Mayans, Monsanto, and the Meat Industry

One thing that struck me while reading Rigoberta Menchu’s testimonial was the reverence of the Mayan people in regards to land and animals.  Menchu says that her people do not kill animals for food.  She writes about a particularly bright spot in her difficult childhood the first time she was given her own animal.  As a tradition and part of learning responsibility, indigenous children were often given an animal to care for as a gift when they had reached a certain age.  Menchu took care of a small pig, who later gave birth to piglets, which she was able to sell to earn money for her family.  After working all day, Menchu went out into the mountains to forage for food to make sure her animals were fed. 

Menchu’s narrative about the sanctity of human and animal life is in stark contrast to the way our chicken and beef companies fatten up chickens and cows with genetically modified corn and hormones in order to grow heavier animals and sell more meat (see Food Inc).

After reading just the first eight chapters of The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, it’s evident that the meat industry of the early 1900's has no respect for the thousands of animals slaughtered  daily in the Chicago factories.   Through Sinclair’s  narrative, it’s also evident that there is no respect for human life.  The thousands of men, women, and children who work in the Chicago stockyards are treated just as poorly as the animals.  This is not unlike the way Menchu and her people were treated as hired hands in the banana and coffee plantations owned by U.S. Companies.  Menchu and her people died of heat exhaustion, pesticides, and starvation.  The immigrants working in the stockyards died of cold, chemicals, and starvation.  (Can you imagine working in Chicago throughout the winter in an unheated factory?!?)

Menchu also wrote about the extra plot of land that was planted, worked, and harvested in her village to be shared by the entire community.  Each family had their own plot, but there was also a large piece of common land for emergencies.  If anyone was ill or injured, there was food to eat.  Each day of the week, someone from the community would go to work the common land.  Jurgis and his family (from The Jungle) also work hard to take care of each other, struggling to survive in Chicago after their arrival from Lithuania. 

Through the narratives we’ve read and through our class discussions, it is evident that compassion for people and animals is part of our human nature.  We’re all deeply disturbed by the abuse of the Mayan people at the hands of wealthy food corporations and corrupt government.  We’re upset to learn about the current conditions of the migrant workers who pick our food.  We’re traumatized by the descriptions of animal abuse taking place at large farms and slaughterhouses, and we’re distressed about the number of people who work for the food industry without earning fair wages.  Yet, our government continues to cut programs to help the poor in order to provide more tax cuts to the wealthy.  The greed of large industries and politicians stands in direct contrast to human nature, which tells us to take care of one another.  Is it impossible to have wealth and power AND compassion?!?