Why doesn't the Government want you growing your own food?

by Nick Bernabe

With the recent March Against Monsanto protests that happened on Saturday, the conversation has shifted back to the corporate giant Monsanto, GMOs, chemical pesticides, corruption, our food supply and the other concerns surrounding this monolithic corporation. The social and independent media has been abuzz the last few weeks with the hashtag #MarchOct12 even trending on twitter on October 5th, a few days before the march: 

Post by March Against Monsanto.

Recent events have brought the question of government suppression into the spotlight after Ann Arbor organizer Kryssi Jones was arrested on May 25th after being wrongfully detained and held on bail. Here is a video of some of that encounter with police:



Add to that the blatant censorship brought on by Facebook administrators when they removed the entire event page for the March Against Monsanto's main protest at Monsanto headquarters in St. Louis. On the right is a screen shot of Facebook's reply after there was an outcry of support for the event to be reinstated.
Eco Watch posted a story about the censorship and it immediately went viral; reaching usually very hard to contact administrators on Facebook and promting a quick apology and the event was restored.

Then there was the blatant suppression of social media accounts that were affiliated with March Against Monsanto or posted about the event. It has become common in the activist community to see posts on social media censored when any action or event is near, my own admin account was suspended last May exactly seven days before the first March, rendering my profile and all the pages I administer useless.

Organizers of the March Against Monsanto also received various reports of police attempting to intimidate activists during the march on October 12th. One participant, Karl Tricamo Brandt, said in a Facebook post that

"While standing in an obviously visible pedestrian area, I was man- handled (battered) by Officer D. Weiss of the Chesterfield Police Department. He was nice enough to come all the way out to Olivette to help intimidate my 20-month-old son and I as we marched against Monsanto. While being pushed backwards I easily could have fell, possibly into traffic while holding my child. I will not adhere to arbitrary fascism. If I'm breaking a law (which I was not), arrest or ticket me. Unless a person resists such arrest or ticketing there is absolutely no validation for the use of any physical force by an officer. Let alone a man holding an infant child."

Here is the video he posted:

Post by Karl Tricamo Brandt.

Brandt, who is no stranger to controversy surrounding growing his own food, has already had to defend the garden in his front yard from the St. Louis government and won a lawsuit against the city after they demanded he remove his garden.

Matt Hazelton, who was on my radio show on Monday, stated that police were not permitting the March Against Monsanto participants in Myrtle Beach, SC to practice freedom of speech and were threatening them with being arrested for handing out flyers about Monsanto, GMOs, pesticides and other related material on public property. He later posted the meme on the right from his Facebook profile:

The question remains, why doesn't the Government want you growing your own food? Why is the March Against Monsanto censored in the national media and on the popular social networks?

Some may assume that the political establishment doesn't want the Americans to come to the realization that Monsanto and company have largely infiltrated and corrupted the government and regulatory bodies which are supposed to keep them accountable. Monsanto currently has many former employees within government bureaucracies including the head of the FDA, Michael Taylor, and Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas, so the question of conflict of interest is very evident and would likely lead to punitive action if the public were to learn of this corruption.

Legislation like the 'Monsanto Protection Act' shows the deep connection between these bio-giants and the US Congress, another reason why the government doesn't want the Monsanto cat out of the bag. If this cronyism were to receive mainstream coverage, it could damage the overall faith in the government and regulatory bodies which are supposed to keep our food "safe".

Then you have the control factor. Long time and top level political advisor to many US presidents, man behind the scenes, and wanted international war criminal, Henry Kissinger, has been quoted as saying "Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control people."

Image: twicsy.com

So a long time presidential advisor, war hawk and foreign interventionist considers control over the food supply one of the best ways to control the population; anyone else see a problem here? Kissinger was also behind the military coup in Chile which sought to oust a democratically elected government and cost thousands of innocent lives, does this man have no conscience? Why does he still have influence over our government?

Monsanto is without a doubt a huge problem for advocates of a democratized food supply and ordinary people alike. Their monopoly over US staple crops has come under scrutiny after lawsuits filed by Monsanto against small farmers have forced the closure of many small farms and and have led at least 284,000 Indian farmers to commit suicide. These lawsuits have tilted in Monsanto's favor even though their seeds were the aggressor that have been invading non-GMO crops and violating farmers' property rights, possibly due to Monsanto's deep connection in the government and the court systems.

Whether this consolidation of the food supply is simply a result of corporate greed or a more sinister 'Kissinger-esque' power grab over the food supply, one thing is clear: Monsanto must be stopped. The government's brutal reaction to the March Against Monsanto protests, the social media censorship and the blatant blackout of the millions of activists who marched against them last weekend shows us that there is something big happening. The March Against Monsanto is working, despite all these efforts to stop it or slow it down, the march goes on. Activists are already planning more action against Monsanto, these policies and politicians who are actively undermining our food supply. The next march will be on May 24th 2014 with more actions likely to continue until this bio-behemoth is gone for good. To get involved in the March Against Monsanto and stay updated on further action please follow our website: www.March-Against-Monsanto.com