Via-info-en March 2014

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[La Vía Campesina] International campaign to define Forests by their true meaning!
by La Vía Campesina 28 Mar '14

28 Mar '14

INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO DEFINE FORESTS BY THEIR TRUE MEANING! [1] (26 March, 2014) La Via Campesina, Friends of the Earth International, Focus on the Global South, World Rainforest Movement and more than 120 organizations from around the world sent a letter to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO, in Rome, on the occasion of March 21st, the UN International Day of Forest. The letter demands that the FAO change its present definition of forests. During the coming three months, groups will also present the demand to national and regional FAO offices. Isaac Rojas, coordinator for forests and biodiversity of Friends of the Earth International notes that "FAO's forest definition needs to reflect the cultural wealth that forests represent. The present definition only helps to hide this diversity, rather strengthening a set of false solutions and privatization trends, as well as activities that create negative impacts in the communities that depend on forests". For these people who depend on forests, non-timber forest products like fruits, seeds and medicinal plants have a huge importance, as well as fishing, hunting and also agriculture. "Peasants in forest areas traditionally practice agriculture based on knowledge transmitted over many generations, conserving, not destroying forests. Forests are fundamental for peasants to guarantee their food sovereignty. We oppose the increasing commodification of natural resources like forests, pushed by TNCs and mechanisms like REDD. Forests are crucial to maintain the ecosystem and therefore the farmers' livelihoods", explains Henry Saragih from the largest global peasant organization La Via Campesina. One of the most perverse aspects of the present FAO forest definition is the fact that it includes industrial tree monocultures. According to Teresa Perez of the World Rainforest Movement, "these large-scale industrial tree plantations have expanded four times in the past 20 years in the global South and now account for tens of millions of hectares. The result has been deforestation and many other negative impacts for indigenous, other traditional and peasant populations like loss of territory, water and biodiversity". Shalmali Guttal from Focus on the Global South adds that "the present FAO definition benefits first and foremost corporate interests, especially the tree plantation and timber industries. These companies - national and transnational--exacerbate and often drive land and resource grabbing over territories of communities across the global South". It is shameful that the FAO and other international institutions associated with forest conservation continue to perpetuate this charade. The letter concludes with the appeal to FAO to reflect in its definition what makes a forest a forest for the communities who depend on them: "In contrast to the existing process within FAO, a process of elaborating a new and more appropriate definition of forests must effectively engage those women and men who directly depend on forests. An appropriate forest definition must support their modes of living, their networks and organizations. On the International Day of Forests we commit to continue the campaign to move the FAO and all concerned institutions to initiate a process led by forest communities to formulate a new definition of forest." CONTACTS: * Isaac Rojas - Friends of the Earth International - tel. +59899621591 - email: isaac(a)coecoceiba.org (Spanish-English) * Shalmali Guttal - Focus on the Global South - tel. +66-2 - 218 7363/4/5 - email: s.guttal(a)focusweb.org (English) * Perla Alvarez Britez - La Via Campesina - tel +595 981146575 perlaalvarezbritez(a)gmail.com (Spanish) * Henry Saragih - La Via Campesina - +505 78228041 (English) henry.saragih(a)viacampesina.org * Teresa Perez - World Rainforest Movement - tel.: +598 2413 2989 - email: teresap(a)wrm.org.uy (English- Spanish) Link to the Open Letter [2]. Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-a… [2] http://wrm.org.uy/all-campaigns/open-letter-to-fao-on-the-occasion-of-the-i…

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[La Vía Campesina] Poster for April 17 in high resolution for printing
by La Vía Campesina 27 Mar '14

27 Mar '14

Dear all, Last week we circulated the poster that we prepared for the mobilisation of April 17 but some of you asked for a higher resolution in order to be able to print it. That's why, here come the poster in the 3 languages, you just have to download it from the links. English : https://dl.poivron.org/idugmekbnyoyaelkpu4w-aqol4oqdv5qqyiju [1] Spanish : https://dl.poivron.org/tj7tufwhn7wugzopahrh-4pj6fuwtejfz2r3r [2] French : https://dl.poivron.org/mx6qnfw5f4i6ykmteoav-6u4ipp23lkalsxmh [3] Warm regards. Links: ------ [1] https://dl.poivron.org/idugmekbnyoyaelkpu4w-aqol4oqdv5qqyiju [2] https://dl.poivron.org/tj7tufwhn7wugzopahrh-4pj6fuwtejfz2r3r [3] https://dl.poivron.org/mx6qnfw5f4i6ykmteoav-6u4ipp23lkalsxmh

