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Published on Friday, September 3, 2010 by TV Multiversity
Vandana Shiva: Resisting Hegemony
Excerpt of Vandana Shiva speaking about 'food and seed sovereignty' at the International Meeting on Resisting Hegemony held 2-5 August 2010 in Penang, Malaysia. The complete presentation and others from the meeting are available at the TV Multiversity channel on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/channels/tvmultiversity
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41 Comments so far
Show AllVANDANA SHIVA - One of the greatest citizens of planet Earth!
So great, in fact, she deserves a planet of her own... it would be what Earth looked like 500 years ago... and Nazi free.
She's definitely a smart, good-hearted woman.
Did you know she has a PhD in physics ?
Another great Indian woman is Arundhati Roy, who was also blessed with a beautiful face and voice:
http://www.globalautonomy.ca/global1/glofigures/GL_PR_ArundhatiRoy_Fig1.jpg
India is certainly producing some good Planetary Citizens.
Yes, Shiva and Roy are certainly two of the most beautiful beings on this planet.
What a brilliant, prophetic woman. Thank you for posting this.
She has it right what they want - total ownership of the world.
Watch out for S 510, a "food safety" bill being marketed by bad eggs. S 510 would deceitfully put us totally under the WTO, ending US sovereignty as a nation. Democracy would be ended because no vote would matter since it could be overturned with a simple majority by WTO CEOs, behind closed doors.
Here is who "they" are:
http://www.rense.com/general7/gw.htm
Why is it significant that many of Bush's staff and cabinet appointees are former pharmaceutical company executives as was GW's father, former President George Bush? These corporations are voraciously patenting the earth's life forms-its plants, bacteria, viruses, animals and even human genetic lineages. Reproduction of plants, animals and humans may eventually be totally controlled by these corporations, genetically-altered, recombined into chimeric life forms and exploited for profit.
The Human Genome Project, as it admits on the very first page of its website - http://vector.cshl.org/eugenics.html - , is derived from the eugenics movement in the US and Nazi Germany during the first half of the 20th century. The Eugenics Records Office at Cold Springs Harbor NY-where American eugenics started-was built by the Harriman family-the Bushes' Wall Street business partners in funding Hitler. This is the new frontier of colonialism in the 21st century-the total domination and exploitation of the earth and everything on it-the New World Order both former President Bush and Adolf Hitler so frequently called for.
Monsanto designed S 510.
http://yupfarming.blogspot.com/2009/12/monsantos-baby-s-510.html
And here is who is behind S 510:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/5/Food-Safety-Reform-and-t-by-Nicole-Johnson-100426-437.html?show=votes
Winrock International was founded by Winthrop Rockefeller and counts in the long list of its funding partners numerous foundations, government agencies, international agencies, private sector groups and more, all of whom are aligned with vested interests that want international standards harmonized in order to eliminate barriers to international trade. Winrock International receives financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation, the DOE, USAID, the US Department of State, the USDA, the World Bank, the FAO, SYSCO and the Tides Foundation.[64] Winrock International also has long-standing ties with Monsanto ....
At the risk of sounding......inane. I keep getting this kind of X-Files feeling. And i didn't even watch the show!
Also, i have been a big fan of hers for about eight years, when i first saw her talk on "deep feminism", which she connected to GMs and the patriarchal culture over nature.
These "people" want to recreate the planet in their own , souless image. They hate life itself. They are in competition with 'Mother Nature'. But guess what....Nature is way more creative than these twisted sociopaths can begin to imagine. There are no evil geniuses. Clever - yes. High IQ. Yes. But truly creative. No. Their vision is innately limited since it is also innately flawed.
Damn good point there at the end- I like the rest too.
I concur with comments posted regarding Vandana Shiva's important message which she has been advocating for decades. I would like to add that I deeply wish more people would take the time to really listen to Shiva and her grounded common sense.
Many free MP3 format lectures from Vandana Shiva here:
http://www.radio4all.net
Just do a search for VANDANA SHIVA.
Or do a search for CHOMSKY, ZINN, ANGELA DAVIS, ARUNDHATI ROY, etc, etc etc.
I agree, radio4all is a great website.
