Seed Enclosure Movement

Discussion

Michel Bauwens, reading notes 2004:

According to Vandana Shiva, this concerns the appropriation of life, and its production.

Traditionally, farmers would exchange seeds amongst themselves, realizing that their findings were the results of a long chain of cooperative human effort. They see 'nature' as a subject to be cooperated with.

But for the biopirates, they see nothing wrong in patenting what is collective, such as quinoa. Their efforts are co-extensive with efforts to deprive farmers of their collective rights, to appropriate lands, and to impose new seeds which are de-territorialized, hence subject to competition on the world market. The most extreme are Monsanto's efforts to create dependence on its seed.

To counter this, Shiva has created the Navanya movement, dedicated to 'cooperative biodiversity'

Source ?