That leaves 4 songs to go….

In other news, there’s a Boven trip coming up next weekend, remember you may not ever get another chance!  

I’ve added a page for all things green, and kicked it off with some info on where you can drop off plastic to get it recycled. Hope to expand it with some more hard-to-find goodies.

And then some bad news: Woolworths did not keep to their promise – here an email from Mark who drives the campaign:

“Woolworths claims that the premium on free-range eggs has nearly tripled since June and this has prevented them from delivering on their promise to switch to free-range eggs.

Their first official commitment to us (in writing) was for the first 70 products to be rolled out in April 2010, a second wave to be announced in June 2010, and a new liquid egg factory to be built as a matter of top priority – so that they could expedite the complete changeover within 2 years. They’ve sent lists and plans, yet nothing has materialised.

We are going to meet Woolworths in August to find out more about this delay and report back to you.

Mark Fox (mark@activist.co.za)”

And that’s all the laundry, some clean and some not so clean.

Dear friends,

We did it! The proposal to legalise whale killing went down in flames in Morocco — and our campaign helped to tip the balance.

In a few short weeks, we built the biggest whale-saving petition in history, signed by an extraordinary 1.2 million of us worldwide, and delivered it directly to key delegates at the International Whaling Commission meeting. In the end, the 24 year old whaling ban was upheld.

The pro-whaling lobby tried to use political favours to win a so called ‘compromise’ that amounts to a quota for hunting whales, but as tension grew in the closed-door talks, our massive petition became a top story on the BBC’s world news, and we worked with friendly negotiators and other allies to put pressure where it was most needed and draw greater global attention.

The Australian environment minister Peter Garrett received our petition for like-minded governments in front of the world’s media and said “Thank you very much Avaaz. It is a great pleasure to be here and accept this petition … I believe the people of the world’s voices need to be heard. I certainly hear them today.”

The US delegation greeted us saying — “Avaaz! We saw your billboard at the airport!” and delegates were overheard excitedly discussing our giant real-time petition counter outside the meeting as it blew far past the million mark.

After the meeting, one European negotiator told us: “We’ve managed to keep the ban in place…I’ve been checking the petition online. I was very impressed by how fast the numbers are rising and seeing people signing from across the world.”

This is an important victory for whales — and for global people power — together we demonstrated that international decisions can be shifted by a little bit of well-placed effort from a lot of people everywhere.

Over its short lifespan, our movement has exploded through a simple democratic idea: that people power can stand up and win against powerful special interests. Whether it be protecting whales, countering corruption, supporting authentic democracy movements or fighting for a global climate deal, we are coming together to bridge the gap between the world we have and the world most people everywhere want.

Now, if enough of us chip in just a small amount for Avaaz’s member-funded campaigning, we’ll have the strength to win even more victories. Click here now to donate –

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/whales_reportback_2/?vl

With hope,

Ricken, Alice, Paul, Mia, Ben, Luis, David, Graziela, Milena and the whole Avaaz team

From Activist.co.za:

Success! Woolworths commits to switching over to free range eggs and apologises for “unintentionally” misleading customers. The First 60 products were promised by April 2010 – now we follow up

FREE RANGE EGG UPDATE FROM WOOLIES
In an e-mail to Wendy Hardie on 19th April, 2010, Julian Novak apologised for the delay in the roll out of products made with free range egg, and went on to say : “We are delighted to be able to communicate to you that the first 100 lines “made with free range eggs” will appear on our counters over the next 4 months, with 70 appearing in the next ten weeks.”

He said that they expect to launch the second wave of free range egg products by the end of the year : “We will be able to confirm this list and the timing by end June.”

To meet the needs of the 600 remaining Woolworths products still made with battery egg, he said that planning is underway to build a new liquid egg factory.  “We expect new production capacity will become available in approximately 2 year’s time….As soon as the factory becomes operational, we will expedite the changeover.”

…

“The ACB recently published a report featuring Smartstax entitled ‘The stacked gene revolution: A biosafety nightmare’. It pointed out that while the majority of commercially cultivated GM food crops contain three new genes at most, Smartstax contains eight.

