*[Enwl-eng] Our costs rise. They get richer
ENWLine
Hi,
We all want to live in a world where any farmer can grow the food we need. But corporations like Carlsberg and Heineken are snatching up the rights to dozens of common crops. They are creating a world where giant corporations set all the rules. [1]
Vladimir, we never win anything alone. We win by building coalitions that decision-makers can’t ignore. It’s up to us to bring together everyone impacted by the power grab.
With spring here and more sunshine on the way, we are presented with a chance. April and May are big times for beer lovers as major beer festivals happen in Europe.
So we’ve built a plan with a group of local brewers to flood restaurants, pubs and major festivals with customised beer mats. Every time they pick up their drink they can’t avoid looking down. We’ll make unique codes that they can scan with their phones, giving everyone the information and a chance to take action with us. This will add even more voices to the call to keep our seeds free.
We have some money to get started but small things add up fast. We’ll need €11,350. But, if everyone reading this email gave us €3 we could cover the costs and get moving this week!
So, can we count on you to help the fight to free our seeds, and save the future of our food?
| Yes - count me in for €3 |
| Yes - count me in for €5 |
| Yes - count me in for €15 |
| Yes - I'll give another amount |
For years, we’ve been fighting to make sure anyone can grow and sell seeds, fruits and vegetables. And in May 2020 we won. The European Patent Office (EPO) officially accepted that conventionally bred plants are not patentable. [2]
But corporations found ways to undo this win. They found legal loopholes and to this day continue to register patents on our seeds. [3] If they succeed, they could decide what farmers produce, what retailers sell and how much we all have to pay for it.
Together, we’ve been pushing back. Already more than 165,000 of us have signed the petition, emailed our MEPs, and even protested outside the Patent Office in Munich.
However, we need to go bigger if we’re going to win. The issue goes way beyond beer, but beer-lovers are just the kind of allies we need to make. The more diverse our coalition, the harder it will be for decision-makers to ignore us.
To do that we need to get moving with creative tactics just like this. But the resources to do these actions comes from every one of us chipping in what we can. We’ve costed it out and need €11,350. With that money we could:
- Design custom beer mats which creatively tell the story and carry links to our campaign online.
- Secure the printing of 25,000 beer mats that will be used to flood beer festivals, restaurants, and bars in key locations.
- Deliver the customised beer mats to our partner breweries and key festival venues across Europe.
- Capture photos and videos that show the reaction of beer-lovers after seeing the beer mats, discovering that giant corporations are snatching away the rights to our crops and beer. We will then be able to spread the reaction far and wide online to build even more buzz around the issue with people who did not attend the festivals.
To win, we need the European Patent Office to close all loopholes that allow companies to get exclusive rights to our seeds. But we can’t do this alone. We need to unite everyone who cares about this fight.
So, how about it, will you chip in to help get this idea up and running?
| Yes - count me in for €3 |
| Yes - count me in for €5 |
| Yes - count me in for €15 |
| Yes - I'll give another amount |
Thanks for being part of this,
Thomas (Brussels), Giulio (Rome), David (London) and the WeMove Europe
team
References:
[1]
https://act.wemove.eu/campaigns/nopatents-conference?utm_source=civimail-44512&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20220405_EN
[2] https://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/communications/2020/20200514.html
https://www.sdhsprogram.org/european-patent-office-plants-animals-obtained-classical-breeding-not-patentable/
[3]
https://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/sites/default/files/news/No%20patents%20on%20seeds%20-%20Overview%202018-2019_1.pdf
WeMove Europe is a community of people from all walks of life,
who call Europe our home,
no matter where we were born, where we live or who
we love. In the name of a brighter future for people and the planet,
we
come together to sign petitions, send letters and protest on the streets to make
our voices heard.
Our power comes from each other. And it's thanks to
small monthly donations, fivers and tenners, that we can keep going.
Vladimir, please help keep WeMove Europe strong by chipping in.
| DONATE! |
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