Challenging Monsanto: Over two million march the streets of 436 cities, 52 countries
24 May, 2013 09:51 / Updated 11 years ago
Millions of activists around the world have rallied against Monsanto, the biotechnology giant for genetically engineering agriculture and food while suppressing negative scientific research.
Organized by the 'March Against Monsanto' movement, an estimated
two million have taken part in the massive event on Saturday
spanning six continents, 52 nations, and at least 48 US states.
“It was empowering and inspiring to see so many people, from
different walks of life, put aside their differences and come
together today,” said Tami Canal, founder and organizer of
the global event.
“We will continue until Monsanto complies with consumer
demand. They are poisoning our children, poisoning our
planet,” she said. “If we don't act, who's going
to?”
The day of protest has already ended in Europe, where thousands
of activists in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland,
France, Malta and elsewhere took to the streets to protest
against Monsanto abuses.
This #MarchAgainstMonsanto
makes me happy. This is a huge issue that directly affects
EVERYONE!
Earlier in the day, hundreds of demonstrators in Brisbane and
Melbourne in Australia and across Japan and South Africa took to
the streets to protest against the multi-national corporation and
to demand a ban on Genetically Engineered and Genetically
Modified Organisms (GE/GMOs).
Angered by the lack of action from governments on the issue,
activists in the western part of the globe - in North and South
America - are also gearing up for the global march.
These folks NEED to be told WE THE PEOPLE won't accept your
frankenfood #marchagainstmonsanto
— Sarah D. Zimmerman (@SarahDZimmerman)
May 25, 2013
The organizers of the May 25 rally call for labeling of GM foods
and further scientific research on the health effects of GE/GMOs.
They also urge supporters to “vote with their dollar” by buying
only organic products and boycotting Monsanto-owned companies.
Besides that, they are urging a repeal of the so-called Monsanto
Protection Act and that the company’s executives and politicians
who back them are held to account through “through direct
communication, grassroots journalism, and social media.”
Initially a small, grassroots event, the march became a
globe-spanning movement through the efforts of local activists
and environmentalists. The protest is being organized on Facebook
and Google Documents, where users can find a list of events near
their location.
March Against Monsanto Director Nick Bernabe told the Natural
Society that genetically engineered food could affect everyone,
even the apathetic: “What we’re trying to do is bring
awareness to GMOs and the health effects that they’re causing and
bring about some solutions about what people can do to take back
their food supply,” he said. “They’re expecting more
than 15,000 people in San Francisco alone… We want to get people
working together in their communities.”
Monsanto has described current research into GMO crops as
"inconclusive," and has lobbied hard in Washington and
around the globe to continue manufacturing lab-made foods without
the oversight demanded by activists.
In March, Congress passed a biotech rider dubbed the 'Monsanto
Protection Act' that effectively allows Monsanto and other
companies that use GMOs to plant and sell genetically altered
products even if legal action is taken against them.
Up until it was signed, “the USDA [US Department of
Agriculture] oversaw and approved (or denied) the testing of
genetically modified seeds, while the federal courts retained the
authority to halt the testing or sale of these plants if it felt
that public health was being jeopardized. With HR 933 now a law,
however, the court system no longer has the right to step in and
protect the consumer,” explained James Brumley, a reporter
for Investor Place.
“They own the largest share of the agribusiness, pesticides
and seeds,” Joanne Montana, who organized a protest in
Florida, told the Gainesville Sun. “They’re transnational, in
food behind the scenes and a big conglomerate.”
The 'Monsanto Protection Act' was co-authored by a senator
who has received thousands of dollars in
campaign contributions from the company — a revelation that did
not surprise many, given that another important figure in
Washington, Justice Clarence Thomas, served as an attorney for
the corporation before he was nominated to the Supreme Court,
only to eventually preside over a case involving his former
employer.
But according to Food & Water Watch, the relationship between
Monsanto and the government extends beyond Congress and the
Supreme Court. In a statement accompanying a health report, Food
& Water Watch wrote that communications uncovered by
WikiLeaks detailed how “the US State Department lobbies
foreign governments to adopt pro-agricultural biotechnology
policies and laws, operates a rigorous public relations campaign
to improve the image of biotechnology and challenges commonsense
biotechnology safeguards and rules – including opposing
genetically engineered (GE) food labeling laws.”
Consumer rights group the Food and Water Watch disseminated a
report highlighting how “the State Department strategy sought
to foist pro-biotech policies on foreign governments.”
The report describes a four-prong approach: promote biotech
business interests; lobby foreign governments to weaken biotech
rules; protect US biotech exports and press developing world to
adopt biotech crops.
With the protest approaching, organizers have accused Monsanto of
going on the offensive and wrote on the event’s Facebook page
that the mass rallies had not been cancelled, debunking a false
rumor they accused Monsanto sympathizers of spreading.
“Events are disappearing, posts are being put on city event
pages that say events are being cancelled,” said Tom Canal,
an administrator for the March Against Monsanto Facebook page,
according to the Organic Prepper blog. “In no way, shape or
form, has any event been cancelled. I believe Monsanto is behind
this. Some of the people on the page that are commenting have
newly made profiles and seemingly those profiles were made
strictly to cause problems and get a rise out of our participants
on the page.”
In an interview with Bloomberg earlier this month, Monsanto CEO
Hugh Grant portrayed those who do not agree with his business
tactics as snobs: “There is this strange kind of reverse
elitism: If I’m going to do this, then everything else shouldn’t
exist,” he said. “In the US, we’ve got a system that
works.”
In their ongoing struggle to reach a wider audience through the
mainstream media, anti-GMO activists have outlined a number of
solutions and goals for which they are advocating, including the
"labeling of GE/GMOs so that consumers can make those
informed decisions easier," "further scientific research
on the health effects of GE/GMOs," and, perhaps most
importantly, "taking to the streets to show the world and
Monsanto that we won't take these injustices quietly."
Check back with RT throughout the weekend for the most extensive
up-to-the-minute coverage on the global demonstrations.