange opinions in this way too.
I err on the side of safety, and there are at least a few people I don’t include on this blog not because I don’t trust them, but because from time to time we have profound differences of opinion. Often, in their hearts these are really good people, and probably deserve your trust too. Of course many people are not included here, simply because I don’t know them.
I also make mistakes sometimes, and include people or groups I shouldn’t. Occasionally, I go back to old posts and remove links or sometimes entire posts.
You should put a lot of value on links or information about people here, but not have complete trust in them. You should also not completely write off people or organizations not mentioned here.
Friends
There are many wonderful people in this world, and many people have done important things for me personally or this blog. The majority of readers of this blog are great people, and without you I’d just be an unimportant blip on the Internet. The numbers go up and down from one year to the next, and are subject to some interpretation because more and more information on the Internet is being anonymized. There are roughly 100,000 of you, on an annual basis, from almost every country in the world.
Next are the people engaged in the activities I write about, seed saving and natural food production. This is the reason for this blog.
Being a blogger is often seen as being a journalist, and there are many other journalists out there who have done very nice things for me. Sometimes it’s letting me make a guest post, or helping to spread the messages on this blog. Sometimes it’s much more than that, and actually supporting me as a person. In particular there are a number of Dutch and British journalists who have been really helpful over the years.
Other than this are just people in my life. My friends, neighbors, people at the market and others that give me different perspectives on life and ideas for things to write about.
These people are what this blog is about. Without all of these people, there would be no reason for me to do what I do, and this blog wouldn’t be here.
Foes and Predictable Behavior
The early years of this blog were all about making friends, and linking to others doing similar things. There are many things I miss about that time. In recent years things have often been less pleasant.
The Netherlands is the second largest exporter of food in the world, by monetary value, after the United States. The country is also only the size of Rhode Island. In particular, a lot of soy beans are imported, fed to animals and then exported as meat and dairy. There are also a lot of mega-greenhouses here. The country is also known as a tax haven, according to Oxfam the third largest in the world after Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. This means the country is very industrial, with a lot of money, and there are a lot of people hostile to this blog here.
As social media has been growing in popularity in recent years, and information bubbles have been growing in importance, I’ve become much more of a focal point. Right or wrong, there’s often a perception that if this blog or me personally am not paying attention to some issue and responding favorably, it won’t succeed. I have my doubts with this premise. I don’t think for example if I suddenly started following the line of the food industry, that many of my readers would pay attention to me. It may be that I could help come to a compromise over some issue, on the basis of open discussion, but I don’t think I’m going to become some great marketing enterprise for the food industry.
Dutch people usually take great pride in being individuals, and of course they mostly are. A number of people have taken offense with me over the years, when I could predict their behavior based on Dutch stereotypes. However, people hostile to this blog, with the food industry behind them, nearly always have one stereotype in common — racism. This has been unchanged for years.
It’s all about promoting their perfectly genetically uniform food with perfectly genetically uniform, white, ethnic Dutch people. In general, these are the same wealthy families who have been in power here for centuries. It’s all about destroying different opinions, cultures and appearances. It’s all about talking to me and others in racial slurs, as if we are all less than human. It’s all about hiding behind this racism with more and more figureheads of ethnic diversity, mostly invited from abroad, without any fundamental changes to the underlying issues. It’s the same with people as it is with the food they sell us. They are easy to spot from far away, and their behavior is always predictable.
Anyway, these are primarily the voices I work at excluding from this blog, and the food movement in general.
In the case of these people and groups, I spend a lot of time following people, relationships, political campaigns, organizations and so on. In the US there’s a lot more transparency with regards to funding than there is here. Mostly funding of causes and campaigns are secret. I spend a lot of time forming opinions about this sort of thing, and it comes out in the things I write.
Responsible Use
There you have it. This is why this blog is here, and how I do what I do. Like President Obama says, no irresponsible use of this blog.
If anyone depends solely on this blog for any information whatsoever — get a life. Everyone else, go out, read other things from different points of view, and use what’s here to help form your own opinions about things. As a community we are much richer with more information and different points of view.
At the same time, don’t be afraid to use my experiences and opinions, to help sort out fact from fiction on the rest of the Internet. Please help expand on this information, by commenting, emailing me or publishing your own information on the Internet.
The Citizen Lobbyist
This post is part of the series EU Agriculture 2020.
The New Reality
There is a new and exciting political reality in Europe and other places. Voters are increasingly acting in hostile ways, and with the Internet, social media, smart phones with cameras and other new technologies, it’s never been easier to hold politicians accountable. Politicians are supposed to take into account the wishes of voters, and those that don’t are increasingly finding themselves under the spotlight.
