GMW:_TRACTORS_IN_NEW_GM_MILK_PROTEST/More_on_Anti-GM_Blockade

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GMW:_TRACTORS_IN_NEW_GM_MILK_PROTEST/More_on_Anti-GM_Blockade

> " GM_WATCH " <info

> Mon, 5 Jul 2004 20:40:42 +0100

>

> GM WATCH daily

> http://www.gmwatch.org

> ------

> " the major owners of this corporation have also

> positioned themselves at the heart of the

> governmental/corporate complex still attempting to

> push forward GM crops " (item 2)

>

> " The manager initially explained that protests could

> only be held with advance appointment and that we

> would have to leave and arrange with them to come

> another day. We told him that that would be rather

> inconvenient... "

>

> 1.TRACTORS IN NEW GM MILK PROTEST

> 2.Anti-GM Blockade of Sainsbury's Giant Essex

> Waltham Point depot - interesting wide-ranging piece

> ------

> 1.TRACTORS IN SAINSBURY'S GM MILK PROTEST

> (Barnstaple, Devon)

> Robert Vint, 04.07.2004

>

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/westcountry/2004/07/294383.html

> [for pics as well]

>

> In a follow-up to yesterday's amazing Sainsbury's

> depot blockades [respect to you all], Devon farmers

> parked three tractors with banners in front of

> Sainsbury's in Barnstaple whilst shoppers labelled

> Sainsbury's dairy products as " produce of GM-fed

> animals " . This was probably our best ever

> supermarket action – with strong support from

> customers and the regional media and a very

> reasonable response (after initial panic) from the

> manager.

>

> Before the action our tractors hid round the corner,

> where TV and radio reporters interviewed us about

> what we were going to do. Shoppers provided them

> with footage showing how to do their own labelling

> of the GM dairy products that Sainsbury's have

> forgotton to label (pic). The tractors entered the

> car park by different routes and were positioned

> directly under the Sainsbury's sign in about 45

> seconds, then were decked with banners declaring:

> " Farmers say: Fair Prices & GM-Free Milk " (pic).

>

> Local farmer Hector Christie climbed on his tractor

> roof and addressed shoppers through a megaphone as

> another 25 campaigners – and a pink cow - surveyed

> shoppers (90% agreed that GM feed should not be used

> and that small farmers deserved better prices from

> supermarkets) and handed out the new leaflet from

> the farmer and activist alliance:

>

http://www.geneticsaction.org.uk/resources/alliancesainsburys.pdf

>

> The manager initially explained that protests could

> only be held with advance appointment and that we

> would have to leave and arrange with them to come

> another day. We told him that that would be rather

> inconvenient and we would have to stay. When we were

> told that the police would be called we explained

> that the TV reporters outside would find that most

> exciting – at which point they changed their minds.

> After we gave the manager our press release (below)

> and media coverage of the national depot blockades

> he disappeared for 40 minutes to talk to head

> office. He then invited two of us to discuss the

> issues with him.We explained that stopping using GM

> feed would be good PR, good for sales and would fit

> with their policy of selling more organic and local

> food. Also it would mean we could go and harass

> Tesco instead. Whilst he said he could not possibly

> comment, it seemed clear he agreed with us. We

> thanked him for a most enjoyable protest and left

> after two hours. A fluffy day out for all the family

> – highly recommended.

>

> For the press release see:

>

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/westcountry/2004/07/294383.html

> ------

> 2.Anti-GM direct-action blockade shuts down

> Sainsburys distribution centres.

> posted on Mon 05th July, 2004 by Barry Kade

> http://www.easf.org.uk/report.php?id=31

>

> Sainsbury's giant M25 Waltham Point distribution

> centre in Essex was shut down in a dramatic anti-GM

> protest on Thursday night (1st July 2004). This was

> part of a nationwide night of blockades which closed

> all six of this food retail corporations major

> distribution centres around the country.

>

> The Waltham Point centre is a giant mile long

> corrugated metal shed running parallel to the M25.

> From it a constant stream of articulated lorries

> flows out to the whole of London, the South East and

> East Anglia. The blockade started at 11pm and lasted

> for two and a half hours, before the police were

> finally able to remove and then arrest us. For a

> while, we stopped the corporate juggernaut. No

> lorries were able to enter or leave Sainsbury's

> brand new state of the art complex. Other blockades

> around the country lasted for many more hours.

