AUTHOR: Redaspie DATE: Thursday, June 01, 2006 ----- BODY:

Imagine a vast piece of string, all higgle-piggleby, and along this string there are strung rows of little beads. The fact that the string is all mixed up and entangled means that the beads themselves are entangled, and are therefore not only connected to each other by the fact that they are strung along next to each other on the string, but are also tangled up with each other.

Got that? Now read on...

Most of us are of course aware of the invasion and occupation of Iraq by the US and its allies. Those who were paying attention are no doubt also aware of the endless atrocities that have been committed there since the invasion, not just by suicide bombers, which the media seem to be so fond of concentrating on, but also by the US and British occupation forces themselves. They would also be aware that the reasons given for going to war by those who launched the invasion have turned out to be a pack of lies. The initial argument, that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction that could be used against other countries at the drop of a hat, have been comprehensively discredited. The US and British governments then argued that the war had in fact been about bringing democracy to Iraq, a claim that looks pretty hollow in the face of the suppression of trade unions, the closing down of newspapers critical of the occupation, the shooting of peaceful demonstrators, and of course the above mentioned atrocities. All this will be perfectly well known by most people.

A slightly less well known issue is that of Genetically Modified crops, genetically modified fruit and veg that is supposed to have improved flavour, size, productivity etc. over just leaving it to nature. This new technology is trumpeted as having the potential to end world hunger, but in fact the only reason there is world hunger is due to poverty and the systematic looting of the third world's resources, not because there is not enough food. As environmentalists and others have argued, GM crops are a potential threat to biodiversity due to the possibility that they might intermingle with natural species in unforseeable ways and threaten the balance of nature, There is also evidence that their consumption may well be unsafe for humans. Studies have suggested that GM potatoes may damage immune systems, and that genetically modifying one kind of crop by splicing it with genes from another crop may induce potentially fatal allergies in some people. However, the GM companies are not interested in people's health - their interests are in maximising their profits and more - to control the world's food production. For instance, Monsanto, one of the world's leading GM producing companies, have filed patents giving them control and ownership of various types of wheat- types that have been grown for centuries by Indian farmers who now face the hijacking of their food heritage by a multinational corporation.

You might not think these two issues are linked. But they are:

"Aid agencies and NGOs across the globe have been reacting with horror to the
news that new legislation in Iraq was carefully put in place last year by the
United States that will effectively bring the whole of the country’s
agricultural sector under the control of trans-national corporations. This
spells disaster for the Iraqi government and the country’s farmers, paving the
way for companies like Monsanto and Syngenta to control the entire food chain
from planted seed to packaged food products."

Just two beads out of thousands on a vast entangled string.

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