[Ppnews] The Case of the Biodevastation 7

[Political Prisoner News]

http://www.counterpunch.org/fitz09042009.html

September 4-6, 2009


The Case of the Biodevastation 7


What the Police Won't Apologize For

By DON FITZ

In early September, St. Louis police will send an 
apology for their illegal arrest of biodiversity 
activists.  Be assured that it will not mention 
their role in destroying public dialogue on 
dangers of genetically contaminated food.

On August 24, 2009, the American Civil Liberties 
Union (ACLU) of Eastern Missouri announced that 
the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners would 
pay $13,500 to each of four anti-genetic 
engineering activists for violating their first 
and fourth amendment rights and would apologize 
to them for police actions in May, 2003. 
[1]  That was when several hundred people 
gathered to protest the World Agricultural Forum 
[WAF] and hold the 7th Biodevastation Gathering 
to expose the racist use of genetic engineering in agriculture.

But the letter of apology is highly unlikely to 
address the most serious aspects of the 
repression.  Do not expect the letter to say 
anything about helping to consolidate control of 
world agriculture and throwing 1 billion people 
off of small farms.  Don’t look for the letter to 
mention the role of police in attempts to force 
genetically contaminated food on Africans with 
immuno-compromised health.  And don’t be 
surprised if the letter contains not a word about 
St. Louis police entering into a conspiracy with 
Monsanto, the FBI and corporate media to 
eliminate public discussion of the potential 
threats of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

St. Louis police were not stand-alone 
players.  As Daniel (digger) Romano wrote in the 
August 31 St. Louis Post-Dispatch “
Allied 
Intelligence [is] the private security agency 
hired by the WAF and its principle player, 
Monsanto, the biotech giant.  Allied Intelligence 
told police ‘50,000 anarchists’ were coming to 
St. Louis to riot and wreak havoc on the city.” [2]

The police apology will certainly misdirect 
attention onto its own illegal and repulsive 
behavior of May, 2003: warrantless entry into a 
home where a woman was subjected to “an unlawful 
and humiliating strip search,” a second 
warrantless entry under the false claim of the 
building being condemned, and arresting several 
activists for “riding a bicycle without a 
license,” a crime which did not exist. [1]

Under the FBI Eye

Preparations for the Biodevastation 7 Gathering 
started in 2002 when Jim Scheff, an organizer for 
the Missouri Forest Alliance, called to tell me 
that the WAF would be meeting in St. Louis the 
upcoming year.  He suggested that Biodevastation, 
which had been held in five cities after 
beginning in St. Louis in 1998, return to 
Monsanto’s home town so that people coming to WAF 
could hear a different view of biotechnology.

Documents obtained by the ACLU under the Freedom 
of Information Act (FOIA) show that the FBI was 
deeply involved in scrutinizing many documents 
that I wrote for the event, including emails from 
my computer.  The ACLU judged the FBI reports to 
be some “of the most troubling documents we received.” [3]

A November 2005 cover letter from the FBI refers 
to “Subject: GATEWAY GREEN ALLIANCE/01012000 TO 
PRESENT,” indicating that we had been in FBI 
sights for years.  [4] Its first memo on 
“Counterterrorism” asserted that “The WAF was 
created to provide a continuing, neutral arena 
for the discussion of world agriculture
” 
Counterposed to the “neutral” WAF, the memo 
warned of “issue-specific terrorist groups
which 
oppose
the bio-engineering of plants and animals.”  [5]

What particularly worried authors of the memo was 
that “organizers from the Gateway Green Alliance, 
a local affiliate of the Green Party USA, have 
joined with member of the Organization for Black 
Struggle in St. Louis and are attempting to label 
the WAF as a ‘forum on environmental racism’ in 
an attempt to lure African-American groups.” 
[5]  (The authors probably meant to say “Biodevastation” rather than “WAF.”)

