Stop Transnational Corporations!
Karuturi guilty of tax evasion: Global flower industry giant found breaking the law in Kenya
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- Published on Friday, 26 April 2013 17:21
PRESS RELEASE
Nairobi, 19 April 2013
The Kenyan government has found Karuturi Global Ltd, the world's biggest producer of cut roses, guilty of tax evasion. This is the first time an African government has brought a large multinational company to court for transfer mispricing through a fully public process. A broad alliance of civil society movements and organisations are celebrating the Kenyan government's resolve to stop such behaviour and to do so transparently.
In late 2012, the Kenya Revenue Authority ruled that the Bangalore, India-based multinational used transfer mispricing to avoid paying the government of Kenya nearly US$11 million (EUR8 million) in corporate income tax, part of a larger set of tax disputes with government authorities that amount to a quarter of the firm's 2012 sales. On 4 April 2013, Karuturi appealed the ruling, bringing the proceedings into the public domain.
Chile, interview about the Summit of the Peoples hold in Santiago
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- Published on Wednesday, 23 January 2013 08:51
8 de Enero, Radio Mundo Real.
The headquarters of the Chilean Workers Union (CUT), in Santiago, capital of Chile, was chosen to hold the press conference that the organizers of the Summit of the Peoples, to take place from January 25 to 27 in that city, carried out on Friday to make the public and open call to this event.
“We believe that where the presidents meet, where these important summits are held, our spaces are so or more important, because it is there where social movements, the peoples, are represented”, said Francisca Rodriguez, of the National Association of Rural and Indigenous Women of Chile (ANAMURI) and the Latin American Coordination of Rural Organizations (CLOC-Via Campesina) to Real World Radio.
The meeting will take place in the Urban Planning and Architecture School of the University of Chile, in parallel to the EU-CELAC Summit to take place in the same city.
Campaigners Demand Reform of EFSA
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- Published on Wednesday, 14 November 2012 00:10
Firab – ECVC – CEO – Italian anti-GMO task force
Press release
Parma, 13 November – Campaigners today demonstrated outside a conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), held at its headquarters in Parma, Italy. Farmers, NGOs, students and local activists have gathered to denounce the industry-capture of our food safety system that EFSA plays a key role in.
José Manuel Benitez said: “EFSA is not fulfilling its mandate to ensure European citizens safe food and safe farming environments. European farmers and peasants demand a radical shift in EFSA’s modus operandi.”
The conference is celebrating 10 years of “transparency, independence and scientific excellence” but the campaigners say that EFSA experts and members of its management board have frequently been shown to have a conflict of interest with the food and biotech industry.
10th EFSA anniversary: Two-day farmers and citizens initiatives
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- Published on Monday, 12 November 2012 19:15
Parma, Italy, Friday 9th November – Campaigners and farmers have joined forces to organise two days of action against the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on 12th and 13th November, challenging industry bias and reclaiming real food safety.
Organised by FIRAB, the Italian anti-GMO Task Force, the European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) and Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), the events take place as EFSA marks its 10th anniversary and will start with a conference on Monday 12th November, looking at the science and politics of EFSA. On Tuesday 13th November there will be a flash mob outside the EFSA building at 10.30am.
North Indian farmers destroy Monsantos GM corn field trials
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- Published on Thursday, 25 October 2012 19:25
Shahabad (Kurukshetra), October 18: In a dramatic action, farmers of the BKU forced the Haryana State Agriculture University to fulfil their commitment to destroy Monsanto's ongoing GM corn field trials in their public research station.
Last month, farmers and activists of the GM Free India coalition had met the state Agriculture Minister Paramvir Singh to show their resentment that public sector universities had become the experimental grounds for Monsanto's risky technology. They had requested a ban on GM field trials in the state. “A month has passed since we met the Agriculture Minister but the government has failed to act on our behalf. The onus is now on us,” said Gurnam Singh, Haryana state president of the BKU.
Read more: North Indian farmers destroy Monsantos GM corn...
Ending Corporate Capture of the United Nations
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- Published on Saturday, 07 July 2012 17:28
Friends of the Earth International, Corporate Europe Observatory, La Via Campesina, Jubilee South/Americas, Peace and Justice in Latin America/SERPAJ-AL, Polaris Institute, The Council of Canadians, The Transnational Institute, Third World Network, World March of Women
Joint Civil Society Statement
We, the undersigned organisations, believe that the United Nations (UN) is currently the most democratic and appropriate global institution for international negotiations. We therefore support further strengthening of multilateral institutions and processes within the UN framework, making them more democratic and responsive to the needs of people.
