Election Bang: Maui bans GMO cropsJon Rappoport Okay. Here we go. They got into Monsantos face. They accused Monsanto/Dow of spreading poison. They didnt say, You have a right to know whats in your food and were all nice people, and reasonable people have a right to disagree. They hit it hard. The Maui SHAKA Movement and voteyesmaui.org and other activists won by a very narrow marginand instituted a temporary ban on new Monsanto/Dow GMO crops in Maui County. Their corporate opposition spent $300 for every vote they got. And lost. A tip of the hat and a bow to Maui County activists. You know what youre doing. Youre local. You experience, first-hand, the Monsanto Roundup poison. You see something, you do something. The ban/moratorium can only be overturned after an environmental impact statement is submitted to the Maui County Council, and after a 2/3 vote to overturn. Without doubt, the Maui activists will monitor that process very closely and expose corrupt Council members and the upcoming parade of low-life Monsanto lawyers, PR flacks, and bagmen carrying cash for bribes. Ultimate victory isnt guaranteed by any means, but this is a real battle, not a mock one. Colorado lost its GMO labeling ballot measure last night, and so did Oregon. But Maui proved, in its own backyard, that banning poison is more powerful than labeling it. The major funders of the labeling campaigns should write some fat checks to voteyesmaui.org and SHAKA, and then also buy ads on big websites: MAUI KNOWS HOW TO BEAT MONSANTO. Let the world know. In the end, this isnt a consumer campaign, its a war against lying corporate poisoners. Saying Monsanto can keep poisoning doesnt cut it. Update: Ballot Measure P in Humboldt County, California, passed by a wide margin. Measure P prohibits the propagation, cultivation, raising, or growing of genetically modified organisms in Humboldt County. Good work, Humboldt. Another ban. ***Let me explain something. The GMO-labeling ballot measures are really PR campaigns, and they keep some degree of awareness alive about GMO crops. Theyre not full educational campaigns, because the amount of teaching they do is superficial, despite their claims to the contrary. PR is slogans. Education is much, much deeper, and it certainly includes aggressive information about the horrendous effects of Roundup, among other GMO issues. Education requires getting people to stand still long enough to actually learn something important. It isnt a brush-off. So heres the point. If these GMO-labeling ballot campaigns are really PR, then why not redirect the PR against Monsanto and the other corporate criminals, instead of monotonously hammering away on the right to know whats in your food? Theres nothing to lose (after labeling defeats in California, Washington, Colorado, and Oregon), and everything to gain. Monsanto is building this reality: GMO foods are wonderful and safe and the planet benefits. So far, the counter-reality is: let Monsanto and their allied farmers grow their food, as long as the consumer can ID it on the label and reject it, if he wants to. Thats going to win the day? Thats the superior new reality? Thats suicide through lack of imagination and courage. Take a few million of the dollars now being spent on pro-labeling campaigns and, instead, put it into video web ads that play all over the world: For example: A destitute farmer (and his family) stands in front of his wasted, dusty, super-weed-choked field, states his name, and says: Im an American farmer. Monsanto lied to me and killed my farm and my livelihood with their poison called Roundup. And it doesnt even work. The weeds it was supposed to knock out are bigger than ever. Monsanto strangled my soybean crop. They ruined my farm. And my daughter is sick from the Roundup poison Thenboom. A few of your cold-eyed, take-no-prisoner attorneys stroll into the frame, and one of them looks into the camera and says, Hello, Monsanto. Thinking of suing us for this ad? Bring it, baby. A man pushes a large trunk on a dolly into the frame. He opens the trunk and takes out sheaf after sheaf of papers. The attorney says, Monsanto? This is the evidence that shows youve been lying to the people about how safe GMO food is, and youve been lying about your poison called Roundup. See you at the first deposition. Its going to be a DOOZIE, Monsanto. A large red title appears at the bottom of the screen: BAN GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD. It fades out, to be replaced by another title: SEND MONSANTO CRIMINALS TO PRISON. Something like that. For starters. Other ads will follow. Increase public awareness? Create a page-one controversial news story from one end of the planet to the other? Are you kidding? Monsanto sues and its a five-year story. Monsanto doesnt sue and theyre cowards. Either way its a big-time winner. THIS is PR. PR for the public good. To those of you who are spending big bucks to fund GMO-labeling ballot measures: Im taking you to school. If you want more lessons, get in touch. Jon Rappoport is the author of two explosive collections, The Matrix Revealed and Exit From the Matrix, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. 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