In Europe we are in the middle of Brexit, and we’ve just had a series of elections at both EU and national levels, which have seen a new wave of extremist politicians ushered into power. The message is clear. If democracy isn’t reformed in Europe, it’s likely to fall apart completely.
This honeymoon won’t last for ever. Now is the time where we have our chance. Now is the window of opportunity. While this post is primarily about Europe, I think something similar is happening in many parts of the world.
The Big Black Hole
The big problem with the so-called Brussels bubble now is it’s awash in special interests. Nearly everyone lobbying there represents someone who pays their salary. There are enormous commercial interests, and cash flow like we’ve never seen before. Nearly no one there actually represents the interests of ordinarily people. This isn’t a secret, and in recent years the EU has taken a number of steps to regulate lobbying, and increase transparency and openness.
The solution to this problem of special interests is not as complicated as it might seem. The solution is really for more ordinary people to spend a little bit of time fighting for causes they believe in. I think most people would be astonished how much of a difference they can make, and how positively their efforts will be received.
It’s the way politicians work, that they have to do what people (lobbyists) tell them to. There’s really no other way. If there are no ordinary people there at the right time and place, their opinion can’t be taken into account.
These days the EU is one of the most open and accessible political structures, often more so than national governments.
Who Do you Represent?
No one person on their own can generally effect significant change. You need to discuss things with others, learn from others, form alliances and strategies, and so on. In general you need to represent a group of people to do lobby work. If you’re an established blogger like me, you probably have a topic and community. Maybe you are a member of a trade union or community group. Maybe your employer will let you represent them. Maybe you want to start your own non profit organization.
If you really don’t have your own group, you may also try approaching other NGOs, but be aware that these are often well funded and generally represent their donors. If you agree with them, fine, but be aware of organizations that say for example they promote environmental issues, but in reality have other goals. These days most NGOs depend on large donors, and the days of surviving off of €25/yr membership fees, and having an open and democratic structure, are mostly gone. On the other hand, teaming up with another NGO in the beginning can be a good way to learn the ropes.
In some way or another, you should try to represent some group and have some area of expertise.
Note the EU does not have any particular requirements that lobbyists be EU nationals or residents. Anyone can lobby the EU.
Choosing the Right Cause(s)
If you are part of a larger group, someone else may choose the causes to fight for, but if it’s just you where do you start?
In general, pending issues are the best place to start. If you are targeting Brussels, registering in the transparency register may be a good place to start, and there you can select a number of topics for which you receive email notifications.
Otherwise, if you want to try to push your own cause, you either need to have a lot of support behind you, or you need a cause that will make some politician look good. For example, if you want to bring back traditional light bulbs, consider you will be going against the corporate interests of Philips, and you will be rehashing a topic that upset a lot of people the last time around. Instead consider promoting organic food or more money for national parks. This is more likely to get the attention of politicians. If you want to promote your own cause, start by writing a letter to the appropriate politician and possibly following it up with a meeting.
A Matter of Ideas
Generally one of the most difficult things for politicians are getting enough good ideas. With ideas, you can always put them side by side and choose the best. If you don’t have any ideas however, it’s hard to know where to start.
Most politicians want to hear from you to get ideas. Don’t be afraid to send an email or write a letter, even if it doesn’t look so professional or the ideas are not completely thought out.
Understanding the Process
The EU has three main institutions: The Commission, the Council and the Parliament. The Commission is the executive branch, is responsible for the introduction of all legislation, and can often act on it’s own authority. The Council is like the US Senate, and contains appointed representatives from the member states. The Parliament is like the US House of Representatives, and it’s members are directly elected by EU citizens. The Council and Parliament make up the legislative branch of the EU government.
Most citizen lobbyists will deal primarily with the EU Commission and Parliament, because influencing the Council generally requires working from within the individual member states.
Timing is Everything
Most politicians don’t have an attention span that goes beyond a few weeks, or a couple of months at the very most. It’s also their nature that they make decisions at the last minute. It’s absolutely critical that you approach them at the right time. Generally you will hear about something pending, or if you are in the transparency register, you may get an email notification. Figure out when a politician is going to be thinking about a particular issue, or making a decision, and contact them at that moment or just a little before.
If you contact a politician at any other time about something that doesn’t have anything to do with them, they will surely just ignore you.
Don’t Favor Political Parties
It may be tempting to side with your favorite political party, maybe you support the environment or it’s aligned with your religion or so on. It’s better not to do this, because it’s often necessary to work with different parties. If you align yourself with one party, then the other parties won’t pay attention to you any more.
If you’re careful to not align yourself with any one party, then generally all the parties will talk with you.
Pay Attention to the Committees
When approaching members of the Parliament, one of the most important issues is which committees they are members of, and their roles within the committee.
Committees can accept or reject legislation, and they also approve amendments. Focusing your effort on members of the appropriate committees will often give you more influence over the legislation in the long run.