>

> We were doing this to protest at Sainsbury's

> continued use of milk from GM fed dairies, breaking

> its pledge to its customers not to use GM products

> in its food. This is one more illustration of the

> true attitudes of the owners and key figures within

> the Sainsbury's empire. For the major owners of this

> corporation have also positioned themselves at the

> heart of the governmental/corporate complex still

> attempting to push forward GM crops.

>

> So at 11pm we chained ourselves together in a circle

> in front of the entrance to Waltham Point, our arms

> locked into heavy iron tubes to prevent our easy or

> speedy removal. Others locked themselves onto the

> gates with D locks on their necks. Later another two

> protesters were aggressively manhandled by police as

> they blockaded a lorry.

>

> Eventually we were all removed forcibly from our

> ring of iron by the police. Three from London and

> six from Colchester were then arrested and taken to

> local police stations. Here we were held in the

> cells for the next 15 hours for questioning, before

> being released on bail.

>

> While we lay in the road, supporting protesters

> relayed us news about the successful simultaneous

> blockades at Sainsbury's other five biggest giant

> new 'fulfillment factory' distribution centres in

> Merseyside, South Yorkshire, the West Midlands and

> Bristol.

>

> Webs of resistance spun across depot entrances

> throughout the country. Here was a demonstration of

> the power of non-violent direct action to shut down

> the multi-million pound distribution network of a

> giant corporation.

>

> Waltham Point in Essex is one of the biggest of the

> new automated distribution centres in Europe. It is

> the size of 10 football pitches put together, and is

> estimated to feed more than 80 stores and handle 2.6

> million cases a week, being the base of 200 trucks

> and 300 trailers. This cost GBP70 million to develop

> and is the largest of Sainsbury's new fully

> automated centres it calls its 'Fulfillment

> Factories'. The corporation is developing around

> just eight of these giant 'just in time' fast

> flowing perishable and quick turnover goods centres,

> closing its 21 older, smaller, less automated

> centres.

>

> And on that night we were suddenly able to block the

> flow of Lord Sainsbury's river of profits, on the

> very same day as the Sainsbury's chairman resigned

> and the companies shave value plunged.

>

> We lay down and cut off the vast hulk of its

> " fulfillment factory " from its dedicated connection

> onto the nearby M25 and its ceaseless orbital flow

> of all the things in the world, uprooted,

> commodified and caught in the whirlwind of the

> global market.

>

> *************

> It is a world-wind that is transforming how we grow,

> manufacture and consume our food. This changes the

> relationship between agriculture, technology and

> ecology. It is part the latest stage of an epochal

> global shift away from peasant production to global

> commodity production and an industrialised and

> privatised ecology.

>

> In the last decades those who have been separated

> from the land and corralled into vast conurbations

> and shanty towns now form the majority of the worlds

> people.

>

> The development of GM crops by the worlds giant

> chemical corporations is a key part of this process.

> In the fantasies of venture capitalists, investors

> and company executives, nature could be reduced to a

> simple code and therefore could now be reprogrammed

> to suit corporate needs.

>

> The corporations are pushing this technology while

> vast areas of scientific uncertainty still remain

> about its environmental and health effects. For they

> have also begun to privatise science, enclosing its

> commons as their ' intellectual property'. They are

> appropriating it as the new engine of their

> 'knowledge economy'. Thus they are limiting its

> field of vision by driving out any critical and

> independent scientific voices.

>

> *************

>

> Lord Sainsbury is a key figure in this process in

> the UK. He is Tony Blair's multi-billionaire

> Minister for Science and Innovation. He is the man

> in charge of promoting biotechnology at the UK's

> Department of Trade and Industry. He has

> responsibility for science funding and research

> policy, and is also a key player on the governments

> powerful 'Sci-Bio' GM cabinet committee. He is also

> a key investor in GM research and the largest single

> donor to the Labour party, giving it GBP9 million

> pounds in five years alone between 1996 and 2001.

>

> Lord Sainsbury is also the head of the family that

> form the major owners of the Sainsbury's supermarket

> chain. He personally owns 13% of the corporation, or

> GBP1.3 billion worth of shares, which give him tens

> of millions of pounds annually in dividends, while

> his family own another 35%. His network of

> supporters also own substantial amounts of shares,

> such as the CEO of one of his biotech companies, who

> owns 5%. Lord Sainsbury was the chairman of the

> Sainsbury corporation right up until his elevation

> into Science Minister by Blair in 1998.

>

> As Britain's third richest man Lord Sainsbury has

> ploughed substantial amounts of the billions yielded

> to him by the Sainsbury's supermarket chain into

> developing genetic modification technologies...

