Libertarianz Doublethink on GE

New Zealand Ayn Rand cultists the Libertarianz claim lifting the moratorium against GE is good science and serves 'individual choice'. Applying some science to their reasoning reveals a very different picture...

Taking on the Individual Freedom Mob
Danyl Strypey

>> Taking On The GE Mob - Again <<

This statement reveals the first contradiction in Libz logic. A democratic majority according to them is a 'mob', by implication without intelligent direction or the right to act collectively on their beliefs. However by their very existence as a parliamentary political party, they rely on a majority vote to take power and implement rules they believe safeguard individual freedom.

Basically if the same 'mob' that opposes GE voted Libertarianz into government they would happily go about restructuring everything that isn't nailed down from the top according to their ideology. Majority rule is bad (agreed) but minority rule is better? Please.

>> Libertarianz Deputy Leader Stephen Berry is eagerly
anticipating 'The Big March' on October Saturday 11, which will call for an extension of the GE moratorium. "As the sole defenders of individual freedom in New Zealand,
Libertarianz will proudly stand up for the right of people
to eat what they wish, and to grow what they wish on their own properties," Berry said. <<

I think I saw one at the Ootautahi march. Being in the minority doesn't make them wrong. Being totally out of touch with REALITY is what makes them wrong.

>> This is not the first time Libertarianz has faced down the anti-GE movement. <<

Like their matriarch Ayn Rand, the Libz have a flair for dramatic language that vastly overstates their own importance and impact.

>> Late last year, a small band of party actvists opposed 6000 protestors in a call for individual choice. Libertarianz also protested an Organic Sector rally outside Parliament, in September, to ensure MP's knew that the
advocates of freedom were backing a lifting of the moratorium. <<

The language of moratoria serves the Libz well here. It allows them to present the enforcement of GE release on an unwilling population as a liberalisation of government regulation. In fact the NOOM act which accompanied the lifting of the moratorium created an confusing mishmash of regulations on GE to be enforced by an alphabet soup of government burocracies including ERMA, MAF, MFE, ANZFA, NZFSA and the new combined health products standards body (but that's another article).

>> Berry says of the GE debate, "As owners of our own bodies
and lives, individuals should be making the sole decision over the consumption of GE products. <<

The GE Free movement supports clear, thorough labeling of GE products so that individuals can make the choices he promotes, which I see no mention of in this release. There is no need to oppose importation of clearly labeled GM products as only the Libz and Dr Rolleston from the Life Sciences Network would buy them. They wouldn't turn a profit and the biotech corporations know that which is why they oppose labelling and encourage mixing of GM and non-GM at the source.

>> As the only legitimate sovereigns over their own land, individuals alone should decide whether to grow GE crops on their land. <<

Is this guy is being intentionally deceitful or is he just scientifically illiterate? In the case of the latter, he might be interested to know that plants, unlike machines or even animals, reproduce through the spreading of pollen which can be carried around local areas by bees. Also by other nectar-feeders like butterflies who can spread them across whole countries and even oceans. Not to mention the wind and water, especially where genetic engineering of marine plants is concerned. Although it hasn't hit the news yet there's no reason that shouldn't happen considering the growing popularity of marine farming (we've already buggered the land let's move on to the ocean!).

>> If an individual's decisions does not result in the initiation of force against another, then it must be the individual's choice alone." <<

But this is exactly the issue. There are many activities that have effects which cannot be confined to one parcel of land. Along with the growing of GE organisms, this includes bacterial/ viral research, nuclear technology, agricultural poisons etc This is one of the many reasons why the Libz concept of human rights being vested in 'private property' is inherently flawed. Granting political rights to people on that basis of how much property they own used to be called feudalism. Now it's proponents abuse the term 'free market' to describe it.

>> Groups such as Greenpeace and MAdGE claim that 68% of New
Zealanders are opposed to the lifting of the moratorium. Stephen Berry has no interest in these figures. "The only poll that matters is when consumers vote at the cash register. This vote demonstrates people are capable of
making their own decision about GE consumption." <<

Strangely people only seem to have individual rights in Libz opinion if they excercise them in ways that separate and alienate them from others, like purhasing products. A lone person has individual rights but apparently a group of individuals don't.

How does purse power control things like the spread of GE qualities from commercial crops into wild relatives or across the species barrier? It can't. Only a collective refusal to allow GE release can do that.

>> The spokesman also says, "Whether the oppposition to GE comes from 51% or 99% of those polled, a mob will never
have legitimacy in the usurption of individual's personal
sovereignty." <<

Again, as long as the 'mob' isn't voting for a Libz government.

>> Libertarianz activists will be staging a National Day of GE Choice in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. If people wish to stand up for their inalienable right to control their own lives, in conjunction with
Libertarianz, then they should... <<

...have their heads examined. The idea that the way GE is being imposed on unwilling populations is an example of people controlling their own lives is laughable. It's clearly an example of multi-national corporations controlling people's lives. Incorporation gives them the same rights as citizens and this combined with their enormous wealth gives them an immense amount of power. Perhaps this is why pro-capitalist Libz always focus on individual rights and not community rights, struggles for which are typified by attempts to stop corporations imposing their profit-driven decision-making on neighbourhoods and nations.

If the people were in control genetic research would be confined to the lab under publicly accountable circumstances and release into the food supply and the environment would be banned.

Related

http://libertarianz.org.nz/