Quoting Rachel's Weekly:
>It won't be easy. In Ireland, Great Britain, France and India,
>farmer-led uprisings have burned and destroyed Monsanto's test
>plots.
There have been no farmer-led uprising in Britain against Monsanto. There have been farmer-led uprisings. Last year farmers protested in their tens of thousands against a ban on fox-hunting proposed by animal rights activists. This year they protested against the European Community's failure to lift the ban on British beef (something that environmentalists agitated for). They also protested against foreign lamb imports.
A handful of city-dwelling environmentalists tore up some plants in a field.
As to the farmers' movements in India, Jairus Banaji points out that these are led by rural elites that are close to the Hindu nationalist BJP, much trumpeted as the 'third force' in Indian politics. He writes 'The interests of the new rural elites are scarcely compatible with those of the rural poor. The most vulnerable groups in the countryside are those "who have actually to purchase foodgrains from the market on a net basis". A victory for the farmers' movements would be a direct blow to these sections, apart from enormously strengthening the hand of employers against workers.' Conservative Rural Coalitions, in New Farmers Movements in India, ed Tom Brass, Frank Cass, 1995. -- Jim heartfield