Midwest Women’s Herbal Conference–Vandana Shiva
This weekend I had the privilege to attend the 10th Annual Midwest Women’s Herbal Conference. Last year was my first year attending. At the time I purchased my ticket we all assumed that it would a normal, in person conference, held in Wisconsin. But by the end of March we knew that 2020 would not be a normal year. While last year’s on-line conference was also an amazing experience I would say that this year’s conference was even more so. This time around the conference was planned on-line and so allowed much more international influence with workshops offered by herbalists in other countries.
The highlight for me of the conference was the Friday night keynote with Vandana Shiva. I was first introduced to her work in 2003 when I was finished my degree at the College of St. Catherine (it is now the St. Catherine University). I was taking The Global Search for Justice. My focus was on environmental justice. At that time I had no idea that my path would lead me to a farm. Much of Vandana Shiva’s work has revolved around “food sovereignty” in India (her home).
Back in 2003 multi-national seed companies such as Monsanto were looking to third world countries as expanding markets. The problem was that farmers in India had spent hundreds if not thousands of years developing and saving seeds that were perfectly suited to their environment. The farmers also ate the food they grew, meaning that they were perfectly suited to their environment.
With multi-national companies coming in this balance was disrupted with disasterous effects to the local ecosystems and the health of the people. The proposed benefits of globalization, mostly better prices for farmers, never materialized and in more cases then not by loosing the ability to save their seeds from year to year farmers were actually negatively impacted by globalization. Vandana Shiva has been fighting for over 4 decades for the rights of local farmers to their seeds, the food that they grow and the cause of food sovereignty around the world.
So why have a farming activist speak at and herb conference? Because has conference found Linda Conroy said agriculture is the source of healthy food and healthy people. Food is our first medicine and whether or not we have access to it a matter of human rights. For the rest of this post I will share a synopsis of Vandana Shiva’s talk and my reaction to it.
Colonialization
In the U.S. I think we like to feel that we were not a part of colonialization. As a rebel colony of Britain we like to think that we do not share the same burden of justice that the great Colonizer shared. What we don’t see is that colonialism is deeply embedded in greed. Shiva said that colonialism (something her country experienced intimately) is based on “plunder, kill, rape, make money. . . greed as the rule.” Historically it is easy to see how over and over again the U.S. has participated in these same activities but we say it is capitalism that is our driving force.
She went on to say, “you can only extract through division. Are are being expertly divided now.” She used the example of farmers in the 1850s in India who were starving while growing (inedible) cash crops for the empire. There was a revolt which was promptly put down. But in one town their is still a memorial to those brave farmers who stood up to the empire. Shiva said “half the names are muslim and half are Hindu. The British realized that if we united as Indians they couldn’t win, so they began to work to divide us.”
This lesson from history still has relevance today and Shiva urged those gathered to look for ways to unite.
Two Futures
Shiva said that their are two futures available to human. In one the very act of living will become criminal. In a similar way that Monsanto and other seeds companies have tried to literally keep the life out of their seeds by not allowing them to live longer then one cycle and any seeds that do escape and grow are criminal products, life itself will become criminal. People who resist the commercial diet imposed on them and the health requirements to artificial maintain “health” may find themselves criminals also. There may one day be bans on real food, herbs and gardens.
The other option is to “continue to be alive and in health–whole.” Striving to eat healthy foods that are suitable to our body, maintain whatever land we are privileged to call home but using traditional practices and avoiding chemicals.
She also encouraged people to be wary for “green” as a political and economic tool, “the only green I trust is the green the plant’s have.”
The Positives
“Life is intelligence. It creates balance and harmony and gets rid of hazards.” Shiva said and just as plants can grow up through concrete, making cracks “this is the way we rise. . .be like the plant. The plant is able to resist while being rooted. Stand your ground–but be rooted in yourself and alive. The plant has healing from within. The plants is active but in a different way then the colonial way.” Whereas colonialism had made a mess of Europe and then was running away to find other areas to plunder plants find other ways to escape, by evolving at the local level.
My Takeaway
While it is easy to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of a global problem it is through maintaining in our own lives health that we will see real change. It is through taking steps to learn how to care for ourselves, make allies of the plants and maintain as healthful an environment as possible that real change can and does happen. It is my goal to continue to grow as much of my own food as possible and do what I can to maintain the health of my family that resistance happens. This is what I hope to plant.
For more information on Vandana Shiva’s work go to her website Navdanya. Below is a recent video of hers that was also shared at the conference.
