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Activists Around the World: Leydy Pech · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stephane
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: never told you a protection of I Heart Radio. And
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: welcome again to another edition of Activists around the World. Yeah, yeah, okay,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: thank you. I feel like it's time we should collap right.
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  Speaker 1: Um today we are talking bees, y'all. Well, not just
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: completely about bees, but be so Anie, I know, I
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: need to know what do you know about bees? Telling
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: me all about him? I love bees. I absolutely love bees.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Obviously you've seen my bee pillow Pez. Yes, of course Ruby,
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  Speaker 1: which is precious to me. But I uh, very early
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  Speaker 1: in my career was Savor the other podcast I do,
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  Speaker 1: which was my first time hosting a podcast. We did
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  Speaker 1: a mini series on bees, and we did a video
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  Speaker 1: mini series on bees. Um and so we talked to
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  Speaker 1: like a meat guy and we talked to there's a
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  Speaker 1: hotel in Atlanta, the HIGHERT Regency that has rescue bees
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  Speaker 1: on the top of their hotel. Um. And I just
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  Speaker 1: love bees. I think they're amazing. What they do is
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  Speaker 1: fantastic and scientifically like day, bees are cool. Bees are
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  Speaker 1: objectively cool, and we need the bees. Yeah okay, so
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  Speaker 1: I knew you as of good information about bees. We
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  Speaker 1: all know the bees are important and they're very necessary.
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  Speaker 1: And I love good honey so and we love it
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  Speaker 1: locally sourced and apparently it could help you with allergies. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: and there are specific two regions are specific types of bees,
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  Speaker 1: two regions. Um and I think that's very important to say,
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  Speaker 1: because we're gonna talk about that because today we're talking
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  Speaker 1: about behe environmentalist and environmental Mayan activist, Lady Paige, who
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  Speaker 1: is a leader, a fighter, and a fierce advocate for
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  Speaker 1: a community. So she was born and raised in Hope
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  Speaker 1: el Chin in the Campachy state of Mexico, and Paige
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  Speaker 1: has continuing on her ancestral legacy of beekeeping, which was
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  Speaker 1: something that's been a part of her Mayan culture which
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  Speaker 1: goes back like thousands of years, like three thousand years
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  Speaker 1: with the specific bees. But that legacy was threatened not
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  Speaker 1: too long ago thanks to big industry. In two thousand,
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  Speaker 1: a company called Mansato, which is owned by Bear, started
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  Speaker 1: growing an experimental genetically modified soybean in that area. As
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  Speaker 1: in fact, industrial agriculture has some of the highest rates
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  Speaker 1: of deforestation in Mexico, taking over ninety four thousand acres
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  Speaker 1: and destroying the forest and taking over some of the
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  Speaker 1: Mayan lands, and not surprisingly, these crops affected the communities
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  Speaker 1: and land, whether it was polluting the purity of the
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  Speaker 1: honey that was being produced or causing issues linked to
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  Speaker 1: birth defects and miscarriages due to the pesticides and chemicals
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  Speaker 1: used to help modify the story beans, which was engineered
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  Speaker 1: to be round up resistant, right, and we're talking about
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  Speaker 1: round up. We're talking about that actual UH pesticide that
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  Speaker 1: is so common today that they create. They're trying to
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  Speaker 1: create this experimental soybee. We're just causing a lot of havoc.
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  Speaker 1: And like a leader, Page was not having it um
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  Speaker 1: and specifically about the bees. She said, quote, the little
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  Speaker 1: bees can't defend themselves, they can't defend their rights, but
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  Speaker 1: we can. Mayans have worked for generations to preserve bees.
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  Speaker 1: We have a very important relationship with the bees. Our
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  Speaker 1: cultural identity is, let's say, based on the care and
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  Speaker 1: conservation of bees. We have real lifed that to produce
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  Speaker 1: our food, we must protect the bees. We need bees
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  Speaker 1: to protect our medicinal plants. That's why the Mayans have
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  Speaker 1: a very important relationship with our bees. And I think
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  Speaker 1: it's very important that we understand how significant UH species
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  Speaker 1: can be, and of course there is a specific species
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  Speaker 1: that they they use, which is not typically common anywhere else.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't even try to say the official term. You
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  Speaker 1: can look it up, but it was very specific to
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  Speaker 1: their land and their community. And uh, seeing the damages
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  Speaker 1: that the companies were causing her community and her land,
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  Speaker 1: and she took action. She not only started nonprofits to
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  Speaker 1: come together to fight such as sin turns equals which
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  Speaker 1: means without GMOs or and I'm sorry if I'm saying
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  Speaker 1: this wrong, Moosch kambal Or Campbell Coalition and the collective
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  Speaker 1: Epiccola the Lost Chains, but she also was able to
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  Speaker 1: get help from academic institutes to document the impacts of
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  Speaker 1: the GM or the genetically modified soybean h to the
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  Speaker 1: honey and the environment and to the community. And she
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  Speaker 1: was able to get the evidence to show the harm
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  Speaker 1: it was caused, and not only in their production of honey,
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  Speaker 1: but to the water and the livelihoods of the people.