Don't forget "Parenti" (Dr. Michael Parenti).
UNWELCOME GUESTS, NADER, SCAHILL, ROKKE, RITTER, RAHUL MAHAJAN, CORNEL WEST, KRUGMAN, NAOMI KLEIN...
any other suggestions from anyone?
Chris Hedges, Derrick Jensen, Chris Martenson, John Zerzan, Raj Patel, Chalmers Johnson, Francis Moore Lappe, Micheal Ruppert.
Who's got more, I'm going to copy and paste these. Please help a Youtube junky.
There should be more stuff by Vandana Shiva on CD. She has written several books and is a pioneer in seed saving as well as a big voice against the disaster known as Monsanto, i hope more folks will check her out .....
second those emotions- Vandana is indeed hot.
also she has many books
try south end press first
http://www.southendpress.org/authors/17
and her website is full of good stuff
http://www.navdanya.org/
Vandana Shiva
Can't be that good- it isn't FUCKING CAPTIONED!
Yes my language was bad- non-captioned vids deserve NO RESPECT.
Vandana Shiva is always GOOD and worth taking the time to listen carefully to hear what she is saying. She deserves respect from everyone on this planet. I would encourage you to listen to the video again, carefully. What you can learn from this woman is priceless and worth the investment of your time.
Could it be that without captioning, hearing impaired folks can't get the benefit?
You have a point. However, I was replying to someone, who for all intents and purposes, seemed to be angry because the person speaking had a (gasp) accent. The language he/she used was typically American. If he/she was actually interested in this very important subject, they certainly could have googled to see if Ms. Shiva's talk was recorded in writing. I may have over-reacted and if so, I apologize.
blythespirit,you were not over reacting.People need to be civil and realise that they degrade the thread with unnecessary profanity.Proper profanity is used artistically and sparingly %$&*@#!
peace
blythe ... im afraid i would have crushed that moron like a little bug but im trying to retain a sense of propriety. Its sooo fucking hard not to retaliate !!
Excellent video. Thank you for posting, CD. I had never heard of this woman before. Very interested to check out some of her books.
Vandana Shiva is my "hero" and I very rarely use that word to describe anyone. She has been for a long time. What she has to say becomes more valuable with each passing day. We need to hear much, much more from this wise woman.
Brillant woman.
See her Democracynow.org
Chelsea
I always enjoy hearing Vandana Shiva, however, I also had problems with a couple of the food terms toward the end of this video. The substitute food (extruded and colored to represent the same bean-flour mixture as different foods) ... what was the food that she said was” the staple of Indian diet”? She mentioned that the attendees of this conference had just enjoyed the "...?" also. Thank you for any help with this.
I also read everything that I can find where she has spoken or written. I strongly suggest that anyone that is hearing challenged or finds terms and accents a challenge, read what she has to say. Do not miss the opportunity, that this great mind offers, to learn. It could save your life and the world.
Knowing your enemies and understanding their tactics keeps you from being anesthetized by the hum of popular government and media noise.
>>"... what was the food that she said was” the staple of Indian diet”? She mentioned that the attendees of this conference had just enjoyed the ...?"
thegreenchick, after seeing your post, I thought I should write about the "pulses" or "dhal" (in Hindi) that's mentioned by Vandana Shiva. Check my post below.
The snack she mentions is called "vadai" - a donut-shaped, deep-fried snack made with batter from "black-gram" or "urad dhal". It's a dish that's from the southern Indian state of Tamilnadu (and Malaysia has many Tamil people living there - where this presentation takes place). The original Tamil word for black gram is "Uḷuttam paruppu" ("paruppu" in Tamil = "dal" in Hindi). Northern Indians pronounce "vadai" as "vada" - as did Vandana Shiva. If you get a chance, try it out in an Indian restaurant - it's eaten with coconut chutney and another lentil soup called "sambar" - also originally from the south (although you can find it in restaurants in other parts of India). The one I would recommend is the vadai made from "urad dal" - it's sligtly crisp on the outside and softer on the inside. There are other kinds too. The lentil used for sambar is called "toor dal" ("Tuvaram paruppu" in Tamil).
