CALL TO ACTION
June 21st, 2005 ::: Philadelphia and everywhere

Tell Glaxo, Dow, Merck & Monsanto:
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) has got to go!

Our futures are not for sale ::
We will plant seeds of resistance to BIO dreams of control!

June 21st, 2005
THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER
THE LONGEST DAY (OF ACTION) OF THE YEAR

On Tuesday, June 21st, 2005, join thousands in the streets of
Philadelphia, and in solidarity actions around the world, to plant
seeds of resistance to BIO dreams of control. The Biotechnology
Industry Organization (BIO) is holding their closed-door June 19-22
annual international convention in downtown Philly. As biotech
corporations suck resources out of our communities, leaving us sick and
impoverished, and spread Terminator seeds, Frankenfoods, pesticides,
Roundup Ready crops, bio-weapons labs, and killer drugs like cancers
around the world, join us to plant seeds to rebuild our communities and
cultivate health, peace, justice, freedom and sustainability...

June 21st, 2005, TAKE ACTION IN PHILADELPHIA!

6-8 am :: Summer Solstice celebrations & actions, Locations TBA

9 am :: 16th and Race Streets :: Breakfast
“Food Relief not Corporate Subsidies!” We invite everyone to join us
and for breakfast outside of GlaxoSmithKline’s National Headquarters.
We will expose GlaxoSmithKline for:
* Fraudulently accepting thousands of dollars donated for the tsunami
relief effort, without providing the survivors with the vaccines they
were promised.
* Preventing seniors from access to affordable medicines through
Canadian pharmacies.
* Suing the South African government for supplying affordable medicine
to people surviving with AIDS.
* Distorting the results of scientific research for the sake of
profits.
* Testing on animals and knowingly producing toxic drugs.
We will share a FREE Breakfast!

11 am :: Participatory Street Theater Marches

Our Actions will continue with participatory street theater marches
with three separate themes. The three marches will weave through the
city, giving voice to demands for healthcare, community based
agriculture, and peace, justice and dignity for all. The three
different marches will then merge together at LOVE Park.

* for Healthcare for All ::
depart from GlaxoSmithKline Headquarters, 16th and Race St.
* for Environmental Justice and Sustainable Agriculture ::
depart from "Environmental Protection Agency" (EPA) 1650 Arch St.
* against Bioweapons and War :: depart from location TBA.

Each march has a different color theme: Healthcare-->Blue,
Agriculture-->Green, Bioweapons & War-–>Red. Please wear or decorate
yourselves and your props with the color of your march.

12 noon :: Rally at LOVE Park (15th and JFK)

As the Marches combine, we will rally and show our strength in
diversity, colorfulness and unity.

With this strength we will march as a united group towards the
convention center where the BIO Convention is taking place!

1 to 5 pm :: Creative Actions confronting BIO, and exposing other
biotech and pharmaceutical hotspots in downtown Philly, and outreach
for...

6 pm :: Converge and rally again at LOVE Park!

While BIO holds their "gala reception" Tuesday evening, June 21st at
the Philadelphia Art Museum (www.bio.org/events/2005/receptions)
WE will hold a festive rally at LOVE Park, and then reclaim the streets
with powerful street theater demonstrating life-affirming alternatives
to BIOdevastation...

Bring your own performance, music, noise and art -- or come to the
Spiral Q Art and Puppetry Studio (3114 Spring Garden St.) to create
banners, signs, puppets & street theater with us at these times:

Sunday, June 12, 12 to 5 pm
June 13, 14, and 16, 5:30 to 9 pm

Action Spokescouncils will happen in Philadelphia, June 17th to 20th.

For a full schedule of June 16-21 events -- including the Food Not
Bombs 25th Anniversary Gathering, the Green and Black Urban Gathering,
the Reclaim the Commons Festival, and the BIOdemocracy Teach-In, please
see: reclaimthecommons.net/article.php

For updates about the Day of Action, please
see: reclaimthecommons.net/article.php

===

Call for Global Solidarity and Actions!

On June 21st, in Philadelphia and around the world,
join us and plant seeds of resistance to BIO dreams of control!

First BIO infiltrated our biosphere, harvesting untested genetically
modified organisms (GMOs) that contaminated native ecosystems upon
their release into nature. Then BIO invaded our bodies, placing
unlabelled genetically engineered (GE) ingredients in most of the
processed foods we eat. Before long, BIO infected our body politic,
gaining control over government regulatory agencies – the EPA, FDA and
USDA in the United States, and their counterparts in other States – and
using them to write into law new “intellectual property rights”
protecting corporate ownership of genetic resources. And now BIO has
infested science itself, putting biology into the service of its deadly
agenda of proliferating genetically engineered crops, unsafe and
over-priced drugs, and biological weapons, worsening the plights of
starvation, disease and war...

BIO is the Biotechnology Industry Organization (www.bio.org) – the
Earth’s most corrupt, powerful, and reckless lobbying consortium of
biotechnology, “life sciences,” and pharmaceutical corporations. This
June 19-22, 2005, BIO will hold their annual closed-door convention in
downtown Philadelphia. And while more than 10,000 biotech industry
leaders gather to plan their expansion of their corporate control over
life itself, environmentalists, farmers and community activists will
once again converge to confront them and expose the truth that the
experimental science BIO calls "innovation" really spells
"Bio-devastation" for human health, food security, local autonomy and
biodiversity.

While they sow seeds of devastation, we plant seeds of healing, hope
and liberation. While they sow seeds of mono-culture, we plant seeds of
creativity and diversity. While they sow seeds of deception and
confusion, seeking to silence criticism, we plant seeds of truth and
clarity, and add our voice to a chorus of voices seeking common
demands.....

