Organize -The Battle For America

It is time to organize again. No time to finish healing or looking back. The wall is closer and closer and The Battle For America has indeed begun. Check this short movie for a jump-start.

Some Iraqis may have voted for Food ?!

Hard News: Some Just Voted for Food

Dahr Jamail of Inter Press Service reports that voting in Baghdad may have been linked with receipt of food rations. Several voters are cited in the article:

Please click "More" to read the re-post of the article.

Many Iraqis said Monday that their names were marked on a list provided by the government agency that provides monthly food rations before they were allowed to vote.

”I went to the voting centre and gave my name and district where I lived to a man,” said Wassif Hamsa, a 32-year-old journalist who lives in the predominantly Shia area Janila in Baghdad. ”This man then sent me to the person who distributed my monthly food ration.”

Mohammed Ra'ad, an engineering student who lives in the Baya'a district of the capital city reported a similar experience.

Ra'ad, 23, said he saw the man who distributed monthly food rations in his district at his polling station. ”The food dealer, who I know personally of course, took my name and those of my family who were voting,” he said. ”Only then did I get my ballot and was allowed to vote.”

However, the author writes that there are no indications that people who did not vote would be denied rations either. Nonetheless:

Many Iraqis had expressed fears before the election that their monthly food rations would be cut if they did not vote. They said they had to sign voter registration forms in order to pick up their food supplies.

Their experiences on the day of polling have underscored many of their concerns about questionable methods used by the U.S.-backed Iraqi interim government to increase voter turnout.

Just days before the election, 52 year-old Amin Hajar who owns an auto garage in central Baghdad had said: ”I'll vote because I can't afford to have my food ration cut...if that happened, me and my family would starve to death.”

Hajar told IPS that when he picked up his monthly food ration recently, he was forced to sign a form stating that he had picked up his voter registration. He had feared that the government would use this information to track those who did not vote.

If true, this is really sad (not as if everything else about this election was truly cheering). This is the kind of news that many of us hope turns out inaccurate.

U.S. says Iraqis Can Not Save Their Own Seeds

Scoop: U.S. Declares Iraqis Can Not Save Their Own Seeds

Another troubling, yet not absolutely shocking, news about the new rules forced on the newly liberated Iraqi population. The article informs that according to provisions signed by CPA Iraqi farmers are not allowed to save their seed from one year to another. Instead they are required to apply for new licenses every time and buy new seed from (surprise) Monsanto.

As part of sweeping ''economic restructuring'' implemented by the Bush Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to save their seeds, which include seeds the Iraqis themselves have developed over hundreds of years. Instead, they will be forced to buy seeds from US corporations. That is because in recent years, transnational corporations have patented and now own many seed varieties originated or developed by indigenous peoples. In a short time, Iraq will be living under the new American credo:

Pay Monsanto, or starve.: http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/iraq_seeds.htm

It looks like the great friend of corporations - Paul Bremer - decided to update Iraqi intellectual law to "meet current internationally-recognized standards of protection". So rather than continuing centuries long tradition of developing and using their own seeds now that have to fall in line with rest of the "civilized world" - embrace genetically modified seeds produced by large corporations.

Iraq law Requires Seed Licenses November 13, 2004
"According to Order 81, paragraph 66 - [B], issued by L. Paul Bremer [CFR], the people in Iraq are now prohibited from saving seeds and may only plant seeds for their food from licensed, authorized U.S. distributors. The paragraph states, "Farmers shall be prohibited from re-using seeds of protected varieties or any variety mentioned in items 1 and 2 of paragraph [C] of Article 14 of this chapter."
( http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/13/2023220 )

No, we are not going “to force our form of government on others”, only our form of business…