Wikipedia has a page on "Dal", and it's spelled differently (Dahl or Daal, or Dhal - so that can mess up the internet search somewhat :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dal
(Right now, I can only dream about vadai + coconut chutney. Or, maybe look at pictures on the internet!)
it is important to mention the high protein content, i believe about 20% of the different kinds of dahl...
Care for Her and all her creatures
Vandana Shiva mentions makes some sharp observations here:
First she mentions the infamous "Larry Summers memo" (when Summers was with the World Bank) that lists three reasons why "encouraging MORE migration of the dirty industries to the Least Developed Countries" is good for business:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summers_memo
[Obama fans: Remember his eloquent and effusive praise for his "economic team" as he introduced them in Nov. 2008? He obviously knew what he was doing.]
Then she mentions that "agriculture had become the place to extend the war economy" and that "every input in agriculture is a war chemical". Viewed in that light, developing countries have all the more reason to resist the spread of the multinational agri corporations in their own countries, because this not just another business trying to make a living by engaging in trade. It's much more sinister.
Then she talks about the clever words used to talk about native seeds versus industry-bred seeds. And mentions calculations that showed how the so-called Green Revolution is not all that it's cracked up to be, and similar results could have been obtained using native crops and traditional farming methods, given the same acreage of land and water. The most important casualty here is the biodiversity, which is increasingly under attack by the spreading monoculture crops.
To those who are not much familiar with the Indian diet, Vandana Shiva mentions a variety of "pulses" - a term used mostly in India and South Asia to refer to
"the edible seeds of various crops (as peas, beans, or lentils) of the legume family;" (from Merriam-Webster).
They are generically referred to as "dhal" in Hindi (other languages in India use different names), and if you walk into an Indian or a South Asian store, you could find at least 4 or 5 different types of "dhal". Shiva is right - these are the primary source of protein for vegetarians in India. Rice, dhal and some vegetables would be a basic, everyday meal in many parts of India.
She makes the interesting observation that the West has never understood the value of these "pulses" because they never had pulses in their diet. This is an important point, because this is clearly behind the concern over an adequate amount of protein for vegans. For those who use some kind of dhal regularly in their cooking, this concern over protein might look absurd. Secondly, an adult only needs so much protein - mostly for "maintenance" purposes. Too much more actually overloads the system as this excess protein gets broken down.
What shocked me most was her mention of the i-Dhal - a concoction made from soy and flour, and extruded into the same shape of the various dhals and colored to look natural. It's like making potato chips out of flour, except these "analog dhals" do not contain their original dhal at all! This is the height of insanity and possibly sinister, too. Sinister, because it's an indication that India is seriously running out of farmland due to diversion of farmland and water to produce more dairy and meat for the emerging affluent class, to produce crops for export (such as tropical fruits), and diversion of land for industrial and commercial purposes. Along with this madness, they may also be importing soy and corn flour - so they can keep the American farm lobby satisfied. Such policies can only be driven by a greedy and callous elite minority, and this is not a natural development due to scarcity alone. Not looking good at all!
... ... (continued below) ... ...
... (continued from above) ...
The only strange thing I noticed on this excellent presentation was her omission of the assassination of Indira Gandhi, then India's Prime Minister, in October 1984, considering that she mentions the storming of the Sikh temple by the Indian army in June of that year as one of the two "tragic events" in 1984, the other one being Bhopal, in December 1984. Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards in revenge for her ordering the Indian army into their main temple to flush out the Sikh militants demanding a separate country. (Pakistani intelligence was active even back then, since Punjab borders Pakistan and the weapons were moved in with the active help of the Pak. intelligence.)
While there are many in India who consider Indira Gandhi and her father Jawaharlal Nehru as responsible for slowing down India's "progress" due to their blatantly socialist policies, and others who rightly blame Indira Gandhi for the "emergency rule" during 1975-77, during her early years, she went after the super-rich (by Indian standards) with a singular zeal. She nationalized India's 14 largest banks, mandated upper limits on personal income, land holdings and corporate profits (it's true!). She also abolished the payouts to the "royal families" that existed at the time of Indian independence. From Wikipedia,
"In India, the Privy Purse was a payment made to the royal families of erstwhile princely states as part of their agreements to first integrate with India in 1947, and later to merge their states in 1949 whereby they lost all ruling rights. The Privy Purse was continued to the royal families until the Constitutional Amendment of 1971, implemented after a two year legal battle, was passed by which all their privileges and allowances from the Central Government ceased to exist. ... Indira Gandhi argued the case for abolition based on equal rights for all citizens and the need to reduce the government's revenue deficit."
