Michael Riordon

the view from where I live

Tag Archives: privatization


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“The Robin Hood of science”

In the ever-deepening shadow of the national surveillance state, a bright gem of a story.

Alexandra Elbakyan’s ingenious online resource Sci-Hub has broken the corporate stranglehold on worldwide access to science research.

Sci-Hub

Science writer Simon Oxenham reveals why and how this brilliant young neurotechnology researcher in Kazakhstan did it. Details here, on Big Think.

It’s an inspiring account of knowledge gathered, privatized – imprisoned, really, to exploit for profit – and now, thanks to Alexandra Elbakyan, set free.

A fragment: “Only days after the [New York District] court injunction blocked Sci-Hub’s old domain, Sci-Hub was back online at a new domain accessible worldwide. Since then, the website has been upgraded from a barebones site that existed entirely in Russian to a polished English version proudly boasting a library of 48 million [research] papers, complete with a manifesto in opposition to copyright law. The bird is out of its cage.”

In part 2, here, Simon Oxenham pays tribute to pioneering internet creator and activist Aaron Swartz, who was ultimately hounded to death in 2013 by the US government.

Fortunately, at least for now, Alexandra Elbakyan and Sci-Hub remain beyond its imperial reach.

To encounter other scientists who defy the status quo, check out Bold Scientists: dispatches from the battle for honest science. Read excerpts here.


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Good news from Chile!

From the newly elected government of Chile, an inspiring initiative on the genetic manipulation front:

Chile Derails ‘Monsanto Law’ That Would Privatize Seeds.

Chile protests GMOsPhoto: International Business Times

The bold move followed years of public protest against GMOs throughout Chile.

Alicia Muñoz, of the National Association of Rural and Indigenous Women (Anamuri) explains: “All of the resistance that rural organizations, principally indigenous communities, led during these past years was a success.  We were able to convey to the parliament how harmful the law would be for the indigenous communities and farmers who feed us all.  Big agriculture, or agro-business, is just that, a business.  It doesn’t feed our country.”

Meanwhile in Canada, the US and the EU, governments beholden to the agri-corps rush to do their profit-driven bidding.

The new government in Chile sets an example of what responsible governments can do when they attend to the needs of their people, rather than serve the grey ghosts that stalk the corridors of power.

Follow the international GMO battle in Bold Scientists: dispatches from the battle for honest science, coming from Between the Lines, autumn 2014.


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Stop Mekorot

March 22 (World Water Day) to March 30 (Palestinian Land Day) marks the first International Boycott Week Against Mekorot.

Israel controls Palestinian H20Israel’s national water company, Mekorot oversees the water apartheid policies of the Israeli state, stealing water from under Palestine to supply the needs of Israeli communities and illegal settlements, then selling the dregs at inflated rates to Palestinians.  Palestinians are forbidden to drill wells, and the Israeli army regularly destroys water tanks that gather rain-water.

Mekorot also profits from exporting its water privatization methods to other countries, turning water from a life-essential into a luxury commodity.

But recently, due to an escalating international boycott campaign, Mekorot has lost multi-million dollar contracts in Argentina and the Netherlands.

The Stop Mekorot campaign has just released a biting two-minute satirical video, Mekorot: An Apartheid Adventure.

More on the Palestine water story in Our Way to Fight: peace-work under siege in Israel-Palestine.