Call to Action: Wed, Dec 10, 2014, 8 A.M. – 2 P.M. (event info originally posted here)

The battle for the right to know if your food contains genetically modified organisms (GMOs) could come to a screeching halt with the signing of one bill in Congress.

We need to stop that bill in its tracks.

H.R. 4432—the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) ACT—was introduced by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) at the bidding of Monsanto, Big Food and the Koch Brothers. If passed, H.R. 4432 will strip your state of the right to pass a GMO labeling law.

The DARK ACT will have its first hearing on Capitol Hill, on December 10. If we don’t turn out in numbers to protest this bill, our voice could be silenced.

Organic Consumers Association, with help from Friends of the Earth, Credo, Cornucopia Institute, Maine Sierra Club, Weston Price Foundation, Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association, Green America, Mercola.com and other groups, is organizing busloads of people to attend the hearing, followed by a rally and an organic lunch. But if we want to have an impact, if we want to attract the attention of Congress and the media, we need a minimum of 1000 people to be there.

Here’s how you can help.

Organize a bus from your area. OCA will help pay for a bus from your state to Washington D.C., if you can fill the bus. Call us at 218-226-4164 or email campaigns@organicconsumers.org if you want to organize a bus.

Get on one of the buses that have already been organized. We have bus captains trying to fill buses in in Pennsylvania (one in Lancaster, one in Philadelphia), Boston, Central New Jersey, Detroit, Chicago, Indiana, West Virginia, New York City, Maine, Florida, S. Carolina, N. Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. If you live in one of those areas, please use the links below to find bus schedules and reserve seats.

Here’s what will happen on December 10.

8 a.m. – 10 a.m. The hearing on Pompeo’s DARK ACT is scheduled to take place at 10:15 a.m. in room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building, 45 Independence Ave SW. We will gather there, with signs and banners, beginning around 8 a.m. As many people as can possibly fit into the hearing will attend.

10:15 a.m. When the hearing begins, everyone who didn’t get into the Rayburn Building will move to our permitted rally spot on the Capitol grounds, at the corner of Independence and 1st St. SE. There we will have a number of speakers who will address the crowd and the media.

11 a.m. – 2 p.m. After we wrap up the rally and speakers, we’ll move to the Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, 201 4th St. SE (4th and Independence Ave, SE).

If you can attend, please read:

Bring a black and red blindfold, to symbolize being kept in the dark. Red and black will tie in with our Stop Monsanto’s Attack on Democracy/Stop Sign image.

Please try to schedule (in advance) a meeting with the staff of your state representative or senator. Download this flyer, fill in the name of your state, and leave it behind with the staff to deliver to your member of Congress. (Find your senator; Find your representative.)

Please make a hand-made sign that says: [NAME OF YOUR STATE] Against Monsanto’s Attack on Democracy! We want to show Congress and the media that people have come from all around the country to protest this bill.

If you can’t attend:

Sign our petition asking Congress to reject Pompeo’s DARK ACT here.

Help flood the phone lines on Capitol Hill on December 10. We’re asking everyone who can’t be there in person to call their Congress members on December 10, beginning at 9 a.m. When you are connected with a staff person, you can say: “Hello, my name is [FIRST NAME, LAST NAME] and I live in [CITY, STATE]. I couldn’t attend today’s protest against H.R. 4432, a bill that would preempt states’ rights to label GMOs, but I am calling to ask [NAME OF CONGRESS PERSON] to reject H.R. 4432 and to support states’ rights to pass mandatory GMO labeling laws. Thank you.”

For more information and bus listings click here

Help spread the word online: