Rémi killed in clashes with police at the ZAD of Testet

In solidarity to the heroic struggle of ZADists in Nantes and Testet to defend land and its sustainable use against the imperialistic capital and its puppet state of France, and to prevent further social and environmental disaster to spread, we selected this article as a sample of reporting from self-organized counterinformation in English.  We wish we could follow the events but our availability of French speakers and translators is very limited.Rémi lives among all of us who will continue to struggle neglecting all the violence, terrorism, and ruthlessness that state repressive mechanisms utilize to break up any form of social resistance develops against their destructive plans.

France:  October 27th, 2014
Background info on the struggle against the dam in Testet: 1, 2

According to a statement from squatters in the ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, during the night between Saturday and Sunday the 26th of October 2014 a protester named Remi was killed in clashes that broke out after a rally against the construction of a dam along the Sivens forest in the wetland of Testet in the Tarn department (southern France).

Around 7000 people gathered in the ZAD (zone to be defended) of Testet, after months of police attacks and destruction of the wetland and habitations of those who defend the area. In the late evening and overnight, dozens of people attacked the forces of order that were protecting the dam construction site. Activists expressed their anger trying to delay the resumption of works, originally scheduled for Monday the 27th of October.

Mining, the destruction of land by neo-colonialists

AGAINST THE IMPERIALISM AND NEOCOLONIALISM OF MINING COMPANIES, THE CURRENT BATTLE OF THE PEOPLES

A New Store for Zapatista Women’s Cooperative

** Organization is required to win, NGO’s from several countries point out in Puebla
** Emissaries from Mexico, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador expose abuses of transnationals

By: Rosa Rojas

Tlamanca, Puebla, March 15, 2014

The struggle against extractive mining “it’s not only for our life, but also an anti-imperialist struggle and against neo-colonialism that is imposed on the peoples with the servile attitude of the neoliberal governments and the agreements on free trade and on protection for foreign investment,” according to what was made clear here today after the exposure of particular cases of problems with mining companies that communities from different states of the country confront, as well as those in Panama, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Basmati planting and the art of growing rice

Basmati Farming Practices at a Glance

Seed Selection

• Farmers procure seeds from the trusted sources – government agencies, agricultural universities and Research centers
• Seed required for 1 acre of the cultivation is 5-8kg approximately

Treatment of Seed

• 1kg salt is diluted in 10 litres of water to prepare solution for treatment of the seed
• After this 8 to 10 kg of seeds poured in this solution, in this way quality seeds are drowned within the solution and seeds which float on the upper surface are thrown as waste
• The left seeds are washed with the water for 3 to 4 times so that the salt is completely washed out
• The seeds, then are kept in the solution of 10 litres of water, 5 grams Emison and 2.5 grams of Agromycin or 1 gram of streptomycin for 24 hours
• After this the seeds are spread in a small area with wet sacks on the seeds to germinate and sacks are continuously watered or regular intervals

Why Free? And why this manifesto may be of interest

We will refrain from an endless analysis and discussion of why this book, among zillions, may be of interest to us, but we have highlighted some key phrases that drew our attention.  It may be easy to bash the book or to praise it and we may do both in the future, but it may have to be done together with all of you who may have read it.  What's the value of us providing with a reason not to read it but remain confident that its criticism is as good as reading it yourselves?

Both myself and my courageous publishers, Permanent Publications, have decided to publish a free online version of this book, and the normal paperback version under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license, for three reasons:

First, the ideas and practical tools contained within it should be free to whoever may find them useful, and not made falsely scarce by the mechanisms of the monetary economy.

Second, just as actions display our beliefs more honestly than our words, the ways in which ideas and practical tools are shared are at least as important as the words themselves. I wanted the medium to be fully aligned with the message.

Third, I wanted to release it under a Creative Commons licence because it felt fraudulent to have my name on the front of this book. As I said in the acknowledgements page of my last book, what are my words but “an accumulation of all that has come

The Monster is Right on Top of Us

Argentine Protesters vs Monsanto:

By Fabiana Frayssinet Reprint  

MALVINAS ARGENTINAS, Córdoba, Argentina , Dec 2 2013 (IPS) - The people of this working-class suburb of Córdoba in Argentina’s central farming belt stoically put up with the spraying of the weed-killer glyphosate on the fields surrounding their neighbourhood. But the last straw was when U.S. biotech giant Monsanto showed up to build a seed plant.

The creator of glyphosate, whose trademark is Roundup, and one of the world’s leading producers of genetically modified seeds, Monsanto is building one of its biggest plants to process transgenic corn seed in Malvinas Argentinas, this poor community of 15,000 people 17 km east of the capital of the province of Córdoba.