Get Your Fingers Dirty and Make Friends
If you want to make changes in the food you eat or anything else, just pick a cause and fight for it. Don’t be afraid to fail.
Look for friends along the way, to team up with and learn how things work.
Don’t be afraid to get in touch with me if you have any questions, or if you would like to work on issues together. I also love to hear from people who just want to tell me what they think about things. When I do lobby work, I can’t represent my readers if they don’t tell me what they think about things.
The Glyphosate Debate — EU Politics at it’s Peak
EU Commission
The Commission has been debating the extension of the licensing for herbicide glyphosate, the active ingredient in Round Up. There is a lot of pressure both for renewing it, as well as not. As a sort of compromise, the Commission has proposed renewing it for 10 years instead of the usual 15.
In a surprise last minute move, the Commission decided to put the matter to a vote of the EU member states, with the default action being no renewal at all, unless a qualified majority votes in favor of extension. This seemed to reflect some irritation at member states like France and Germany which campaigned hard for a system of qualified voting based on their large populations, only to opt out of issues like this entirely, effectively using their qualified status to silently sink a large number of measures. The EU Commission would like the qualified status to not be taken into account when no vote is cast, and this is all apparently to make a point on this issue.
Until now, they have received a response from 8 out of 28 member states, but decline to say which ones.
The Fake ECI
I’ve posted before about the European Citizens’ Initiative that was staged on this issue. It’s just not possible to gather 1,000,000 signatures in Europe without any reports of public events mentioned on the Internet, besides two in Brussels put on by Greenpeace. Also articles I posted about it got little attention from the Internet, suggesting that even if people were signing the initiative, no one was really interested enough in it to research it on the Internet. It’s just 1.3M signatures that appeared out of nowhere. Activists organizations are touting heavily the merits of this fake ECI.
Monsanto, Bayer and Syngenta
Monsanto and Bayer, who are in the process of merging, have remained largely silent on the issue. While they both have seed varieties that are Round Up Ready, and apparently dependent on Round Up, they both would seem to benefit far more by having a patented product removed from the market, allowing more room for patented alternatives. Syngenta has even gone so far as to announce it has an patentable alternative in the pipeline.
The Activists
While it’s no secret activist organizations often act according to business interests, it seems a little incredible they are openly towing the line of the pesticide companies. In fact they seem to be doing everything possible to boost corporate profits.
While the pesticide companies remain silent, the activists speak on their behalf. The activists seem to care less about the impact this would have on small farmers and their communities.
The Farmers
The farmers are lobbying very hard to keep glyphosate on the market, because it’s a tool many of them depend on, and they are simply screwed if they are forced onto another more expensive patented product.
Restrictions
Again and again the subject of restrictions come up. Glyphosate would be a much less contaminating substance if it was only used on farms, and in a way that minimized unnecessary contamination. For example forbid it’s use by private parties and in public spaces, and establish clear rules when it can be used on a farm.
Even though this comes up again and again, there’s been no action from the Commission on this idea.
France
France is the only member state to publicly announce they have responded to the Commission on the issue. The response however is far from clear.
The Macron government says they reject the 10 year renewal proposal as put forth by the Commission. At the same time they say they will ask the Commission to put forth another plan for phasing out the herbicide. They maintain that for now farmers need to keep using the product.
Macron suggested that he thought it might be good if glyphosate remained on the market for the rest of his term in office, about 5 years. Another government spokesperson suggested 7 years might be better. Macron himself firmly denies any time limit has been given.
This seems to be intended to keep all parties a little bit happy, and undermine the EU commissions effort to base the decision on a qualified majority. The farmers support this position, because they say before they had nothing.
Germany and The Netherlands
Both these countries recently had elections, and are in the process of forming coalition governments. Here in the Netherlands there doesn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel, and it looks to be very difficult in Germany as well.
As far as I know nothing has been said about this in the Netherlands, and I don’t expect any issue to be taken on this. As far as I know, we don’t even have an acting agriculture minister, because the last one quit in the middle of the eggs being contaminated by Fipronil scandal.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said if it were up to her party, she would like to renew glyphosate and help the farmers. She is however in the process of forming a coalition, and it depends on the other parties too. By custom, when there is no agreement, there is no position taken, and it seems likely Germany won’t take a position.
The UK
The UK seems likely to support a renewal of the glyphosate license, but does this matter? Are they even still a voting member of the EU, or will they choose to vote under the circumstances? How does this fit in with the EU Commission requirement of a qualified majority?
The Vote
The vote on this issue was due at the beginning of October, but the Commission now says it will be considerably after that. The deadline is the end of the year when the current glyphosate license ends. Are we looking at another short term renewal? This would certainly be the European way.
