Maize, Food Sovereignty, and Collective Power
Right before the 2014 World Cup, US trade interests pressured Guatemala’s legislature into lifting its national ban on genetically modified (GM) crops and criminalizing traditional seed saving practices. Maya elders responded with a campaign of mass civil disobedience, blocking highways until the Guatemalan Congress repealed this “Monsanto Law.” Uniting rural and urban Guatemalans, this uprising spotlighted the existential threat of GM corn to the livelihood, dignity, and cultural heritage of maize-producing milperos (small farmers) throughout Mesoamerica. Ten years later, Mexico is also facing down US trade aggression to defend a 2020 presidential ban on the import of GM corn for human consumption.
Liza Grandia chronicles how diverse coalitions in Mexico and Guatemala have defended their sacred maize against corporate threats to privatize it. Rather than just “voting with their forks” like the consumer-driven US food movement, Mesoamerican farmers and their allies have voted with their feet through direct action. In a world of interconnected trade, their victories chart a path that other food movements might follow. They also show how everyday people can demand better regulatory protections for environmental health and forge more climate-resilient agricultural systems with native seed saving.
Dramatic and timely, Kernels of Resistance celebrates this Indigenous triumph over corporate greed.
Background image: Community leaders protesting the Monsanto law, 2023. Photo courtesy of REDSAG, the National Network for the Defense of Guatemala’s Food Sovereignty.
Cover image: The Pan-American Highway brought to a standstill, 2014. Photo by Jeff Abbott.
This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to the generous support of the UC Davis Library at the University of California, Davis.
Please consider donating to the Maya grassroots organizations in Guatemala who are defending their food sovereignty. Visit the author's book page at the link above for more information.
