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I can't say enough GOOD THINGS about Walter Burien and www.CAFR1.com He's really got the answer to what's happening to the world right now, and the economy... so please, please, please!!! send him an email and ask to be added to his private email list!!! also check out www.CAFR1.com for more information!!! this is very important information!!! if you have extra money, i plead of you, please DONATE IT TO HIM, he's doing very important research about how we are all 'OWNED'!!!!
www.CAFR1.com
Thanks,
Teddsadventure
(kicking ass in boston)
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CAFR1 NATIONAL - 03/11/08
Article linked at: http://CAFR1.com/NGE.html
The New Government Economy
by Walter Burien - http://CAFR1.com
One way Government now "creates wealth" out of thin air is by covertly taking it "all" from everyone else. The 512 trillion dollar international derivative market is a key tool used by Government to do just that. Read the article linked below, but before you do, please read my comments below the link first:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/derivatives-new-ticking-time-bomb/story.aspx?guid=%7bB9E54A5D-4796-4D0D-AC9E-D9124B59D436%7d&print=true&dist=printTop
The fiat dollar not backed by any hard commodity value gave government the opportunity to print value with no backing and by printed dollar creation to takeover the market place wealth of all others, doing so spanning the last several decades.
Government now owns it all (equity; stock market; debt market; insurance; banking; etc.) by investment. Read through my site CAFR1.com
The game though in the last thirty years has transitioned into an international game "outside" of the dollar. So, to control the World economy a new strangle-hold needed to be created that encompassed all currencies; commodities; or anything of value. The answer: Derivatives!
The article linked above shows the growth of the derivative market but the driving force is not disclosed. The first question in logic you must ask yourself is; Who is the primary player? Here the answer is our own government in composite totals between local and federal creating the biggest monopoly the world has ever seen is "the player" of no equal.
OK, what are they doing here?? Now you must ask yourself; What is the advantage of a derivative?
Being that I want you to understand, we will keep it simple here and to the point:
A derivative is a contract bet for "future" pricing in which the buyer and seller to the bet agrees to be held financially accountable for the outcome of the bet. This could be pricing days, months, or years ahead. The bet may apply to: a stock, bond, commodity, currency, interest rate, liability on an insurance policy, building project, mortgage, etc.
In principle and in an open free market where players involved in these items wish to use derivatives to lock in prices or limit liability on the sale or purchase of the underlying item, derivatives are a useful tool to stabilize unknown price liability. Very little money is used to trade the derivative (1% or 2%) of the value as a good faith deposit towards price swings of the underlying item to lock in the price for the future.
EXAMPLE: Gold is at $950 / oz and you think it will collapse to $550 / oz twelve month out from today and the derivative on the commodity market one year out; June 2009 Gold is priced today at $1050 / oz on a 100 oz derivative contract (the market thinks it will be higher one year out)
You are a small player so you SELL One (1) June 2009 Gold contract at $1050 when hit as a paper commitment to to deliver 100 oz come June of 2009. Keep in mind this is a "paper" commitment, you do not have to fulfill the commitment until June 2009 but even though you may not own 1 oz of gold, your bet is for lower prices so you SELL and someone on paper who you sold to bought that contract agreeing on paper to pay $1050 come June 2009.
Well, hypothetically let's say a research company next week announces they have developed a process to extract gold from sea water whereby millions of ounces of gold can be extracted a day for a cost of $5 / oz. Ouch! SELL, SELL, SELL! Gold now collapses to $50 / oz over the next thirty days.
Well, big smile on your face, you have a commitment from a bet a few weeks ago from a buyer at $1050 so you now BUY One (1) June 2008 Gold on the derivative exchange at $50 with someone now willing to sell one at $50 (thinks the price is going to $5 due to the seawater extraction discovery) and you now have canceled out your commitment to deliver come June of 2009 locking in $1000 / oz on the trade. This on a contract size of 100 onces equals in cash profit $100,000 and your good faith margin deposit to make that trade was only $2000. Hmmm, Las Vegas a million times over!
If on the example above you were a big trader and had clear inside information on the exact date of the upcoming announcement per Gold extraction from the sea, and filtered in 400,000 contracts between the NY, Chicago, London, Zürich, and Hong Kong derivative gold exchanges, and also went short derivatives on all international Gold mining stocks, and International currencies backed by gold, then do the math. You are now deciding from pocket change on if to buy that small island called Hawaii or that small state called Texas.
Here is the problem folks: Our Government at the top knows "what is going to happen" in the near future. They control the reports released; interest rates assigned; if or if not a war will take place; or as a few did - if an event such as 911 will occur.
