Cargill action in Amsterdam

In Amsterdam, a two-day program had been prepared, including an action at a Cargill factory and various debates and workshops. After the tiring journey >from Salzwedel to Amsterdam, some people immediately started preparing the next day's action at a Cargill plant in the harbour area of Amsterdam. The Indians and Bangladeshi walked together with a small group of Dutch people to the factory and main office of Cargill in Europe. They held banners saying 'No genetech food' and 'United against Cargill'. A Cargill spokes person asked the demonstrators for a petition. Prof. Nanjundaswamy (president of the KRRS) said: 'We don't have a petition. We don't believe in petitions, we believe in direct action'.

A woman from the Bangladesh landless peoples' movement also expressed her anger at Cargill: 'We know you are producing food that is unhealthy. For this reason we came to protest. You have to stop immediately, otherwise the women from Bangladesh will stop you'.

The spokesperson had no better arguments than stating that 'GM foods are not forbidden'.

According to a personal report by one of the bus coordinators (we want more of those!!), it was a really emotional and powerful event that 'totally blew away the management who came in amazement out of the building to be overwhelmed by this rather unexpected and uniquely special scenario. The fact that there was only a handful of local participants (though it was a real disappointment to the Indians who were somewhat confused about it) didn't in any way weaken the image of this demo, because in a way it displayed an astounding presence of strength to see this intimate confrontation between only Cargill and Karnataka green scarved Indians who were shouting with such cheerful determination "Cargill-DOWN!" alongside the stunning speeches -amplified by the soundystem on bus 1 (thanx to the enthusiastic driver).

Their being there WITHOUT a few hundred local people behind them, made their presence somehow even more amazing, as if they had come all the way from India only to stand face to face with their ultimate villain, strong enough to stand and face them alone and set them straight. I really need to stop now, 'cos there is hardly a moment in the day when I have time to do anything besides looking out, for and after my extremely lovely group of Indians (from the Karnataka bus no. 1) who I have had an undesribably lovely time with, which cannot be even compared to anything have ever experienced in my life. See you all in Geneva. Love from Chris'

Another event in Amsterdam was a debate on the effects of seed multinationals on the rural population in the South. Speakers at this debate were Prof. Nanjundaswamy, Peter Gabriels (a representative of Pioneer Hi-Breed), and Peter Custers (Dutch Platform on Gene Technology). The farmers explained that, with the results of the Green Revolution in their minds, they had great worries about the consequences of the introduction of GM crops. A woman from Bangladesh said that after a period of big floods in Bangladesh, about 500.000 packets of hybrid vegetable seeds had been distributed. These hybrid seeds are combined with loan packages, which makes them financially attractive at first sight. The aim of foreign seed companies is, in her opinion, only to make profit out of the South's agriculture, and therefore to replace the traditional seeds.

The Caravan in Belgium: walking and acting!

In Belgium, the buses no. 6 and 8 joined the For Mother Earth 2000 march for nuclear disarmament in Antwerp. The walk had started in The Hague and was bound for Brussels, to end with a big anti-NATO demonstration at the NATO headquarters.

As expected, there was a lot of police troubles with this action. During the action, someone went inside the building to try to get some answers >from a NATO representative. When he did not get what he wanted, people started trying to enter the building, to find the answers themselves. This was the moment when the aggression started in full force, in the end nearly 70 people were arrested. By this time, the Caravan buses had left in order not to get the Indians into trouble.

The next day, the whole bunch headed for Belgium's Silicon Valley of Biotechnology (Louvain La Neuve - Nieuw Leuven), to do an action at the Monsanto Technical European Center. Support for this action was given by the European Farmers' Co-ordination (CPE - Coordination Paysanne Européenne). According to their press release, the Vlaams Agrarisch Centrum (VAC) and the Front Uni des Jeunes Agriculteurs (FUJA), Belgian members of the CPE, are participating in this demonstration. The press release states that 'many of the farmers from India are opposed to the control by Monsanto of resources necessary to agricultural production such as seeds, and to the introduction of genetically modified seeds and genetically modified agriculture products into the market of their countries, and without their agreement.

The food sovereignty of populations is completely flouted from South to North and from East to West. The will of the WTO to completely deregulate the agricultural trade and to let transnational companies privatise natural resources as seeds and genetic resources, water, is unacceptable. Meanwhile the resistance of the European public opinion against genetically modified organisms is becoming more and more evident to governments and retailing sector. It is necessary today to explain the international stakes and to mobilise the public opinion in favour of food sovereignty, sustainable way of agriculture production and fair trade without dumping.'