However, we have strong concerns about the growing influence of major corporations and business lobby groups within the UN: over their influence on the positions of national governments in multilateral negotiations, their dominance in certain UN discussion spaces and in certain UN bodies. Increasingly we see UN policies that do not necessarily serve the public interest, but rather support the commercial interests of certain companies or business sectors. The upcoming Earth Summit in Rio in June 2012 should be seized as the opportunity to stop this trend, terminate dubious partnerships between the UN and businesses, and end the privileged access that has been granted to the corporate sector and consequently the excessive influence it is able to wield over important multilateral processes and decisions.
Opposition to biotech giant Monsanto growing worldwide, new report shows
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- Published on Wednesday, 04 April 2012 15:35
FOEI, La Via Campesina and Combat Monsanto Media advisory
WASHINGTON (US) / MONTEVIDEO (URUGUAY), PARIS (FRANCE), APRIL 4, 2012
– Today, the day that biotech giant Monsanto (NYSE: MON) releases its second quarter earnings, a new report by civil society organisations shows that around the world small-holder and organic farmers, local communities and social movements are increasingly resisting and rejecting Monsanto, and the agro-industrial model that it represents.
The new report, jointly produced by La Via Campesina, Friends of the Earth International and Combat Monsanto - available in English, French and Spanish [1] - provides snapshots of frontline struggles against Monsanto and other agrochemical corporations pushing genetically modified (GM) crops onto farmers and into the environment.
“This report demonstrates that the increasingly vocal objections from social movements and civil society organisations are having an impact on the introduction of GM crops.” said Josie Riffaud from La Via Campesina.
The testimonies and analysis contained in this report aim to inspire and unite consumers, activists and communities against the abuses carried out by Monsanto and other biotech corporations around the world.
Family Farm Defenders Declares its Solidarity with International Longshore Workers
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- Published on Monday, 23 January 2012 20:19
Denying Workers The Right to Organize is a Gross Violation of Food Sovereignty
Family Farm Defenders, a national organization based in Madison, WI expresses its solidarity with International Longshore Workers Union (ILWU) Local 21, and strongly condemns all attempts to deny workers their basic right to organize.
“Similar strategies of collective action have been successfully used by farmers and workers for centuries in their struggles against corporate robber barons and the fight being waged today on the docks in Washington State, pitting unionized longshore workers against greedy grain exporters, is really no different,” notes John E. Peck, executive director of Family Farm Defenders. “It was this historic solidarity that brought ILWU members all the way from the West Coast to bolster the ranks of the hundreds of thousands of protesters outside the state capitol in Madison during the Cheddar Uprising last spring, and which is prompting workers and farmers in Wisconsin and across the nation to express our support for their effort now. An injury to one is an injury to all.”
As an active member of La Via Campesina, the largest umbrella organization for family farmers in the world, Family Farm Defenders is a staunch advocate of food sovereignty. One of the underlying principles of food sovereignty is that ALL workers deserve a living wage, dignified working conditions, and the right to organize. This guarantee extends to everyone working in the food/farm system – not just farmers and farmworkers, but also meatpackers, retail clerks, restaurant servers, truck drivers, and dockworkers.
Indian Farmers Protest at Governments "Unsustainable" Agribusiness Meet
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- Published on Friday, 16 December 2011 14:39
Farmers from South India organized a parallel platform and protest at Karnataka governments Global Agri-business and food-processing Meet of 2011. This was Karnataka governments attempt to lure foreign corporate investment in the agriculture sector of the state- starting from seeds to retailing and food processing, from dairy to fishing and apiculture. Farmers movements of south India members of LVC have been opposing the corporate onslaught on India's and global agriculture. These agribusiness companies they say are not interested in feeding people, preserving the ecology and biodiversity or generating livelihoods. Their main aim is to patent nature for themselves, industrialize farming for exports, monopolize nature and make farmers and people dependent on them for food and farming. Their primary concern is the generating profits while the continue to cause climate change and increase hunger. Ironically the Karnataka government called it “sustainable” agribusiness summit, when agribusiness promotes a type of agriculture that is far from sustainable.
