Wonderful, kill more vegetables! That'll bring the pillars of capitalism tumbling down, and no mistake.

I wasn't aware that anyone said it would...

also, what will destroy capitalism? Selling papers? But that
is even more dead plants... :)

I don't suppose selling papers constitutes direct action in the way that tearing up genetically modified crops does. But it's all part of a battle for ideological hegemony. And it helps recruit members. Can't complain about that. But I do think that arranging trips to go and destroy some GM crops is a woefully inadequate way of dealing with the problem. I can't imagine that the companies involved are especially worried about an occassional batch of protesters messing with their shit. Credibility is the currency they deal in. They need the public to buy their stuff, so if you really want to fuck them up you need a combination of low-level dissemination of propaganda, combined with flashpoint actions or demos that have a reasonable chance of getting on the news. Well, that's you told.

lenin, you are talking nonsense!
the maize was destroyed after petitioning, meetings and demonstrating had no effect.(suprise suprise, the farmer couldnt be persuaded not to sow the seeds cos he was getting a big wad of cash from aventis)
people chose to take non-violent direct action after other more liberal tactics had been tried and failed.
i'm not saying everyone must go out and trash GM crops, but those that do are preventing genetic material from the mutant plants being cross-polinated to neighbouring maize crops.(and other species - i won't go into the science of it here,but check out the links below)
there is plenty of evidence to show the the current separation distances between GM crops and normal crops is inadequate to prevent cross-contamination.
see www.genticsaction.org.uk or www.soilassociation.org for the evidence - there is lots of it!
people who destroy GM crops before they have a chance to flowerf and spread their genetic pollution all over the place are doing so out of necessity to prevent a worse crime - the crime of seriously fucking up the complex ecosysytem which we depend on.
consumer boycotts would have no effect on this trial as it is part of a government sponsored Farm Scale Trial, it is a scientific experiment, not a commercial crop (consumer boycotts don't really work anyway, but to suggest them in this case shows your ignorance)
The experiment is to determine the effect of the GM on the biodiversity, if you look at the soil association website you will see that they are a really BAD scientific test, there are numerous flaws in them, these tests are a political tool of the government and biotech corpporations working together to pave the way for commercialisation of GM food in this country.
"Why don't we wait and see what the test results say?" i hear you cry!
BECAUSE then IT WILL BE TOO LATE!!! the genetic material will be released into the enviroment and will start having effects immediately. at first these may be small and seem insignificant, but over time they could have devasting impacts on the environment. do we want to risk that? if we fuck up our planet and our food supply then there won't really be much point in socialism, will there? People who pull up GM crops are trying to prevent a possible environmental catasrophe.
Crop trashing is a far more worthy way of spending a saturday afternoon than selling papers.
Lets hope the Lymm Nine will be found not guilty!

...in the House of Lords! Wahey! Alright, so you're saying you did what you had to do because nothing else was working. I'm not against the tactic, I just think it will be ineffective.
Nor am I saying, "let's wait for the test results", because I know the tests themselves are being conducted under extremely dangerous circumstances.
It is a pity that the issue has to compete with so many other burning issues, otherwise it might be possible to build a large movement around it. Small groups of protesters going and destroying some crop is all very well, but it does not resonate beyond its own boundaries. It has no effect on the total problem. It's like trying to destroy the Statue of Liberty by hammering at it with a teaspoon.
All that said, I salute you for a good day's work.

lenin, i didnt say that i did anything, i was there, yes.
you think the tactic will prove ineffective? I am more optimistic, i reckon people trashing crops is part of the whole reistance to GM. i don't believe that lobbying parliament for example will have any effect, but if people want to do it then fine. HOwever it does strile me as a waste of time in the majority of cases as it has been proven in practice that asking the farmer nicely to pull out did not work despite something like over 1000 signatures on petitions. Direct action is a very important and effective tactic and should not be discounted just because there is only a relatiely mall number of people who are prepared to do it.
Just imagine if th 1000 people who signed the petition had taken direct action instead, the ENTIRE crop would have been destroyed very quickly indeed and the test would have had to be totally written off, imagine if all the people in all the areas where GM is growing took it upon themselves to take direct action. I believe it can be an extrememly effective tool against all sorts of nasty things, the more widely the tactic is adopted the better.
the nine people who were arrested will proabbly have their charges dropped or it may follow previous cases where the case has gon in front of a jury and the defendants found not guilt of criminal damage because they have the lawful excuse of necessity.
i think it is fear that stops many people from taking direct action, but there is really very little to fear, nothing to lose and everything to gain.
not that i would want to incite criminal damage of course.
but like i said before, its not really criminal damage at all :)

We didn't ask for genetically modified crops - and have survived for god knows how many years without them so foreget 'em I say. Petitions, campaigns and consultations are great but can be completely ignored by the biotech companies invovled (advantage I feel is that the locals don't think a bunch of loons has turned up out of the blue). Trashing their crops cannot - either they replant in the same place - so crops can be trashed again, they find somewhere else to do trials - this inevitably leaks out - crops trashed again, or they find somewhere really remote and inaccessable for trials - crops trashed by highly determined people acting for the good of all. I think the fact that people are getting let off 'criminal damage' charges when tried by juries gives an indicator of real public opinion.
Also Lenin - when you say 'thats you told' after stating your method for stopping GM trials - why don't you fucking get on with it? Thinking about it GM trashing gets on the news loads - trials havent stopped so carry on trashing!