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WATER ABLAZE - Patagonia Sin Represas

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modified canola, which is why Monsanto sued him for patent<br />

violation. Percy Schmeiser won the lawsuit in the end and was awarded<br />

the Alternative Nobel Prize in 2007, together with his wife, for his<br />

opposition to Monsanto and his battle against genetic engineering in<br />

agriculture.<br />

w w w . n o - p a t e n t s - o n - s e e d s . o r g (English/French/Spanish/German)<br />

9.9 What Are the Consequences<br />

The above-named institutions and agreements do not lend themselves<br />

to finding solutions to growing world problems such as starvation and<br />

environmental destruction or the ever-widening gap between rich and<br />

poor. On the contrary: they are an integral part of the actual problems.<br />

The World Bank, IMF and WTO lack the necessary democratic<br />

qualities and all legitimisation. The consequences of the WTO’s<br />

democracy deficiency are particularly serious because this is an<br />

institution which has virtually set itself up as a kind of world<br />

government, whose resolutions stand above those of individual nations.<br />

Democratically elected politicians were responsible for handing over<br />

the power of member states to the WTO. This, however, flies in the face<br />

of democracy, which calls for the reversal of any decision the sovereign<br />

wishes to revoke. That is why a mandate-holder cannot be allowed to<br />

transfer the power entrusted to him to a third party as he himself sees<br />

fit, because this would lead to the disintegration of democracy. The<br />

helplessness and anger which people feel with regard to the WTO stem<br />

largely from this illegal transfer of power, carried out by members of<br />

a political elite who have knowingly prevented – to the present day<br />

– not only public debates on issues relating to the constitution and<br />

constitutional law but also public participation in political decisionmaking,<br />

whether in the form of local citizens’ referenda or national<br />

referenda. Politicians have deliberately been extending the WTO’s<br />

sphere of influence in agreement with – and sometimes in compliance<br />

162

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