<!–Eric Draitser–>
Eric Draitser is an independent geopolitical analyst based in New York City and the founder of StopImperialism.com.
The worldwide March Against Monsanto this past Saturday was no mere political demonstration. Rather, it was a worldwide mobilization against corporate greed, the assault on our health and environment, and the oppression of small farmers.
As the diverse crowd gathered in New York City’s Union Square on
an unseasonably cold and rainy Memorial Day weekend — just as they
did in hundreds of cities around the world — it was clear that
Monsanto and the issue of health and food sovereignty transcends
political ideology. People from all walks of life joined together
to reject Monsanto and its pesticides, Genetically Modified
Organisms (GMOs), and socially and environmentally destructive
business practices.
However, some might wonder, why such focus on Monsanto? After
all, isn’t Monsanto merely one of many multinational corporations
that damage our political, economic, environmental, and physical
well-being?
It’s true that Monsanto is not alone in promoting destructive
technologies such as pesticides, herbicides, and GMOs — DuPont,
Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, and others are also culprits.
However, due to its global dominance and ubiquity, Monsanto has
become the rallying cry, the symbol for all that is wrong with our
agricultural, political, and economic systems.
Monsanto Means Physical and Environmental Damage
In recent years, the
harmful effects of pesticides, herbicides, and
GMOs have become well known. However, in that same time, Monsanto
and its corporate brothers-in-arms have only increased their power
and profits. In order to understand the extent of the problem and
the role of corporations in creating and exacerbating it, one must
first examine precisely how Monsanto’s products are harmful
to humanity.
One of the most troubling aspects of this issue is the myriad
ways in which pesticides, herbicides, and GMOs are harmful to our
health. Countless
studies have been conducted over the years showing a definitive
link between pesticides and cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and
other diseases. As reported
by Natural Health Magazine, “Glyphosphate (RoundUp) is found in
weed killers and may cause cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, nerve,
and respiratory damage.” These dangerous effects of pesticides
and herbicides are not always immediately apparent, often taking
decades to fully develop. Therefore, despite the wealth of
research, the extent of the problem is still very much
underestimated.
However, the problem is much greater in scope than simply the
visible health effects.
Pesticides and herbicides, the most popular of which is the
Monsanto-manufactured RoundUp, often can contaminate
groundwater, negatively affecting livestock and agriculture
that depend on clean water for survival. Additionally, the use of
pesticides has been definitively linked to the growing
epidemic of bee colony collapse, a troubling new trend that, if
it persists, will have deadly ramifications for all of us as bees
are responsible for pollinating at least one third of all the food
humans consume.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Monsanto and the other
big Agribusiness corporations’ work is the production of
genetically modified seeds. These seeds, either engineered to be
resistant to pesticides such as RoundUp or to produce their own
pesticides, are seen by many as a physical and environmental
threat. As Jeffrey Smith of the Institute for Responsible
Technology has explained:
“The genetic engineering process creates massive collateral
damage, causing mutations in hundreds or thousands of locations
throughout the plant’s DNA. Natural genes can be deleted or
permanently turned on or off, and hundreds may change their
behavior. Even the inserted gene can be damaged or rearranged, and
may create proteins that can trigger allergies or promote
disease.”
The negative effect of GMOs on our health is a subject that,
despite having been studied extensively, still requires more
research.
However, millions of concerned citizens, farmers and scientists
agree that, in light of what we do know about GMOs, we should err
on the side of caution, not on the side of profits for
multinational corporations.
Monsanto and the Oppression of Small Farmers
Beyond the environmental and physical damage caused by Monsanto
and its corporate co-conspirators, there is the fact that small
farmers all over the world are being forced or otherwise coerced
into a submissive and servile position in relation to the corporate
bullies on the block.
One way in which Monsanto, DuPont, et al dominate small
farmers is through the monopolization of the seed supply. Using
their teams of lawyers, these corporations have managed to patent
the seeds and genetic codes within those seeds and, by introducing
them into the seed supply, force farmers to buy their seeds season
after season, or risk facing crippling litigation.
