Comments on: BioFuel and Food http://citizenreporter.org/2007/11/biofuel-and-food/ Under-reported news + global concerns by a Portuguese-American, activist-journalist based in Amsterdam. Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:10:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: DRock http://citizenreporter.org/2007/11/biofuel-and-food/comment-page-1/#comment-161004 DRock Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:27:31 +0000 http://bicyclemark.org/blog/2007/11/biofuel-and-food/#comment-161004 Gunna get me a diesel Ford F-150 and run it on used veggie oil – that would be awesome! My truck would smell like French fries – who doesn’t like French fries? Rudolf Diesel ran his first engine on veggie oil Gunna get me a diesel Ford F-150 and run it on used veggie oil – that would be awesome! My truck would smell like French fries – who doesn’t like French fries?

Rudolf Diesel ran his first engine on veggie oil

]]> By: bicyclemark http://citizenreporter.org/2007/11/biofuel-and-food/comment-page-1/#comment-160980 bicyclemark Tue, 27 Nov 2007 02:30:13 +0000 http://bicyclemark.org/blog/2007/11/biofuel-and-food/#comment-160980 F150. Wow. I always thought those ran on testosterone. :P F150. Wow. I always thought those ran on testosterone. :P

]]> By: DRock http://citizenreporter.org/2007/11/biofuel-and-food/comment-page-1/#comment-160962 DRock Mon, 26 Nov 2007 15:02:36 +0000 http://bicyclemark.org/blog/2007/11/biofuel-and-food/#comment-160962 Gunna get me a big ass diesel F-150 and run it on veggie oil - just like the way Rudolf and intended. It's going to smell like french fries - who doesn't like french frys? Gunna get me a big ass diesel F-150 and run it on veggie oil – just like the way Rudolf and intended.

It’s going to smell like french fries – who doesn’t like french frys?

]]> By: Ben Greenberg http://citizenreporter.org/2007/11/biofuel-and-food/comment-page-1/#comment-160954 Ben Greenberg Mon, 26 Nov 2007 03:46:34 +0000 http://bicyclemark.org/blog/2007/11/biofuel-and-food/#comment-160954 Buyer beware. The other problem with biofuel is that some of it is has <a href="http://dollarsandsense.org/archives/2007/0707bacon.htm" rel="nofollow">murder, terror and dispossession as a byproduct</a>. <blockquote>On Sept. 7, 2006, paramilitary gunmen invaded the home of Juan de Dios García, a community leader in the Colombian city of Buenaventura. García escaped, but the gunmen shot and killed seven members of his family. The paramilitaries, linked to the government of President Alvaro Uribe and to the country's wealthy landholding elite, wanted to stop García and other activists from the Proceso de Comunidades Negras (Process of Black Communities, or PCN), who have been trying to recover land on which Afro-Colombians have lived for five centuries. The PCN is a network of over 140 organizations among Black Colombian communities. García later told Radio Bemba, "when the paras [paramilitary soldiers] came looking for me, I could see they were using police and army vehicles. They operate with the direct and indirect participation of high government functionaries. So denouncing their crimes to the authorities actually puts you at an even greater risk." South of Buenaventura along the Pacific, in the coastal lowlands of the department of Nariño, oil palm plantations are spreading through historically Afro-Colombian lands. The plantation owners' association, Fedepalma, plans to expand production to a million hectares (about 3,861 square miles), and the government has proposed that by 2020 seven million hectares will be used for export crops, including oil palms. Helping planters reach their goal is the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In what the agency describes as an effort to resettle rightwing paramilitary members who agree to be disarmed, USAID funds projects in which they are given land to cultivate. The land, however, is often located in historically Afro-Colombian areas. On paper these resettlement projects may appear to be effective components of a national peace process. On the ground, however, what typically happens is that the paramilitaries take on the task of protecting the plantation owners' (and the government's) investment. And Afro-Colombian activists who get in the way pay a price in blood.</blockquote> Buyer beware. The other problem with biofuel is that some of it is has murder, terror and dispossession as a byproduct.

On Sept. 7, 2006, paramilitary gunmen invaded the home of Juan de Dios García, a community leader in the Colombian city of Buenaventura. García escaped, but the gunmen shot and killed seven members of his family.

The paramilitaries, linked to the government of President Alvaro Uribe and to the country’s wealthy landholding elite, wanted to stop García and other activists from the Proceso de Comunidades Negras (Process of Black Communities, or PCN), who have been trying to recover land on which Afro-Colombians have lived for five centuries. The PCN is a network of over 140 organizations among Black Colombian communities.

García later told Radio Bemba, “when the paras [paramilitary soldiers] came looking for me, I could see they were using police and army vehicles. They operate with the direct and indirect participation of high government functionaries. So denouncing their crimes to the authorities actually puts you at an even greater risk.”

South of Buenaventura along the Pacific, in the coastal lowlands of the department of Nariño, oil palm plantations are spreading through historically Afro-Colombian lands. The plantation owners’ association, Fedepalma, plans to expand production to a million hectares (about 3,861 square miles), and the government has proposed that by 2020 seven million hectares will be used for export crops, including oil palms.

Helping planters reach their goal is the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In what the agency describes as an effort to resettle rightwing paramilitary members who agree to be disarmed, USAID funds projects in which they are given land to cultivate. The land, however, is often located in historically Afro-Colombian areas.

On paper these resettlement projects may appear to be effective components of a national peace process. On the ground, however, what typically happens is that the paramilitaries take on the task of protecting the plantation owners’ (and the government’s) investment. And Afro-Colombian activists who get in the way pay a price in blood.

]]>