Gates Foundation’s Rajiv Shah to Head USAID
Shah to Continue Gates-Monsanto Push for GMOs in Poor Countries
Despite the efforts of 5,497 Organic Consumers Association activists who sent letters to their Senators in opposition, the Senate confirmed Rajiv Shah to lead US foreign assistance as director of USAID.
On January 7, 2010, Shah was sworn in by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who gave a speech outlining USAID’s priorities. Sec. Clinton emphasized expanding partnerships with the private sector and NGOs and she highlighted the work Shah did with the Gates Foundation. She also referenced Bill Gates by saying that Shah had provided a list of people willing to go to bat for him in the Senate confirmation process that included “giants … in the foundation world.”
In his inaugural speech, Shah echoed Clinton, saying USAID needs “to better coordinate our work … with public, private and multilateral partners. … And we need to develop new capabilities to pursue innovation, science and technology…” Public-private partnerships promoting science and technology were what Shah specialized in when he worked at the Gates Foundation.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of Monsanto’s key non-profit partners, forcing hazardous Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) on farmers and consumers worldwide. The multi-billion dollar Gates Foundation is helping Monsanto infiltrate markets in poor African countries by fraudulently claiming that GMOs can feed the world and reduce rural poverty with high-priced GM seed varieties that supposedly, but in fact do not, increase yields, resist drought and improve nutrition.
In a speech the day before Shah’s swearing-in ceremony, Clinton spoke specifically about biotech crops:
“We are expanding our direct funding of new research, for example, into biofortified sweet potatoes that prevent Vitamin A deficiency in children, and African maize that can be grown in drought conditions.”
Rajiv Shah, USAID director, on tackling global hunger and why women lead the way
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 7, 2010
The number of people suffering from hunger has now topped 1 billion globally — the highest since 1970, according to the United Nations. U.S. foreign-aid director Rajiv Shah, 37, recently presented the Obama administration’s strategy to tackle the food crisis.
“Feed the Future” will focus on improving the agricultural systems of at least 20 countries. It’s part of an international effort that could benefit 40 million poor people over a decade, officials say.
Shah, a medical doctor who heads the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, came to agriculture through a circuitous route. In a former job at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he analyzed high-impact ways to help the poor. That led him to focus on farming. He didn’t just crunch numbers, though; he spent time working on a Montana farm “to get my boots dirty.”
“I fell in love with it,” he said.
Q: What’s the main way in which Feed the Future differs from what the U.S. government did before?
A: Probably the most important is the level of political commitment and engagement across the entire federal government. In the past, we’ve done good projects but often small projects . . . that didn’t really tie together and lead to a real transformation of that country’s agriculture and its situation with respect to hunger.
Can you give an example of a country where you’re introducing this?
I just got back from Bangladesh [where there are] 160 million people . . . about 40 million of whom suffer from chronic hunger. . . . We worked for many months at a high level with their government, civil society and the private sector, as well as international donors and partners who could really help focus on this program. . . . It’s about following the lead of the countries we work in, as opposed to designing solutions from Washington or Rome or New York.
Farming sounds like something the U.S. government did back in the ’60s and ’70s. Why focus on it now?
(While the world is celebrating all this “help” coming to the “under-fed, under-priveledged” of the world, I sit here growing more hopeless of this struggle by the day. It doesn’t seem possible to expect to sound the alarm and hope that anybody, let alone everybody will listen, take action and get something done to help save the world – - not just feed a few. What good does it do to feed people with food that is going to mutate their genes, shorten their lives, cost them more while they still live? Where is doing the right thing? Letting true science lead the way – not some agribusiness’ bottom line?
It isn’t enough that our government funds (probably with borrowed dollars) this otherwise noble sounding cause – - who wouldn’t want to help the needy, the hungry? But the Gates Foundation? Does anyone realize how vast the fortune is of Bill and Melinda Gates?. . . how deep the commitment of this charitable couple? All this money and clout uniting with “MONSANTO” to spread the ” glory” of GMO’s to the entire world.
Has everyone gone mad? Is it just me? How does a beautiful, intelligent young doctor like Rajiv Shah throw his weight and essence in with a purpose like this?
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do! Jan)
