For a preview of the video "Voices from Africa"
http://www.core-online.org/features/voices_video.htm

The video is said to show the results of a fact-finding trip to Africa by CORE - the Congress of Racial Equal. The video was premiered at CORE's "UN World Conference-2005" on "Biotechnology" (New York, January 17-18, 2005).

Its main presenter is CORE's National Chairman, Roy Innis who says, "Because of my concern [about hunger in Africa], I came to Africa to see for myself... and to see the potential for biotechnology."
http://www.core-online.org/features/voices_video.htm

Roy's philanthropic mission is totally unconnected, of course, with Monsanto becoming CORE's "Corporate Partner".
http://www.core-online.org

Interestingly though, the veteran Black American journalists Glen Ford and Peter Gamble describe CORE as "a tin cup outstretched to every Hard Right political campaign or cause that finds it convenient - or a sick joke - to hire Black cheerleaders". They also report how James Farmer, the former head of the original Congress of Racial Equality confronted Roy Innis on TV for turning "the organization into what Farmer called a 'shakedown' gang."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=174

A sharp contrast between the character of the civil rights hero, James Farmer, and that of CORE's Roy Innis was drawn by Dr. Herschelle S. Challenor, Professor at Clark Atlanta University, in an address on Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, given at the United States Embassy in Kinshasa, Africa, in January 2000: "James Farmer, the leader of CORE during the highpoint of the civil rights movement, was a bright, dedicated activist of unimpeachable integrity. His immediate successor, Roy Innis was seen as a chameleon prepared to change his political ideology as necessary. There were rumors that he worked in later years as an FBI informant."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=174

In the article below, "Out of Africa:
What thoughtless activists want to do with biotechnology", there is a characteristic invocation of Martin Luther King in the very first line of the article. But journalists Ford and Gamble are in no doubt about how dissimilar Roy Innis is from Martin Luther King! They describe Innis as a "gangster 'civil rights' caricature".
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=174

The two writers of the article below are both part of CORE. Paul Driessen, who is billed as a "senior policy advisor " to CORE, is also the principal of a Northern Virginia PR firm, specializing in "environmental public policy issues". He's also a leading light of the Wise-Use founding Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise (CDFE), where he's a Senior Fellow.

CDFE's Executive Vice President, Ron Arnold, has been a consultant for Dow Chemical, as well as Head of the Washington State chapter of the American Freedom Coalition, the political arm of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. CDFE's President, Alan Merril Gottlieb, also connects to the American Freedom Coalition which has also shared offices with CDFE. Gottlieb, who describes himself as "the premiere anti-communist, free-enterprise, laissez-faire capitalist", has spent time in prison for tax-evasion.

When, in an interview with CNN, CDFE's Executive Vice President was asked what message he wished to be seen as conveying, he replied, "People in industry, I'm going to do my best for you. Environmentalists, I'm coming to get you." http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=248

For the full version of the video, call CORE at :
(00-1-212) 598-4000
For more on the PR use of Africa:
http://www.gmwatch.org/africa.asp
For more on better solutions than GM for Africa's problems:
http://www.gmwatch.org/africa.asp
For more on Roy Innis and CORE:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=174
For more on Paul Driessen and CDFE:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=248
For more on the South African farmer, Richard Sithole, quoted below:
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=183
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Out of Africa:
What thoughtless activists want to do with biotechnology
by Paul Driessen and Cyril Boynes, Jr.,
Toronto Free Press, February 14, 2005
http://www.torontofreepress.com/2005/driessen021405.htm

Like Dr. Martin Luther King, Dr. Ruth Oniango has a dream. A member of Kenya's parliament, she dreams of the day when the people of her poor country "can feed themselves."

Congress of Racial Equality national chairman Roy Innis shares that vision. But he also knows the obstacles. "Over 70 percent of Africans are employed in farming full time," he points out. "Yet, half of those countries rely on emergency food aid. Within 10 years, Africa will be home to three-fourths of the world's hungry people."

Many of the continent's farmers are women who labor sunup to sundown on 3 to 5 acre plots. They rarely have enough crops to feed their own families, much less sell for extra money. Millions live on less than a dollar a day.

Maize (corn) is southern Africa's most important crop. But because of drought, insects, poor soil, plant diseases and lack of technology, the average yield per acre is the lowest in the world. Other crops suffer similar fates.

"We eat cassava for breakfast and mash it with potatoes and bananas. But the mosaic virus attacks the plants, the leaves fall off, and it’s no good for eating," Kenya's Samuel Njeru laments. "We can’t afford to spray. We need a variety that is resistant to the virus."

Mosaic virus first appeared in Africa in 1894 and now infects every cassava plant. Over 35 million tons of this staple are lost every year--along with tens of millions of tons of other crops.

"I farm a third of a hectare with cotton," says Alice Wambuii. (A hectare is 2.5 acres.) "I spray five times a season with pesticides, but sometimes the insects still destroy my entire crop. Last year, I got 3,000 Kenyan shillings for my cotton, but I had to spend 5,000 for sprays."

"Africa needs a new agricultural revolution," Mr. Innis says flatly. One is finally on the way--a biotechnology revolution. It's not a magic bullet. But it is a vital weapon in Africa’s thus far losing struggle against malnutrition, poverty, despair and deepening anger.

Participants in day-long conference hosted by CORE at the United Nations in January conveyed that message forcefully. So do Kenyan and South African scientists, farmers and politicians interviewed by Mr. Innis for a video documentary. With this technology, farmers don't have to learn new skills. They just plant and tend seeds the same way as always -- but with amazing results.

Clive James, chairman of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, says "biotechnology is a contribution, not a solution, to the hunger crisis." It is a technology that African farmers can afford to have -- and can’t afford not to have.

"I grow maize on a half hectare," South Africa's Elizabeth Ajele explains. "The old plants would be destroyed by insects, but not the new biotech plants. With the profits I get from the new Bt maize, I can grow onions, spinach and tomatoes, and sell them for extra money to buy fertilizer. We were struggling to keep hunger out of our houses. Now the future looks good. If someone came and said we should stop using the new maize, I would cry."

Countryman Richard Sithole shares her excitement. "Now I don't have to buy any chemicals. With the old maize, I got 100 bags from my 15 hectares. With Bt maize I get 1,000 bags." The new maize has enabled South African farmers to cut their pesticide use up to 75 percent, triple their profits and save 35-49 days per season working in fields -- mostly spraying pesticides by