Author Archives: Maria

Monsanto VS Percy Schmeiser (ONE of TWO)

By 2012

Monsanto, the giant multinational agro-chemical company, sued Percy Schmeiser over the presence of their patented canola that had invaded the edges of Schmeiser’s field from a neighbor’s plot. The Schmeiser case has become one of the most watched and most important cases for organic farmers, seed savers, for the movement against the invasion of the biosphere by genetically modified plants, and against corporate ownership of life.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)

SEED SAVERS VS MONSANTO (ONE only)

By 2012

A movement is spreading through North America and it may play a profound role in the ever clearer contradiction between corporate and community farming, between genetically modified and pure and healthy food, between monoculture and diversity. Today’s speaker, Lawrence Davis-Hollander says that finally, after the farm and gardening revival that began in the 1960 and early 70s, the seed collecting and seed saving movement is flourishing as well.

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FAMILY FARMERS VS MONSANTO (ONE only)

By 2012

Monsanto appeared in Federal District Court in Manhattan on January 31st, 2012, to have a suit dismissed that was filed by organic growers. At stake is: Can Monsanto sue farmers whose land was contaminated by pollen or seed from genetically modified plantings by their neighbors? The answer is that Monsanto has asserted their patent rights over those whose land was polluted by GMOs and continues to do so.
Dan Ravicher, the attorney for the Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association and others, representing over 300,000 individuals, gave this summary of the landmark suit to stop these lawsuits at the Heirloom Seed Expo in Santa Rosa, CA, on September 14, 2011.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:02 — 19.9MB)

Fred Gray: CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY FOR ROSA PARKS AND MLK (ONE only)

By 2012

Black History Special
Who was the attorney for Rosa Parks and later Martin Luther King at the beginning of the Civil Rights struggle? Fred Gray, just out of law school, had made a commitment to destroy everything segregated in his home state of Alabama when he was in high school. Rosa Parks was only his second case, after Claudette Colvin, a teenager, who nine months earlier had been the first to refuse to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus and in turn inspired Rosa Parks.
The early story of the civil rights movement comes to life in this story of Fred Gray’s life and education, as he tells it to the Republican Roundtable in the summer of 2009. He [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)

Michael Parenti: The Pathology of Wealth (TWO of TWO)

By 2012

Parenti describes the pathologies of capitalism by its inability to respond to climate change. Quoting a cartoon he reads: “While the end of the world scenario will be rife with unimaginable horrors, ..the pre-end period will be filled with unprecedented opportunities for profit.” Also arguments for the benefits of socialism in areas of our lives that should not be managed under the profit system. He lists health care, energy, and transportation.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:59 — 19.9MB)

Michael Parenti: THE PATHOLOGY OF WEALTH (ONE of TWO)

By 2012

The first talk of 2012 by the social critic and noted author Michael Parenti fit perfectly into the debates of the time, that of the One versus the 99% and the finally no longer taboo question: What exactly is CAPITALISM? Parenti is debunking some of the myths of capitalism: That it creates jobs, peace, democracy and wealth – etc.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:59 — 19.9MB)

Richard Grossman: WHEN INJUSTICE IS LEGAL (TWO PARTS)

By 2012

WHAT DO THE ABOLITIONISTS TEACH US ABOUT CHALLENGING CORPORATE RULE
This program is in remembrance of Richard Grossman, who died of cancer in November 2011. He was one of the great uncompromising, courageous thinkers and activists in the unfolding project to define, limit and abolish corporate power. Ralph Nader called Grossman “the preeminent historian of corporations” and this speech, that Grossman gave at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in November 2006, shows what that meant.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)

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DISMANTLING CORPORATIONS – Richard Grossman (ONE of TWO)

By 2011

Richard Grossman said: “.. corporations don’t have rights. Rights are for people. Corporations only have privileges, and only those that we the people bestow on them.” In a nutshell that was the essence of his research and teaching for the last 20 years.
Richard died of melanoma on November 22nd, 2011, at a hospital in New York City, where he was born sixty-eight years earlier.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 19.9MB)

Bill Moyers: Politics Today is Money Laundering (TWO of TWO)

By 2011

This is a reading of Moyers’ concise and revealing mini history of the corporate takeover of America’s democracy, beginning with the infamous secret 1971 memo by Lewis Powell to his friends at the U. S. Chamber of Commerce. Powell soon became Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Moyers sums it up: “We look back on it now as a call to arms for class war waged from the top down..”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 19.9MB)

Bill Moyers: Politics Today is Money Laundering (ONE of TWO)

By 2011

Keynote for Public Citizen
Moyers says: “Politics Today is Money Laundering and the Trafficking of Power and Policy” – and “why New York’s Zuccotti Park is occupied is no mystery. Reporters keep scratching their heads and asking: Why are you here? But it’s as clear as the crash of 2008: they are occupying Wall Street because Wall Street has occupied America.”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 19.9MB)

Natural Process Farming: Bob Cannard (TWO of TWO)

By 2011

Bob Cannard calls for the founding of the Garden Party!
He recovers abundance where others have given up and has an immediate friendly rapport with those who want to restore their own relationship to earth and good food. Cannard proposes to build the Garden Party and lays out the principles of taking responsibility for one’s food on a personal and local level to a cheering audience. Those are the criteria for membership in the Garden Party.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:02 — 19.9MB)

Natural Process Farming: Bob Cannard (ONE of TWO)

By 2011

In the description of the Bioneers he is: “Iconoclast, piano player, great cook, and an incredible farmer”. Bob Cannard is a frequent guest at their annual conferences. His produce and fruit are so exquisite that they are used in the most expensive restaurants, including Chez Panisse in Berkeley. His farm store is open year round and sells vegetables and home-canned goods at affordable prices.
As the cities are taking over the land Cannard is taking back what he can. He is acknowledged by Michael Pollan as one of the important members of the sustainable food movement, creating solutions to the growing crisis of the loss of farmland – caused by urbanization and the techniques of industrial agriculture.
Cannard runs Green String [ . . . ]

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 19.9MB)