Insurrection of the Common Good: A Challenge from the Margins

                                            Mixtec children join in the Fiesta

  Recently, some U.S. corporations and universities claimed to  have "discovered" a miracle corn here in the mountains of Oaxaca that did what corn is not supposed to be able to do: fix nitrogen from the air to fertilize itself without the need of chemical fertilizers. Of course the indigenous communities here have used this corn for centuries. It is the product of thousands of years of communal biogenetic work and it is rightly considered communal property. Nevertheless the group of corporations and universities involved attempted to patent this corn or some genetic element from it in the United States. Fortunately, their patent application was denied, but in response, the "Espacio" for the Defense of the Native Corn Varieties of Oaxaca, developed the following notice to universities and corporate centers of investigation. NOTICE TO UNIVERSITIES, CENTERS OF INVESTIGATION AND CORPORATIONS ON WORKING IN INDIGENOUS PUEBLOS AND COMMUNITIES WITH THEIR BIODIVERSITY.   ...