| Shane and Apel - the world turned upside down (5/3/2008) | |
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EXTRACT: Shane has drawn the hatred of those who call themselves 'environmentalists' for only one reason. He refused to cower behind the barricades, where vandalism, firebombings, shabby journalism and threats of violence have thrust all too many of his colleagues. Instead, he laid accusations where they belong, and showed them to be true. The global protest industry, literally, cannot afford scientists who are willing to speak out against it. COMMENT from GM Watch: We've had a number of enquiries after the Canadian Government bureaucrat Shane Morris of 'wormy corn' fame, wanting to know the latest on his antics. Shane's still busy in Ireland, we understand, in terms of behind the scenes briefings and the like. Seems he's also currently based there, rather than in Ottawa, at University College Cork, where he's trying to finish off his ph.d.. Despite this, he remains in the employ of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. He's also got a new UCC blog, having apparently abandoned his previous GMOIreland blog. Nothing seems to be posted on the new blog yet except for a message from perhaps Shane and/or Andrew Apel (calling themselves 'Calico') berating Michael Meacher and others for persecuting Shane just because of 'a small spat over a publication', etc. Andrew Apel - the 'Guest Editor' of AgBioWorld's listserv AgBioView, and the former editor of the biotech industry newsletter, AgBiotech Reporter - has also editorialised in defence of Shane (see below), painting him as second only to Christ as an icon of victimisation. According to Apel, the unprecedented persecution suffered by Shane Morris has only arisen because of his valiant efforts to expose the money laundering of the NGO-multinationals 'funded by the European Union, member governments of the European Union, foundations established in the EU and the US, and the organic farming industry', whose 'antipathy is so extreme that they are not embarrassed to be complicit in the deaths of millions in developing nations', etc. etc. It's hard to know where to begin with Apel's nonsense, but we must challenge one specific Apelism. Apel claims that, 'Arrayed against [Shane] are lawyers engaged by the Friends of the Earth, a group which our readers know to be funded in substantial part by the European Union.' FACT 1: It was Morris - not Friends of the Earth - who engaged lawyers to go after people. Friends of the Earth UK very kindly allowed GM Watch free advice from their legal department after Morris first had our website closed down and then peppered our web host with legal threats. FACT 2: Friends of the Earth are 90% funded by individual donations, with only FoE Europe, which is based in Brussels and which deals directly with the Commission and EU issues, receiving any funding from the EU. But why let mere facts get in the way of one of Andrew Apel's would-turned-upside-down extravaganzas. This is, after all, the man who said he could see nothing wrong with the way police treated WTO protesters in Genoa, where more than a dozen of the 93 (unarmed and mostly sleeping) protesters caught up in a night-time raid had to be carried out on stretchers, with film footage showing the walls of the independent media centre they'd been sleeping in awash with blood. According to Apel, however, 'Only a fool goes against [the police], and in Genoa many fools have received their due.' Apel also used the 9/11 attacks to accuse scientific critics of GM of having 'blood on their hands', and when Zambia refused GM food aid he called on the U.S. to bomb the country with GM grain. For more on Apel For more on Shane and wormy-corn-gate --- What happens when you challenge an NGO What happens when you challenge an NGO about their transparency in handling donations and their compliance with taxation law? and Irish scientist and blogger Shane Morris attracts a lot of energy from GM-free Ireland. Why? - GMO Pundit a.k.a. David Tribe, Feb. 5, 2008 Guest ed. [ie Apel] note: The text of the two blog entries referenced above is too extensive to reproduce here, so I will simply make my remarks and trust readers to follow up. My tenure as a journalist specializing in agricultural biotechnology spans more than a decade, and never once have I seen such a prolonged, pitched battle as you will find described in those blog entries. I have seen scientists working in the field of ag biotech, their laboratories, and their employers, subjected to threats and hostilities of every possible description, by every means imaginable. In spite of what the credulous mass media would have us believe, scientists, and multinational corporations alike, have persistently cowered before the onslaught of a well-funded horde of antagonists. These antagonists are funded by the European Union, member governments of the European Union, foundations established in the EU and the US, and the organic farming industry. Their antipathy is so extreme that they are not embarrassed to be complicit in the deaths of millions in developing nations in the name of 'the environment.' Against this backdrop of malice and money-laundering, an Irish research scientist at University College Cork, currently working for Agri-Food and Agriculture Canada, is under attack. Shane Morris has become a target for character assassination and unemployment, simply beause he exposed a tiny fraction of the sordid financing which underwrites the $multi-billion global protest industry. A campaign against Shane ensued. His integrity was defamed, and the claims were retracted as libel. Later, false claims were put in the mouth |
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