12:05:44 pm, Categories: Political Views, Current Events and News, Views and Reviews, Rant and Rave, 671 wordsI came across this rather disturbing news article in my inbox today regarding a dispute between poor farmers in Ethiopia, and the rich shareholders of the corporation Starbucks. Here are a couple of quotes from the news article:
"Starbucks, the giant United States coffee chain, has used its muscle to block an attempt by Ethiopia's farmers to copyright their most famous coffee bean types, denying them potential earnings of up to $88-million a year, said Oxfam.
The development agency said the Ethiopian government last year filed copyright applications to trademark its most famous coffee names -- Sidamo, Harar and Yirgacheffe. Securing the rights to these names would enable the impoverished African country to control their use in the market and allow farmers to receive a greater share of the retail price
But Oxfam said Starbucks, which enjoyed a 22% rise in annual global turnover to $14-billion in the year to October, has acted to block Ethiopia's application to the US patent and trademark office. The USPTO has denied Ethiopia's applications for Sidamo and Harar, creating serious obstacles for its project.
Phil Bloomer, Oxfam's policy director, said: "Starbucks has made some progress towards helping poor farmers in recent years, but their behaviour on this occasion is a huge backwards step, and raises serious questions about the depth of their commitment to the welfare of their suppliers. By acting responsibly, they could set an example for others by supporting Ethiopia's plan to help the 15-million struggling Ethiopian farmers who depend on coffee for their survival."
Fitsum Hailu, of the Ethiopian embassy in the US, added: "Struggling Ethiopian farmers should be able to realise a greater portion of the value our coffee commands on the international market. This project is innovative -- and a unique opportunity for our farmers to be empowered in the arena of international trade.
What the hell is wrong with the world? I mean paaaaalease! Here is a starving country, where 15 million farmers are suffering because a handful of shareholders can not control their greed. This is the biggest problem with Capitalism. It relies on exploitation to keep the profit incentive going. With main issue with these shareholders is that they can not stop their lust for money, and there is no such thing as "to much". They will relentlessly rape and exploit the Ethiopians to fill their coffers.
Personally if I was an Ethiopian, I would tell the US office of exploitation *cough* sorry I mean Patents... to sod off. Those coffee beans are ETHIOPIAN coffee beans. Not US PATENT coffee beans. Those names are ETHIOPIAN names, not US PATENT names. It is up to the people of Ethiopia not to buy into American draconian oppressive copyright patents.
The America Patent office is merely a place whereby large corporations can get an idea that belongs to humanity, and pretend its theirs. Are Americans subject to Ethiopian law? Why should Ethiopians be subject to these insane American laws?
Another alternative response to the greed of the American corporate system is to simply create your own national patent office and register the following brands before the Americans do:
- Windows
- Microsoft
- Starbucks
- GAP
- etc
Use the same logic the Americans are using. They are claiming that they registered the patents with the US exploita....Patent office first, therefore their claim is more valid. Well, why not make your own patent office, register the above brands before the internationals catch wind of it.
If they try challenge it simply point out that you are doing exactly what they are doing.
This type of news article makes me sick in the stomach, when I think of all those fat greedy pig eyed shareholders with their greasy paws on Africa, trying to exploit every cent they can. If they cant steal Africa`s coffee beans, then they will sell weapons (at a price of course)to cause instability so they can get a government into power that they can puppet control... to make sure that customers get their patented coffee beans.
We truly live in a sick world :(
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Leetest form of linux there is. The primary OS I now use. Kubuntu, Dapper Drake, 6.06 LTS. I really think people should use this as their default OS
For those of you who dont know, I run Kubuntu OS as my desktop OS. With all the queerness of Microsofts Anti Piracy campaign, I have decided to completely leave the MicroSoft world. Sure, I loose windows media player and some gaming choices. However, you do get awsome games like warsow that are completely open source, and LOADS of fun to play. If you are in South Africa, there is a South African warsow server gracefully hosted by Web Africa. When in the game just type "connect warsow.webfafrica.co.za" And you will connect to the server to be able to jam with the rest of us.
This is a response to the writer of an opinion piece on Thoughtleader who goes by the name of Senteletse Diakanyo (a South African).
Read it here: http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2011/01/response-to-xenophobic-writer-sentletse.html
I consider this a book that every South African should read to get perspective in their lives. Its honesty is most refreshing and Al Lovejoy`s ability to capture in words the essence of a culture and history of a generation of south Africans is amazing. Al Lovejoy has earned a lot of respect from a generation of youth who appretiate the truth. Thank you Al.
Other reviews:
‘Acid Alex is quite simply one of the most shocking autobiographies I have ever read. It is also well-written, addictive, excellent.’
– Sue Blaine, Business Day
‘Heartbreaking! Entertaining! Intelligent!’
– Erns Grundling, SL magazine
‘Nothing I have read has sketched the scorched social landscape of South Africa’s last half-century with such intensity and honesty. Read it.’
– Charles Thesen, Marie Claire
‘There are elements of Hunter S Thompson, Herman Charles Bosman, William Burroughs and William Wharton. But in the end it is an amazing story told in a unique voice. A voice moulded by pain, a voice honed by a government reformatory..., whetted by the SADF, and sharpened by Pretoria Central.
