Direct Action Blockades Against GM
indy | 08.03.2005 23:47 | Bio-technology
At 3am on Saturday 26th February, a coalition of environmentalists used direct action to blockade Sainsbury's huge regional distribution centre at Emerson's Green, causing disruption to Sainsbury's retail supply across the South-West and beyond. Braving sub-zero temperatures and snow, campaigners blockaded the entrance to the depot, locking themselves together for three hours with steel tubes [see reports 1 | 2 | 3]. There were six arrests.
Campaigners are demanding that Sainsburys honour their undertaking to stop marketing dairy products from animals reared on genetically modified soya and maize. Currently the use of animal feed is keeping GM in the food chain despite overwhelming opposition from consumers. Sainsburys have also been heavily criticised for driving down prices for dairy farmers who are demanding a fair price for GM free milk.
A few days later, on Thursday 3rd March, around 25 camapigners also shut down the Sainsbury's depot in Haydock, Merseyside [report | pics]. People blockaded the depot by d-locking themselves to gates and blocking the main gate with a vehicle that others then locked themselves too. The blockade lasted for around two and a half hours before specialist police units cut people free.
The actions followed multiple blockades and actions against Sainsbruy's last year - See [Feature from July 04] and previous blockade of Merseyside depot [1 | 2].
On Wednesday 23 February, hundreds of people also took part in a mass lobby outside parliament [report and pics] to demand the right to choose GM-free food, as well as strict laws to prevent GM contamination and make companies liable for any contamination that does occur. While nearly two thirds of people in the UK want tough laws to prevent GM contamination, the Government is apparently planning a legal framework that would allow widespread contamination. A roving bus load of cows also visited supermarkets around Cardiff, awarding the worst offenders with the "Greenpeace Cowpat Award for Supporting GM milk".
See also: Corporate Watch Farm report (pdf) |Genetics Action Sainsubry's briefing (pdf)| Biotech IMC
Campaigners are demanding that Sainsburys honour their undertaking to stop marketing dairy products from animals reared on genetically modified soya and maize. Currently the use of animal feed is keeping GM in the food chain despite overwhelming opposition from consumers. Sainsburys have also been heavily criticised for driving down prices for dairy farmers who are demanding a fair price for GM free milk.
A few days later, on Thursday 3rd March, around 25 camapigners also shut down the Sainsbury's depot in Haydock, Merseyside [report | pics]. People blockaded the depot by d-locking themselves to gates and blocking the main gate with a vehicle that others then locked themselves too. The blockade lasted for around two and a half hours before specialist police units cut people free.
The actions followed multiple blockades and actions against Sainsbruy's last year - See [Feature from July 04] and previous blockade of Merseyside depot [1 | 2].
On Wednesday 23 February, hundreds of people also took part in a mass lobby outside parliament [report and pics] to demand the right to choose GM-free food, as well as strict laws to prevent GM contamination and make companies liable for any contamination that does occur. While nearly two thirds of people in the UK want tough laws to prevent GM contamination, the Government is apparently planning a legal framework that would allow widespread contamination. A roving bus load of cows also visited supermarkets around Cardiff, awarding the worst offenders with the "Greenpeace Cowpat Award for Supporting GM milk".
See also: Corporate Watch Farm report (pdf) |Genetics Action Sainsubry's briefing (pdf)| Biotech IMC
Sainsbury's
Sainsbury's suppliers now pay most farmers less for their milk than it costs to produce. 40 dairy farmers are going under every week in Britain at the moment because of the supermarkets pricing policies. This goes hand in hand with the international crisis of biotechnology. Farmers want to avoid GM crops, but the poor payment they currently receive forces many of them to keep using the fractionally cheaper GM contaminated imports. The continuing threat of GM, and the corporate aquisition and gentrification of the countryside, could be stopped if farmers got a fair fraction of the price paid for their milk, and the supermarkets were obliged to keep their 3 year old promise to phase out GM feed.
MASS LOBBY:
The mass lobby and rally was organised by Friends of the Earth, the Five Year Freeze, the National Federation of Women's Institutes and the group FARM.
