Bureaucrash Counterprotests BioDevestation 2004

As San Francisco prepares for another series of demonstrations by protesters fed up with the prospect of “genetically-modified” food products entering the market, one group stands out among the rest. Members of the guerrilla activist network, “Bureaucrash”, have been in the Bay area since the beginning of the demonstrations, subversively adding their pro-freedom message to the mix of dissenting voices.

Unlike the calls for greater government control over & less business involvement in the process of food production being shouted by most of the other participants in this week’s demonstration, Bureaucrash activists have come out in support of a free-market approach. “It’s about letting people decide what products they want to buy, and what types of foods they want to eat, based on their own ideas and values,” explains Jason Talley, Bureaucrash’s “Crasher-in-Chief”. “It’s about freedom.”

While many of the groups demonstrating in San Francisco this week have been able to rely on the sheer size of their organizations to make an impact, Bureaucrash’s small contingent of volunteers has come prepared to use alternative methods to make its voice heard. Much to the dismay of some of the protesters, Bureaucrash activists have succeeded in “re-publicizing” many of the planned demonstrations, revealing them in what Talley calls, “a more accurate context”.

“Some of the groups demonstrating here claim to be in favor of ‘democratization’ of resources that people need day in and day out. Then, in the same breath, they talk about their plans to clog the cities major traffic arteries during rush-hour, preventing their use by the general public.” To make this point, Bureaucrash activists printed and distributed “updated” versions of flyers created by local activist group “Reclaim The Streets”, which point out the anti-democratic nature of the group’s activities. Bureaucrash volunteers carried out similar tactics at several of the weekend’s teach-ins and seminars, as well as the “Genetically-Modified Food-fight” – an event broken up by police Monday evening, which Bureaucrash calls, “a waste of perfectly edible food, and an injustice to the community’s poor and hungry.”

Demonstrations are scheduled to go on in San Francisco through this Thursday, with rallies scheduled to coincide with the opening of the G8 meeting on Sea Island, Georgia.