Additionally through the SEC (for stocks) and the CFTC (for commodities and currencies) government knows every position held by all players domestic and Internationally. With that knowledge and armed with the historical knowledge from decades of what price swings or information will "suck in" food to feed on (players they can strip bare of their wealth), the price swings are manipulated with extreme swings to do just that. Government bottom-line end results are in the black on their trillion dollar composite investment funds by overbearing consistency prove this to be true.
Many of these investment funds are now managed outside of the US (off-shore) with trillion dollar US Government account balances that are not even visible for ease of inspection per their trading activity..
Last year the Chinese Government cut off further US Government investments in China (US Government investment funds, especially on their derivatives market were taking over) India on the same day put restrictions on US Government investments in their derivatives market for the same reason also. The following day the US Stock Market was down 650 points. (Some thought the game was over, but it was not)
But don't worry about the US Stock market foolks,(whoops, sic: folks) US Government local and federal owns the primary corporations in the US Market by composite stock ownership. Private sector ownership is insignificant in comparison.
The Oil Companies; Pharmaceutical Companies; the War Industry Companies; the Insurance Companies; and the Banks government now owns by investment..
REALITY CHECK: When you own the cookie jar, you determine the price of the cookies, what cookies are eaten and what cookies are discarded... Do you think one of those Fortune 500 Companies are going to buck government and find themselves in the trash can the following day? Me thinks not.
Now you know why the stock, currency, and commodity markets have done what they have done over the last decade or two. You also now know the driving force (motive) behind every upper-level government policy and decision.
Keep in mind that on those down swings, Government is the #1 derivative player of no equal so they make the money on the downswings and they make the money on the the upswings. The EXCHANGES guarantee the bets, the houses clearing trades through the exchanges will collect the bets if need be, and the Government who is taking the mother-load of the profits will make sure both do what is necessary to collect on the bets if money is due.
On the bet whether you are an individual, company, or country, they will seize your property, money, or business to satisfy the bet if it results in a loss to you and a balance for payment is left outstanding to them. After all, it does influence Government's bottom line return on their investments. Want to look at the profits from just one government investment fund? Then CLICK HERE.
Two months ago CALPERS (The CA Gov Pension Fund team) announced they were expanding their derivative management team by 450 individuals. Business must be good! Follow the trail off-shore through CALPERS International since 1982 and things will get real interesting for you.
Will this 500 trillion dollar derivative bubble pop? Well, if a free and open market was in place at this time, and being that there are ten times the value in derivatives out there with most truly not backed with the real item, a collapse would occur tomorrow resulting with many of the players being cast on the street with a cup in their hand hoping to get a meal for the day. (those that did not jump off the roof to the street below that is)
But alas, being that government owns the cookie jar, what their plans are for the future, only time will tell. My guess is they will maintain their book value of investments as they continue with the conquest of everyone else's wealth. Massive moves up and down will occur in some markets though as they "milk the cow" of the international derivative market place.
US Government through the use of their investment funds as they developed have evolved themselves and this country into a landscape in reality more foreign looking than the face of the moon over what our founding fathers anticipated for us centuries ago.
Is this a bad thing? Not for the top players, they have been laughing all the way to the bank as the public is masterfully entertained, being schooled like minnows in a pond at every turn of the page. END RESULT??? They own the cookie jar now so, the object is to make a bigger cookie jar for the cooperative players in the game and to starve off all the rest into submission.
To have a NWO (New World Order) under your control, derivatives are an important step to knock-out all opposition by taking their wealth and they will come in-line for management soon enough and then be accepted into the ranks of the inside players..
Not a peep on TV per the core of this game? Well, Silence is Golden it seems.
Who wants to make a movie on the above? I do! Call me if you can make it happen! If you know someone who can make it happen, call them first. I "bet" if done well, it will be a top seller! (if we can get it aired that is) Mel, where are you now????
Truly yours,
Walter J. Burien, Jr.
P. O. Box 2112
Saint Johns, AZ 85936
Tel: 928-445-3532
Website: http://CAFR1.com
--------------------------------
Pension funds pay a salary and benefits at retirement. Any local government can be restructured to meet their annual budget needs "Without" taxes. TRF (Tax Retirement Funds) paying for every City, County, State’s annual budgetary needs! This now makes the people the true owners with government being the true service provider. Government has already shown that a TRF works by example through the management of their own combined multi-trillion dollar pension funds! CAFR1 says: Make it law and make it so!
----------------------------------
To automatically subscribe to CAFR1 posts, send a blank email to: NATIONAL@CAFR1.com with: subscribe in the subject line, or to unsubscribe from CAFR1 posts if subscribed, just put: unsubscribe in the subject line.
