Gates to a Global Empire

Dr. Vandana Shiva is an author, physicist, ecologist and advocate of biodiversity conservation and protection of farmers' and women's rights. Her pioneering work around food sovereignty, traditional agriculture, and women’s rights created fundamental cultural shifts in how the world views these issues. Along with Jerry Mander, Edward Goldsmith, Ralph Nader, and Jeremy Rifkin, Dr. Shiva is a leader and board member of the International Forum on Globalization and a prominent figure of the global solidarity movement known as the alter-globalization movement.  Dr. Shiva founded Navdanya, an organization that promotes agroecology, seed freedom, and a vision of Earth Democracy, seeking justice for the Earth and all living beings. She has authored more than 20 books including Reclaiming the Commons: Biodiversity, Indigenous Knowledge, and the Rights of Mother Earth (Synergetic Press, 2020), Philanthrocapitalism & The Erosion of Democracy: A Global Citizens’ Report on the Corporate Control of Technology, Health, and Agriculture (Synergetic Press, 2022) and Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture:  Sustainable Solutions for Hunger, Poverty, and Climate Change (Synergetic Press, 2022).  Dr. Shiva is a member of the scientific committee of the Fundacion IDEAS, Spain's Socialist Party's think tank and the International Organization for a Participatory Society. She received the Right Livelihood Award in 1993, an honor known as an "Alternative Nobel Prize". She has received numerous other awards and honors for her work including the “Save the World” award in 2009 and the Sydney Peace Prize in 2010. Dr. Shiva’s life and work is the subject of the award-winning 2021 documentary, “Seeds of Vandana Shiva.” Navdanya International promotes a new agricultural and economic paradigm, a culture of food for health, where ecological responsibility and economic justice replace the present greed, consumerism and competition which have become dominant in society. It aims at regaining the common good as a foundation for a renewed sense of community, solidarity and culture of peace. Co-Executive Director and Researcher, focusing on emerging technologies on human rights, biodiversity, equity, and food systems, ETC Group. Molecular Biologist and former Genetic Engineer. Currently Editor of Independent Science News website. Satish Kumar is an Indian British activist and speaker. He has been a Jain monk, nuclear disarmament advocate and pacifist. Hs is the founder of Schumacher College, England, UK. Timothy A. Wise is a senior researcher at the Small Planet Institute, collaborating with director Frances Moore Lappé to start its new Land and Food Rights Program. He is also a senior research fellow at Tufts University's Global Development and Environment Institute. He is a Senior Advisor at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Introduction:

Philanthrocapitalism and Colonization in the Digital Age xv

Vandana Shiva

SECTION I: A GLOBAL EMPIRE

Disrupting a World of Traditional Knowledge,

Sovereignty, and Biodiversity 3

Vandana Shiva

An Overview of Bill & Melinda Gates

Agricultural Innovations 17

Navdanya

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the

International Rice Research Institute Alliance 27

Chito P. Medina

SECTION II: PATENTS, GENE EDITING,

AND DIGITAL SEQUENCE INFORMATION

Seed Ownership Through New Gene Editing Technologies 43

Vandana Shiva

vi Table of Contents

Gene Editing: Unexpected Outcomes and Risks 47

Dr. Michael Antoniou

Megadiverse Countries as Providers of Genetic

Resources & Digital Sequence Information 51

Aid  Jim nez-Mart nez and Adelita San Vicente Tello

SECTION III: BIOPIRACY

Biopiracy of Climate Resilient Seeds 61

Navdanya

Biopiracy Case Studies: GMO Bananas 67

Vandana Shiva & Navdanya International

SECTION IV: GLOBAL AGRICULTURE

The Recolonization of Agriculture 79

Navdanya

A Treaty to Protect Our Agricultural Biodiversity 93

Jos  Esquinas-Alcazar

Ag Tech: Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural

Innovations in Argentina 101

Fernando Cabaleiro

SECTION V: THE THIRD “GREEN REVOLUTION”

The Golden Rice Hoax 109

Vandana Shiva

Why We Oppose Golden Rice 115

Stop Golden Rice Network (SGRN)

Table of Contents vii

The Dystopia of the Green Revolution in Africa 121

Nicoletta Dentico

The Gates Foundation’s Green Revolution Fails

Africa’s Farmers 129

Timothy Wise

Seeds of Surveillance Capitalism 137

Navdanya

SECTION VI: BIOTECHNOLOGY &

GEOENGINEERING

The Problems with Lab Made Food 143

Vandana Shiva

Software To Swallow: The Intellectual Property

Model of Food 149

Seth Itzkan

Bill Gates’ Climate “Solutions”:

Funding for Geoengineering 151

Dru Jay And Silvia Ribeiro (ETC Group)

SECTION VII: GENE DRIVES & THE SIXTH

MASS EXTINCTION

Driven to Exterminate: How Bill Gates Brought

Gene Drive Extinction Technology into The World 163

Zahra Moloo And Jim Thomas (ETC Group)

Gates Foundation Hired a Public Relations Firm

to Manipulate the UN Over Gene Drives 175

Jonathan Latham

Targeting Palmer Amaranth: A Traditionally Nutritious and

Culturally Significant Crop 179

Vandana Shiva

Global Resistance to Genetic Extinction Technology 183

Navdanya

SECTION VIII: MEDIA, HEALTH, AND EDUCATION

Digital Dictators 191

Satish Kumar

The Philanthropic Monopoly of Bill & Melinda Gates 199

Nicoletta Dentico

How the Cornell Alliance Spreads Disinformation

and Discredits Agroecology 215

Community Alliance for Global Justice and Agra Watch

Bt Brinjal: Alliance for Crooked Science & Corporate Lies 219

Farida Akhter

SECTION X: AN EARTH-BASED PHILOSOPHY

A Message from Gaia 233

Navdanya

Contributors 237

Endnotes 239

Index 273