It
the same story: �occupiers� hallucinate and see intruders
everywhere. Intruders are a threat to the existence
of the occupiers; intruders must be killed.
The narrative legitimizing this practice has proven to
be lucrative. Killing is big business. A kill culture
makes for a profitable enterprise.
Kill,
kill, kill�for the good of the invaded species.
Kill!
While
the U.S. government spends trillions to kill humans
and other species in Afghanistan,
Iraq,
Pakistan, and Libya, it also funnels billions to Monsanto, a
police-like force that, in turn, hires troops of scientists
and workers to deploy its chemical weaponry, glyphosate
and imazapyr (weed killers) around the world.
Monsanto�s
�aggressive
marketing� and sometimes-illegal maneuvering
(Haiti Grassroots Watch, May 2011) includes �creating
a potential
worldwide monopoly by buying up all competitors,
bribes, infiltration
of farmers' associations through the use of mercenaries
and �ruthless
legal battles� including lawsuits
against farmers.�
But
did I mention how profitable it is to kill in a kill culture?
What do peasant farmers, activists, lawyers, and even
independent scientists know? Monsanto, says Monsanto,
is a successful business. As the world�s largest seed
company and one of the largest pesticide companies, Monsanto,
�dominates [the world�s] proprietary seed market, a
market worth almost $32 billion in 2010, up
10 percent from the previous year� (Haiti
Grassroots Watch).
Monsanto is a god-sent! Who eradicates species that invade other species
better than Monsanto? Its weed killer targets terrorizing
species, violent species, invaders - in
the same way the president of the U.S.
can order a hit on any citizen or �terrorist� anywhere
around the world.
Monsanto
is powerful!
It
is Homeland Security for it SAVES and PROTECTS occupiers
from intruders. This
is the narrative it offered the residents of Willapa
Bay, Washington, who, whether or
not they knew it or not, were being invaded by a terrorizing
species! This dangerous, life-threatening, anti-Earth
- breed of grass - caught the attention of the U.S.
government. Spartina or alterniflora, grass - must be
killed! Go for it, Monsanto! And yes, according
to Truthout Fellow, Mike Ludwig, the weed killing
corporation sent boats and helicopters to spray �thousands
of gallons of herbicides into the bay�s shallow waters�
to kill - that is, to save Willapa Bay (�Special
Investigation: The Pesticide and Politics of America�s
Eco-War,� Truthout, June 9, 2011).
It is the American
Way! (Ain�t
no new thing, as poet Gil Scott-Heron would say).
(Willapa Bay is polluted now�.shhh�). The U.S.
government�s effort to save and protect communities around
the world from invading species is known as �species
eradication� (�Special Investigation�). (Ain�t no new
thing - species eradication!). Only in the margins
of the world is there talk of another more life-threatening
danger: Monsanto�s chemical weaponry is not only toxic
to oysters while polluting the bay, it is also harmful
to humans as well. Independent scientists, Ludwig writes,
�have discovered potential
links among the widespread use of glyphosate-based herbicides and non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma, birth defects and even attention deficit disorder.�
Collateral damage! The incidental death of neighboring species, including
humans from cancer or other illnesses can�t be avoided!
�Research
also shows that additives like surfactants in glyphosate
in herbicides like Roundup are more toxic than glyphosate
itself and can increase the toxicity of glyphosate.�
�Every
time you hear the term 'invasive species,' think Monsanto,�
biologist David Theodoropoulos said at an environmentalist
conference in Oregon
(�Special Investigation�). Ludwig summarizes Theodoropoulos�
position: �the idea that a wild plant or animal can be
invasive is a myth. Species have moved, adapted and changed
in different ecosystems for millions of years. �Change
and movement are natural.��
But
Monsanto cannot become part of the military-industrial-complex
by arguing that �change and movement are natural.� Ludwig�s
report continues:
But
Monsanto wants the world to ignore this non-knowledge
and to remember that it is a giver of gifts to
living things!
Monsanto
sent the Earthquake ravished nation a �gift� of �hybrid
maize and vegetable seeds,� some �505 tons of seed� (Haiti
Grassroots Watch) to help in the reconstruction
of that country. But how will Monsanto�s genetically modified
weeds reconstruct Haiti�s food economy? Who
really benefits from converting �peasant agriculture to
corporate agriculture,� to use environmental activists
Vandana Shiva�s words (Earth Democracy), with these
hybrid seeds - the Haitians or the giant corporation,
Monsanto?
(Hush,
dissent is not welcomed!).
Monsanto
democratizes poverty! Our weed killer or modified seeds
will make you rich! Peasant farmers left with high
levels of debt, writes Vandana Shiva, find themselves
�deeper in poverty� (Earth Democracy). �Poverty
is revealing itself in farmer suicides and the emergence
of hunger for the first time in independent India.�
But
the killing and suffering is all legal because �there
will be money, and since there will be money, scientific
data, Shiva writes, is given to scientists by Monsanto
�and they publish it.� Monsanto does not lie - the caring
corporation simply tinkers with the statistics - a little,
because �informed citizens make free choices� and making
free choices - well - that is too much like that other
version of democracy.
That is not the American Way!
Monsanto�s
story (operating as it does on the bodies of the poor,
displaced, and dead) is that its uncompromising stance
ensures �better things for better living.� It can and
it will continue its good deeds because it is closely
aligned with that privileged narrative - the one that
promotes killing.
Monsanto�s
narrative is a narrative of violence, a narrative, of
warfare!
When you are a kill culture, warfare is big business!
BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board member, Lenore Jean Daniels,
PhD, has a Doctorate in Modern American Literature/Cultural
Theory. Click here
to contact Dr. Daniels.