>
>Subject: The GS Handbook and Monsanto's legal action
>Sent: 17/4/19 7:31 pm
>Received: 19/4/99 5:30 pm
>From: Paul Mobbs, [log in to unmask]
>
>Hi all,
>
>You may be aware of the recent legal action by Agrevo and Monsanto against
>the genetiX snowball (GS) group. At the High Court in London on Monday 19th
>April things will move one step further when Monsanto will seek a permanent
>injunction against those involved in GS to stop them pulling up test sites.
>However the test as to whether or not you are in GS is not whether you've
>done any damage, or whether you're an active part of the group - it is
>whether or not you possess a copy of GS's "Handbook for Action".
>
>It was my view that the possession a book being used as a measure of guilt
>was discredited some time ago, and was only a measure recently used by the
>Nazi party in the 1930s, Senator JoE McCarthy and the British special
>Branch on the look out for active animal liberationists. But it would
>appear that Monsanto have ressurected this guilt-by-association approach as
>a means of identifying anyone who might have the slightest urge to mess up
>one of their sites.
>
>However, the injunction does not stop there. Just to make sure they know
>who has a copy of the book Monsanto are demanding as part of the High Court
>injunction a list of all those people GS have sent copies of the handbook
>to so Monsanto's lawyers can hunt them down an serve them with copies of
>the injunction.
>
>Now to me, as someone who is not an active participant in GS (I just
>provide space for their website), and who has no intention of ripping up a
>genetic test site, it all seems a bit much. I believe that the action by
>Monsanto offends many of the principles of freedom of thought and
>expression that most modern democracies legally defend (unfortuately they
>still do not have de facto protection in the UK because the Human Rights
>Act 1998 has not been legally 'commenced', and is not likely to be until
>2001). Therefore, in solidarity with those who Monsanto wish to persecute -
>both in GS and anyone who has a copy of the handbook - I have today created
>an Adobe Acrobat version of the handbook so people can print it off and
>circulate it easier. In my view the only response to an effort by a private
>corporation to restrict the availability of ideas is to "wideband" them to
>the largest possible audience.
>
>If you wish to download a copy of the handbook the Acrobat file is located
>in the "Green Backlash" section of my website at:
>http://www.gn.apc.org/pmhp/dc/backlash/
>
>If you wish to browse the existing HTML version, or download the HTML
>version as one ZIP file, then go to the genetiX snowball website to get the
>version I prepared perviously - http://www.gn.apc.org/pmhp/gs/
>
>As stated by Martin Luther King, "For evil to succeed all it needs is for
>good men to do nothing". I do not believe that legal action that seeks to
>determine guilt by the possession of books is morally right. I believe it
>offends all those hard-won rights and freedoms that people have won over
>many centuries of struggle. I hope that you will pass this message on to
>your friends, and that you will all download copies of the GS "Handbook for
>Action".
>
>It is clear that, despite what 'New Labour' says, there is still not true
>guarantee of freedom of expression in the UK. Even if groups do eventually
>win the legal battles, the hassle of continual legal challenges from
>corporations seeking to restrict and obfuscate debate on important issues
>in relation to the public's well-being will always drain and immobilise
>those involved. In the face of such a power the only response is solidarity
>and resistence with those subjected to that power.
>
>If any of you outside the UK have space on your websites - arounds 2 to 3
>megabytes would be idea - you might like to set up 'mirror' sites of the GS
>website to ensure the message about the genetic modification of our food,
>and the steps ordinary people can take to get involved in the issue, can
>still get out. Please contact me if you can offer some web space.
>
>Finally, for your security, and in case Monsanto should ever decide to get
>nasty at me, I'm sending this mail out with the recipeint list suppressed,
>and when it's done I'm deleting it. I have no wish to act as a conduit for
>one corporations actions against freedom of expression.
>
>
>Peace 'n' love
>
>Paul
>-------------------
>"We are not for names, nor men, nor titles of Government, nor are we for
>this party nor against the other… but we are for justice and mercy and
>truth and peace and true freedom, that these may be exalted in our nation,
>and that goodness, righteousness, meekness, temperance, peace and unity
>with God, and with one another, that these things may abound." (Edward
>Burroughs, 1659)
>
>THE FREE RANGE ACTIVISM NETWORK
>Facilitators -
> Paul Mobbs - [log in to unmask], tel./fax 01295 261864
> Tim Shaw - [log in to unmask], tel./fax 01558 685353
>Website - http://www.gn.apc.org/pmhp/rangers/
>
>--------------------
>
>
>
>........................................................
>Blewbury Environmental Research Group
>Wendy MacLeod-Gilford &
>Mick Gilford, MA(Cantab), MSc, DIC __ __ __ __
>Lesmarie, Bessels Way, Blewbury |_) |_ |_) | _
>Oxon. OX11 9NN, UK |_) |_ |\ |_|
>Tel+Fax: 01235 850711 \
>E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>WWW: http://www.gn.apc.org/pmhp/berg
>........................................................
>
>
>
>
>
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David Wood
PhD Student ('The Rural Peace Dividend')
Department of Agricultural Economics and Food Marketing
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU

Tel: 0191 222 5305

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