The world according to Monsanto : pollution, corruption, and

12Mexico: Seizing Control of BiodiversityAdventitious presence is part of the natural order.—Monsanto, Pledge Report, 2001–2002“The hope of the industry is that over time the market is so flooded thatthere’s nothing you can do about it. You just sort of surrender.” 1 So saidDon Westfall, vice president of Promar International, a Washington consultingfirm working for biotech companies, in early 2001. This statementwas echoing in my head when I landed in Oaxaca, Mexico, in October 2006.Nestled in the heart of a lush landscape of green mountains, the city, consideredone of the jewels of the country’s tourist industry, was in the throesof a violent social conflict.The Transgenic Conquest of Mexican CornHundreds of strikers and their families occupied a tent camp flying the bannersof the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) in the zócalo,the magnificent colonial plaza bordered by arcades. The streets in the historiccenter were blocked by barricades, while the governor’s palace, thecourthouse, the regional assembly, and all the schools in the state of Oaxaca,considered one of the poorest in the country, had been closed for weeks.Starting with a teachers’ strike, the conflict had spread to all sectors of society,and people were demanding the resignation of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, the