The world-wide March Against Monsanto took place on May 25th, 11AM (Pacific). I (Lisa) took part in this event. GMOs are not the main issue of the Weston A. Price Foundation (a return to traditional foods is our focus), but as Jeffery Smith says: “Healthy food starts with no GMO.” For those of you who don’t understand why we oppose GMOs, take a look at Jeffery Smith’s talk at the Wise Traditions Conference.
I saw a number of familiar faces, but not as many as I would have liked to see. So for those of you who missed it, here are some photos!
We gathered in the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza in downtown Eugene, across from Saturday Market. Parking was horrible. I wound my way up and then down the Parkade without finding a single space, and there were more people streaming in as I left. I wanted to tell them it was full. So I found some on-street parking a few blocks to the West, grabbed my bags (I wanted to do some shopping at the Farmers Market), and walked over.
A full circluar Rainbow around the sun shown overhead!
There was already a crowd gathered when I got there, so I slowly worked my way towards the front, to try to hear what was happening. There were several speakers (most of whom I couldn’t hear). Someone pointed up. Above us shown the sun surrounded by a full circlular rainbow! Beautitful!
I watched people, read protest signs, and took pictures. Here are a few of the slogans I captured in photos:
- Bee Truthful
- Stop Monsanto
- Food Freedom Now
- 30+ Countries have already banned GMOs. Why haven’t we FDA?
- The Food Revolution Has Begun
- OMG GMO WTF are we eating?
- Quit Playing God with Our FOOD!
- I Do Not Want Your GMO! I Do Not Like You Monsanto
- Right to kNOw GMO!!
- Give a Damn
- Get Monsanto Out!
- No Bees – No Food! Hungry?
- Monsanto ends honey, takes our money!
- Go Organic
- Farmers Against Monsanto
- Monsanto Out of US & other countries
- GMOs = Mutated food that no one should be subjected to, we have the right to stop seeds of corruption
- Bee Smart! No GMOs
- Go back to hell Monsanto, leave our planet alone
- Buzz off Monsanto!
Many signs and costumes showed support of bees
- Corporate Greed Kill$
- Get Mon$nto out of our government
- Corporate Greed Kill$
- Monsatan – Infertility – Alzheimer’s – Famine – Autism
- FDA: Bought & Paid For – Shame on you!
- Monsanto’s Worst Enemy is an Informed Public
- You have the right to grow it? We have the right to KNOW IT! – No GMO
- Either Mankind will STOP MONSANTO or… Monsanto will STOP MANKIND
- No No GMOS! The MPA
has GOT to GO! - Lable It or Table It
- (Child’s scribbles) Think of the Children!
- The World Doesn’t Need Your GMO!
- Label GMOs
- Stop Monsanto Now
- GMO OMG WTF are we eating?
- If Corporations were REALLY People, Monsanto would be in Prison!!
- Demand Non-GMO – GMO’s have never been proven safe – reduced crop yeilds – killed bees/pollinators – require more & more herbicides/pesticides – that pollute our water – damage organic crops – cause tumors & ??? – Protect Your Food Supply & Your Body
- Power to the People
- GMO Poison – It’s NOT what’s for dinner
- Quit Playing GOD with our FOOD!
- No to SB 633
- Stop Monsanto Before They Mutate Us All!!
- Save the Bees – Stop Monsanto
- Hell No GMOs Stop Monsanto Now
- Ban GMOs
- We Want Organic
- Pesticide Resistance – GMOs Suck
Our police escort stopped traffic while the Marchers crossed
- Shame on Obama for signing the Monsanto Protection Act!
- Love the Earth DON’T Poison It!
- Real Food Self-Replicates!
- Bee Smart – Stop Using Garden Sprays
- Monsanto = BioTerrorism
- No GMO on My Tray
Police estimated about two thousand marchers!
