By this time, most of you — especially in the progressive activist community — have heard the old “stone soup” story. Based on the concept of “stone soup”, Occupy Monsanto, as part of its ongoing campaign against GMO foods and for citizen awareness of GMOs, is staging an “eat-in” on the grounds of the FDA’s Center For Food Safety And Applied Nutrition in the suburbs of Washington, DC on April 8. The organizers are inviting folks to bring their favorite organic ingredients for a vegetarian soup to be cooked at the event, designed to raise awareness of the FDA’s recent decisions on GMOs in favor of Monsanto, and the entirely-too-close relationship between corporations and the FDA, especially in the person of its Deputy Commissioner for Foods, Michael Taylor.

So, folks… are you hungry for a little “food democracy”?

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Continue reading "It’s an “Eat-In” for Food Democracy!" »

Alright, gang, time for a double-header! Occupy Monsanto yesterday visited the national headquarters of the GOP and the Democrats on Capitol Hill with a little classic biohazard street theater. Visitors called on GOP nominee Barack Romney to deal with the issue of the revolving door between Monsanto and the government, and called on Democratic incumbent Mitt Obama to keep his ’08 campaign promises on GMO food labeling.

5 minutes, 40 seconds.

Continue reading "Occupying the GMO Candidates" »

This is a public service announcement — with dubstep!

On a way-too-hot Sunday afternoon, a DC contingent in solidarity with Occupy Monsanto paid a surprise visit to the Trader Joe’s on 25th Street NW in Foggy Bottom, “shopping for truth” as they entered the store in a hazmat-suit-wearing conga line. Meanwhile, outside, a spirited dubstep picket educated and entertained paasersby and Trader Joe’s customers on mass-produced foods made with ingredients based on genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), and the influence of corporations like Monsanto on US policy and legislation on the labeling of GMO-based food items.

Total running time: 06:55

Continue reading "Trader Joe, Say It Ain’t So!" »

Yesterday morning at Lafayette Square across from the White House, David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, locked himself into a cage in a civil disobedience protest against US policies on the cultivation of industrial-grade hemp for use in food and fibers.

Bronner notes that the US is the biggest market on Earth for industrial hemp products, and yet US farmers are cut out of the market; as a result, his company is forced to buy hemp oil from Canadian outfits to the tune of $100,000 per year. Bronner also pointed out the hypocrisy of the Obama government in that as an Illinois state senator, Obama voted twice in support of industrial hemp cultivation, but as El Presidente, he has actively interfered in the rights of states to legalize the growing of industrial hemp, including his refusal to to meet with a delegation from North Dakota, whose government — from the Governor on down — has signaled its wishes to allow its farmers to cultivate industrial hemp.

From about 8am until the DC Fire Department arrived to cut the locks and bolts holding the cage closed, Bronner harvested some of the half-dozen or so industrial-grade hemp plants he had on hand — at .06% THC, smoking it would give you nothing but a headache — sifted the seeds, and used them to demonstrate a hand-cranked seed-oil press.

(Note: Owing to currently-insoluble issues with Vimeo’s new uploading system, I’m forced to revert back to YouTube for the foreseeable future… and yeah, it kinda sucks. Apologies.)

Continue reading "La Cage Aux Chanvre" »