The memo observed that “no specific threats of 
violence or unlawful protest have been 
received.”  But its authors were disturbed that 
“protest organizers” might be “able to 
successfully promote a racial element to the forum
” [5]

Other FBI counterterrorism documents listed 
frightening people who hoped to speak at St. 
Louis, including Vandana Shiva, Percy Schmeiser, 
Mae-Wan Ho, Brian Tokar, Ignacio Chapela and 
Michael Hansen. [6]  Any defender of the Public 
Order must have been horrified to read in the 
captured documents of the threat to national 
security posed by the Caravan Across the 
Continent held in conjunction with 
Biodevastation: “The Caravan will be a month-long 
bicycle spectacle covering over 1000 puppet 
shows, presentations, speak-outs, freak-outs, 
clown acts, and music
”  It invited “citizens, 
clowns, puppeteers, bike riders, messengers, 
farmers” and urged everyone “to bring a bicycle and join the ride!” [7]

The FBI was most traumatized by information that 
“The May 2003 Biodevastation Gathering will be 
the cutting edge event defining links between 
racism and the biotechnology 
industry.”  Documents monitored by its sleuths 
uncovered plans for the event to “focus attention 
on efforts” to use “Food Aide as a weapon of 
narrow economic interests and to force 
genetically contaminated food on Africa.” [5]

Luckily, the FBI did not stand alone in efforts 
to protect good citizens.  FOIA reports confirm 
that the FBI had “been working with local police 
agencies to collect intelligence related to the 
WAF.” [7]  Not content to rely on local police, 
the FBI proudly documented collaboration with the private sector:

Corporate officials from Monsanto who monitor the 
Biodev website (www.biodev.org) allege that the 
speakers at the Biodev conference are against 
genetic engineering of any type, that they are 
outspoken critics of Monsanto and are extreme in their views. [7]

A Public Dialogue Cut Short

During weeks prior to Biodevastation 7, there 
were a few stories about the dangers of GMOs, but 
St. Louis media focused on police preparation for 
50,000 anarchists to invade downtown.  They 
warned business owners to protect their property.

Then, on the opening day of Biodevastation 7, the 
Mother of All Horrors occurred: There was an 
actual public debate on genetic engineering!  The 
only St. Louis daily paper, the Post-Dispatch, 
carried a front page story, “Focus on the future 
of agriculture.” It had an article describing the 
corporate view of the WAF on one side and another 
article reporting on Biodevastation on the other.

Not to worry.  St. Louis police, with backup from 
the FBI and Monsanto, had worked overtime to 
ensure that reporting would take a sharp 
turn.  Shortly after I got to the Gathering site 
and prepared to coordinate presentations, phone 
calls began pouring in that demonstrators were being arrested all over town.

Members of the Flying Rutabaga Bicycle Circus 
were arrested for the fictitious crime of “riding 
a bicycle without a license.” About the same 
time, a building inspector nailed a “condemned” 
sign on a St. Louis home just before police 
pushed through the door and arrested those who 
had been planning to take part in weekend 
protests.  They were charged with “inhabiting a condemned building.”

Two hours later, police raided the Community Arts 
and Media Project (CAMP) building, which housed 
the St. Louis Independent Media Center, Green 
Party of St. Louis and several other groups, 
taking more to jail. Sarah Bantz, organizer for 
Missouri Resistance Against Genetic Engineering 
(MoRAGE), which was coordinating the 
demonstration planned at the WAF, was pulled over 
while driving to give a talk at the 
Gathering.  Her vitamin A was seized as a 
possible illegal drug and she was taken to jail for not wearing a seatbelt.

As I tried to make sure that speakers (minus 
Sarah Bantz) were there, that panels could start 
on time, and that lunches were on their way, I 
was called by one reporter after another.  With 
the lurid drama rivaled only by stories of a US 
politician whose weenie went where it wasn’t 
supposed to go, corporate media had turned on a 
dime.  Dangers of genetic engineering were far 
from their minds as reporters drooled at the 
prospect of a story on demonstrator violence.

Police Chief Mokwa egged on the frenzy.  He held 
a press conference to display the “weapons” 
seized during the raids: rocks, roofing nails, torches and Molotov cocktails.

By the next day, it became apparent that the 
rocks were paperweights; the roofing nails were 
to repair a leaky roof; and the torches were 
flaming batons of the Bicycle Circus. When the 
St. Louis Independent Media Center website posted 
an eyewitness report of a cop putting toilet 
paper or a rag in a beer bottle, all press 
reports of “Molotov cocktails” disappeared ­ as 
if they had never been mentioned. The “weapons” 
charges were the first charges dropped against those arrested.

Of course, throughout the events, the only 
potential violence discussed was that of 
demonstrators. When reporters asked me about 
potential violence, I never hesitated to point 
out that “There is a real threat of lawlessness 
when the WAF is controlled by Monsanto, a company 
that lawlessly trespasses on the land of farmers 
like Percy Schmeiser, criminally steals samples 
of crops and violently drops pesticide bombs on 
their fields to test if their crops are Roundup-resistant.”