> [for more on Lord Sainsbury:

> http://www.easf.org.uk/report.php?id=31]

>

> ******************

> The July 1st blockade also stands as a metaphor for

> a larger battle. This is the society wide blockade

> of the corporate multinationals GM agenda. In 1996

> the corporations launched GM crops onto the market.

> It was expected that the UK would be covered with

> them in a year. Yet after eight years of resistance

> the corporate agri-biotech machine is cracking.

>

> The Bayer corporation have retreated, withdrawing

> their only product approved for growing in the UK.

> Now, no GM will be grown commercially in the UK for

> many years, if at all. Monsanto and other GM

> corporations are also in retreat. GM crops are

> becoming increasingly discredited and obsolete.

>

> Veteran campaigner Jim Thomas writes of eight years

> of: " raw, direct, popular opposition " in the UK

> which has managed to:

>

> " - remove GM ingredients from all human foods sold

> in the UK.

> - remove GM ingredients from pretty much all poultry

> and pig feed in the UK.

> - reduce the number of UK GM crop field trials from

> hundreds of locations per year to currently one.

> - cause Monsanto to leave the UK, stopping further

> breeding work here.

> - reduce the number of GM varieties seeking

> government approval from almost sixty varieties down

> to a remaining two that have no chance of being

> legally grown.

> - acted as a catalyst, inspiring campaigners and

> activists to challenge GM crops around the world. "

>

> The UK has seen one of the most sustained campaigns

> of direct action and popular campaigning in recent

> history. Year after year, night after night, the GM

> crops were pulled up by local villagers and

> environmental activists. All this effort has shown

> the way to victory. Jim adds:

>

> " Campaigners rarely get the satisfaction of so

> clearly winning - a win for the thousands and

> thousands of people who spent cold nights pulling up

> crops, long weekends talking to shoppers and farmers

> and years of emotional and intellectual energy

> countering the bullying, lobbying power and

> financial clout of the gene giants " .

>

> The battle still is not won. The corporations have

> invested billions in developing GM crops.. Chemical

> corporations like Monsanto have taken a massive

> gamble and transformed themselves into GM seed

> companies.

>

> Biotechnology was, along with information

> technology, supposed to be the herald of a new epoch

> of capitalism, a solution to its deepening period of

> crisis. In the 1970's chemical corporations like

> Monsanto saw the promise of an escape from the

> contradictions of the petero-chemical epoch. They

> dreamed they could leap ahead of the competition

> with rDNA technology. This would be the generator of

> wealth in the new 'knowledge economy'.

>

> The reproductive capacity of nature would form a new

> means of production. Life was just a code and could

> now reprogrammed to suit corporate needs. New

> chemicals and pharmaceuticals could be grown in

> plants, rather than manufactured by workers in

> factories as part of the troubled petero-chemical

> complex. And thus these very plant species, wherever

> they reproduced themselves, their seeds would be the

> privatized and patented intellectual property of the

> corporations.

>

> And first, they would flood the world with the most

> simple and crude product of this new knowledge, -

> crops engineered to be resistant to their own brand

> herbicides. These would be the heralds of the new

> bio-tech epoch.

>

> Yet the contradictions of GM are proving more

> difficult to manage. GM technologies bring together

> such incommensurate timescales. They intervene in

> millions of years of evolutionary time, in ways as

> yet dimly understood. At the same time, corporations

> have never been governed by more short-term aims of

> dancing to the ever increasing rhythms of

> competition on the world market, where billions of

> dollars can shift in micro-seconds.

>

> The scientific questions this radically new

> 'gene-splicing' technology raises will take decades

> to answer, questions ranging from the real role of

> DNA, the effects of scrambling it, and the long term

> consequences for human health and the eco-system.

>

> Yet the massive institutional investors, who were so

> dazzled by the promise spun to them by scientists in

> the 1980's, (the dream of a second, privatised

> genesis), have now waited over twenty years for a

> return on their investment. This is all they can

> bare. They want a return on their capital soon.

> Unless firms like Monsanto can give them that, they

> will die. So the battle will intensify, as the US/EU

> WTO dispute over GMO's testifies. GM crops came onto

> the market in the mid 1990's, along with the WTO and

> neo-liberal globalisation. And resistance has grown

> to both.

>

> The anti-GM resistance has shown its power. It is

> possible to stop GM crops. The multinational

> corporations agenda does not represent an inevitable

> and unstoppable line of 'progress'. Resistance can

> stop them, and open up the possibility of

> alternative paths of progress. These are the paths

> to a more sustainable, equal and just world.

>