Participants first gathered near Westminster to listen to a group of inspirational speakers - including former Environment Minister Michael Meacher MP, US lawyer and journalist Claire Hope-Cummings and Friends of the Earth's Tony Juniper. The key message was that while campaigners have won many battles on GM, the threat remains.
People lobbied their MPs to take action against GM - including asking them to sign the European GM-free zones petition calling for the right for local and regional authorities to decide whether GM crops are grown in their area - as well as signing the "Bite Back citizen's objection", which calls on the World Trade Organisation to throw out the US-led attempt to force GM into Europe.
On 25th Feb the South West Regional Assembly called for food and farming in the region to be protected from GM crops, and for strict liability on GM companies. The south west is the first region to take an official GM position, reflecting the massive opposition in the region - from both local people and local authorities - to GM food and crops.
See GM-Free Scarecrows
Sainsbury's suppliers now pay most farmers less for their milk than it costs to produce. 40 dairy farmers are going under every week in Britain at the moment because of the supermarkets pricing policies. This goes hand in hand with the international crisis of biotechnology. Farmers want to avoid GM crops, but the poor payment they currently receive forces many of them to keep using the fractionally cheaper GM contaminated imports. The continuing threat of GM, and the corporate aquisition and gentrification of the countryside, could be stopped if farmers got a fair fraction of the price paid for their milk, and the supermarkets were obliged to keep their 3 year old promise to phase out GM feed.
MASS LOBBY:
The mass lobby and rally was organised by Friends of the Earth, the Five Year Freeze, the National Federation of Women's Institutes and the group FARM.
Participants first gathered near Westminster to listen to a group of inspirational speakers - including former Environment Minister Michael Meacher MP, US lawyer and journalist Claire Hope-Cummings and Friends of the Earth's Tony Juniper. The key message was that while campaigners have won many battles on GM, the threat remains.
People lobbied their MPs to take action against GM - including asking them to sign the European GM-free zones petition calling for the right for local and regional authorities to decide whether GM crops are grown in their area - as well as signing the "Bite Back citizen's objection", which calls on the World Trade Organisation to throw out the US-led attempt to force GM into Europe.
On 25th Feb the South West Regional Assembly called for food and farming in the region to be protected from GM crops, and for strict liability on GM companies. The south west is the first region to take an official GM position, reflecting the massive opposition in the region - from both local people and local authorities - to GM food and crops.
See GM-Free Scarecrows
indy
Comments
Hide the following 2 comments
good
09.03.2005 10:41
It's inspiring to see how much is still being done, and that people are tying it in with wider workers struggles.
the continuity kid
Sainsbury's response
11.03.2005 15:42
They were due to have a third meeting with a cross section of representatives from the coalition on the 21st. I've been invloved in all the meetings so far, and we've always made it clear that the coalition is a network, and that GEN and those involved with non violent direct action are part of that network. At the first meeting Sainsbury's tried to get us to make an undertaking to stop action while we negotiated, but we refused, and the meetings continued.
A day or so after being released from the cells I received a phonecall from Sainsburys head of PR, asking if I knew about the first blockade. This was followed by an email, copied to several other people who'd been attending the negotiations saying that Sainsbury's weren't prepared to meet with "people who had been charged with criminal offences against Sainsbury's" but would be happy to continue talking to everyone else.
This happened in my absence, and on my return I found that the independent farmers unions, mainstream campaign like GFA and Wholesome Food association and others had unanimously agreed that if Sainsbury's didn't want to talk to me, they didn't want to talk to them. This is a solid demonstration that those involved in the coalition, (several of whom had no previous experience of blockade style activism)are clear that non violent direct action is key to maintaining the pressure on Sainsbury's, and that they will not be bullied out of our current solidarity.
A joint response is being drafted and we'll keep you posted on Sainsbury's reaction to it. Personally I'm rather hoping they refuse to meet with us, less time in the boardroom means more time on the tarmac...
love and suits
Liz