Reporters would tell me that that was not what 
was meant.  They wanted to know if there was a 
threat of violence during the demonstration set 
for May 18.  I always responded “Yes, there is a 
real threat of violence. When public safety is 
put in the hands of a police chief who has 
condoned the police murder of over a dozen black 
youth in recent years, the city should be concerned.”

Predictably, the press had zero interest in 
reporting on corporate or state violence.  Their 
prewritten script was to interview one side 
predicting that demonstrators would be violent 
and “balance” it with a few seconds of an organizer denying the charge.

Police Attacks

Police attacks on protestors were illegal, 
traumatic and disruptive to planned 
events.  Kelley Meister wrote in detail of her 
ordeal.  The night before her home was invaded, 
“police had been circling our house relentlessly, 
following my friends home, and harassing them on 
the street, and I had feared waking up to the 
police knocking down my door.” [8]  After 
breakfast the next morning, a police car pulled up.

Two police officers pushed past me to enter the 
house, and I asked if they had a warrant.  When 
they said, “No,” I stated that I did not give 
them permission to enter my house, and I again 
asked for a warrant.  The officers told me that a 
warrant was not necessary because this was a condemned building. [8]

After being arrested and put in a police van, Meister


watched many cops enter and exit our house, most 
notably, an officer carrying a piece of art 
ripped down off the wall from my room.  The cops 
also stole many other people’s personal items 
such as journals, posters, props for the circus 
and puppet shows, welding tools, roofing nails, 
and all of our bicycles that were in the 
building.  The bicycles were eventually returned 
with slashed tires, but most of the other stuff 
that was stolen is either “missing” or being held as evidence. [8]

When allowed to return home several days later, she found

The house was trashed.  In my bedroom, shelves 
had been disassembled or knocked over, boxes of 
oil paints and other art supplies dumped out, my 
large reading chair was on its side and in the 
middle of the room, personal items were smashed, 
and a pile of my clothes that had been dumped from a small cabinet
 [8]

Meister and a housemate found “their clothes were 
drenched in urine,” compliments of St. Louis 
police. [9]  When it apologizes for 
“well-intentioned mistakes,” the St. Louis Board 
of Police Commissioners should explain how 
urinating on clothes is both well-intentioned and a mistake.

What Corporate Media Didn’t Report

By the second day of Biodevastation 7, the mania 
had died down. The Post-Dispatch was even mildly 
critical of what it called “pre-emptive” arrests. 
But the press never returned to a discussion of 
how genetic engineering threatens human health, 
pollutes the environment, and prepares for 
agro-business domination of Africa. What remained 
was a debate of whether the police had “overreacted.”

Two photographs from the Fall 2003 
Synthesis/Regeneration illustrate the bizarre 
unreality of the police/media fantasy.  The back 
cover has a photo of the main post office in 
downtown St. Louis, which was boarded up to 
protect it from marauding anarchist hordes.  On 
p. 2 is a photo of a security guard with so 
little to do at Biodevastation 7 that she is 
playing with the children of those listening to talks.

Though the PATRIOT Act made crackdowns at events 
like Biodevastation 7 easier, such actions 
existed long before 9-11.  The hysteria generated 
by police departments is reminiscent of “red 
scares” of the 1920s and phobic reaction to black 
organizing that white Americans have felt through 
the centuries. When Jamala Rogers of the 
Organization for Black Struggle introduced the 
Environmental Racism panel at Biodevastation 7, 
the police raids were at the top of the 
news.  She commented that “You are seeing what 
black people in St. Louis experience on a daily basis.”

One of the vitally important presentations that 
police raids knocked out of media attention was 
that by Mwananyanda Lewanika of Zambia’s National 
Institute for Scientific & Industrial 
Research.  The previous year, US trade 
representatives had bitterly denounced Zambia for 
rejecting genetically engineered (GE) corn to 
feed its hungry.  Lewanika traced the origin of 
hunger in Zambia to the Structural Adjustment 
Program of the 1990s that “stopped government 
involvement in agricultural production.” 
[10]  With government assistance gone, small 
farmers in southern Zambia could not meet the 
food needs of their region.  Since there was an 
abundance of food in the northern part of the 
country, the West could have helped Zambia improve the infrastructure of roads.