Among these seeds is our recognition that we are not alone, but stand
in solidarity and unified resistance with communities everywhere who
are fighting against corporate onslaughts on our water, air, Earth,
genetic heritage, health and peace.

* We are indigenous farmers in Oaxaca, Mexico, demanding an end to all
GE maize imports. "We seek the solidarity and support of all in Mexico
and the world, who have taken up a struggle similar to our own so as to
extend ever further the territories free from genetically modified
food," we declare. (1)
* We are peasants in Colombia and Afghanistan, demanding an end to
aerial sprayings of herbicides produced by Monsanto that
indiscriminately wipe out subsistence crops as well as natural plants,
and kill birds, mammals and aquatic life, in the name of an
illegitimate "War on Drugs." "Fumigation violates our rights and our
territorial autonomy. It has intensified the violence of armed conflict
and forced people to leave their homes after their food crops have been
destroyed," we declare. (2)
* We are residents of Roxbury, Massachusetts, demanding cancellation of
plans to construct a bioterrorism research lab in the heart of our
community. "We must stop locating dangerous and unwanted facilities in
lower income communities of color and end environmental racism," we
declare. (3)
* We are senior citizens in Philadelphia, demanding affordable
medicine, enforcement of price controls on the pharmaceutical industry,
and legalization of prescription imports from Canada. We call on Glaxo
Smith Kline to stop its ban on affordable medicine by cutting off
seniors' access to lower-cost Canadian drugs. "With this ban, Glaxo
shows clearly it could care less about the quality of patient care that
Philadelphia seniors receive. They would much rather strip seniors of
this safe and low-cost source for drugs and force them to pay more
money so that Glaxo and its big pharma friends can boost their
corporate coffers. Enough is enough, Glaxo. Even a dollar or two higher
price each month can make the difference whether a senior can afford
their drugs each month," we declare. (4)
* We are AIDS activists in Africa, demanding equal access to drugs and
treatment for all who need them. "The pharmaceutical industry has
sought to protect its huge profits through patents and intellectual
property regulations, and the U.S. government has supported its
position. To deny affordable access to treatment is to impose a death
sentence on millions of Africans. It is murder by patent. Treatment and
care should be available to all those living with HIV/AIDS," we
declare. (5)
* We are Vietnamese civilian victims of Agent Orange, demanding
compensation and legal restitution for injuries resulting from toxic
herbicides supplied by Monsanto, Dow Chemical, and other corporations,
and used by the United States, during the Vietnam War. We call on
"people of all countries to render active support for humanitarian
efforts and activities in assistance to victims of Agent Orange in
Vietnam and in overcoming the tragic war consequences in Vietnan." We
declare: "Render your support to victims of toxic chemicals for the
sake of safeguarding Peace and Justice in the world!" (6)

We call for communities throughout the world to CONTINUE taking action
to defend their water, air, Earth, genetic heritage, and peace from the
corporate onslaught of the biotechnology industry, and to join us on
June 21st, 2005, with solidarity actions against GlaxoSmithKline, Dow
Chemical, Merck, Monsanto, and other members of BIO who spread
BIOdevastation by putting profits ahead of people and the ecological
health of our planet: www.bio.org/members/

(Summary) We demand:
* A moratorium on the use of genetically engineered plants and animals.
* A halt to the production, testing and use of biological and chemical
weapons.
* The application of the precautionary principle to biotechnology.
* An end to the patenting of life.
We call for:
* A healthcare system that provides for everyone.
* A sustainable and just food system that provides good, affordable
food to all people.
* Scientific integrity in agricultural and medical research.
We support and celebrate:
* The complex, diverse and wondrous ecosystems of our planet that make
life possible, as well as the gardeners, farmers, farm workers,
scientists, healthcare workers, activists and indigenous people who are
working for a just, democratic and sustainable future. (7)

(1) From statement of demonstrators at Hotel Victoria, Oaxaca, at a
symposium on the effects and possible risks of the presence of
genetically modified maize in Mexico. Cited in “Genetic Contamination
of Mexican Maize” by Carmelo Ruiz Marrero, Z-Net, July 10, 2004.
(2) Statement by president of the Organization of Indigenous Peoples of
the Colombian Amazon. Cited in “Colombia: Monsanto, US War on Drugs
Poison Environment” by Brian Hansen, Environment News Service.
(3) From letter to Boston City Councilors, by Alternatives for
Community and Environment, an organization based in Roxbury,
Massachusetts that builds the power of communities of color and lower
income communities to eradicate environmental racism and classism and
achieve environmental justice.
(4) From Feb. 21, 2003 press release by "Stop Glaxo Now" Coalition:
"Philadelphia Seniors Organizations Protest Glaxo's Ban on Affordable
Drugs"
(5) From the “Africa’s Right to Health” campaign, which targets the
roots of Africa’s health crisis. It seeks to address the structural
injustices that gave rise to and now perpetuate the AIDS pandemic. It
also works to remove the international obstacles that deny Africans the
resources they need to respond effectively to the continent’s health
crisis: www.africaaction.org/campaign/info.php.
(6) From statement by the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent
Orange: www.ffrd.org/Lawsuit/vavastatement.html
(7) Summary of the BioDemocracy Statement of Unity

Read and endorse the full BioDemocracy Statement of Unity:
www.reclaimthecommons.net/article.php

Why? "Because disease and starvation
will not be solved by corporations!"

www.biodev.org
www.reclaimthecommons.net