Monsanto and Xe (Acadami)

by Earth First! News

A couple of weeks ago, we cross-posted an article from the website Political Blind Spot about Monsanto and Blackwater. While the article does contain many unsettling facts about the collaboration between the two organizations, it has been brought to our attention that it makes claims that are not backed up by any clear, concrete evidence.

We have looked at other articles “debunking” the story. They also raise good points, but some have holes in them. For instance, Democratic Underground claims that Monsanto is a publicly traded firm, and would have to be transparent about its ownership. Cargill is also publicly traded, and owns subsidiaries all over the world in order to avoid “barriers to trade.” DU also claims that Monsanto have no common directors with Xe (Acadami)—mergers and acquisitions do not require such corporate intimacy. While the two corporations are collaborators, two arms in the same body of militarization, there is still no evidence to suggest that they exist as one-in-the-same organization.

After checking over the article again, we have come to the following conclusions:

1) The evidence linking Xe (Acadami) to Monsanto is substantive, but does not prove the direct financial takeover that the article implies.

2) The indirect links, both financial and political, between Monsanto and Xe (Acadami) are tenable, and do create some space for speculation. Within that space, however, it is crucial to articulate the truth in connection with the facts as we know them. It is irresponsible to make speculative claims and pass them off as the truth.

3) When thinking about the top 1%, it is easy enough to create speculative links between any two multinational corporations, their boards of directors, CEOs, political powers, and so on. Playing “6 degrees of separation” can unveil very important networks; however Monsanto and Xe (Acadami) have ties that do not require speculative thinking—the article notes the two companies’ collaborative work through the militarization of Africa, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.

The article that we published appears, then, in the speculative milieu, but not without some rational basis. The chief source of consideration lies in the financial ties between Xe (Acadami) and its current buyers. In the final analysis, we do not agree that the author makes a definitive connection that proves its claims, and we appreciate the feedback we’ve received, which is vital to the process of testing and disproving hypotheses, offering new ones, accepting some of the outcomes, and so on.

Chevron, the Walt Disney Company, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and banking giants Deutsche Bank and Barclays all have received services from Xe (Acadami) over the last few years. Deutsche Bank, notably, foreclosed on 2,000 properties in 4 years in Los Angeles alone—their alliances with Monsanto and Xe (Acadami) should lead us to raise questions. Chevron recently gained access to activists’ email records dating back 9 years—we are also very concerned about their ties with Xe (Acadami). Focusing on Monsanto is important, but we also need to expand our scope if we are going to fully understand the interlocking parts of militarization.

Therefore, we encourage debate about this piece, more analyses about this issue, and appreciate your readership of the EF! Journal and Newswire, where these notions can be fully fleshed out and given a proper format for vetting.

For the wild!
EF! Media