But that would have made Zambia more independent 
of the West rather than dependent on it.  So the 
US offered to donate surplus GE corn.  Zambian 
scientists replied that (a) GE corn might contain 
food toxins or allergens, (b) effects would be 
particularly serious in Zambia since corn 
comprised up to 80% of the diet, and (c) effects 
would be most severe on the most vulnerable ­ the 
young, old and immuno-compromised, which is a 
large population in southern Africa.  Though 
plenty of non-GE corn was available and could 
have been donated, the US insisted on offering 
only the corn that was offensive to Zambians and 
then denounced them for not accepting it. [10]

Marching Onward

By shifting attention to a manufactured threat of 
terrorism, the hysteria ensured that discussion 
of efforts to force GE corn on Africa would not 
reach public awareness.  This puts the six year 
old belated apology by the St. Louis Police 
Department (SLPD) in a different light.

The St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners 
claimed that the raids were a “mistake” even 
though police acted “with well intentions.” 
[9]  The 2009 apology spins the myth that the SLPD acted on its own volition.

But the FBI documents paint a very different 
picture.  They suggest that the most likely course of events was:

A. The Monsanto/WAF/Allied Intelligence troika contacted


B. the FBI, which contacted


C. the SLPD, which pumped fantasies to


D. the St. Louis media, which eliminated a 
nascent dialogue on GMOs and focused exclusively 
on the illusory anarchist invasion.

Far from being the key culprit, the SLPD was 
targeted to take the rap.  It was a pawn in a far 
bigger game of using genetic engineering to 
destroy small farmers across the globe.

Describing police activities during 2003 as 
“mistakes” continues the campaign of 
misinformation.  Their attacks were no 
“mistake.”  They were a vital element in shifting 
the public eye away from what agribusiness 
planned for Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Anyone who seriously believes actions by the SLPD 
were mistakes should let us know how often police 
departments invade offices such as Monsanto World 
Headquarters, piss on tuxedos of corporate 
executives, steal their electronic equipment, 
tell the press to print front page stories of 
corporate terrorists, and arrest corporate 
officers for possession of vitamin A.

If 100% of such police attacks are against those 
resisting corporate power and 0% of police 
violence is against corporations, then a 
reasonable person might conclude that the 
function of police is to protect corporate 
power.  This is quite a bit different from 
accounts of the police being a neutral party that 
occasionally makes the “mistake” of “preemptive” attacks.

We should applaud each of the plaintiffs against 
the SLPD receiving $13,500.  But rather than 
clearing the air, the police apology serves to 
further mystify the 2003 web of intrigues.  For 
the corporations that move pawns around, the 2009 
apology is merely a tiny step backward in their 
continuing march to subjugate world agriculture.

Don Fitz is editor of Synthesis/Regeneration: A 
Magazine of Green Social Thought, which is 
published for members of The Greens/Green Party 
USA.  If you know of where to find a horde of 
50,000 anarchists, please contact him at 
<mailto:fitzdon at aol.com>fitzdon at aol.com

Notes

1. American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern 
Missouri. (August 24, 2009). ACLU applauds police 
apology to protestors. Press Release.

2. Daniel (digger) Romano.  (August 31, 2009). 
Letter to the Editor, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p. A11.

3. American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern 
Missouri. (Janaury 27, 2006).  Letter to Barbara Chicherio and Don Fitz.

4. Federal Bureau of Investigation. (November 15, 
2005). Letter to Denise D. Lieberman, American 
Civil Liberties Union. FOIPA No. 1021258-000.

5. Federal Bureau of Investigation. (April 9, 
2003). Counterterrorism memo. Case ID No: 300A-SL-188478.

6. Federal Bureau of Investigation. (May 8, 
2003). Counterterrorism memo. Case ID No: 300A-SL-188478.

7. Federal Bureau of Investigation. (April 15, 
2003). Counterterrorism memo. Case ID No: 300A-SL-188478.

8. Kelley Meister. (Fall, 2003). Report from the 
Bolozone. Synthesis/Regeneration, 32, pp. 5–7.

9. Patrick O’Connell. (August 25, 2009). City 
police apologize for raids in 2003.  St. Louis Post-Dispatch, pp. A1, A9.

10. Mwananyanda Lewanika. (Fall, 2003). The real 
story behind the food crisis in Zambia. Synthesis/Regeneration, 32, pp. 12–14.




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