The centre said that several prominent scientists at the United Nations have expressed grave concerns about the biosafety implications of this, and also the lax safety assessments carried out.”

It’s Friday and I’m not really in the mood to get all excited about this. It really is Same Shit Different Day, and I have for the moment lost hope for SA. Our politicians can’t stop filling their pockets long enough to tell Julius to STFU, so how are they going to resist Monsanto, who I’m sure will make it worth their while signing on the dotted line?

Anyways, YOU can still get worked up and go kick some ass. Here’s some stuff from the Organic Consumers Association to get you started:

(PS: I wonder what our government’s standpoint on number 3 would be, given the recent renewed interest in land redistribution and giving land to small scale PDA farmers?)

10 Things Monsanto Does Not Want You to Know

What’s wrong with Genetic Engineering?
Genetic engineering is a radical technology that breaks down genetic barriers between humans, plants and animals. Once released, these genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can easily spread and interbreed with other organisms, and they are virtually impossible to recall back to the laboratory. Monsanto provides roughly 90% of GMO seeds in the world. These seeds have been genetically modified to produce their own pesticide or survive repeated spraying of their toxic herbicide Roundup. Monsanto’s GMOs are not designed to increase yields to feed the world, but rather to increase Monsanto’s profits by increasing the use of chemicals such as Roundup and selling their highpriced patented seeds which farmers must buy every year. Due to the enormous political clout of Monsanto, the American public is being denied the right to know whether their foods are genetically engineered or not. Following is a list of 10 facts about Monsanto and GMOs, and how they can adversely affect your health, local farmers, and the planet.

1 No GMO Labeling Laws in the US
Foods containing GMOs don’t have to be labeled in the US. Monsanto has fought hard to prevent labeling laws. This is alarming, since approximately 70% of processed foods in the US now contain GMO ingredients. The European Union, Japan, China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and many other nations now require mandatory GMO labeling.

2 Lack of Adequate Safety Testing
In May 1992, Vice President Dan Quayle announced the FDA’s anticonsumer right-to-know policy which stated that GMO foods need not be labeled nor safety-tested. Meanwhile, prominent scientists such as Arpad Pusztai and Gilles-Eric Seralini have publicized alarming research revealing severe damage to animals fed GMO foods.

3 Monsanto Puts Small Farmers out of Business
Percy Schmeiser is a Canadian farmer whose canola fields were contaminated with Monsanto’s Round-Up Ready Canola by pollen from a nearby GMO farm. Monsanto successfully argued in a lawsuit that Schmeiser violated their patent rights, and forced Schmeiser to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. This type of biotech bullying is happening all over North America.

4 Monsanto Products Pollute the Developing World
Monsanto’s deadly legacy includes the production of Agent Orange and DDT. Now massive aerial spraying of Roundup in Columbia is being used by the US and the Colombian government as a counter-insurgency tactic, contaminating food crops and poisoning villagers.

5 Monsanto Blocking Government Regulations
A revolving door exists between Monsanto and US regulatory and judicial bodies making key decisions. Justice Clarence Thomas, a former Monsanto lawyer, was the one who wrote the majority opinion on a key Monsanto case. Michael Taylor once worked for the FDA, later represented Monsanto as a lawyer, then returned as the FDA’s Deputy
Commissioner for Policy when rBGH was granted approval.

6 Monsanto Guilty of False Advertising
France’s highest court ruled in 2009 that Monsanto had lied about the safety of its weed killer Roundup. The court confirmed an earlier judgment that Monsanto had falsely advertised its herbicide as “biodegradable”.

7 Consumers Reject Bovine Growth Hormone
In the wake of mass consumer pressure, major retailers such as Safeway, Publix, Wal-Mart, and Kroger banned store brand milk products containing Monsanto’s controversial genetically engineered hormone rBGH. Starbucks, under pressure from the OCA and our allies, has likewise banned rBGH milk.

8 GMO Crops Do Not Increase Yields
A major UN/World Bank-sponsored report compiled by 400 scientists and endorsed by 58 countries concluded that GM crops have little to offer to the challenges of poverty, hunger, and climate change. Better alternatives are available, and the report championed organic farming as the sustainable way forward for developing countries.

