Report on Biodevastation Protests in San Diego

by Brian Tokar
June 26, 2001

They said it couldn't be done. That we'd never be able to assemble hundreds
of people for a peaceful demonstration against the biotechnology industry in
San Diego. San Diego is an anomaly in today's United States. It's one of
the few large cities whose economy is still overwhelmingly dependent on the
military. Drive around for a couple of days and you'll see more submarine
bases, naval warfare training bases, battleship construction facilities and
missile defense testing installations than you'd ever imagine.

The police are thoroughly militarized too. Any time they bust a teenage kid
for drugs,or break up a noisy frat party, it turns into a full scale
military operation replete with armor, helicopters, the works.

The local news media tends to follows in lockstep, repeating whatever lies
and distortions the officials care to spin out. The city government is
corrupt to the core, people say--even the school department--and it never
gets so much as a line of print or a few minutes on the evening news. And
there's lots of evening news: six local TV channels in English and two in
Spanish, more than enough to keep an understaffed activist media office
running ragged for weeks.

The disinformation machine was in high gear in San Diego for over a month
before this year's Biodevastation/Biojustice 2001 protests even began.
Every night the cops were on TV saying it was going to be "like Seattle,"
claiming we were expecting up to 8000 protestors, telling shopkeepers to
board up their windows. They said biotechnology was the future of San
Diego's economy. They poured on the Seattle footage: "Violent protestors!"
the announcer proclaimed, as they spewed out film showing nonviolent people
in rain ponchos being gassed and shot at. It was American propaganda at
it's most insidious.

We did spend more than 3 weeks being interviewed repeatedly about the
dangers of genetic engineering: how corporations are patenting genes,
driving up the cost of medicines and contaminating our food with unsafe,
untested GE products. We explained that our intentions are educational and
nonviolent, and that the millions spent by the Boston police for last year's
biotech protests was an utter waste of taxpayers' money. They gave us lots
and lots of reporter time. We learned that this does not necessarily
translate into air time.

The "Beyond Biodevastation" teach-in began on a high note. By dinnertime
last Friday, more than 400 people were in attendance, enough to nearly fill
the large meeting hall at San Diego's First Unitarian Universalist Church.
We listened to Percy Schmeiser from Saskatchewan and a panel of Midwestern
US farmers talk about how the biotech industry is threatening the survival
of family farms, and a cutting edge panel on biopiracy, patents and
globalization with Vandana Shiva, Andrew Kimbrell (Center for Food Safety),
Chaia Heller (Inst. for Social Ecology), Vicky Corpuz (from the Philippines)
and Beth Burrows (Edmonds Institute). There were panels on biotech's
irresponsible science, human genetic engineering, biological weapons, and
organics and other alternatives. Finally, the full implications of genetic
engineering for the earth and our future were in the forefront of the day's
agenda.

Saturday was more difficult. Local activists had secured what sounded like
a spectacular outdoor venue: the Starlight Bowl in the middle of historic
Balboa Park. We had 2 amazing bands lined up--including L.A.'s stupendous
Brasil Brazil--along with over a dozen of our best speakers, including an
international panel of activists from the U.K., Colombia, Canada, South
Africa and all over the U.S. An ideal scenario, except for the weather: it
was the hottest day of the year so far, and the Bowl turned into one giant
solar cooker even before our 10 AM starting time. At least two hundred
additional people registered for the teach-in, but few could stand more
than a few minutes in the heat and made the wise decision to head for the
shade, whether that meant the few shady corners of the Bowl, behind the wall
where numerous groups were tabling, or other areas of the park.

From backstage it looked empty, but who could blame people passionate
about food and health issues for taking necessary measures to protect their
health? Still, the day's program was unsurpassed, and it was preserved on
video and audio tape by Lily Films, TUC Radio, and the San Diego IMC.
Hopefully many more people will get to see and hear our program through
those outlets than could stand to be out there in Saturday's blistering sun.
Evening sessions at San Diego City College were much better attended, most
notably a scathing report on biopiracy in Mexico by UNAM economist Andres
Barreda.

Sunday was a whole different story, a thoroughly ecstatic day, featuring a
rally in Balboa Park, a permitted march to the San Diego convention center,
and a rousing closing rally right in front of the convention center, as
biotech delegates were arriving for the opening of their annual convention.
Everyone was there--AP estimated between 1000 and 1200 marchers--from
local Raza Rights activists, families with children, the San Diego Greens,
various socialist groups, union members, environmental justice activists, a
multiracial drumming group, and hundreds who'd arrived on buses and planes
from throughout California and across the country. Radical puppeteers from
L.A. brought their 7-headed hydra, with heads depicting the leading biotech
culprits: Monsanto, Novartis, Syngenta, Aventis, Du Pont, Dow and Cargill.
There were giant balloons, butterflies, giant ears of corn, "Monsatan" with
dollar signs in his eyes, and a whole contingent of George Bush clones
dressed in white. It was exactly the colorful, lively display of opposition
to the biotech threat to our future that we'd been planning since February.

Despite three weeks of media repeating endlessly that it was going to be a
dangerous and threatening scene, hundreds of San Diegans hit the streets and
many more were lining the streets to watch, even though the police were
diverting traffic more than 2 blocks on either side of us. Monday morning
we learned that some of our friends were out in the bay in a rowboat all
Sunday afternoon, cruising the other side of the convention center and the
neighboring parks, dressed as pirates, with huge signs saying things like
"Mutiny against mad science," and "Our bodies are not biotech booty." It
was a glorious, high energy day; this morning's paper even got a little
more of our message right.

Today, Monday, it's back to business as usual, and the business of the San
Diego police this week seems to be harassing activists. The Biojustice
Legal Team reports at least 75 incidents of people being detained for things
like jaywalking and having clear plastic license plate covers. A long-time
Asian American activist from northern California was surrounded by cops in a
parking lot. Two women artists from Maine were followed into a dark corner
of an underground parking garage and surrounded and harangued for over two
hours by no less than 14 uniformed officers. The harassment continued long
after legal observers arrived on the scene.

Meanwhile, the good folks at the Biotechnology Industry Organization are
saturating the airwaves here in San Diego. They've even got kids calling
local talk shows (from who knows where) to tell us how they've been cured.
Of course, there's nothing more heart-warming than such spontaneous
expressions of gratitude. These people are shameless. Some things never
change.

*** BREAKING NEWS: BIO has announced the dates for next year's
biotech convention: June 9-12th IN TORONTO. CANADIAN ACTIVISTS
ARE EXCITED ABOUT HOSTING BIODEVASTATION 2002, THE SIXTH
SUCH GRASSROOTS GATHERING, TENTATIVELY BEGINNING ON
FRIDAY, JUNE 7TH. SEE YOU THERE!

-------------------------------------------------
Brian Tokar is the editor of the new collection, Redesigning Life? The
Worldwide Challenge to Genetic Engineering (Zed Books), which features the
writing of many of the speakers at the past several years' Biodevastation
teach-ins (www.zedbooks.demon.co.uk). He teaches at the Institute for
Social Ecology in Vermont (www.social-ecology.org).

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