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[La Vía Campesina]April 17th : International Day of Farmers’ Struggles in defence of Peasants’ and Farmers’ Seeds
by La Vía Campesina 25 Mar '14

25 Mar '14

The men and women peasant farmers who make up La Vía Campesina call out for a day of action on this 17th of April. IT WILL BE A GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION AND MOBILIZATION IN DEFENSE OF PEASANT STRUGGLES WITH AN EMPHASIS ON PEASANT SEEDS. Seeds have a special place in the struggle for food sovereignty as well as peoples' sovereignty. Please download and share our international call: April 17th : International Day of Farmers' Struggles in defence of Peasants' and Farmers' Seeds [1] On this occasion we have designed this poster to convey our unity and internationalism. Also, we call out to our friends, allies, activists and movements in urban areas to join together and give visibility to the global mobilization. Also, please refer to the following links: - Watch the video Call for Action made by the International Coordination Committee of La Via Campesina in preparation for April 17 [2] - Also watch the selected videos on the seeds issue on Via Campesina TV [3]. - Send us reports, pictures and videos of your action by sending an email to lvcweb(a)viacampesina.org. If you create short videos calling for the seed mobilization or if you make video of your April 17th action, please send them to us. We will publish them on via campesina TV. [4] - Subscribe to our special mailing list by sending a blank email to via.17april-subscribe(a)viacampesina.net - You can also participate in our facebook event [5] Contacts for media (From March 30 onwards) : Guy Kastler (interview en français) : + 33 6 03 94 57 21 Elizabeth Mopfu (interview en anglais) + 263 772 443 716 Eberto Diaz (interview en espagnol) : + 57 31 03 01 75 34 Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-apri… [2] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Jornada-Mundial-de-las-Luchas?lang=en [3] http://tv.viacampesina.org/April-17th-International-Day-of?lang=en [4] http://tv.viacampesina.org/ [5] https://www.facebook.com/events/1450497111850070/?ref=5

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[La Vía Campesina] Declaration of Agadir
by La Vía Campesina 24 Mar '14

