US biotech giant Monsanto on the dock

A campaign has been launched seeking support support for the International Monsanto Tribunal which is scheduled for 14-16 October in The Haque. A statement has been floated as under for registering support to the initiative.“We, the undersigned organizations, express our full support for the International Monsanto Tribunal in The Hague scheduled on 14-16 October 2016. We salute and support the tribunal’s steering committee and organizing committee in this most important effort. We view this tribunal as a culmination of the efforts of the farmers, fisherfolks, small food producers, and peoples of the world in exposing and opposing the devil that is Monsanto. Monsanto, the giant US-based biotechnology corporation, has through the decades committed grave crimes against the farmers, fisherfolks, small food producers, and peoples of the world by producing highly-toxic products and promoting a profit-crazed and highly-destructive agro-industrial model.
“It is the face of monopoly-capitalist corporations that have been advancing a corporate takeover of the food chain and depriving various countries of food sovereignty. It has been denying peoples and their communities of the power to assert and realize the fundamental right to food and to produce food.
“Monsanto has contributed to the worsening hunger, poverty, exploitation and debt peonage among small farmers, fisherfolks, food producers. It has contributed to attacks on the right to food of the said groups and of all peoples of the world.
“It in no small measure has contributed to the destruction of the environment and the deterioration of the health of numerous persons. It is in the interest of the farmers and peoples of the world that Monsanto’s grave crimes will be consolidated and amplified through the tribunal.
“We are calling on all grassroots groups of small food producers, especially farmer organizations and their support NGOs, to speak out on the impacts of Monsanto in their communities and countries. Let us educate our ranks and the public on these through various forms of forums and symposiums. Let us hold different forms of action condemning Monsanto and its crimes.” – News Desk