Millions Against Monsanto Five lessons from the battle against GMOs

Millions Against Monsanto Five lessons from the battle against GMOs



Millions Against Monsanto: Five lessons from the battle against GMOs
Nov 11, 2013 | Organic Consumers Association | Ronnie Cummins

Twenty years after the controversial
introduction of unlabeled and untested genetically engineered foods and
crops, opposition to GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) and Monsanto
has created one of the largest netroots-grassroots movements in the U.S.


There are arguably more important issues facing us today than the battle
against Frankenfoods. The climate crisis and corporate control over the
government and media come to mind. But the rapidly growing anti-GMO
Movement illustrates the powerful synergy that can develop from the
combined use of social media, marketplace pressure and political action.
Recent developments in this sector indicate that out-of-control
corporations, media, politicians and the proverbial "one percent" can
be outsmarted and outmaneuvered. And quite possibly defeated.


In the wake of high-stakes multi-million dollar GMO labeling ballot
initiatives in California in 2012, and Washington State in 2013, an army
of organic food and natural health activists have put Corporate America
and the political elite on the defensive. We've demonstrated that
aggressive populist issue-framing; unconventional "inside-outside"
coalition-building; marketplace pressure; and online list-building,
mobilization and fundraising - strategically channeled into local and
state-based political action - can begin to even up the odds between
David and Goliath.


Here are five strategic lessons from the ongoing
battle against GMOs in the U.S, lessons that may be applicable to a
broad range of political issues.


1. Aggressive populist issue-framing works.


The desire to know what's in our food, coupled with a growing concern
for food safety and a distrust of large chemical companies, the mass
media, Congress and federal regulatory agencies, is a hot-button issue
that unites the majority of Americans - Democrats, Republicans, Greens,
Libertarians and Independents alike.


Forty percent of consumers believe that unlabeled genetically engineered
foods and crops are unsafe. Another 40 percent are unsure. These
numbers terrify large supermarket chains, biotech companies and food
corporations. So does the notion that states such as Washington,
Connecticut, Maine and Vermont will soon require mandatory labeling of
GMOs - which will likely drive these controversial foods and crops off
the market, just as labeling laws have already done in Europe.


Anti-GMO campaigners have gained the support of millions of consumers
and voters by framing food safety as a populist issue. And by
relentlessly and aggressively challenging the opposition - big-name
companies that include Monsanto, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nestlé, General Mills
and others.


2. Unconventional "inside-outside" coalition-building builds critical mass.


After 20 years of grassroots public education and advocacy, the organic
and natural health movements, led by a hybrid coalition of non-profit
public interest groups, such as the Organic Consumers Association and
Food Democracy Now, and green businesses, including Mercola.com, Dr.
Bronner's, and Nature's Path, are approaching something like critical
mass.


Over 100 million U.S. consumers are now regularly shopping for organic
and natural foods, nutritional supplements and other products, giving
rise to a rapidly growing $80 billion-a-year market for organic and
natural products. One of the most important accomplishments of the
right-to-know, anti-GMO movement has been to unite the advocacy and
fundraising efforts of non-profit groups and health and green-minded
for-profit businesses. After 20 years of often operating on shoestring
budgets, activist groups (the "outsiders") are now increasingly joining
hands with a number of profitable organic/green/Fair Trade businesses
(the "insiders"). This inside-outside strategy has managed to raise a
not insignificant war chest of almost $20 million to support the state
GMO labeling ballot initiatives in California and Washington in 2012 and
2013, while simultaneously pressuring major brands, such as Whole Foods
Market, Trader Joe's and Chipotle, to embrace GMO labeling.


At the same time activist groups with a more radical message
("outsiders") are learning that you must, for maximum impact, work with
more moderate groups (the "insiders"), and vice-versa. This ecumenical
"inside-outside" strategy has allowed the more radical organic and
natural health groups and scientists to highlight the alarming human
health and environmental hazards of GMOs, and carry out boycotts, street
demonstrations and direct action, while the less radical campaign
groups and coalitions meanwhile appeal to a more moderate demographic
with the mainstream message that consumers have the right to know what's
in their food.