24 Mar '14

DECLARATION OF AGADIR [1] See some more photos of this meeting and field visit on ViaCampesina TV [2]. (Agadir, March 15, 2014) We, union organisations, peasant movements and social movements: -The National Federation for the Agricultural Sector: Morocco (FNSA)/Moroccan Workers' Union (UMT) - National Union of Inshore and Deep Sea Fishermen: Morocco (SNMPCM) - The French Peasants Confederation - Palestinian Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) - The Senegalese National Council for Rural Cooperation and Coordination (CNCR) - ATTAC/CADTM Morocco - The Association of Rural Women and the Fight for Land Association: Tunisia Met as part of the international peasant movement VIA CAMPESINA at Agadir on the 13th, 14th and 15th March 2014, under the slogan : "For the land and the sovereignty of our peoples! In solidarity and in struggle!" AFTER HAVING DISCUSSED THE LOCAL, REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT, marked by: Firstly, the escalation of the multidimensional capitalist crisis (food, environmental, energy, financial, economic, institutional, debt and migration crisis) and the governments' attempts to make the male and female workers of the land and sea (poor peasants, agricultural workers, impoverished fishermen) and all working class groups bear the burden of this crisis. The austerity policies introduced encourage unemployment, poverty, instability and the persecution of immigrants. This at a time when spending on weapons has increased, as have imperialist wars based on rivalry over the division of spheres of influence and the stockpiling of wealth, under the pretext of international legitimacy. Secondly, the rise in popular resistance and strikes held by the workers of the land and sea in many countries against the repercussions of this crisis, and the beginning of the revolutionary process in Arab and North African regions as a result of decades of impoverishment, tyranny, imperialistic domination and anti-Semitic aggression. AFTER HAVING FOCUSSED, IN PARTICULAR, ON THE FOOD CRISIS linked to global capitalist speculation on agricultural products, and support of the agrofuel industry under pressure from large agribusinesses, leading a race for the acquisition of agricultural land, notably in the Southern countries. This food crisis has had a direct effect on the people of the dependent Southern countries because of policies imposed by global economic institutions and the weight of their debts. This is shown in the popular uprisings and movements against the rise in food prices which exploded in 2007 and have continued to rise. AFTER HAVING STUDIED THE CONSEQUENCES OF FREE EXCHANGE AGREEMENTS, which contribute to the destruction of peasant agricultural production all over the world and particularly in the Southern countries, by flooding the market with subsidised agricultural products, and by imposing a model of agricultural exportation which exhausts resources and pollutes nature. WE DECLARE THAT WE WILL CONTINUE TO WORK TOGETHER TO STAND UP TO: - The neo-liberal choices, imposed by international economic institutions and the governments of imperialist countries, which aim to guarantee the interests of multinationals, and to make the working classes and workers of the land and sea bear the burden of the global capitalist crisis. - The new neo-colonial strategies and imperialist wars which prevent peace in the world, and which flout the peoples' rights to political, economic, social and cultural self-determination. - The patriarchal, capitalist system which incites discrimination and violence towards women. - The capitalist looting of the natural resources of the earth and sea, which worsens the famines which strike many of the planet's poor regions. - The model of industrial agriculture and exportation which worsens the climatic crisis, destroys peasant agriculture and the links of solidarity within the rural world, and exhausts water supplies, damages the earth and pollutes nature. - The multinational and local representative companies' policy of monopolising agricultural land and expulsing peasants from their land, the destruction of local seeds, of plant and animal biodiversity and of the genetic, ancestral heritage; WE PRONOUNCE THE REINFORCEMENT OF LOCAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY: - For integral agrarian reform based on the equal distribution of water and land, and agricultural policies which ensure all methods of production and guarantee food sovereignty and respect for the environment. - With the poor peasants' struggle for the protection of their lands and their waters against multinationals, with male and female agricultural workers' struggle for equal pay, with the right to workers' unions, to collective negotiations and to the improvement of working conditions, and with the fishermen's struggle against the dominanation of large capitalist companies. - With the women's resistance against capitalist oppression and patriarchal domination. To guarantee their dignity, and their right to full and effective equality. - With peoples' struggle for their sovereignty and against colonial plans, notably in Africa. - With the Palestinian peoples' resistance against Zionist occupation. The organisations who have signed this declaration support the struggles of the male and female workers of the Land and the Sea in Morocco. They hereby demand that the Moroccan state respect Human Rights, the freedom of political prisoners; the ratification of international conventions and agreements guaranteeing individual and collective rights and freedoms. They also call for the establishment of collective negotiations with union organisations, an end to constraints on unionism, and the guarantee of the rights of Sub-Saharan migrants, ending racism towards them. The participants express their support for the peoples' struggle for liberation, freedom, dignity, social justice and equality. And for a world in which solidarity amongst peoples will reign, and where the exploitation of Man by Man will be eradicated. The Arabic version of this declaration is available here [3] Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/agrarian-refor… [2] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Reunion-D-Agadir?lang=en [3] http://viacampesina.org/downloads/pdf/LVC%20d%C3%A9claration%20Agadir%20fin…

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[La Vía Campesina] Youth and agriculture
by La Vía Campesina 20 Mar '14

20 Mar '14

YOUTH AND AGRICULTURE [1] The new edition of the Nyéléni Newsletter is now online! Click here to read the English edition [2]. In this edition of the newsletter the Youth of La Via Campesina call to the youth of the world - to educate, mobilize and organize FOR FOOD SOVEREIGNTY NOW! Read about the struggles and visions of young people FOR BUILDING A RADICAL NEW SOCIETY. We are the seeds that take root ; We are the trees that bear fruit ; We are the shaking of the ground as we tear this fortress down! (Recorded during the II Youth Assembly, North American Mistica, Matola, October 2008) Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/youth-mainmenu… [2] http://www.nyeleni.org/ccount/click.php?id=53

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Via-info-en March 2014