Alaskans March Against Monsanto (PHOTOS)
More than 300 demonstrators turned out on a beautiful Memorial Day weekend to join groups across the world marching in protest against Monsanto, and genetically modified foods. For an issue that crosses political boundaries, the enthusiasm was clear and loud.
Local activists organized the event to bring attention to threats to our food supply,to support local Alaska farmers, and to raise general awareness about the effects of genetically modified foods on farmers, and our health. Marchers also carried signs warning against genetically modified “frankenfish,” a salmon-eel hybrid that could damage wild stocks.
“We want safer food, we want to know what’s in our food and we want answers as to why these chemical companies won’t tell us what they’re doing with the food,” said Anchorage event organizer Kim Houston.
After the protest in Anchorage, Representative Geran Tarr (D-Anc) announced plans to introduce legislation in the 2014 legislative session mandating the labeling of genetically modified foods sold in Alaska.
[Photos provided by Greg Hollstein]
Found this very interesting video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ubVlAIhNRM&feature=endscreen&NR=1
Sourced article here: http://worldtruth.tv/monsanto-hires-infamous-mercenary-firm-blackwater-to-track-activists-around-the-world/
Perhaps my previous entry on boycotting was pointless if this turns out to be true. If ever there were a need to visualize fascism in the US (REAL fascism: marriage between state and private enterprise) Monsanto fits the bill, and contracting with Blackwater to infiltrate their ranks and/or snuff out anti-GMO activists geometrically expands their sinister nature.
According to Bloomberg Businessweek,GMO wheat has never been approved by the F.D.A. and unlike corn,soybeans and other GMO crops there isn’t supposed to be any GMO wheat in U.S. food supplies.Now Bloomberg claims that Monsanto has planted new GMO wheat strains (field studies)in at least two states-Hawaii and North Dakota. Monsanto will not disclose what type(s) of herbicides are being used,invoking confidentiality clauses. BTW,Monsanto stopped field testing RR wheat nine years ago,so how come it just popped up in Oregon fields this year? Foreign nations that don’t allow and don’t want “Frankenfoods” are already canceling contracts for wheat shipments from the USA. The agebcy charged with regulating this stuff has extremely lax enforcement and testing,apparently.
Finally something we can agree on, mike from iowa. The one piece of the puzzle you are missing is that Monsanto and the FDA, USDA, etc. are virtually one and the same. Look it up. Over the years, several “former” Monsanto executives have walked through the revolving door into high government positions in the agencies that oversee the activities of their “former” employer. There is a reason I have a general disdain for government…and this is one of them.
As an aside, if Monsanto did not have the legal luxuries it is afforded by the state, there is no way it would wield as much power as it does. Keep in mind this is the same company that developed Agent Orange for use in the Vietnam War. Monsanto lives and breathes by the legal definitions of intellectual property law, which former Monsanto lawyer (and current Supreme Court Justice) Clarence Thomas helped solidify when the court decided it was OK to patent life. That set a major precedent, and is a prime reason why people are protesting…if they are aware of that fact or not.
I’ve never understood what is uniquely scary about GMO food, when we have so readily accepted inter-generic hybridization. And, quite honestly I like my hybrid plants. They offer much “food security” for Alaska. Good luck growing non-hybridized corn in this State. I know a couple people in Fairbanks who used to succeed in a greenhouse. Now, with Hybrids, you can harvest a nice crop of sweet corn.
If GMO foods offer similar improvements in hardiness, sign me up.
And, I probably don’t want to grow the tomato that has pork DNA in it, so what I do want is truth in labeling.
http://tinyurl.com/mbvpz8d
If you aren’t sure of the difference between hybrids and GMO organisms,maybe this article will help.
Here is another article about contamination of non-GMO crops(especially organic) by modified crop pollen. It is inevitable that cross contamination will occur and,for the most part, only Monsanto has legal protections. http://tinyurl.com/m4sofy2
Oh by the way. I don’t believe in labeling, I believe in BANNING GMO’s altogether. If countries like France, Australia and New Zealand can ban GMO’s, so can we. GMO’s play havoc with our DNA, our digestive systems and then there are some pesky little genetic alterations that can take place on your genetic code through some mighty unknown genetic elements called transposons, also called transposable elements. Geneticaaly modified anything can unwittingly transmit and hook up to your DNA these transposons which can do significant damage and then some.
Check out transposable elements or transposons on google. Molecular biologists and geneticists love to play God with peoples’ lives when they bioengineer GMO’s in a lab, because this is exactly where in the action of cutting and pasting genes from one organism to another, they also unwittingly transmit transposons and other nasties on to OUR genetic code. Fun ain’t it. And there is so much more these people in labs and Monsanto don’t even know about as far as the repurcussions the GMO’s can cause. We’re only now finding out about what REAL havoc the GMO’s can cause, and believe me it ain’t pretty.
