A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #371 - Ecology - Chemical Weapons: Destruction of Peoples, Destruction of Land (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

To coerce peoples struggling for their liberation and to consolidate 
colonial domination, destroying land through herbicide spraying has 
unfortunately become a common practice in recent years. By impacting the 
health of populations and the land for generations, the colonial 
continuum is maintained through force and the cooperation of 
agrochemical companies that reap substantial profits. ---- In early 
February, the Israeli army warned the UN peacekeepers of the United 
Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), present in southern Lebanon, 
that it would be airdropping toxic substances over Lebanese territory.

Herbicides as Chemical Weapons
Samples taken afterward revealed that the spraying involved glyphosate 
at doses 20 to 30 times higher than those used in conventional 
agriculture. The affected area covers approximately 500 hectares. The 
stated objective of the Zionist state: to kill the vegetation that would 
serve as cover for Hezbollah fighters.

Agent Orange spraying in Vietnam during Operation Ranch Hand.
United States Air Force
This tactic is reminiscent of the one used by the US military in Vietnam 
to more easily flush out Vietnamese resistance fighters. For ten years, 
they sprayed nearly 80 million liters of Agent Orange, a powerful 
defoliant, transforming 400,000 hectares of forests and crops into a 
poisonous wasteland. The dioxin contained in Agent Orange is a 
carcinogenic and teratogenic substance, meaning it causes birth defects. 
It causes skin diseases and damages the immune, reproductive, and 
nervous systems. More than 60 years later, the Vietnam Dioxin Collective 
continues to denounce this lasting contamination of the soil and bodies. 
In addition to the 3 to 4 million Vietnamese men and women directly 
exposed to dioxin during the war, significant quantities of dioxin 
remain in certain areas. Three generations of Vietnamese men and women 
have been affected by the herbicides: birth defects, hyperencephaly, 
skin diseases, cancers, and nervous system or brain damage are just some 
of the ailments suffered by the victims.

According to their website, the Vietnam Dioxin Collective "brings 
together volunteers and partner associations.[It fights]for official 
recognition and reparations following the effects of the use of Agent 
Orange during the Vietnam War."
In Lebanon, the consequences were visible a few days later: the 
vegetation changed color from green to yellow. Wild plants, as well as 
olive trees and cultivated plants, lost their leaves. The IDF carried 
out similar attacks in Syria in January and in Gaza as early as 2005. In 
the Palestinian enclave, the Israeli human rights organization Gisha 
documented 30 sprayings between 2014 and 2018. The consequences were 
identical: total destruction of crops, leaving farmers without resources 
and diminishing the territory's food self-sufficiency capacity, which 
has been under blockade since 2007. In 20 years, agriculture's 
contribution to GDP has fallen from 12% to approximately 3%. This 
destruction of local subsistence farming, orchestrated by Israel, makes 
the Gazan population dependent on foreign humanitarian aid.

As a reminder, glyphosate is classified as "probably carcinogenic to 
humans" by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Beyond the 
direct and visible damage to vegetation, the high doses used repeatedly 
will irreversibly contaminate the soil and groundwater.

On the other side of the world, the Colombian population can attest to 
this. Between 1994 and 2015, under pressure from the United States, 
Colombian governments carried out aerial fumigations of glyphosate over 
coca fields. The stated objective was to eradicate the production of 
this ancient plant, used notably by drug traffickers to manufacture 
cocaine, of which Colombia is the world's leading producer. Over the 
years, the local population helplessly witnessed an increase in infant 
deaths, cancers, birth defects, and miscarriages. In 2015, Colombia 
banned this disastrous practice, both in terms of human suffering and 
environmental impact. Unfortunately, the Colombian president yielded to 
the demands of the Trump administration and announced in December the 
resumption of fumigations using drones, supposedly making them less 
risky for the population and ecosystems.

Israel is acting knowingly in carrying out these spraying operations. 
Ecocide is merely another step in the ongoing genocide in the region. 
The destruction of Palestinian land is part of a genocidal colonial 
logic, preventing the population's autonomy and depriving them of their 
resources.

War profits for corporations
Further proof that international agreements are ineffective. Indeed, the 
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court defines as a "war 
crime" attacks causing "widespread, long-term and severe damage to the 
natural environment." The Geneva Conventions state that "it is 
prohibited to use methods or means of warfare which are designed to 
cause, or are expected to cause, widespread, long-term and severe damage 
to the natural environment." Yet, nothing and no one stops these attacks 
against oppressed populations under imperial domination. Laws, treaties, 
and conventions are merely facades of good conscience for predatory 
states that have none.

Destructive capitalist corporations and predatory colonial states work 
hand in hand. The history of the American company Monsanto, active in 
the chemical and agricultural sectors, perfectly illustrates this. As 
early as 1940, Monsanto was working on uranium as part of the Manhattan 
Project, in collaboration with the US military, to develop the first 
atomic bomb. Monsanto was one of the two companies that produced Agent 
Orange. And it is still Monsanto (renamed Bayer since its acquisition in 
2018) that markets the glyphosate used by the Israeli army. For nearly a 
century, this company has been participating in a veritable "war on land."

Colonization is not limited to military confrontations; it is a total 
offensive. Colonial powers use the environment as a weapon, and Israel 
is no exception in its genocidal project. The scorched-earth strategy is 
employed to make daily survival impossible and to subjugate populations 
that resist. A just and lasting peace will only be possible within the 
framework of recognizing the rights of the Palestinian people, and in 
particular their right to self-determination.

C. (UCL Fougères)

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Armes-chimiques-Destruction-des-peuples-destruction-des-terres
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