Events in the UK

After a "People vs. Corporations" Public Hearing, an impromptu action took place. Since the Nuffield Institute issued its report saying that GM foods could have a useful place in world health, the whole meeting decamped from Friends House to the Nuffield office in the West End, occupying the whole of a 4-lane carriageway into the bargain. Once there, many Indian farmers and others occupied the office and had a long dialogue while noise was made and banners hung up outside. All in all a real taste of 'the united colours of resistance', UK activists trying out Indian anti-WTO slogans and Indian farmers giving it a bit of ye olde RTS.

Farmers' blockades in Poland

Polish farmers have started road blockades on over 50 locations in Poland. In Nowy Dwor Gdanski, a city on the estuary of the Vistula, there were heavy fights between the riot police and the farmers. 29 women and men were wounded by rubber bullets. Heavy clouds of tear gas floated over the city, and four police cars were destroyed by molotovs. In Eastern Europe, farmers face the same problems as the Indians are now facing. A process of market liberalisation puts the existence of small farmers at great risk, a process that has already destroyed most of the small farms in the rich industrialised countries. Now the ICC participants cannot physically show their solidarity with the Polish farmers, they have been asked to send solidarity letters or flags to the farmers' unions in Poland.

The Caravan in France: 1000 cows and a few bears

In France, the Caravan is making an intensive tour visiting many places, varying from Paris and Toulouse to Plateau Millevaches and Vallée d'Aspe (that is where the few bears are). Buses 9 and 10 went together to Lille, where a 'giant picnic' was organised. They then both took a different route, bus 9 going on to Spain, via Vallée d'Aspe (Pyrrenees). This bus spent a few days in and around Limoges in the Limousin region (Plateau Millevaches). One of the local organisers wrote that there had been many, interesting and warm exchanges. "Our Indian friends seem to have enjoyed a lot the welcome, the organisation and the program. The nine people's accommodation (7 Indian and two guides) was spread over 4 farms, which allowed intimate meeting between several local agricultural aspects and what the Indian farmers are living.

Not enough external visitors during the afternoon for the ferme ouverte – opened farm – operation (due to enjoyable weather, lack of informa-tion?) Good beginning of debate in Eymoudalers, unfortunately limited by translation constraints (misunder-standing and timing). Only spoken about our lack of preparation from both groups. We should spend more time to build something together. This is also involving the point of what is to be possibly done afterwards.

Some questions and remarks :

• Do we understand the word "problème" (point, problem ...) in the same way?
• In Europe, many farmers take advantage of the European subsidies, they are protecting the actual system (and they do not attend our meetings — we are convincing convinced peoples)
• Is it right and just for us to talk about our "problèmes", being privileged on a world-wide scale, is it decent to talk and to complain? So, how could we not mislead the Indians about our agricultural model (subsidies and so on), for which they could yearn.
• We have definitively to find out ways to increase the agricultural working population awareness — above all in Europe, given the low percentage of agricultural population — perhaps by spreading the debate beyond the mere agricultural points (because the same financial and economical origins involve the same consequences, for all sectors of the economy).

So, we have to place the human being in the centre, not the money (economy being used by people, not people being used by the economy, and so on, and so on. It's only a beginning. Friendly yours, Jean-Luc. The South participates in the final Euromarch demonstration in Cologne Cologne is basically the focus of the Caravan, with the EU Summit and the G8. At the camp, there were (as in many other places) problems with finding more blankets for the Indians, as theirs are not made for European weather (even if it seemed really warm to us). The demonstration on Saturday 29th, despite the heat and provoking police men, marched quietly through the centre of Cologne. At the end however, a group of Antifa people was encircled for some time by the police, which created a very agressive atmosphere.

Although there were quite a number of peoples, they were fewer than two years ago in Amsterdam. A group of Dutch wanted to travel Italian-style (jargon for squatting a train during the time of the journey of your liking), but they were forced out in Emmerich, and they're probably still blocking the railroads as this is being written.

Europe and India both at war

The anti-nuclear and anti-war element of the Caravan could not have been more relevant — not only is Europe participating in the bombings on Yugoslavia, but India and Pakistan are now also at war. Is this bombing becoming a global hype or what?!

Needless to say, the Indian partici-pants of the Caravan are quite worried and eager to find out more. The only 'good' thing to come out of this situation is that it created a direct motivation for the Europeans and Indians to start discussions on nationalism and militarism. The Indians in the Euromarch demo carried a banner 'Bombs? Save soil and seed!' (this is what we remember).

Press ignorance: Business as usual?

Media attention has not immediately been as overwhelming as we hoped. Despite all the troubles we went through, and despite the splendid delegation, only 2 journalists appeared at the Cologne press conference. In Aachen, it was even worse — nobody showed up.

On the other hand, we are now seeing a growing interest, with articles published in Libération (F), La Strada (I), WochenZeitung (CH), Tageszeitung (G), and we are on the front page of One World Online with a great article on the start of the Caravan in India by an Indian reporter. Also we received quite a few articles that had appeared in regional papers, from the groups in and around Limoges.

And again, we want more of that!!