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CAFR1 NATIONAL POST - 03/09/08
VERY IMPORTANT!
Many of you may not be aware of the fact that there is a web site that archives all prior pages of every other website Copies of that website on specific dates going back years.
Gerald Klatt [CAFRMan] died on his birthday July of 2004. The current version of his site in 2008 http://CAFRMan.com has been stripped down to the bare basics. His CAFR review programs for city, county, state, school districts, pension fund CAFR surplus instruction work-sheets have been taken off, past CAFR reviews, etc. I am in the process of rescuing this work. One thing I noticed from looking at the past version of his site the month before he died mysteriously, he put up the procedure to review government retirement fund CAFRs. Did he step on a land-mine there which took him out the following month????
I strongly suggest that if you have an interest in CAFR surplus review work, then please go to http://archive.org and pull up the past versions of CAFRMan.com from 2002 - 2004 of Gerald Klatt's work, go through the archived pages and save it! When a past version of a site is pulled up, most of the links when clicked on go to the archive page of the site for that date. If at first it will not pull up, this site has massive traffic demand so try again and a specific page on the second or third try may just pull up.
** Also for all of your other needs, how many times have you gone to a website or a specific page of a site to get something that you saw there months back to find out; They took it down! Well, now you know how to find it again even if it was years ago. Archive.org contains over 85 billion web page archives.. This makes it one of the most fantastic tools out there to find what once you though was lost..but now you know it may be found!
Truly yours,
Walter J. Burien, Jr.
P. O. Box 2112
Saint Johns, AZ 85936
Tel: 928-445-3532
Website: http://CAFR1.com
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
The Power of Nightmares - CIA Admits Creating Al-Qaeda
Windy [New World OVER.]
Thanks Vance... what a goddamned circusII
Date: Mar 7, 2008 7:47 PM
From: Flavord-dn[a] non_violent anarchist<->ॐ
Debbie Peace, Love and Harmony
Third Estate, Second Estate. No, United... States
R
Date: Mar 7, 2008 10:22 PM
http://video. google. com/videoplay?docid=-5272802791005405759
Power of Nightmares Part 1
http://polidics. com/cia/top-ranking-cia-operatives-admit-al-qaeda-is-a-complete-fabrication. html
Top Ranking CIA Operatives Admit Al-qaeda Is a Complete Fabrication
BBC’s killer documentary called “The Power of Nightmares“. Top CIA officials openly admit, Al-qaeda is a total and complete fabrication, never having existed at any time. The Bush administration needed a reason that complied with the Laws so they could go after “the bad guy of their choice” namely laws that had been set in place to protect us from mobs and “criminal organizations” such as the Mafia. They paid Jamal al Fadl, hundred’s of thousands of dollars to back the U.S. Governments story of Al-qaeda a “group” or criminal organization they could “legally” go after. This video documentary is off the hook…
FOX NEWS Interview with Tony Blair: Blair said, “Al Qaeda is not an organization. Al Qaeda is a way of working … but this has the hallmark of that approach.”
Thanks Vance... what a goddamned circusII
Date: Mar 7, 2008 7:47 PM
From: Flavord-dn[a] non_violent anarchist<->ॐ
Debbie Peace, Love and Harmony
Third Estate, Second Estate. No, United... States
R
Date: Mar 7, 2008 10:22 PM
http://video. google. com/videoplay?docid=-5272802791005405759
Power of Nightmares Part 1
http://polidics. com/cia/top-ranking-cia-operatives-admit-al-qaeda-is-a-complete-fabrication. html
Top Ranking CIA Operatives Admit Al-qaeda Is a Complete Fabrication
BBC’s killer documentary called “The Power of Nightmares“. Top CIA officials openly admit, Al-qaeda is a total and complete fabrication, never having existed at any time. The Bush administration needed a reason that complied with the Laws so they could go after “the bad guy of their choice” namely laws that had been set in place to protect us from mobs and “criminal organizations” such as the Mafia. They paid Jamal al Fadl, hundred’s of thousands of dollars to back the U.S. Governments story of Al-qaeda a “group” or criminal organization they could “legally” go after. This video documentary is off the hook…
FOX NEWS Interview with Tony Blair: Blair said, “Al Qaeda is not an organization. Al Qaeda is a way of working … but this has the hallmark of that approach.”
The Power of Nightmares - CIA Admits Creating Al-Qaeda
Windy [New World OVER.]