Which political party does Senator Blount of Missouri,you know,the guy who allowed Monsanto’s staff to write legislation that prevents Monsanto from ever being sued if GMO foods rilly turn out to be the nasties a lot of us fear they are? Did you say rethuglican? You are absolutely correct. Citizens don’t run this country,korporate amerika and their bought and paid for tools do..
Correction-which party does Senator Blount belong to?
@mike: What has Republican got to do with what I’m saying? And by the way, when it comes to MOST issues such as wars, GMO’s, you name it, both the Dems and the Repubs are the SAME. Look at prop 37 in California against GMO labeling. California is as Democratic and blue as you can get and this all important prop got defeated. So there is no difference in the parties on most issues. They’re both sold out to unions, big MNC corporations and banksters.
The only way the GMO problem will be solved, is if the people start waking up and cry fowl, like they did in Australia and New Zealand. GMO”s are not a Republican or Democratic issue, it is a PEOPLE issue. So please stop polarizing in that regard, saying this Republican senator did this etc. I can give you plenty of examples of how Dems here in California are allowing Monsanto and the GMO food industry to thrive in a supposedly “environmentally” friendly state. So the crux of the problem is the entire overreach of the federal government in totality, whether Democratic or Republican.
Aren’t you the one who proudly proclaimed being part of the Santa Barbra,Calif. Rep party? Monsanto is protected from lawsuits because of one U.S, Senator from your party. Not polarizing anything,just keeping the record straight. Apparently you haven’t noticed that this nation is totally polarized with one major party absolutely refusing any compromise with the other side to advance interests for anyone except the wealthy.Certainly doesn’t mean there can’t be some common ground between us. We can’t afford to forget the politics or the politicians that are dividing this country.
You cannot insist that
“… the crux of the problem is the entire overreach of the federal government in totality…” and then ask the federal government to extend its reach to include GMO labeling without creating cognitive dissonance- at the very least.
@Alaska Pi: TRUE, but the GMO problem is ALSO a BIG state problem. Each state can and should deal with the labeling issue or banning them completely either through referendums or propositions, just like California did. Which by the way failed miserably in California (this was a surprise, since most Californians are vehemently against GMO’s). So the simple answer to the conundrum us to take the Feds out of the equation all together and have each individual state deal with it which in turn localizes the issues, gives people a stronger voice of opposition, ultimately empowering them to take action.
I disagree. It will, and should, take multiple approaches to reining in problems like GMO labeling. The states and the Fed each have legitimate jurisdiction .
Initiative and referendum law is very different from state to state . CA is known for its endless initiatives -which bypass its duly elected legislature – which has a whole set of positives and negatives which are not really discussed very often. At least publicly.
The failure of the labeling law in CA is interesting on many fronts. I haven’t read the proposed law and didn’t really follow the campaign .
I thought this :
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/11/why-did-proposition-37-fail/#.UatE39iCWSo
was interesting since it deviated from the they-outspent-us meme and looked at some other things.
I don’t agree with the author on a lot of his personal stance but I am more interested in a broader post-mortem than is the norm.
Alaska has a much more restrictive initiative law . The recent gutting of the Cruise Ship initiative law here by the legislature is testimony to just how easy it is to bypass voter intent here.
The tension between the Fed and the states serves a real purpose though many state’s rights folks don’t see it
As per reining in outfits like Monsanto, it is going to take effort at every level of effort and government we can muster.
Appealing to the greater psychopath (gov’t intervention) is a well-known cog dis strategy of last resort for libertarians, and is one of the last hurdles to clear before fully embracing voluntarism.
More effective than activist protests…is a private/locally organized boycotts of anything and everything Monsanto is involved in. That can be as simple as refusing to shop at a grocery store that carries anything GMO. If the boycott is effective, it advances from the local level to the regional level when stores, listening to their customers, stop carrying GMO products. If the stores (retail outlets) stop ordering these products from the wholesaler, the wholesaler will stop carrying them. As demand for GMO products plummet, eventually Monsanto gets the hint.
Instead of hating the world because it’s profit-driven…just accept that fact and use it to your advantage, because ultimately it is THE PEOPLE that determine what is profitable. Convince enough people that Wal-Mart is an awful company that doesn’t deserve their business, and the Walton family will go bankrupt. Same concept for Monsanto.
That all said, campaigning to collectively slay the dragon is not of the opposite consciousness necessary to solve this problem…so my ultimate advice is for every person to just walk away from this paradigm, develop relationships with other like-minded individuals, and start a voluntary community that embraces locally-produced organic food, and finds a way to have it produced and delivered in a manner affordable for all.
