Activists around the world are gearing up for a weekend of rallies to protest Monsanto, the biotechnology company that has been accused of genetically engineering agriculture and food while turning a blind eye to potentially deadly health ramifications.
Organized by March Against Monsanto movement, the massive
campaign will include an estimated 200,000 activists, spanning six
continents and more than 40 countries, and at least 48 US
states.
Angered at the lack of action from governments, activists in
hundreds of cities – including New York, Chicago, Montreal, Berlin,
Paris, Brussels, Moscow and Melbourne – will unite to protest
against Monsanto and demand a ban on Genetically Engineered and
Genetically Modified Organisms (GE/GMOs).
Initially a grassroots event, the March has turned into large
organized movement thanks to efforts of local activists and
environmentalists. The protest is being organized via Facebook
social networking service and an open Google Document, where users
can find events close to their locations and join the
protest.
Nick Bernabe, a director from March Against Monsanto, told
Natural Society that the 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.”
Calling results of numerous researches on the effects of GMO
crops “inconclusive,” Monsanto has lobbied hard in
Washington and around the globe to be able to continue
manufacturing lab-made foods without the oversight that many have
demanded.
In March, Congress passed a biotech rider dubbed the “Monsanto
Protection Act,” which essentially allows that company and others
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 so-called Monsanto Protection Act was co-authored by a
senator that 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 high 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 published accompanying a health
report, Food & Water Watch wrote that communication uncovered
by WikiLeaks details “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.”
Now, as the protest approaches, the organizers have accused the
company of going on the offensive and took to their event’s
Facebook page to explain the event had not been cancelled,
debunking a false rumor that they suspect comes from Monsanto
sympathizers.
“Events are disappearing, posts are being put on city event
pages that say events are being cancelled,” said Tom Canal, an
administrator for March Against Monsanto’s Facebook page, as quoted
by 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.”
Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant, during an interview with Bloomberg
earlier this month, tried to portray 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.”
Desperately struggling to reach wide audience through the
mainstream media, anti-GMO activists have outlined a number of
solutions they advocate and goals they march for.
Among the listed demands were “labeling of GE/GMOs so that
consumers can make those informed decisions easier,”
“calling for 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 through the weekend for the most extensive,
up-to-the-minute coverage on the global demonstrations.
This article originally appeared on: RT