Thanks Vance... what a goddamned circusII
Date: Mar 7, 2008 7:47 PM
From: Flavord-dn[a] non_violent anarchist<->ॐ
Debbie Peace, Love and Harmony
Third Estate, Second Estate. No, United... States
R
Date: Mar 7, 2008 10:22 PM
http://video. google. com/videoplay?docid=-5272802791005405759
Power of Nightmares Part 1
http://polidics. com/cia/top-ranking-cia-operatives-admit-al-qaeda-is-a-complete-fabrication. html
Top Ranking CIA Operatives Admit Al-qaeda Is a Complete Fabrication
BBC’s killer documentary called “The Power of Nightmares“. Top CIA officials openly admit, Al-qaeda is a total and complete fabrication, never having existed at any time. The Bush administration needed a reason that complied with the Laws so they could go after “the bad guy of their choice” namely laws that had been set in place to protect us from mobs and “criminal organizations” such as the Mafia. They paid Jamal al Fadl, hundred’s of thousands of dollars to back the U.S. Governments story of Al-qaeda a “group” or criminal organization they could “legally” go after. This video documentary is off the hook…
FOX NEWS Interview with Tony Blair: Blair said, “Al Qaeda is not an organization. Al Qaeda is a way of working … but this has the hallmark of that approach.”
Thanks Vance... what a goddamned circusII
Date: Mar 7, 2008 7:47 PM
From: Flavord-dn[a] non_violent anarchist<->ॐ
Debbie Peace, Love and Harmony
Third Estate, Second Estate. No, United... States
R
Date: Mar 7, 2008 10:22 PM
http://video. google. com/videoplay?docid=-5272802791005405759
Power of Nightmares Part 1
http://polidics. com/cia/top-ranking-cia-operatives-admit-al-qaeda-is-a-complete-fabrication. html
Top Ranking CIA Operatives Admit Al-qaeda Is a Complete Fabrication
BBC’s killer documentary called “The Power of Nightmares“. Top CIA officials openly admit, Al-qaeda is a total and complete fabrication, never having existed at any time. The Bush administration needed a reason that complied with the Laws so they could go after “the bad guy of their choice” namely laws that had been set in place to protect us from mobs and “criminal organizations” such as the Mafia. They paid Jamal al Fadl, hundred’s of thousands of dollars to back the U.S. Governments story of Al-qaeda a “group” or criminal organization they could “legally” go after. This video documentary is off the hook…
FOX NEWS Interview with Tony Blair: Blair said, “Al Qaeda is not an organization. Al Qaeda is a way of working … but this has the hallmark of that approach.”
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Ron Paul Calls It Quits...
Ron Paul hints he's quitting race
12 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul is hinting to supporters that he is ending his long-shot campaign for the presidency.
The Texas Republican congressman addressed supporters in a 7 1/2-minute video on his campaign Web site Thursday night and did not specifically say he was quitting the race.
He said that although victory in the conventional political sense is not available in the presidential race, many victories have been achieved due to the hard work and enthusiasm of his supporters.
He said that he hoped that one day he and his supporters could look back and say his campaign was a significant first step that signaled a change in direction for the country.
Paul said their job now was to plan for the next phase of their effort.
12 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul is hinting to supporters that he is ending his long-shot campaign for the presidency.
The Texas Republican congressman addressed supporters in a 7 1/2-minute video on his campaign Web site Thursday night and did not specifically say he was quitting the race.
He said that although victory in the conventional political sense is not available in the presidential race, many victories have been achieved due to the hard work and enthusiasm of his supporters.
He said that he hoped that one day he and his supporters could look back and say his campaign was a significant first step that signaled a change in direction for the country.
Paul said their job now was to plan for the next phase of their effort.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Aftermath - Population Zero - The Day After We're All Gone
Paulina ? Ron Paul REVOLUTION
National Geographic Channel
Sunday March 9, 2008
8 pm eastern
AFTERMATH - POPULATION ZERO
www.ngcaftermath.com
What Happens when 6.6
Billion People Disappear ???
How would the Earth react
if people suddenly disappeared?
The long-term effects are explored here.
Aftermath: Cities Crumble
Aftermath: Life After People: Day 1 to Day 7
March 3, 2008
Imagine if the human race vanished from existence. What would happen to all we left behind? What would happen to our pets? What would happen to homes that we left standing? What about our electric and nuclear plants - would they keep churning out energy?
Many questions, and few definite answers, but scientists are beginning to explain and explore what would happen if the human race suddenly did not exist. Below are just a number of effects that the earth would experience in the first week of non-human existence.
Without electric fencing to keep them in place, some zoo animals begin to escape their cages. The streets are becoming overrun with animals that are unaccustomed to their new surroundings.