The Center for Food Safety recently issued a report entitled
“Seed Giants vs US Farmers”
in which it documented that Monsanto alone has “has alleged seed
patent infringement in 144 lawsuits against 410 farmers and 56
small farm businesses in at least 27 US states as of January of
2013.”These lawsuits, and the crippling
fear of more lawsuits, has forced small farmers who could never
afford to challenge Monsanto in the courts to simply acquiesce to
their demands.
Moreover, many of these farmers might be “infringing” on patents
through no fault of their own as the genetically modified seeds
penetrate the fields of the non-GMO farmers through natural
processes such as wind. Essentially then, what Monsanto has created
is a closed system wherein they and their corporate cousins control
most agricultural production either through the seeds or by
extracting income from farmers who are unable to defend
themselves.
It should be noted that many of the small farmers who fall
victim to this kind of extortion are in the Global South.
Rural peasants in India and South Africa, Brazil and Mexico, and
many other parts of the developing world, are being forced into
this deadly corporate system. Without the means to defend
themselves, and with governments that often act as willing
executors of the demands of powerful corporations such as Monsanto
and others, the rural peasant class has no choice but to use the
GMO seeds. The health and environmental impact of this shift, along
with the destruction of traditional indigenous methods of
agriculture, is being painfully expressed throughout the world.
Resisting Monsanto, Defending Humanity
This weekend’s marches against Monsanto were a wonderful
demonstration of the popular anger over the monopolization of
agriculture by corporate interests.
Hundreds of thousands marched through the streets of hundreds of
cities around the world demanding an end to the poisoning of our
bodies, our children, and our environment. In New York, for
example, the march was punctuated by chants of “Hey hey, ho
ho…GMOs have got to go” and “Hell no G-M-O…hell no
G-M-O”, as men, women, and children marched in a long, unbroken
line of citizens unwilling to swallow the lies and poisons they’re
being fed.
However, what is missing from many of the articles being written
by concerned journalists and bloggers the world over is the fact
that the fight against Monsanto and corporate control over the
global food system is not relegated to one day of demonstrations.
Rather, this resistance struggle has been ongoing and, for small
farmers, this is an existential struggle. Organizations such as
La Via Campesina have
been working tirelessly to advocate the rights of peasants around
the world. As the organization wrote in its
recent report entitled “Combatting Monsanto”:
“With the current economic and environmental crises,
global resistance against transnational corporations has become an
urgent necessity.A fair society organized to address the people’s
needs and guarantee their rights cannot be built in co-existence
with corporations that grab power and finite resources. We are
calling for collective action from all of those who share our
vision of a sustainable world. There has never been a more
important time to globalize our struggles and globalize
hope.”
La Via Campesina, which represents more than 200 million
farmers, workers, and activists all over the world, is a powerful
symbol of resistance against Monsanto and the domination of
agricultural production by the interests of industrial and finance
capital.
More to the point, this organization and others like it,
give voice to the voiceless masses toiling in the fields the world
over. For the millions of small farmers who reject GM seeds and
pesticides in favor of traditional organic farming methods, this
resistance struggle is in fact a struggle for their very
survival.
The real power of the March Against Monsanto this past
Saturday May 25 cannot be measured in the turnout or the media
coverage. Instead, the significance could be understood in the face
of a young boy kneeling on the cold, wet concrete in Union Square,
New York City holding a sign that read “We want to live”, with his
father next to him clutching a sign reading “The right to feed your
children well.” The young boy’s sister, on the other side of her
father, gripping her placard that conveyed the simple yet powerful
message, “Greed kills”. As I marched along with my fellow New
Yorkers against the overwhelming power of Monsanto and the
seemingly immutable force of multinational corporations, I couldn’t
help but feel that, by all of us uniting, we are winning… that
together we can defeat them.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
This article originally appeared on: RT