However, elsewhere, Vandana Shiva has quoted Indira Gandhi on occasion:
"My idea of a better-ordered world is one in which medical discoveries would be free of patents and there would be no profiteering from life or death" - Indira Gandhi, 1981
Vandana Shiva also mentions another Indian Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri as refusing to bow down to US pressure to purchase hybrid wheat. And soon after, he died in Tashkent under mysterious circumstances. However, Shastri is credited with ushering in the Green Revolution AND the White Revolution (increased production of milk). And Tashkent was in the Soviet Union (Uzbekistan) where Shastri died. It is considered a conspiracy, and there is a theory that it was carried out by the Soviets as they saw Indira Gandhi as more amenable to Soviet interests. That seems plausible because Nixon and Kissinger hated Indira Gandhi and Nixon even joked with the Chinese about Indira Gandhi to impress them, during his visit there (I've seen some meeting transcripts published).
Anyway, I realize this part about Indian history would be of interest only to a handful of people.
Thanks.
Thank you for that incredible post, Alcyon. I am one of the "handful of people" you mention. I was a history major in college and still read and study it regularly, but I admit my knowledge of that part of the world is much less thorough than my specialties, the Middle East and Europe. I really enjoyed reading that post.
Despite Indira Gandhi's propensity for dynastic rule and her attempt at temporarily derailing her opposition with The Emergency, she definitely did a helluva lot more to help the Indian poor than a host of leaders who followed her. At least thats my understanding of it and im sure someone could prove me wrong. Considering how completely out of touch with the lower strata the current Indian leaders have been these last 2 decades, Indira was at least trying to implement what she learnt from her Dad (Nehru), who was a committed Socialist. Besides, she had the sheer guts to kick Nixon and Kissinger in the cojones and that alone is reason enough to love her !
Somehow iDhal is so positively disturbing, i cant seem to shake it out of my system. Its the equivalent of eviscerating your basic food and filling it with what can only be characterized as agro-industrial waste products.
It sounds like about 75% of the food that makes up the standard American diet- designed in a lab, manufactured in a factory.
I hope the yuppie Indians who buy this sort of stuff are in a tiny, miniscule minority and that it dies a natural death due to lack of buyers. I really hope it's not pushed on to the poor people, and God forbid, through the public distribution system (ration shops).
Thank you for your posts - much appreciated.
I hope CD will post more from Shiva, and from Roy, on this site. Their perspectives are sharp indeed and much needed in places like this - all over, for that matter ....
I'm just an uneducated peasant from East Texas but have been following Vandana for over 5 years and credit her with 'waking' me up to the fact that what I feed my kids and grandkids is at the very least, questionable.
I appreciate your posts, all of them as knowledge is power and I may be out of my league here on this site but my voice is one that people listen to; I'm pleased to have something worth listening to and it is because of sites like this.
Peace.
Hi Maiden, you say that "my voice is one that people listen to" and also say "I may be out of my league here on this site". That doesn't make sense at all, as that's more than many people can say :)
I hope you'll continue to participate... Have a great weekend!
Thank you Alcyon; your posts are ones that I eagerly await and truly appreciate because of how much I learn. Now, to wait for the miracle of 'the people' wanting to wake up and do something about our collective issues. It's been my sad experience and I'm sure you can relate, to watch them slap away at anyone trying to open their eyes. I won't give up though and I come back to this site to be encouraged by all of you that haven't given up either:)
the economic pressure used to force farmers into the green revolution
were also used in japan to prevent farmers from following the discoveries of masanobu fukuoka, who showed how it was possible to grow rice without transplanting. soil preparation, pesticides or fertilizer. his program would have helped japan in its current rice farming crisis, as fukuoka sensei's method created large amounts of free time for the farmer, and ended the heavy labor usually required...