INCLUDES NEWS OF AN IMPORTANT CONFERENCE - ITEM 2

1.Will the G8 please leave us alone
2.Sustainable World conference
3.Sustainable highlights
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1. Will the G8 please leave us alone

Among those speaking in Edinburgh at the protests and events this weekend in the run up to the G8 summit is Devinder Sharma. Devinder's message for the G8 is uncompromising: "LEAVE US ALONE!"

At first sight it might seem extraordinary that anyone from the developing world might be extending less than a warm welcome to the prospect of debt relief and increased aid.

But like George Monbiot, Devinder sees the G8's plans as little better than an extortion racket.

The G8's help comes on the G8's terms. These include the requirement that recipients of debt relief "boost private sector development" and eliminate "impediments to private investment, both domestic and foreign." What this means, as George Monbiot points out, is new opportunities for western money via commercialisation, privatisation and the liberalisation of trade and capital flows.
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2005/06/14/spin-lies-and-corruption/

Developing countries are also under pressure to further open up their markets. And, at the level of aid, we are also seeing a consistent pattern of resolutely tying assistance into "science and technology".

This is a mantra that is being taken up enthusiastically by an industrially-aligned Northern science community, as well as by its friends in the South, who see it as a way of channeling increasing sums of public money into projects of which they and their corporate-science agenda are among the principal beneficiaries.

In the case of genetic engineering, we've seen that as the biotech industry has faced growing public opposition, the entry of biotechnology has been promoted increasingly via ostensibly public sector and philanthropic initiatives and the activities of USAID and the UK's Department for International Development. These initiatives add up to GM by the back door.

The real preoccupations of the political leader chairing the G8 summit were revealed recently by Tony Blair when addresing the European Parliament. Blair gave this explanation as to why he was such a passionate pro-European:

"The idea of Europe, united and working together, is essential for our nations to be strong enough to keep our place in this world." In this context he complained of "more science graduates [being] produced by India than by Europe", of "skills, R&D, patents, IT... going down, not up". He also noted, "India will expand its biotechnology sector fivefold in the next five years."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-13090-1667123-13090,00.html

You get the picture. What really matters for Blair in terms of our global future is making sure that we (ie the industrlaised North) continue to have the biggest share of the money and power, and biotechnology and patents are seen as a key element in determining whether "we" manage to "keep our place in the world."

Our industrially-aligned science community has an identical agenda. Prof Derek Burke helped the UK to radically restructure its public funding so that science could be made to contribute most fully to the UK's economic competitiveness. Burke also helped identify "building businesses from biology and genetics" as a generic priority for UK science, engineering and technology.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/p2temp2.asp?aid=39&page=1&op=4

Prof Burke was also part of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics which produced a report saying there was a "moral duty" to invest in GM research for the sake of developing countries. In a comment to other scientists on the opposition to GM, Burke has explained: "...the consequence of the loss of this technology for society is the loss of the ability to create new wealth. It's my grandchildren that I'm concerned about. How will they earn their living in 20 years? The answer may lie partly in your hands."

There's a story about a patient making their first visit to a psychoanalyst. The analyst explains that he can helpthem with their condition via an intensive programme of analysis - twice weekly sessions for at least the next 3 years. "That," comments the patient, "takes care of your future. Now what about mine?"

As has often been pointed out, the poor and hungry need low-cost, readily available technologies and practices in order to increase food production. And the approaches are already there that can produce the results.

As even the New Scientist noted in an editorial, after reviewing the research evidence, "Low-tech 'sustainable agriculture,' shunning chemicals in favour of natural pest control and fertiliser, is pushing up crop yields on poor farms across the world, often by 70 per cent or more... The findings will make sobering reading for people convinced that only genetically modified crops can feed the planet's hungry in the 21st century... A new science-based revolution is gaining strength built on real research into what works best on the small farms where a billion or more of theworld's hungry live and work... It is time for the major agricultural research centres and their funding agencies to join the revolution."

But those agencies have been designed to focus on the kind of wealth and patent creating R&D that Tony Blair is eulogising. In other words, the very forces that could help to end Southern rural poverty, have an agenda that is about actively derailing such solutions.

No wonder some like Devinder are saying, "LEAVE US ALONE!"
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2.The Independent Science Panel
Promotion of Science for the Public Good http://www.indsp.org
General Enquiries [email protected] Website/Mailing List [email protected]
International Conference
Final Announcement

Feeling paralysed by politicians spreading gloom and doom over global warming, oil and water depletion, and poverty in Africa? There’s plenty we can do to dispel despair and galvanise governments and people into effective action. At last, a conference of new ideas and approaches to provide food security and health for all, eradicate poverty and mitigate global warming. Not to be missed!

Sue Edwards - Alan Simpson - Mae-Wan Ho - Martin Khor - Michael Meacher - Peter Bunyard - Erkki Lähde - Caroline Lucas - David Hywel Davis – David Woodward - Joe Cummins - Ingrid Hartman - Lilian Joensen – Julia Wright – Hannu Hyv