It is the story of a man who went to hell and came back, a morality tale, a Bildungsroman, the narrative of a f*ckup who found redemption, and the anthem of a lost generation.’– Caspar Greeff, Sunday Times
‘Truly, as Koos Kombuis says, this is “an astonishingly breathless story” … Besides being a great read, Acid Alex is an invaluable record of a type of mania that gripped a certain type of South African in the last quarter of the 20th century. It’s a book that’s going to appeal to many young South Africans who currently have to turn to the United States for their myths of pointless excess, and it’s going to inspire them. Not necessarily in a particularly savoury way.’
– Chris Roper, Mail & Guardian
This book is more than just a suggested read.
America has new super smart bullets and guns. Check it out!
http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2010/11/americas-new-radio-controlled-smart.html
This blog post details some of the amazing advances in CGI graphics. Click on the link below to see the video and read more!
http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2010/11/most-realistic-cgi-graphics-ever.html
http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2010/11/my-favorite-world-of-warcraft-music.html
Brad Pitt is a freethinker and is not religious
View the video at: http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2010/11/brad-pitt-on-religion.html
In what has to be a remarkable show of insight into the power of social networking, a British Indie band is offering their album free to download off their website. This is one band, that seems to have googled it. It looks like the older corporate models are failing and hopefully the world will not have to tolerate the insanity that is RIAA much longer.
I love artists with scope.
South Africa needs science and South Africa needs prominent scientific voices. Unfortunately, like the media in much of the rest of the world, South Africa's media is not nearly welcoming enough to the skeptical and scientific views of the world. Luckily, we have great examples from the United States and elsewhere of how self-publication through blogs can affect public discourse, promoting science and acting as a counterweight to indifference, ignorance, and gullibility. However, unlike our comrades elsewhere, South African science bloggers are unconnected and not organized. I propose to change that...Read More
For the new 4G CellC network and gaming information you need to check out this link: http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2010/11/cellc-and-gaming.html
Really funny flash video depicting the end of the world as the result of a nucleur fall out.
John Stewart pretty much shows us why the hysteria around wikileaks is bad and why wikileaks itself is good. Read more at Karmic Sangoma: http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-does-john-stewart-have-to-say.html
Copy and pasted directly from the Karmic Sangoma blog:
"Yeah its official. South Africa now has an official Wikileaks mirror. This can be accessed by the address http://www.wikileaks.za.org .
The site is currently hosted on multiple servers with hosting in the United States, South Africa, Sweden as well as two off the grid solutions. It will basically be impossible to take down the South African copy of the site for any extended length of the time.
The server and site is currently hardened against anticipated attacks from American secret services. A special thanks to the guys and girls at http://www.mybroadband.co.za for help in motiviation and support for getting wikileaks.za.org up. Please note that MyBroadband in no way endorses wikileaks.za.org and this is a private project by individual MyBB members.
We also recommend a special form of protest for those fighting against wikileaks and free speech. For the big detractors we are offering them white feathers.
Wikileaks is most likely the most important tool for Free Speech since the inception of the Freedom of Information act."
Read more at the original link: http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2010/12/wikileaks-now-has-south-african-mirror.html
For those of you who dont know, I am South African. Im a born and bred white native african, and damb proud of it. However, I will often use words that you may not understand, local slag u wont pick up on. Click on this link to learn a little more about South African slang, aka, Safrikan!
This is a website setup to track the dangerous scammer known as Louis Los Fourie. Chances are when you google his name, this page will be the top Google result. Chances are you also lost money to this asshole. No worries, we are tracking this white trash and he now has an entire website dedicated to bringing him down: http://www.catchacon.co.za
Loyiso Mpumlwana of the ANC in Eastern Cape in South Africa acts like the local village idiot in the latest attempt by the ANC to waste money on more name changes.
Read the full story here: http://karmicsangoma.blogspot.com/2011/01/loyiso-mpumlwana-from-eastern-cape-anc.html
The entire catalogue of information from 1,800 courses at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will be available free online by the end of the year. Once uploaded, it will represent one of the internet’s most important resources.
MsDewey.com
I never have never used a search engine this cheeky before :) Its great fun for about 10 minutes.
Seaward.co.za for South Africa`s best coastal real estate.
In what has to be classed as bizare, a clash between a 6-foot (1.8m) alligator and a 13-foot (3.9m) python has left two of the deadliest predators dead in Florida's swamps.
I came across this site by Anup Shah that has a detailed look into the causes of poverty. I found some of the statistics he shows to be very embarrassing and a shameful reflection on humanity today.
* Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day.
* The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a quarter of the world’s countries) is less than the wealth of the world’s three richest people combined.
* Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
* Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.
* 1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day).
Anup Shah shows us the institutions, policies and people behind many of today's causes of poverty.
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty.asp
Haha, these poor lil bunnies. A bunch of pictures of bunnies trying to come up with imaginitive ways to kill themselves.
The Public Library of Science is a nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. A most excellent link for those of you wanting access to some amazing science.
A really nice Travian signature generator
Just to let you know that Wikileaks has an official South African mirror. http:///www.wikileaks.za.org . Share and link this url as many times as you can to do your bit to make sure wikileaks never goes down.
Ever wondered how many babies are being pushed out every day, or how many people are dying every minute? Well this is the place for you then! This meter currently records those tpes of things, and with a population of 6.5 billion, there are lots of interesting stats for you to check out.
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