@mike: I’m NOT a Republican anymore. I resigned from my job the moment Ron Paul ended his campaign. When I first became citizen in Dec 2009, I registered as No Party preference. Then in July 2011 I reluctantly joined the Republican party because and ONLY because Ron Paul was running for President, and he’s LIBERTARIAN, and the true Republican that the Republican party USED to be about 60 or so years ago. Non-interventionist, no drug war, small govt etc. all libertarian stances. I was in the Republican party solely to infiltrate and get Ron Paul elected. After the Republicans had completely destroyed Ron Paul, I got out and re-registered No Party preference. I truly stand for no party, only for the constitution, which we apparently have VERY rarely followed. So to answer your question: NO the senator from Missouri is not part of MY PARTY, since I’m no longer part of it. And no I never was proud to be part of the Santa Barbara Republican Party. It was out of sheer neccessity at the time. So again to re-iterate my point: polarizing won’t help and that is something Ron Paul stressed on as well. Ron Paul worked with people like Dennis Kucinich to end the wars abroad and with Barney Frank to end the drug war. Both noble causes. So yes, GMO’s are something that I’m against as well. You’ll be surprised to know that most liberals are libertarians at heart, but just don’t know it.
Actually- there are as many stances on the “liberal” side of the fence as there are on the other side. As a far left-libertarian I am fully aware of just how libertarian I am- but it is a whole nother critter than right-libertarian.
I am also fully aware of just how much of a minority I am over here.
Understanding that, I still find more correlation and correspondence with my own views in the Democratic Party platform than outside it. And when I’m really, really ticked off at the Ds I stay -if for no other reason than to spit in the faces of Andrew Jackson’s genocidal ghost and those of the now-gone Southern Ds who stood for segregation.
And , no, the Republican Party of 60 years ago was not like what you describe.
Now I know you’re not a libertarian. There are anarchists, minarchists and others. But, there are NO left leaning and right leaning libertarians. Follow the word Libertarian which comes from Liberty and the where it stems from: the writings of John Locke in the 16th century, of Edmund Burke. These people were called “classical liberals,” aka libertarians. The liberals of today are the keynesians, debt driven, Wilsonian and Theodore Rooseveltian (who was a Republican) progressives. The liberals like Obama are actually marxist progressives, very different from the Democrats such as Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland, JFK and people of that ilk. Printing worthless paper money through a private central bank which has complete power and no audits done ever since it’s conception in 1913, is not safe economics. It’s sheer stupidity. Spending more money and going into more debt to GET out of DEBT is sheer lunacy. A three year old child can tell you that. Yet, the Repubs and the Dems have been doing this for over 50 years. You cannot spend more money to get out of debt and stimulate anything, let alone the economy with endless handouts and dole-outs and bail out packages. Read MIses, Hayek, Murray Rothbard, Henry Hazlitt on the REAL free market economics. Read the the “Law” by Bastiat too. The libertarian movement accelerated by Ron Paul and some who came before him talk precisely of this same free market system which leads to prosperity. Hell read Adam Smith, the founder of classical economics. You’ve got a lot of catching up to do before you call yourself a LIBERTARIAN. Libertarians not only believe in the free market, but follow it. Free markets are THE ONLY vehicle that lead to capitalism and prosperity. The founders of the country understood this very well (most of them were libertarian as well: Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Gouvenor Morris, Patrick Henry etc. BUT not Alexander Hamilton: he was a anglophile monarchist financier). The Constitution of the United States is a libertarian document. The ONLY powers of the Federal govt are given in precise terms in Article 1 Section 8 of the constitution and no more. When the Constitution was ratified in 1787, it was with the specific intent that congress was to be restricted in every way possible to prevent power grabs. Which is precisely what is happening now paradoxically where broad powers are usurped by congress from the states through the misinterpretation of the commerce and the general welfare clause in the constitution. Let me make this very simple for you: Libertarians are MOSTLY economically conservative and socially liberal. That is a broad definition, but fairly accurate in most cases.Notice that the constitution does not mention abortion or marriage ANYWHERE. why? because it’s a states issue not a federal government issue. The states deal with murder, rape and other social issues, they should be allowed to deal with issues such as abortion and marriage as well. So some states will be pro choice, others won’t. But the federal government should not interfere with the god given inherent rights of individuals. Environmental causes could be effectively dealt with through strict property right laws and then through the courts. The multinational corporations COULD be kept at bay through strict property rights laws. which are already there, just not ever taken into account. So read up on the Austrian economists and the free market system and understand REAL liberty, before you call yourself a Libertarian. There are too many people out there who believe that the government (the feds) should be directing their lives from cradle to grave and call themselves libertarians.
oh horsepunky.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-libertarianism
I’m most closely a Steiner-Vakllentyne type.
http://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2012
I am so far in the bottom left hand corner in left libertarian I almost fall off the grid.
BTW- RIGHT libertarians believe in the free market, left not so much, depending on where they fall.
There is a whole world of thought you know nothing about apparently.
Hope you guys succeed in Alaska where we failed in California with Prop 37. What a shame for California.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/01/business/global/japan-and-south-korea-bar-us-wheat-imports.html?google_editors_picks=true
UH Oh,imagine an un-approved type pf GMO wheat showing up in American fields years after not being approved for sale. Guess which Monsanto is behing this un-approved wheat?
Lovely!
All the kids! Yay!
The grin on that lil guy with his pot o soil is gonna leave a grin on my face all day 🙂
To anyone who who got to go, were the children planting something to take home and grow?