Then someone said something about the March, and I listened to try to hear what was being said. He told us to line up on the sidewalk. He aid that when we were marching to stay on the sidewalk, and when we got to a corner keep going, we had permission to cross against the lights. So we all worked our way to the sidewalk and began marching North. March organizers had volunteers stationed along the way leading chants and keeping the energy up. There were some volunteers on bikes who rode along side the marchers, back and forth, shouting out chants or leading songs. I found a group of energetic young women and moved up by them so that I could join in their chant. We tried a number of different ones along the way. The one I remember now was: “Hey, hey, ho, ho, GMO, has got to go!” Or the variation: “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Mon-san-to, has got to go!” It was wonderful being in the middle of all these people who care enough about our food supply to come out and march on a beautiful Saturday spring day. The amazing thing about being in the march was not being able to see either ends of line! I would love to see a aerial view of how many blocks we stretched across!
Where are we as a society when a bunch of organic carrots becomes a political statement?
When we came to the first corner our police escort stopped traffic for us to cross. The street was beginning to look like a parking lot when they finally halted our line and let traffic take a turn. We marched past 5th Street Public Market, and people stopped to take photos of our line of marchers (I took photos back!). We went under the overpass and past the EWEB building. Then we headed across Ferry Street Bridge. There was a young woman behind me who lead the chant in our area, and held high a bunch of organic carrots as her sign!
Our line covered both sides of Ferry Street Bridge!
I couldn't see the ends of the line!
I estimated that I was somewhere in the front third of the line. The most wonderful sight was when we marched across the Ferry Street Bridge. We marched along the East side of the bridge, looped around underneath, and then when we marched back along the West side of the bridge. Our line of Marchers covered BOTH sides of the bridge! Cars honked in support. It was awesome! (view my 27 second video here)
Then we turned and headed for the Campbell Community Center (our final destination). We lost a few marchers at this point, as most of us were hot and tired by now. Many people headed back to their cars. The rest of us settled onto the grass under the shade of the trees. There was water provided by McKenzie Mist, and Coconut Bliss handed out ice cream bars (I think they were free, although I wasn’t given one). There was a tent and music set up. Musicians played, and power for the amplifiers was provided by three stationary bicycles!
The full Rainbow over Ferry Street Bridge
There were speakers who came along later after the musicians finished. One of the event organizers said that he spoke to one of our police escort who estimated that there were about two thousand marchers!
Someone from Kid Food Matters (formerly Eugene Coalition for Better School Food) spoke about the sorry state of 4J school lunches. She expressed the vision of seeing 4J adopt a program of making food from scratch in kitchens at the schools, and she told us of how The Village School has started an organic garden and school lunch program. They are leading the way among local schools!
Marchers gathered to rest, dance and show off their signs.
Ingrid Edstrom of Infrared Breast Health, spoke about the connection between herbicide and pesticide exposure and breast health. She said that in her practice, most breasts she scans have questionable results. The women with the worst breast scans usually eat conventional food or live on christmas-tree farms that use lots of chemicals. She advises an organic diet free of GMOs as part of the treatment.
The Rainbow followed our entire march!
The rainbow followed us through our entire march. It gives me chills now, remembering the rainbow. I took it as a very portentous sign. Here were around two thousand people gathering to show their suport of nature over factory food. Gaia, Nature, God, the Universe, whatever you call it, was pleased! I am sure of it.
The mainstream media ignored marches all across America. The Register Guard had essentially no coverage of the Eugene event. Monsanto is scared, they are trying desparate measures to protect themselves from the tidal wave of lawsuits that are coming. They know people don’t want GMOs. If they did they would proudly label them. They resort to bullying and passing backroom laws to protect themselves, not us!
We are reaching the “Tipping Point” when public rejection of GMOs will turn the tide. You don’t have to take to the streets to make a change. You can sign the petition to Repeal the “Monsanto Protection Act”, and even more importantly, you can be a food revolutionary in the privacy of your own kitchen! There is hope for the future and it resides in each individual making the choice to buy non-GMO food.
Links:
- Repeal the “Monsanto Protection Act”
- Download the Non-GMO Shopping Guide
- Watch Jeffrey Smith’s videos
- See more posts on our site taged “GMO”
