I want to talk about Monsanto, an agrochemical company who makes GMO’s (Genetically Modified Organisms). Monsanto makes new seeds and patents it, nothing criminal so far. They sell those seeds to farmers, but the seeds are modified in such a way that they do not reproduce themselves every season, so farmers are bound to buy new seeds every year. Why wouldn’t farmers buy their seeds somewhere else? Monsanto has created a monopoly; they sue every seed producing company including farmers who produce their own seeds. Monsanto has patents on almost every seed now available. So when a farmer uses his own seeds, Monsanto will sue him because he uses patented seed. They do this very aggressive and even thread (not officially) to plant a so called “terminator seed” which kills the crops of farmers on farms who are resisting. In the Netherlands one could not patent a seed or a characteristic of a seed (“kwekers recht”, in English: “plant breeder’s rights”). This way people can keep improving each other’s seeds without risking a lawsuit.
Until last March, the rules were changed so businesses like Monsanto can patent seeds in Europe too now (Lubach, 2015). “Fun fact” about Monsanto: In the Vietnam war, they produced the controversial ‘Agent Orange’. This was used by the USA to defoliate forest. The consequence was that thousands of people suffered from serious health problems in the years after those attacks (Edmoundson, 2012, p. 21-28).
Last June Neil Young came with a new record, called: The Monsanto Years. For those who do not know, Neil Young is a musician best known for his (protest) songs in the 1960’s, but still very active. This album protests against the way some food producing companies act. Nowadays you do not see a lot of protest on idealistic subjects like this. In the 60’s to the 80's it was more like a protest culture. There were musicians like Bob Dylan or John Lennon and thousands of other people going on the streets to protest against environmental issues for instance. The year 2011 seemed like the revival of the protest culture by the occupy movement (We are the 99%). It turned out the superficial mass had a lack of interest of what they wanted to reach. They were being ridiculed and were not ‘cool’ enough.
We need activists like Neil Young to confront us about problems, preferably the new generation who are not as old as Young. Let’s go and make some banners and go back to the day when it was cool to care!
References:
Zondag met Lubach. “Zondag met Lubach”. VRPO. 29 March 2015.TV
Edmoundson, B. (2012). Anatomy of a Tragedy: Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. New York City: Columbia University.
The Monsanto years – Neil Young & Promise of the real
Interesting:
-The story of Michael white (farmer) vs Monsanto:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZGueeao0tE
-Song of Neil Young & Promis of the Real about Starbucks and Monsanto:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC2DpGaykaI’