In the United States alone, over 245 million pets (including 88 million cats and 75 million dogs) aren't being fed. These hungry animals are now either foraging in their homes or trying to break out to find other sources of food. Millions of cockroaches will die during the first winter without indoor heating to keep them warm. Squirrels, skunks, and other animals find new dens in newly vacant human homes.
Without people to maintain the system, power grids fail as rolling blackout spread across the United States. Coal-burning power plants go offline as coal deliveries cease. In hydro-electric plants, turbines flood without humans to maintain water levels. Highly automated nuclear power plants detect power-grid failures and automatically shut down their reactors.
The chlorine that oil refineries use to create gasoline is no longer being kept cold. Pressure release valves begin to discharge chlorine, endangering any animals that keep their noses close to the ground. Liquefied natural gas from natural gas depots also starts to escape through vents. What isn't burned by flares will ignite large explosions causing many chemical plants catch fire.
The bright lights from cities had interfered with birds' natural navigational instincts. With the electricity off, these birds fly safely over urban areas.
Aftermath: Life After People: Day 10 to 1 Year
March 4, 2008
Drastic changes to the environment. Animals running wild. Meltdowns and explosions all over the world. This is what life will be like on earth from day ten to one year after humans vanish from existence. Below are some of the changes that could effect earth between day 10 and the first year without the human race.
Cattle Can't Survive - Dairy cows need to be milked every day or their udders will get infected. Without humans to take care of them, many have died.
Nuclear Meltdown - Super-heated steam pours out of nuclear power plants as spent nuclear fuel boils the water in cooling tanks. Buildings buckle under the intense heat. As radioactive fallout spreads, nearby forests are decimated. Pine trees turn red as chlorophyll is damaged.
Radioactive Aftermath - Large animals are fleeing areas where plants have died from radiation. Smaller animals aren't as fortunate. They live on the forest floor where leaves and dirt are coated with radioactive material. Within the next ten years half the rodents and insects in the tainted areas will die. Large forests have become eerily quiet.
Radioactive Recovery - Trees within five miles of the nuclear power plant meltdowns can't regenerate. Further away, rainstorms are washing the radioactive particles into the ground.
Weather Changes - Much of the radiation has fallen out of the skies. Without humans, cities are quiet. The weather is changing, too. With less dust in the air, less rain falls in cities. The cleaner air increases visibility, in some cities from 20 to 100 miles.
Unconventional Clashes - Packs of wild dogs have reached the countryside in search of food. Without easy prey, they're willing to attack just about anything, including escaped elephants.
World Without Polluters - Without cars pumping seven billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air each year, greenhouse pollution begins to abate. New plants and leaves draw carbon from the air, helping to remove human pollution.
- - -
The underground bases are for who again? Without people the elite could start over with a small group of slaves - er ... workers to rebuild.
Sunday March 9, 2008
8 pm eastern
AFTERMATH - POPULATION ZERO
www.ngcaftermath.com
What Happens when 6.6
Billion People Disappear ???
How would the Earth react
if people suddenly disappeared?
The long-term effects are explored here.
Aftermath: Cities Crumble
Aftermath: Life After People: Day 1 to Day 7
March 3, 2008
Imagine if the human race vanished from existence. What would happen to all we left behind? What would happen to our pets? What would happen to homes that we left standing? What about our electric and nuclear plants - would they keep churning out energy?
Many questions, and few definite answers, but scientists are beginning to explain and explore what would happen if the human race suddenly did not exist. Below are just a number of effects that the earth would experience in the first week of non-human existence.
Without electric fencing to keep them in place, some zoo animals begin to escape their cages. The streets are becoming overrun with animals that are unaccustomed to their new surroundings.
In the United States alone, over 245 million pets (including 88 million cats and 75 million dogs) aren't being fed. These hungry animals are now either foraging in their homes or trying to break out to find other sources of food. Millions of cockroaches will die during the first winter without indoor heating to keep them warm. Squirrels, skunks, and other animals find new dens in newly vacant human homes.
Without people to maintain the system, power grids fail as rolling blackout spread across the United States. Coal-burning power plants go offline as coal deliveries cease. In hydro-electric plants, turbines flood without humans to maintain water levels. Highly automated nuclear power plants detect power-grid failures and automatically shut down their reactors.
The chlorine that oil refineries use to create gasoline is no longer being kept cold. Pressure release valves begin to discharge chlorine, endangering any animals that keep their noses close to the ground. Liquefied natural gas from natural gas depots also starts to escape through vents. What isn't burned by flares will ignite large explosions causing many chemical plants catch fire.
The bright lights from cities had interfered with birds' natural navigational instincts. With the electricity off, these birds fly safely over urban areas.
