Photos/Daymonjhartley.com
DETROIT — On Saturday May 25 2013, an estimated two million people in over 52 countries peacefully took to the streets to say NO to biotech giant Monsanto. When asked why they marched, people expressed outrage over the U.S. Congress and the President for having passed what is now being called the “Monsanto Protection Act.” It, among other things, bans courts from halting the sale of Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds. The act also protects Monsanto from ever being legally sued for health complications from eating GMO foods.
In Detroit we intentionally planned our march in Detroit’s historical Eastern Market, where regional farmers have always gathered and to serve the communities of Detroit real food. It was important to the organizers of the event that the farmers could see the numbers standing in solidarity with them and their way of life and for them to see the strong demand for non-GMO food. Increasingly, as companies like Monsanto control more and more aspects of our food system, from seed to grocery store, our small and mid-sized farmers are struggling to survive. We wanted to stand up for the very important role our Michigan farmers play in our families’ lives. We intended our march to be very family-friendly because we believe this is an issue of food security for future generations.
Around 600 people came out to support the cause that day. We had children dressed as bees, adults as beekeepers and flowers and we created the infamous Monsanto Man. Our evil villain was taken down by the bees in a fun skit. We took action and phoned Senator Debbie Stabenow, the Chair of the U.S. Senate Agricultural Committee and long-time bedfellow of companies like Monsanto, during our rally to tell her in mass to “break up with big ag!”
The day left us all feeling empowered, ready for the next step, with a real feeling of what is possible in this fight. GMOs and Round Up are devastating to our environment, our public health and to bee populations worldwide.
With countries all over the world banning GMO corn crops it has become clear that we must stop this chemical company that has already taken control of the world’s food supply. As there have been no long-term studies on the health impacts of GMOs, we are quite literally the lab rats for this biotech giant’s dangerous experiment.
This is going to take a full food system revolution. Regulations won’t fix anything as the Federal Department of Agriculture (FDA), the agency tasked with making sure our food is safe, is indeed run by ex-Monsanto executives. So we must go forward, stand up, speak out and demand our food is safe and sustainably produced and our small farmers protected for generations to come.
“When Hitler came to power and the Nazis came to power, with their kind of genocide, people created resistance movements everywhere. Today, this new fascism is over life itself, in all its diversity. It’s not just controlling one religion, one race. It’s wanting to outlaw all diversity of all life on earth…This march against Monsanto is a call to end the dictatorship over seed, over life, over our food, and over our freedom.”—Dr. Vandana Shiva, Navdanya
