Although May 25th’s global March Against Monsanto received little mainstream media attention in the U.S., it was an event of historical significance.
Last Saturday, close to 2 million people worldwide from in over 400 cities and 50 countries worldwide protested against the agra-giant.
At issue are GMOs, the genetically modified organisms developed by Monsanto to allegedly increase crop yields.
Recent studies have reported that GMOs cause cancer and other health risks. Monsanto, along with others, dispute these claims.
The protesters were also challenging Monsanto’s overall power and influence over the global food supply and its debilitating effect on small farmers.
Corporations Replace Governments As Object Of Protest
The March Against Monsanto is historically significant in that a global protest against a single corporation is unprecedented. Indeed, there have been global protests against issues, e.g., the Iraq War, and there have been domestic protests against single corporations like those against Dow Chemical in the U.S. in the 60s.
But for the first time a the focus of protests across the globe was one mutli-national company.
This suggest a sea-change in attitude among the general public as to who actually wields power in our modern world, and who should be challenged.
Governments are no longer enemy, but companies.
Left and Right Coming Together
Equally significant, at least in the U.S., was the bringing together of left and right in a single protest.
Right-wing radio superstar Alex Jones promoted the March Against Monsanto on his Infowars.com website, even providing a link to Occupy-Monsanto. And “Don’t Tread On Me” flags, a staple of Tea Party protests, we’re seen at the March Against Monsanto demonstration in New York City’s Washington Square Park.
The size of the March Against Monsanto alone, along with its global reach, should have been newsworthy. (To be fair, a number local news outlets covered the event in cities where the protests occurred, including St. Louis, home of Monsanto. Moreover, CNN did file a video report on May 28th.)
But in light of the groundbreaking mix of left and right-wing activism, along with a single corporation being the object of popular rage, the U.S. mainstream media silence is especially puzzling.