Slideshow: Mexico City demonstrators protest Monsanto by celebrating native corn
Rallies took place in dozens of cities over the weekend as part of a day of action dubbed the “March Against Monsanto.” In Mexico City, the protest against the agribusiness giant took the form of a corn-themed celebration.
Mexico is where corn was first domesticated thousands of years ago and is the cornerstone of the country’s cuisine. In recent years, small farmers, scientists and consumers groups have banded together to oppose the cultivation of genetically-modified corn in Mexican territory.
Reporter Andalusia Knoll shares these photos from Saturday’s “Carnaval of Corn” in Mexico City.
- A poster carried at the march spoofs Lucha Libre advertisements announcing a struggle for Mexico’s natural resources.
- Demonstrators carry props to symbolize ears of corn.
- Corn on the cob is commonly sold as a snack on street corners in cities across Mexico.
- Rally participants tie ears of native corn onto a twirling pole.
- A woman with a cart full of seeds and plants.
- A child with a corn-themed kite.
- The words under painted-on corn kernels read: Diversity, culture, identity.
- A woman in an embroidered blouse twirls a pole adorned with multicolored ears of native corn.