Print

1.Occupy Monsanto
2.Occupy plans to "shut down" Monsanto in Davis Monday

Global Week of Action against Monsanto kicking off: What's happening where?
http://occupy-monsanto.com/genetic-crimes-unit/
–-
–-
1.Occupy Monsanto
Peter Rothberg
The Nation, September 5 2012
http://www.thenation.com/blog/169770/occupy-monsanto

One of the most important legacies of the Occupy movement has been the sustained, focused campaigns that have emerged from the broad, diffuse protests that captured the world’s attention last fall. Occupy the SEC has kept up the pressure for the Volcker Rule, while Occupy Colleges is determined to end the student debt crisis.

Another powerful example is the expanding network known as Occupy Monsanto, which has emerged over the past eight months staging numerous protests at companies connected to the global trade of genetically engineered foods, known as GMOs.

(GMO foods are organisms which have had specific changes introduced to their DNA using genetic engineering techniques. The plants produced by Monsanto’s seeds are designed to be treated with toxic herbicides and pesticides, chemicals which have been suspected to increase allergies and have been linked to decreased fertility, asthma, organ failure and even, possibly, cancer. The jury is still out, but Occupy Monsanto sensibly argues that vegetables are fine the way nature intended them, and that Monsanto is devoting far more research to the financial metrics of GMOs than to the health implications.)

Trying to sustain its focus, Occupy Monsanto recently announced that it will organize a full week of protests in St. Louis, home of the Monsanto Corporation, on the anniversary of OWS, September 17, 2012. The protests, based on the idea that Monsanto’s push to control agriculture poses a great threat not only to consumers in the United States but to farmers and communities throughout Latin America, Africa, and Asia, will call on US legislators to mandate the labeling of GMO food, so consumers can decide whether to ingest these products or not.

Occupy Monsanto aims to aggressively confront and expose the industrial agriculture system head-on. “There is something wrong when a chemical manufacturer, the same company who made Agent Orange, controls the US food supply,” said activist Jaye Crawford.

“Wall Street and the American political elite have underestimated and even ignored our potential to effect rational policy change on GMOs which would include labeling for GMOs and restrictions on GMO cultivation,” says Gene Etic an anti-GMO campaigner based in Washington, DC. “If Occupy Monsanto’s anti-GMO actions are successful, after September 17 the media and increasingly more voters will ask tough questions about these experimental GMO crops especially within the context of the presidential election, as that office holds the power to determine American food policy,” says Etic.

The protests will vary in size and nature but are unified in rejecting the legitimacy of GMO food. Check out this interactive map with times, dates and locations of the more than sixty protests organized so far: http://occupy-monsanto.com/genetic-crimes-unit/
–-
–-
2.Occupy plans to "shut down" Monsanto in Davis Monday
Daily Democrat, 15 September 2012 
http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_21551004/occupy-plans-shut-down-monsanto-davis-monday

Occupy Sacramento, Woodland, and Davis are protesting at Monsanto in Davis Monday morning.

The protest will begin at 6 a.m. at 1920 5th Street in Davis [California, USA].

The Anti Monsanto Project rally to combat Monsanto's business policies is in solidarity with Millions Against Monsanto and other organizations who are trying to stop the firm.

Guest speakers include vice presidential candidate Cindy Sheehan and United Farm Workers activist, Al Rojas. Singer/songwriter Sandra McDougle and the Fresh Juice Party will perform original songs for the action. Education, music, art and food will be provided.

Activist groups in attendance include, the Sacramento American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, The Luis Magna Organization De Trabajadores Agricolas De California, Labor Council of Latin American Advancement, and more.

Among the reasons for the Monsanto shutdown actions are:

*Gain statewide support for Proposition 37 to label food created with genetically modified organisms.

*Label milk produced with recombinant bovine growth hormone like Ohio accomplished in 2010.

*Require crop rotation of monocultures to restore biodiversity and lessen the need of pesticides to combat insects.

*Ban the use of Roundup and other pesticides/herbicides that contaminate the environment and cause human health risks.

The last time Sheehan was in Yolo County was in mid-December Occupy Woodland marched against the opening of a new Chase

Sheehan rose to fame in August 2005, when she camped outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch, following the death of her son in the Iraq War. She has remained politically active since. In October, she was arrested in Sacramento for her role in the Occupy Sacramento movement.