[The Rundown (TL;DR)]

I applied to the Clinton Global Initiative University program that was hosted April 1-3 by former President Bill Clinton at UC San Diego.

My application, which proposed a commitment that sought to aid farmers in India driven to suicide by the agricultural giant Monsanto, was denied.

I took the feeling of rejection for a couple days and wondered why my application was denied even though I saw several examples of less complex commitments submitted around the same time being accepted. (This doesn’t make them any less deserving, I only bring it up to highlight that timing was probably not a major factor).

I recently found out that President Clinton has extensive ties with Monsanto and if there is indeed a relationship between President Clinton’s affiliations and those of his organization, then this would indicate a major conflict of interest on the part of CGI U.

[Note]

This is not intended to be a rant. I do not feel bitter or slighted because I simply do not have evidence directly linking what I’ve found about Mr. Clinton’s political affiliations to my rejection from the program. But what I have found is evidence of these affiliations, previously unknown to me, that may explain why I wasn’t invited to take part in CGI U if the organization has the same ties as the former US President behind it.

The reasons for a CGI U “commitment” decision are not made available and it very well may be due to limited capacity, quality of the commitment itself, or some other administrative variable (by that I mean reasons such as an admissions officer simply deciding that the application wasn’t good enough, etc.)

I acknowledge that the rejection of my application may have been due to an administrative reason. In fact, I sincerely hope this to be true. Still, I am curious about how President Clinton’s own policies and political affiliations affect the admissions process of his organization.

Let me explain.

[The Story]

A few months ago I found out that former President Bill Clinton would be hosting his annual Clinton Global Initiative University at UC San Diego where I go to school. I decided to apply and went through the selection process for the program. CGI U describes Commitments to Action as:

proposals that translate practical goals into meaningful and measurable results. Commitments are new, specific, and measurable initiatives that address social or environmental challenges on campuses, in communities, or in different parts of the world (CGI U).

More information about the program can be found here, but the paragraph above gives the basic gist of it. CGI U accepts applicants to attend the program based on their proposed commitments and the majority of students accepted go on to attend the event where they meet with other students to recruit other people to work on and discuss the feasibility of their commitment. Basically, it is a forum to connect with other college students and include them in the development and enacting of your commitment. (A minority of these accepted students are actually awarded funds for their proposals–so, to give myself the best shot, I structured my commitment for the program based on these successful CGI U commitments that are provided as examples from the past).

[My Proposal]

The full text of my proposal can be found here and here, but the major details are these. My commitment has to do with farmers in Andhra Pradesh, India that have been driven to mass suicides due to crop failure and debt caused by deceptive techniques by large agricultural biotechnology corporations such as Monsanto. As my application stated,

The Andhra Agriculture Education and Reform Initiative, [as I named it], seeks to provide agricultural finance literacy to rural farmers in Andhra Pradesh, India so that they may be able to distinguish between valid versus deceptive money-lending and farming contracts. The project also seeks to establish a system of microlending between farmers and provides reserve support through international donation while focusing on promoting an organic, cooperative agricultural setting within a community.

Now comes the important part–I went on to write that:

The AAER Initiative seeks to educate communities of farmers through making them aware of the current state of small agriculture in Andhra. By teaching these communities to recognize the tactics and pitfalls associated with borrowing hyper-speculative loans and subscribing to misleading seeding programs of several large companies (such as Monsanto), the AAER Initiative will prevent the dire situation that has driven many farmers to suicide.

Again, my entire commitment is more detailed and can be found through the link above, but the important part is that the major principle behing my proposal has to do with educating farmers against the deceptive tactics of Monsanto and its subsidiary companies.

[The Research]

After the initial sting of being denied, I was discouraged but decided I was going to draw up a plan to enact my commitment by myself. That’s when I found that President Clinton has some interesting political affiliations with Monsanto that I was not aware of.

As President, Clinton put Monsanto executives in at the FDA, as US Agricultural Trade Representatives, and on International Biotechnology Consultive Forums to name a few.

