Corn Showers Rain On Dumping
5 May 2005
Students take 'corn showers' to draw attention to commodity dumping.
That’s how students on the Williams College campus in Williamstown, Massachusetts, initially described the strange phenomenon that took place on a busy campus thoroughfare in April.
In a small "kiddie" pool, students and faculty members alike voluntarily stood and had 20-pound buckets of dried corn dumped on their heads while chants of “Make Trade Fair!” filled the air.
“It felt like water pouring over me, but dry,” said Martin Williams, a member of Students for Social Justice. The group sponsored the event during the Global Week of Action to raise awareness of the harmful effects, both at home and abroad, of commodity dumping.
Unloading cheap, government-subsidized crops onto the world market at prices below the cost of production leads to depressed prices in developing countries.
“People stopped to see what was going on, read our fliers, and were even talking about it in classes later,” said Williams, a sophomore economics major. “It definitely raised the issue’s profile on campus.”
And the school had plenty of volunteers to stand under the corn showers. Dumpees, some of whom begged for the role, included students, professors, and the college chaplain.