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  Speaker 1: She and the organizations filed a lawsuit against Monstatto and
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  Speaker 1: the government to stop this damaging practice. Of course, it
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  Speaker 1: wasn't just that simple. Pati and the coalition started educational
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  Speaker 1: and awareness programs around the communities created workshops for others
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  Speaker 1: to exchange information and brainstorm in the specific activism, and
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  Speaker 1: they launched petitions in protests with around two thousand participants,
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  Speaker 1: and in fifteen, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled in favor
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  Speaker 1: of the indigenous community stating that the government must consult
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  Speaker 1: the communities before the GM soybeans can be planted, which
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  Speaker 1: quickly revoked the monstatto permits and planting, and later in seventeen,
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  Speaker 1: Mexico's Food and Agricultural Services revoked the permit altogether, which
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  Speaker 1: was the first time the government took official action and
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  Speaker 1: protecting the environment and indigenous community from GM crops right
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  Speaker 1: and Patient her crew have been a huge example for
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  Speaker 1: others seeking to protect their lands similarly. Um In one report,
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  Speaker 1: after the company Monsano lost their case, one of the
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  Speaker 1: representative commented that they could not believe that such a
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  Speaker 1: small woman, referring to Page, was able to beat them,
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  Speaker 1: so it was quite obviously they're like what. Page has
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  Speaker 1: continued to advocate for our community and for other Indigenous
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  Speaker 1: communities around her. She is a member of an all
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  Speaker 1: Mayan women's cooperative that works in organic farming in agro
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  Speaker 1: forestry in Page was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, also
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  Speaker 1: known as the Green No Bell, and in her speech
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  Speaker 1: she said, the award gives me the opportunity to tell
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  Speaker 1: the world that the territories of indigenous peoples are being
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  Speaker 1: dispossessed for the imposition of megaprojects, extra activism, agri business,
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  Speaker 1: tourism and others that strengthened a capitalist model that affects
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  Speaker 1: natural resources and our means of employment. And that the
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  Speaker 1: award quote represents a recognition of the work of the
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  Speaker 1: Mayan communities of the shame A region of Campache and
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  Speaker 1: at the unity of the Mayan territory, right. And I
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  Speaker 1: think it's important that we do recognize that we don't
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  Speaker 1: get to celebrate many victories for those in the indigenous
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  Speaker 1: communities in the US. We're talking about the fact that
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  Speaker 1: they're already pulling back a lot of autonomous rights for
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  Speaker 1: tribal communities here and for us to see and for
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  Speaker 1: us to celebrate such a great victory because of such
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  Speaker 1: damage that it could have caused an entire community, an
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  Speaker 1: entire species. It's amazing to see that they want against corporation.
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  Speaker 1: It feels like the little guys finally get to win
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  Speaker 1: for the first time, and that she's not only be
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  Speaker 1: able to celebrate that, but she's going to help model
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  Speaker 1: that for other people who are trying to fight that
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  Speaker 1: and hopefully like hopefully push for that because Mexico actually
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  Speaker 1: happens to be one of the highest productions for honey
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  Speaker 1: and it's important to know that this is their livelihood,
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  Speaker 1: that this is what has built their community. And she
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  Speaker 1: has talked about the fact that it's something that learn
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  Speaker 1: and it's been a part of their culture for three
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  Speaker 1: thousand years and how significant that is for a community
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  Speaker 1: to have one giant industrial business coming and just ruin
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  Speaker 1: it because they want to do something that could be
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  Speaker 1: really unhealthy and unnecessary and just puts out so many people.
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  Speaker 1: So cheers to her and the community that they have
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  Speaker 1: worked so hard to win those fights. Yes, absolutely, and
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  Speaker 1: these are amazing. I recommend looking into them more. Uh
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: and also everyone recover on this segment is amazing And
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  Speaker 1: if you have any suggestions for who we should cover next,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: you can email us. Our email is Stephanie mom Stuff
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: at I hurt meia dot com. You can find us
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast or Instagram and stuff
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: One Never told You thanks. It's always to our super
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: producer Christina, who's the best. We love sir the very best,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. Stephm, I never told
• 9:04
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• 9:07
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