Incredible Edibles! – Great “Grains”

Republished from http://blogs.extension.org/mastergardener/2013/02/25/incredible-edibles-great-grains/

Incredible Edibles! – Great “Grains” 

Looking for something interesting and tasty to try in the vegetable garden or landscape this year?  Are you looking to add delicious fresh ingredients to your meals?  It’s time to take a look at some uncommon plants that can have a big impact in the garden and on your dinner plate.  There’s a whole world of fantastic fruits, glorious grains, verdant vegetables, and more that can bring excitement to the garden.

Think about experimenting this year and grow something new and unexpected.  This week, we’ll be taking a look at specialty “grains” that can find themselves a home right in your own home flower or vegetable garden.  These plants are used much like our cereal grains (corn, rice, oats, wheat, etc.), but are, in fact, broad leaved plants.

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) and Amaranth (Amaranthus sp.)

We’ll talk about the first two together since they are closely related and have similar care characteristics.  Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wah) has been consumed as a staple in parts of South America for nearly 5,000 years and is just now becoming popular in the US.  Some reports indicate that the growing demand in developed countries is increasing the price of the staple in its native regions.

The seeds, when cooked, have a creamy consistency and nutty flavor and are often used in salads or cooked pasta/rice dishes.  It is also ground into a gluten-free flour.   It is popular because its tasty flavor pairs with its impressively high protein content.  It is a wonderful addition to the garden because the seeds come from impressively showy flower heads that make a striking addition to the flower garden.

Quinoa & Amaranth can feed the world.

Republished from DailyKos Mon Mar 10, 2008 at 01:00 PM PDT

Amaranth can feed the world..

by Demfem

Amaranth grain

This is a diary which will try to bring to the attention of those that are interested in food resources a grain that may well be what saves the human race from starving to death. It is an ancientt grain, grown by early American civilizations. The article linked above, one of many that I will be using, says

Amaranth has a long and interesting history in Mexico where it's been grown and harvested for thousands of years by the Mayan and Incan civilizations. The Aztecs believed Amaranth had magical properties that would give them amazing strength.

Because it was important culturally to the Aztecs, the conquistadors did their best to eradicate it. Fortunately for us, they were not entirely successful. I say fortunately because it may be the grain that saves us from mass starvation on a global scale.
More below the fold..

Amaranth is a very interesting plant. It will grow just about anywhere, under conditions that would kill any other food plant. It needs a little water when planted and can do without until harvest if necessary. Amaranth will grow in poor soil, in rich soil, and in rocky or clayey soil that other crops will not grow in.
Mixed with corn flour or meal, amaranth flour or meal, is a complete food for humans. It has all the proteins and amino acids the human body requires for maintenance.
Amaranth is also a dual crop, the grain is a foodstuff for people, the stalks and leaves combined with corn stalks and leaves, are a complete feed for livestock. It can be fed in round bales or as silage.

Amaranth puts nitrogen back into the soil naturally, eliminating the need for artificial nitrates which run off and pollute the water ways. A field can be kept in good shape by rotating amaranth with corn without adding any artificial fertilizer.

We are simply republishing this article and we are in search of similar.  We have to eventually cross some of this information with other sources for validity.

Living off the land: How much land?

Posted on Saturday, May 5, 2012 by Thoreau | 3 Comments

Suppose that you can no longer rely on any consistent source of food, other than what you can grow on your own land. Your stored food supplies have been exhausted. Some disaster has wreaked havoc with the commercial food supply. How much land would you need to grow ALL of your own food? For this particular article, I’m setting aside the question of raising your own chickens, fish, goats, cattle, pigs, etc. For the sake of simplicity, let’s consider how much land it would take to grow a complete vegetarian diet, per person. Now I’m not a vegetarian, but I eat a fairly healthy diet, and if the necessity arises, I’d adapt.
Certain assumptions are necessary to this type of calculation. For example, we have to estimate the total calories per day per person, and the percent of calories attributed to protein, fat, and carbohydrates. [Technically, what we call 'calories' are kilocalories (kcal).] The USDA nutrition labels assume 1800 kcal per day for an adult woman and 2200 kcal per day for an adult man. So the average is that ubiquitous 2000 kcal diet figure found on so many product labels. I suggest that this figure is ridiculously low for anyone who is growing all of his or her own food, largely by manual labor. My target for kcal per day is 2740, which is one million kcal per year per person — a nice round figure, and plenty of calories for a non-sedentary lifestyle. If you think that my numbers are off by, say, 10 or 20%, you can easily increase or decrease the final tally by 10 or 20% to get a result that you prefer.