The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth is not that we are on the way to destroying the world - we've actually been on the way for quite a while. It is that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia - long sleep, to a whole new relationship to our world, to ourselves and to each other. - Joanna Macy
Welcome to Navdanya's Bija Vidyapeeth (Seed University)
Navdanya is a grassroots movement that was born out of the search for nonviolent farming practices that protect biodiversity, the Earth, our communities, and our farmers. Made up of over 54 community seed banks across India, Navdanya informs policy makers as well as the public about the dangers of genetically modified organisms (GMO's) and fights against the corporate patenting of seeds, plants and all forms of life. Navdanya is a women's centred movement for the protection of biological and cultural diversity.
My desire to work with Navdanya began many years ago in 1999 when I first saw Dr. Vandana Shiva speak at the World Trade Organization (WTO) protests in Seattle. I remember arriving to the city, feeling overwhelmed by the crowds and the intensity of the situation that was unfolding that day. I remember seeing her figure, small above the crowds of thousands. More than anything, I remember being surprised by the strength of her voice as it carried into the misty morning, and admiring her cries for a more just and sustainable world. Dr. Shiva's work pulls together many parts of my life that I never thought could be connected through work. I love nothing more than spending long days with my toes dug deeply into the warm summer soil, tending to plants that can feed myself and my family. I believe that the access to good, clean food, water and air are basic human rights. I believe that women play a key role in facilitating a global shift toward sustainability and greater consciousness for the earth. By shifting relationships of dominance, we can begin to redefine community and to support the empowerment of those who have been disenfranchised.
Navdanya exists in response to the corporate control of food systems. It links farmers around India and across the world in the fight for that which sustains each human being on this planet. Multinational corporations are urging India (and other countries around the world including Canada) under the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s TRIPS (Treaty of Intellectual Property Acts) to patent their traditional seed sources. Once patented, the seed becomes the private property of the corporation that has patented it, and farmers can be sued for patent violation if they grow the patented seed without purchasing a license. Once patented, seeds can be genetically modified until they become ‘terminator seeds’, seeds that do not regenerate on their own but instead must be ‘initiated’ by a chemical process. These seeds can not be saved for the following years planting, and must be bought anew each planting season.
In response to the far reaching consequences of this inhuman practice an estimated 200,000 farmers have committed suicide in India over the last 13 years. No longer able to meet farm debt payments, or support their families, death seems to be the only option. Navdanya is in the centre of the fight against this tragedy in India. Linking farmers around the world, Navdanya supports farmer education and works for policy change in India and beyond. Navdanya has already successfully overturned the patents on Indian basmati rice, neem products and on a traditional variety of eggplant – however, the fight is ongoing, and corporate capitalism weighs heavily on the side of industrial genetic modification.
In the world as it is today, it becomes a radical act of resistance and creativity to sit on a burlap sack, somewhere far in the Indian countryside sorting each tiny grain of rice into small piles. It becomes revolutionary to hoe in the garden, and to transplant one tiny calendula plant, which will later be harvested and made into a balm for cuts and bruises. A part of me wants to be in the streets, or at the doors of the government – telling someone, anyone, who will listen what an atrocity this mess is. Another part of me is content in being patient, and remembering the revolution of the seed as I sit in the shade and run the dusty grains of rice through my fingers. “I am a farmer”, my new friend Suneal told me during my placement at Navdanya this summer. “I am simple, and I am honest. This is enough to make the world change.”
The video link below shows Dr. Vandana Shiva speaking about the effects that globalization has had on communities and food systems. Below the video, is a map link to the location of Navdanya farm near Dehradun, India.
To learn more about the images below, please click on each individual image.
Live simply that others might simply live. - Elizabeth Seaton