Aftermath: Life After People: Day 10 to 1 Year
March 4, 2008
Drastic changes to the environment. Animals running wild. Meltdowns and explosions all over the world. This is what life will be like on earth from day ten to one year after humans vanish from existence. Below are some of the changes that could effect earth between day 10 and the first year without the human race.
Cattle Can't Survive - Dairy cows need to be milked every day or their udders will get infected. Without humans to take care of them, many have died.
Nuclear Meltdown - Super-heated steam pours out of nuclear power plants as spent nuclear fuel boils the water in cooling tanks. Buildings buckle under the intense heat. As radioactive fallout spreads, nearby forests are decimated. Pine trees turn red as chlorophyll is damaged.
Radioactive Aftermath - Large animals are fleeing areas where plants have died from radiation. Smaller animals aren't as fortunate. They live on the forest floor where leaves and dirt are coated with radioactive material. Within the next ten years half the rodents and insects in the tainted areas will die. Large forests have become eerily quiet.
Radioactive Recovery - Trees within five miles of the nuclear power plant meltdowns can't regenerate. Further away, rainstorms are washing the radioactive particles into the ground.
Weather Changes - Much of the radiation has fallen out of the skies. Without humans, cities are quiet. The weather is changing, too. With less dust in the air, less rain falls in cities. The cleaner air increases visibility, in some cities from 20 to 100 miles.
Unconventional Clashes - Packs of wild dogs have reached the countryside in search of food. Without easy prey, they're willing to attack just about anything, including escaped elephants.
World Without Polluters - Without cars pumping seven billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air each year, greenhouse pollution begins to abate. New plants and leaves draw carbon from the air, helping to remove human pollution.
- - -
The underground bases are for who again? Without people the elite could start over with a small group of slaves - er ... workers to rebuild.
No Strain, No Gain - EU Fines Heirloom Seed Company for Selling "Endangered Strains"
SchNEWS looks at how corporations and governments are limiting and controlling the varieties of crops grown…
Last week, in France, the independent seed-saving and selling Association Kokopelli were fined €35,000 after being taken to court by corporate seed merchant Baumaux. Their crime was selling traditional and rare seed varieties which weren’t on the official EU-approved list – and, therefore, illegal to sell – thus giving them an ‘unfair trading advantage’. As the European Commission met this week to prepare new legislation for seed control, due in 2009, which will further restrict the geographic movement and range of crop varieties, this ruling will set a dangerous precedent.
Kokopelli, the non-profit French group set up in 1999 to safeguard endangered seed strains, may be driven out of existence by the fine. Their focus is biodiversity, food security, and the development of sustainable organic agriculture and seed networks in the ‘global south’. They have created one of the largest independent collections in Europe – with over 2500 sorts of vegetable, flower and cereals. Other non-government seedbanks are held by large agro-industrial companies like Limagrain, Syngenta and Pioneer – and guess what their main interest is money rather than starving subsistence farmers.
You may think that in an era of mass extinction it would be a no-brainer that we need to protect biodiversity and the heritage of the crop varieties which have been build up over centuries… but no. Since the 1970s, laws in the UK and Europe mean that to sell seeds, the strain needs to be registered – and everything else becomes ‘outlaw’ seeds, illegal to sell. In the UK it costs £300 per year to maintain the registration and £2000 to register a ‘new’ one – which all disadvantages smaller organisations.
Garden Organic in the UK run a Heritage Seed Library (www.organicgardening.org.uk/hsl), and they get around the law by not selling ‘outlaw’ seeds, but getting individual gardeners to become ‘seed guardians’ who pass around seeds for free to other members of the Library. Unlike other seedbanks, seeds are not kept in cold storage, but are living species which are continually grown and allowed to adapt to new environmental factors.
Another law-busting approach is seed swaps – which in recent years have sprouted up and down the country. People freely share seeds for another year’s growing – a co-operative way of maintaining genetic diversity. Most are around February - see www.seedysunday.org for the remaining events this year.
DIGGING THE DIRT
There’s so many types of potato – why not just use the best ones and forget the rest? Seed varieties which have been developed over the centuries have adapted to environments, and the genepool has to survive unforeseen factors such as pests and diseases – or climate change. The Irish potato famine was caused by an over-reliance on blight afflicted spuds, or, to take another example, a variety of cauliflower grown in Cornwall was abandoned in the 1940s for a French cauli which gave a higher yield, but turned out to be vulnerable to fungal ringspot – but the old ringspot-resistant Cornish type is now extinct.
Limiting the varieties means limiting the genetic base – presumably to leave GM technology in the clear as the only option.
