"Dear friends, Monsanto's field trials in Karnataka will be reduced to ashes,
starting on Saturday" On November 26, two days after the Indian Minister of Agriculture disclosed the location of three fields where genetically modified cotton was being grown, the Karnataka State Farmers Association (KRRS) announced its plans to burn the fields.
On November 28, thousands of farmers occupied and burned down the three fields in front of TV cameras in an open act of civil disobedience. These actions were the start of a direct action campaign by farmers against biotechnology, called Operation Cremation Monsanto, which will not stop until all corporate killers like Monsanto, Novartis and Pioneer leave India.
The campaign will run under the following slogans: stop genetic engineering, no patents on life, cremate Monsanto and bury the World Trade Organization. There is also a more specific message directed at all those who have invested in Monsanto: You should take your money out before we reduce it to ashes.
These kinds of actions have the potential not only to kick the corporate killers out of our country but also pose a major challenge to their survival in the stock markets. Who wants to invest in a mountain of ashes or in offices that are constantly being squatted (and if necessary even destroyed) by activists? For these reasons, we are making an international call for direct action against Monsanto and the rest of the biotech gang. Stopping biotechnology in India will not be of much help if it continues in other countries. The threat that it poses does not stop at the borders.
This call for action will hopefully inspire all the people who are already doing brilliant work against biotechnology and those who have not been active to join hands in a quick, effective worldwide effort. This is a very opportune moment to target Monsanto for its megalomaniacal attempt to monopolize the life industry. It is now going through a hard time of layoffs and restructuring in a desperate effort to survive.
It is also a good time to target Monsanto because recent scandals have contributed to its
profile as a corporate killer, as if creating Agent Orange and bovine growth hormone weren't
enough.
We are calling only for nonviolent direct actions. Nonviolence in this context means that
we should respect all (non-genetically modified) living beings, including police officers
and the people who work for these transnational corporations.
The campaign should proceed in a decentralized manner, and nobody should speak on behalf of other people involved in the campaign without their consent. However, people are welcome to report about the actions of others without pretending to represent them.
If you want to be informed of what is going on in India and around the world on this matter, please send a message to listproc@gn.apc.org with the message subscribe pga-ge in the text body or contact us at swamy.krrs@aworld.net.