PR

PR Watch: The Fake Parade

Outside the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in August
in Johannesburg, there were poor street vendors and farmers holding
signs and wearing t-shirts reading: "Save the Planet from
Sustainable Development", "Say No To Eco-Imperialism", "Greens:
Stop Hurting the Poor" and "Biotechnology for Africa." The problem,
according to environmental reporter and activist Jonathan Matthews
is that the anti-environmentalist demonstration was organized by
the corporations that environmentalist wanted to be held
accountable. "The counterattack takes place via a contrarian lens,
one that projects the attackers' vices onto their target. Thus the
problem becomes not Monsanto using questionable tactics to push its
products onto a wary South, but malevolent agents of the rich world
obstructing Monsanto's acceptance in a welcoming Third World,"
Matthews writes.