While mass extinctions are taking place in natural ecosystems, the same has taken place in domesticated seeds. Today there are only half a dozen apple types grown in the UK, down from 2,000 a century ago. Over 90% of crop types listed in the US have been lost in 80 years, and China now grows fifty types of rice, down from 8,000 just twenty years ago. The whole human population is supported by just 30 main crop varieties – a recipe for disaster.
LIFE INC.
Originally laws regarding seeds were brought in during the 1920s – mostly to regulate quality and make sure they did what they said on the tin, and not disease ridden, full of stray weed seed or stones. At the time these laws were a good thing but guess what! It’s all been twisted around and now companies use these and subsequent laws to get control of the market. By cutting out the independent networks of farmers, gardeners, and independent seed-sellers - on a worldwide scale - ten companies now control two-thirds of seed distribution. And which companies are we talking about? It’s yer bio-tech giants like Monsanto and Syngenta. Unsurprisingly governments around the world are building up the legal framework to support these firms.
When you register a seed type, potentially anyone growing it is liable to pay you royalties – making ‘intellectual property’ out of plants which have evolved over thousands of years. These companies take an interest in the myriad of varieties with a view to splicing genetic traits into other types, and take out patents on the genetic content. Monsanto have a European patent on a type of wheat which is derived from a traditional Indian one, the sort used to make chapatis.
These same companies are narrowing the market down to the few mono-culture crops they are flogging, reducing diversity. Once farmers limit theirs to these few types – often hybrids which produce defective seeds – they are forced to return to ‘the man’ to buy next year’s seed rather than being able to save and use last year’s. This is the next thing down from the prospect of ‘terminator’ seeds – genetically modified to be sterile, and deliberately unable to supply future yields (See SchNEWS 557).
The farmers were in a far stronger position with their traditional varieties which were open-pollinated, carrying a wider genepool, and better able to adapt to new conditions and diseases.
SEWING WILD OATS
Seeds – and ultimately the control over production of food - becomes another front in which communities and individual farmers across the world have to fight against the forces of neoliberalism and corporatisation.
Via Campesino – the international peasants movement – held a gathering last weekend in Austria, bringing together small farmers from sixteen countries on ‘food and power’. They are increasing networking and solidarity amongst farmers across the world both to protect biodiversity and increase the sharing of crop choices and farming techniques. And it’s not just the corporations and large-scale agro-industry they are up against – due to climate change they are being forced to adapt quickly to new environmental factors and more than ever need to pool knowledge and resources.
For more see www.viacampesina.org
JUDGEMENT DAY
But don’t fret – whatever catastrophe, armageddon or ecocide befalls us, measures are at hand to make sure that if we survive a nuclear winter or total desertification, we’ll be able to recreate a bucolic paradise: This Tuesday (26th), Norway opened the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on the island of Spitsbergen in the Arctic circle. The vault is over 500 feet inside a mountain, and 130 metres above sea-level – in case the polar ice caps melt. Seeds are stored at below -20 degrees in moisture free packs and it is claimed that many will last a hundred years – longer for some cereals. Maybe after all the cyborg mutant terminator seeds have all long since sprouted legs and run off into the sunset, the traditional common-or-garden varieties will be the ones saying, “I’ll be back”.
* See www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault
* For more about Kokopelli see www.kokopelli-seeds.com
http://rinf.com/alt-news/business-news/no-strain-no-gain/2591/
Last week, in France, the independent seed-saving and selling Association Kokopelli were fined €35,000 after being taken to court by corporate seed merchant Baumaux. Their crime was selling traditional and rare seed varieties which weren’t on the official EU-approved list – and, therefore, illegal to sell – thus giving them an ‘unfair trading advantage’. As the European Commission met this week to prepare new legislation for seed control, due in 2009, which will further restrict the geographic movement and range of crop varieties, this ruling will set a dangerous precedent.
Kokopelli, the non-profit French group set up in 1999 to safeguard endangered seed strains, may be driven out of existence by the fine. Their focus is biodiversity, food security, and the development of sustainable organic agriculture and seed networks in the ‘global south’. They have created one of the largest independent collections in Europe – with over 2500 sorts of vegetable, flower and cereals. Other non-government seedbanks are held by large agro-industrial companies like Limagrain, Syngenta and Pioneer – and guess what their main interest is money rather than starving subsistence farmers.
You may think that in an era of mass extinction it would be a no-brainer that we need to protect biodiversity and the heritage of the crop varieties which have been build up over centuries… but no. Since the 1970s, laws in the UK and Europe mean that to sell seeds, the strain needs to be registered – and everything else becomes ‘outlaw’ seeds, illegal to sell. In the UK it costs £300 per year to maintain the registration and £2000 to register a ‘new’ one – which all disadvantages smaller organisations.
