The Right to Grow: Genetically Modified Seed Patenting and Civilian Resistance in Guatemala

In 2014, mass civil disobedience in Guatemala effectively resisted government and corporate efforts to nationally legalize the patenting of genetically modified seeds. This paper examines the dynamics of seed patenting, with attention to the corporate interests and actions that propagate this trend and to the externalities that fall upon civilians and their cultural, economic and food security rights. Next, the paper examines the risks posed specifically to Guatemalan civilian and indigenous concerns when the government passed a decree to legalize seed patenting. This event is examined through the political and economic histories that influenced this conflict and the civilian interests that were threatened, specifically regarding the dynamics of the dietarily and culturally essential maize plant. Finally, the paper examines the strategies and organizations that effectively abolished the decree, emphasizing the potential of civilian disobedience in protecting civil rights.