Week of Rice Action 2008 - Press Releases
Anti-GE International Activists in Indonesia Freed
11 April 2008 : Three harrowing days after they were hijacked by the police, and with their passports confiscated, the 15 international activists attending the WORA events in Jakarta, Indonesia to highlight the threats of genetically engineered (GE) rice, were today freed, but asked to leave Indonesia within three days.
Anti-GE activists released, but passports confiscated
9 April 2008: After being hijacked yesterday by the Jakarta Police for attending a people's demonstration against GE (genetic engineered) rice outside the Ministry of Agriculture, and then being interrogated at the Immigration Office for nine hours, the 15 detained overseas activists were finally released at 3 am today but without their passports.
Anti-GM Rice Activists Arrested in Jakarta!
8 April 2008 : Fifteen people from six countries were arrested today in Jakarta (Indonesia) by Polda Jaya (the Police Corps of Jakarta Raya Territory) for participating in a peaceful people’s gathering to voice their protest against GM rice and call for saving the diversity of local rice to ensure people’s food security.
KMP pickets National Food Summit
Here are the links to the video coverage (done by GMANews.TV-QTV) about the rally in front of the national office of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Quezon City yesterday (April 4) as part of the WORA 2008 events in the Philippines and as a protest action against the "National Food Summit" sponsored by the Macapagal-Arroyo government thru DA.
Meeting with the Farmers and Scientists on Ecological Rice Cultivation
Deputy Director Adaptive Research assured to initiate the Research on Ecological Rice production and System of Rice Intensification (SRI).
Rice cartel abolition, genuine land reform bill OK pushed
MANILA, Philippines, 4 April 2008 -- Citing the national food summit as a “useless” move to solve the looming rice crisis in the country, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) pushed, instead, for the abolition of the rice cartel and the approval of House Bill 3059 or the genuine agrarian reform bill.
“Walang kuwenta ang food summit dahil hindi ito ang solusyon sa krisis ng bigas [The food summit is useless because this is not the solution to the rice crisis],” Ka Tonying Flores, auditor of KMP, said Friday.
Farmers moot on demerits of genetic engineering
The Lok Sanjh Foundation held a conference on disadvantages of genetic engineering in village Nathu Ana on Thursday.
The Event was organised in connection with the Week of Rice Action being observed in 13 Asian countries including Pakistan from April 2 to 8.
Farmers from different villages of the district participated in the conference. The event was aimed at educating growers on the issue of genetic engineering and building their capacity to raise their voice against such developments.
Farmers' meeting held on Genetic Engineering
SHEIKHUPURA - Lok Sanjh organised farmers' meeting on Genetic Engineering in village Nakthu-Ana on Thursday.
Lok Sanjh to observe rice action week 2008
SHEIKHUPURA: The Lok Sanjh, on a unanimous call to keep genetically engineered (GE) rice out of Asia, will observe a Rice Action Week 2008 in collaboration with farmers, organisations and indigenous communities of 13 countries of Asia from April 2-8.
In this connection, the Lok Sanjh will organize a seminar Wednesday (today) at village Muhammadpura to highlight the importance of rice corps in food items.
Farmer’s Assembly on Threats of GE
We do not accept the Monopolistic control of MNCs over Local Basmati Rice Varieties. Farmers in the Assembly rejected the GE Regime and recommended that they would raise voice against these developments at all levels.