Garden Organic in the UK run a Heritage Seed Library (www.organicgardening.org.uk/hsl), and they get around the law by not selling ‘outlaw’ seeds, but getting individual gardeners to become ‘seed guardians’ who pass around seeds for free to other members of the Library. Unlike other seedbanks, seeds are not kept in cold storage, but are living species which are continually grown and allowed to adapt to new environmental factors.
Another law-busting approach is seed swaps – which in recent years have sprouted up and down the country. People freely share seeds for another year’s growing – a co-operative way of maintaining genetic diversity. Most are around February - see www.seedysunday.org for the remaining events this year.
DIGGING THE DIRT
There’s so many types of potato – why not just use the best ones and forget the rest? Seed varieties which have been developed over the centuries have adapted to environments, and the genepool has to survive unforeseen factors such as pests and diseases – or climate change. The Irish potato famine was caused by an over-reliance on blight afflicted spuds, or, to take another example, a variety of cauliflower grown in Cornwall was abandoned in the 1940s for a French cauli which gave a higher yield, but turned out to be vulnerable to fungal ringspot – but the old ringspot-resistant Cornish type is now extinct.
Limiting the varieties means limiting the genetic base – presumably to leave GM technology in the clear as the only option.
While mass extinctions are taking place in natural ecosystems, the same has taken place in domesticated seeds. Today there are only half a dozen apple types grown in the UK, down from 2,000 a century ago. Over 90% of crop types listed in the US have been lost in 80 years, and China now grows fifty types of rice, down from 8,000 just twenty years ago. The whole human population is supported by just 30 main crop varieties – a recipe for disaster.
LIFE INC.
Originally laws regarding seeds were brought in during the 1920s – mostly to regulate quality and make sure they did what they said on the tin, and not disease ridden, full of stray weed seed or stones. At the time these laws were a good thing but guess what! It’s all been twisted around and now companies use these and subsequent laws to get control of the market. By cutting out the independent networks of farmers, gardeners, and independent seed-sellers - on a worldwide scale - ten companies now control two-thirds of seed distribution. And which companies are we talking about? It’s yer bio-tech giants like Monsanto and Syngenta. Unsurprisingly governments around the world are building up the legal framework to support these firms.
When you register a seed type, potentially anyone growing it is liable to pay you royalties – making ‘intellectual property’ out of plants which have evolved over thousands of years. These companies take an interest in the myriad of varieties with a view to splicing genetic traits into other types, and take out patents on the genetic content. Monsanto have a European patent on a type of wheat which is derived from a traditional Indian one, the sort used to make chapatis.
These same companies are narrowing the market down to the few mono-culture crops they are flogging, reducing diversity. Once farmers limit theirs to these few types – often hybrids which produce defective seeds – they are forced to return to ‘the man’ to buy next year’s seed rather than being able to save and use last year’s. This is the next thing down from the prospect of ‘terminator’ seeds – genetically modified to be sterile, and deliberately unable to supply future yields (See SchNEWS 557).
The farmers were in a far stronger position with their traditional varieties which were open-pollinated, carrying a wider genepool, and better able to adapt to new conditions and diseases.
SEWING WILD OATS
Seeds – and ultimately the control over production of food - becomes another front in which communities and individual farmers across the world have to fight against the forces of neoliberalism and corporatisation.
Via Campesino – the international peasants movement – held a gathering last weekend in Austria, bringing together small farmers from sixteen countries on ‘food and power’. They are increasing networking and solidarity amongst farmers across the world both to protect biodiversity and increase the sharing of crop choices and farming techniques. And it’s not just the corporations and large-scale agro-industry they are up against – due to climate change they are being forced to adapt quickly to new environmental factors and more than ever need to pool knowledge and resources.
For more see www.viacampesina.org
JUDGEMENT DAY
But don’t fret – whatever catastrophe, armageddon or ecocide befalls us, measures are at hand to make sure that if we survive a nuclear winter or total desertification, we’ll be able to recreate a bucolic paradise: This Tuesday (26th), Norway opened the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on the island of Spitsbergen in the Arctic circle. The vault is over 500 feet inside a mountain, and 130 metres above sea-level – in case the polar ice caps melt. Seeds are stored at below -20 degrees in moisture free packs and it is claimed that many will last a hundred years – longer for some cereals. Maybe after all the cyborg mutant terminator seeds have all long since sprouted legs and run off into the sunset, the traditional common-or-garden varieties will be the ones saying, “I’ll be back”.
* See www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault
* For more about Kokopelli see www.kokopelli-seeds.com
http://rinf.com/alt-news/business-news/no-strain-no-gain/2591/
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