Finally, two of my intellectual crushes come together in one revealing article: Tom Philpott of Grist Magazine (of course you’ve heard me go on and on about him — I’m sure I’m on some sort of stalker watch list), and Jeremy Scahill from The Nation. If you know the work of both of these devilishly handsome men, you’ll cringe and say, “uh-oh” when you imagine what the topic of the article could be. 

You guessed it — Monsanto (Fallen Angel) meets Blackwater (Spawn of the Devil). 

WWF Demon Smackdown!

In an email obtained by Scahill, a Blackwater operative who had talked to Monsato officials ahead of the hiring claimed that the security firm would “develop into acting as intel arm of Monsanto” — including infiltrating activist groups working to oppose it. The operative wrote hopefully of Monsato’s “generous protection budget.”

A Monsanto official told Scahill that the relationship ended in early in 2010 and denied that there were ever plans to infiltrate activist groups. Instead, he said, Blackwater served Monsanto “by monitoring local media reports and other publicly available information.” Scahill adds: “The subject matter ranged from information regarding terrorist incidents in Asia or kidnappings in Central America to scanning the content of activist blogs and websites.”

Hmm… it probably doesn’t do any good to call “foul” at this point, eh?

Melanie Redman

Melanie Redman

Melanie Redman is a Social Mission Collaborator with more than 10 years of direct experience in strategic, leadership and advisory roles across the social mission sector in the U.S. and Canada. She...