3. Marketplace pressure and political action must go hand-in-hand.


Anti-GMO campaigners have now learned that marketplace pressure and
political action go hand-in-hand. It's not enough to just vote with your
pocketbook for organic and non-GMO foods and products, to reward good
companies and brands and punish the bad ones. We must get political, and
vote for a healthy, climate-friendly food and farming system in the
voting booth as well. If we want to drive GMO foods off the market, we
must not only walk our talk in the marketplace and in our everyday
lives, but also "get political" and mobilize our base to get involved in
legislative battles and political campaigns.


One important consequence of marketplace pressure and boycotts is their
potential to gradually divide our opponents. In the case of the anti-GMO
movement, we've begun to drive a wedge between the biotech/industrial
agriculture corporations, and their erstwhile allies, food manufacturers
and supermarket chains. In the wake of the California GMO labeling
ballot initiative (Proposition 37), the Organic Consumers Association
and our allies launched a nationwide boycott of Traitor Brands, the
organic and natural brands whose parent corporations spent $20 million,
along with the biotech industry's $30 million, to defeat Prop 37. We
sabotaged several dozen corporate Facebook pages, tarnishing brand names
such as Kashi, Cascadian Farm, Honest Tea, Naked Juice, Silk, Horizon,
and Ben and Jerry's, to depress sales. This caused several large
multinationals, including Unilever, parent company of Ben and Jerry's,
and Mars, parent company of Seeds of Change, to back off from
anti-labeling activities. Other retail and food giants, including
Wal-Mart, fearing an escalation in consumer activism, have begun lobbying the FDA to implement federal GMO food labels.


4. Sophisticated online list-building, mobilization and fundraising are key.


Anti-GMO campaigners are rapidly becoming more sophisticated in terms of
building broad coalitions, using online petitions to build large email
lists, pooling national email lists, segmenting national lists in order
to target state and local constituencies, using Facebook, Twitter and
other social media for network-building and mobilization, setting up c4
lobbying organizations to complement 501-c3 non-profit groups, and
raising funds online.


In the recent GMO ballot initiative campaigns in California and
Washington, as well as state legislative campaigns for labeling in
several dozen other states, right-to-know supporters have been able to
send coordinated or complementary email messages to over 10 million
people at once. Over the past 12 months groups like the Organic
Consumers Association, Mercola.com, Food Democracy Now, Natural News,
Alliance for Natural Health, Center for Food Safety, Just Label It,
Environmental Working Group, Cornucopia, Friends of the Earth, CREDO,
and MoveOn have been able to send out anti-GMO or pro-labeling messages
to literally millions of consumers and voters on a regular basis,
generating thousands of grassroots volunteers, organizing thousands of
local events and protests, and raising over $20 million, mainly in small
donations. The anti-GMO movement may not have the deep pockets or the
advertising and PR clout of the biotech and Big Food lobby when it comes
to the corporate media, but we are rapidly developing our own mass
media on the Internet and Facebook.


5. Local and state political action is more effective than campaigns that target federal laws and lawmakers.


The anti-GMO movement, like other social change movements, has learned
the hard way that corporations and the wealthy elite control not only
the mass media, but the federal government, Supreme Court, and
regulatory agencies such as the FDA, USDA, and EPA. After decades of
sending petitions and lobbying the White House, Congress and the FDA, to
no avail, it has become clear that the political elite, including
President Obama, care more about their wealthy campaign contributors
than they do about their constituents, including the 93 percent who,
according to a recent New York Times poll, support mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods.


As a consequence the anti-GMO movement has moved its focus away from the
unfavorable terrain of Washington D.C., and instead turned its
attention to marketplace pressure, and state, county and local political
campaigns, especially ballot initiatives. Citizen ballot initiatives
are legal in 24 states and approximately 1,000 counties and
municipalities. This form of direct democracy gives voters the power to
enact labeling laws, bans or regulatory and zoning restrictions on
biotech corporations and Big Ag, bypassing indentured politicians and
federal bureaucrats. A number of California and Washington State
counties over the last decade have moved beyond just labeling to
outright bans on GMO crops, thanks to citizen-driven local political
action. In 2014, four Oregon counties will have ballot initiatives
calling for bans on GMO crops.


Win or lose in Washington State on November 5, the anti-GMO Movement has
evolved into a savvy army of grassroots activists who are committed to
the ongoing battle to reclaim our food and farming systems, part of a
larger battle to transform the entire political and economic system.