18th September 2014
Dr. Shakeel Bhatti
Secretary
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA)
cc. Francis Gurry, Director General of WIPO, Secretary-General of UPOV
cc. Member States of ITPGRFA
Dear Dr. Bhatti,
A team of eight experts and journalists visiting the southern region of the West African state of Guinea were found dead in the town of Nzerekore on Sept. 20. Reports indicate that they were there to educate people about the nature of the disease for the purpose of its prevention.
More than two years after the launch of the G8 New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, what we have seen of its ‘progress’ does not change our assessment that the New Alliance actually undermines food security, nutrition and the progressive realization of the right to food in Africa.
Every psyop [psychological operation"> needs heroes as well as villains.
So-called epidemics are managed out of a playbook.
The playbook looks very much like something the CIA would come up with.
I’m going to give you my raw notes. They tell the story.
On 15 September 2014, human rights defender Mr Hassan Ishaq declared that he has begun a hunger strike to protest the conditions of his detention.
The Ebola outbreak has hit a panic button at the core of the political, social and economic establishment across the continent. In a herd-like fashion, one country institutes a blanket ban, triggering others to follow, apparently with no careful assessment of unintended consequences.
A surprise press conference held last month by Emory University Teaching Hospital stands out as a rare bright moment in the fight against an uncontrollable Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa.
WHAT EBOLA IS AND IS NOT
Liberia and Sierra Leone are two fragile countries in West Africa with long histories of civil wars that claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions. Decades after their brutal civil wars, both countries are confronted with their greatest test yet: the Ebola epidemic.
As I started writing this piece on the sacred day of 30 June 2014, the 54th anniversary of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s independence, Patrice Lumunba’s Independence Day speech constantly filled my mind, especially when he said: ‘We are going to make of Congo the center of the sun’s radiance