April 7: Jonas Hulsens joins the GE-Free Team in Italy
Yesterday, on the 6th of April, I arrived in sun-drenched Rome to join the enthusiastic crew of the GE-Free Future bus tour. Travelling from Luxembourg to Madrid via Hungary and Italy, through meetings with politicians, farmers and ordinary citizens, we are asking European governments to take action against GE and impose a moratorium on genetically engineered crops in the EU now.
07/04/2010 The GE bus is in Rome as part of a petition for a GE free Europe.
And we are not alone. Today, in the shadow of the Coliseum and other impressive remains of ancient Rome, Greenpeace volunteers gathered hundreds of signatures in support of a GE-Free Future. The event culminated with a visit of Gianni Alemanno, the mayor of Rome and former minister of agriculture, who signed the bus and gave a statement in grandmother's kitchen.
07/04/2010
The day started early with something resembling a classic tour along some of Rome's most famous monuments, guided by our colleagues of Greenpeace Italy. The smoothly spurring GE-Free Future bus was spotted, filmed and photographed in front of the Palatine Hill, the Forum Romanum, etc. before heading for it's one day parking lot at the foot of the Arch of Constantine.
On arrival, Greenpeace volunteers had already unfolded two huge banners stating “Italia libera da OGM” (Italy free from GMOs) and “The future is GE Free”. At the same time the members of Coldiretti, the largest Italian farmers movement, were filling large balloons with helium to lift two other banners like kites into the air. They brought maize, potatoes and wheat with them.
07/04/2010
“Almost the totality of Italian farmers are opposed to GE crops, because we are in favour of another model of agriculture, more sustainable for the future. An agriculture where the freedom of farmers to continue to cultivate GE-free is our goal. We are here today because we strongly believe there is another agriculture possible”, explains to me Carmelo Troccoli, national secretary of Coldiretti young farmers.
The farmers movement is part of the Italian coalition against GMO's, which unites farmers', consumers' and environmental organisations, including Greenpeace. The broad nature and the strength of this coalition is probably one of the reasons why Italy is at the forefront of the GMO-free movement in Europe. 13 of 20 Italian regions are member of the network of GMO-free EU-regions and Italy has made the cultivation of GE maize MON810 impossible.
07/04/2010 The Mayor of Rome is Gianni Alemanno, signs the GE-Free Future bus outside the colosseum in Rome where Greenpeace are holding an activity today.
The GE-Free Future bus was further decorated with signatures of representatives of the members of the Italian coalition, until late in the afternoon, under high attention of the press, the mayor of Rome, arrives and adds his signature as well, explaining that GE crops are mainly in the benefit of the multinational companies that are producing them.
“How is the situation in Belgium?”, I was asked about my homeland during an interview with the Italian television. Instead of explaining the situation, as I did, I should have just walked to the back of the bus to show the words of the Walloon regional Minister of Agriculture: “Vive la Wallonie... sans OGM” (Long life Wallony without GMOs/ GE). As a sign of hope for a country that's profoundly divided over the issue.
Jonas Hulsens, Greenpeace Sustainable Agricultire Campaigner
Have you signed the petition yet? With 1 million citizens' signatures, we can make an official legal request to the European Commission. The request is to put a ban on GE-foods until sufficient research has been done of the effects on our health and the environment. Sign the petition and let's get to 1 million!
Picture credit: © Emma Stoner / Greenpeace