9 Monsanto Controls US Soy Market
In 1996, when Monsanto began selling Roundup Ready soybeans, only 2% of soybeans in the US contained their patented gene. By 2008, over 90% of soybeans in the US contained Monsanto’s gene.

10 GMO Foods May Lead to Food Allergies
In March 1999, UK researchers at the York Laboratory were alarmed to discover that reactions to soy had skyrocketed by 50% over the previous year. Genetically modified soy had recently entered the UK from US imports and the soy used in the study was largely GM.
 

My favourite bit: “The ANC Youth League will never retreat from its programme to expose the possible corruption and tax fraud of any person in South Africa and will do everything in its power to expose Millionaire Journalists who do not pay tax and cannot explain how they accumulated their wealth.”

Sure, we can all see you’re sincere. Brings to mind Kurt Cobain’s words: ”Who needs action when you’ve got words?”

Quoting directly from Chris Roper’s blog:

Bloggers For a Free Press
I’m sure you’re aware by now of the slander campaign launched by the ANC Youth League’s spokesperson Nyiko Floyd Shivambu against journalists they perceive to be against the Youth League. This campaign is especially directed against City Press journalist Dumisani Lubisi. You’ll remember that he was instrumental in exposing Julius Malema’s interests in various companies.

Floyd Shivambu. “You want some of this? Huh? You want some?”

  The move taken by the ANCYL is disturbing, especially their response to the letter written by 19 of the country’s most influential political journalists, asking the ANC to distance itself from the actions of the Youth League and Floyd Shivambu, where they basically told these journalists to sod off. More than that, Shivambu then threatened the journalists who refused to run his slanderous story.

Battery eggs are produced by hens who live in cramped, caged conditions with a space allowance each of 75% of an A4 sheet of paper. Their beaks are always seared off and they do not have access to sunlight or the ability to exercise any of their basic behavioural needs such as laying an egg in a nest, dust-bathing, sun-bathing, foraging and scratching for food.   After a year, the rate at which they lay eggs drops from one egg every 25 hours to one every 34 hours. They are no longer considered “economically viable” and are sent to cull farms where hawkers buy them for slaughter in informal settlements. Please join me in this petition which aims at ending the cruel and unnecessary practice of battery farming in South Africa.

To ALL supermarkets – asking them to STOP battery eggs.

And once again, a seemingly ethical company like Woolworths needs to be coerced into going all the way:
For Woolworths customers – to Woolworths Top Management – asking them to live up to their signs, and stop using battery eggs in their food.

(via email from Pottie) 

“Eskom is able to raise our electricity AGAIN Some people cannot even cope with the last increase in July? Take a stand now and complete this online survey so we can voice our disapproval. This Survey will take a minute to complete and will provide us with the relevant statistics to start the fight against this.”

 Make A Stand against any more imminent increases – Click Here

But Dr Sebastien Farnaud, of the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research, described the figures as ‘shocking’.

He added: ‘It has repeatedly been shown how irrelevant to human patients animal disease models can be, so sustaining such high animal use is not in the best interests of science.”

Full article here

Brings to mind this quote of Gandhi: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”.

I know. There are many people who are adamant supporters of these experiments and they will probably have some solid arguments to support their views. My questions is this: Why do we humans insist on producing and using products that are inherently so unnatural, dangerous and toxic that we need to constantly test it on innocent animals to make sure we survive using these products? And don’t tell me about “progress” – cancer rates are soaring as a result of all these “enhancements” we’re making to our food, cosmetics and symptom-treatments ( a.k.a. medicine, if you use the term loosely)

I maintain that prisoners convicted of serious crimes should be used in these experiments. I mean make it relevant, like the man said. The lifers / death-row people could finally prove useful for something in the toxicology tests and you can’t argue – the prospect of becoming a test subject for the next 15-25 years as opposed to getting free room & board should be fairly serious deterrent, especially if the details of the experiments are widely published. 

You can thank me for ruining your tea / lunch / smoke break later, first go have a look at PETA’s website to see what you can do to help stop this.