“‘Rural Americans for Hillary,’ an advocacy organization for Mrs. Clinton were Monsanto’s lobbyists. Her former-employer, Rose Law Firm , represent Monsanto, the world’s largest GE (GE - genetic engineering) corporation; Tyson, world’s largest meat producer; and Walmart, the world’s largest retailer.”

Rose Law Firm which has ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton has other connections: “Jon Jacoby, senior at the Stephens Group - one of the largest shareholders of Tyson, Walmart, DP&L - is C.O.B. of DP&L and arranged the Wal-Mart deal. Jackson Stephens ’ Group staked Walton and financed Tyson. Monsanto bought DP&L and Walmart’s board invited Hillary on while Tyson executives helped her do a $100,000 trade just before Bill’ governorship. Jackson Stephens then backed Bill for Governor, and later President (donating $100,000).”

In office, President Clinton along with his newly appointed USDA officials immediately “weakened chicken waste contamination standards, easing Tyson’s poultry-factory expansion.” As mentioned, Tyson has connections to Monsanto and Walmart through the Rose Law Firm which is directly linked to…Mr. and Mrs. Bill Clinton. With Tyson now supported by the Clinton FDA, the following took place.

Monsanto people were put in charge of food. FDA okayed Monsanto’s rBGH (bovine growth hormone), first GE-product ever approved. Despite bovine illness/death, FDA didn’t recall or warn the public. When dairymen labeled milk “rBGH-free,” the USDA threatened confiscation. Organic food was the last way around unknown danger. FDA tried to close that escape with new “organic” standards, to include: genetic engineering of plants/animals, food irradiation, sewage sludge fertilizer.

(Source for above points)

DP&L’s “terminator genes” (now Monsanto’s) which prevent seeds from “working” after only one season cause farmers to repurchase new seeds rather than replant them or face lawsuits from Monsanto for “copyright infringement.” These are some of the deceptive tactics used by Monsanto that I was referring to in my commitment that ensnare uneducated Indian farmers causing massive debt and suicide as the only means of escape. These terminator genes were allowed to go into production during the Clinton administration.

Monsanto employs child labor.

These are only some of the more direct initiatives with which Mr. Clinton and Monsanto have shared sponsorship. I encourage you to find out more about Monsanto’s negative impact on the US here.

[What this has to do with me]

I want to make the key point clear. While it may be true that I was not accepted by CGI U for purely administrative reasons, it is undeniable that if there is indeed a connection between President Clinton’s affiliation with Monsanto/Tyson/Walmart and the administration of the Clinton Global Initiative program, then my commitment was denied for political reasons. After all, why would CGI U want to give me a forum to address and possibly recruit others to a commitment that directly goes against the international work of a corporation supported by both Clintons? It isn’t difficult to see the connection. Even a quick perusal of CGI U’s resume demonstrates that Mr. Clinton and his organization take part in implementing positive change and their work to better the world is incredibly important. But I sincerely hope that his political affiliations do not hinder the principles championed by his organization.

I am not saying that Bill Clinton personally read my application and decided to reject it. What I am saying is if there is a political affiliation, it is entirely plausible that a CGI U officer decided not to grant me admission, indicating a major conflict of interest.

As I stated before, the precise reason behind the decision to accept or reject a CGI U application is not made public but in this case it is interesting to note that the Clinton-Monsanto connection is directly opposite the principles of my proposed commitment.

After reading this post, I hope that you will check my sources, do your own research if you feel so inclined, and share this post if you find it interesting. Feel free to “reply” via Tumblr with any comments or if you decide, share your thoughts anonymously.

In the mean time, I am going to be planning out how to enact my commitment to help the farmers of Andhra Pradesh. For more information on their situation, you can go here or run a simple google search. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, or would like to help plan the AAER Initiative, please don’t hesitate to contact me at cspteja@gmail.com.

——————–

Be sure to click through all the linked words above.

List of a few sources and references:

http://www.localforage.com/local_forage/2008/02/an-open-letter.html

http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/626639

http://www.financialsensearchive.com/editorials/engdahl/2006/0828.html

http://wafreepress.org/14/Envirowatch.html

http://www.indiaresource.org/issues/agbiotech/2003/monsantounilever.html

(some of these sources contain repeats but each have different sources in themselves)