Via Info EN August 2014

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[Info EN] Subscribe to Via Campesina News Updates
by La Vía Campesina 28 Aug '14

28 Aug '14

[1] CLICK HERE [1] TO SUBSCRIBE VIA CAMPESINA COMMUNICATION TEAM -- Links: ------ [1] https://mail.viacampesina.org/lists/listinfo/Via-info-en

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[Info EN] SADC: Building unity and solidarity to effect a system change
by La Vía Campesina 15 Aug '14

15 Aug '14

SADC: BUILDING UNITY AND SOLIDARITY TO EFFECT A SYSTEM CHANGE [1] Published on Saturday, 16 August 2014 01:55 _VIA CAMPESINA, RURAL WOMEN ASSEMBLY, PEOPLE'S DIALOGUE AND WOMIN_ Bulawayo, 14 August 2014- Women from all the corners of the Southern African region descended on Bulawayo to participate in a parallel of the SADC Heads of State Summit, the People Summit, which runs from the 14th to the 16th. They have converged to share their experiences on how they have been affected either by decisions made by governments with little consultations with the people or the inherited colonial agro-mining complex, which continues to grab land for extractive purposes. More importantly, the women have gathered to build and strengthen their solidarity, forge strong alliances and commit to the struggle to push for a system of change. Today, on the first day, the meeting was energized with a mystica, singing and a drama depicting both the challenges faced by most rural women (evictions from land, loss of livelihoods etc) and the victory that comes with unity of purpose and solidarity. Solidarity messages were expressed for the people of Palestine who currently suffer gross human rights violation from Israel's massacre of innocent civilians. Also, solidarity was offered to the many political activists imprisoned in Swaziland for expressing their political views. Mercia Andrews of Rural Women's Assembly, called on the women to build a strong unity and solidarity to strengthen the resistance and the voice of the people."Movements bring change! They change the society and the country! Only organized movements, women can change our situation", she said. Women are the majority food producers and also constitute the majority of the electorate in Southern Africa and Africa. Grace Tepula from Zambia urged the women to use their majority power to effect change. She said, "A woman is a woman, a mother. No woman, no food. Women should own land and be given the title to it". Elizabeth Mpofu, general coordinator of La Via Campesina emphasized that we should continue to build resistance so that one day change would come. She further stressed the importance of land and food sovereignty for the lives of rural people and the need to guard against GMO seeds and policies such as the seed harmonization, which destroy the people's livelihoods. This year's SADC Heads of State Summit focuses on natural resources and value addition, but not on the worsening situation affecting communities. Samantha Hargreaves from WoMin (Women in Mining) called on the gathered people to join the alliance to fight against extractive mining companies which steal from communities and pollute their environment. Farai Maguwu said that instead of the western governments giving Africa development aid to end poverty, they should stop stealing natural resources from the continent and allow its people to determine their own development path. Thus, there is a need to stop transnational corporations from stealing African natural resources. A campaign to dismantle corporate power and to stop their impunity is underway and aims to build people's sovereignty. "Such sovereignty is critical in our struggle for a better life for all people", said Brid Brennan, from the Transnational Institute. In the words of Elizabeth Mpofu, which resonated with all the speakers, "We are not here to celebrate but to know who we are and what we are fighting against. We are here to strengthen our resistance and no one is going to come and rescue us from these challenges." The People's Summit is not just a gathering that follows the Heads of States but a growing force from below which seeks and envisages a better tomorrow characterized by equality and equity for all. This movement and its voice continue to grow and cannot be ignored by governments. WATCH THE VIDEO: SADC PEOPLES SUMMIT - WHY ARE WE HERE? [2] Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/news-from-the-regions-mainmenu-29/1649… [2] https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=L75VfUGYWB0

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[Info EN] Farmers, rural women and mining impacted communities at the 2014 SADC People´s Summit to propose people-based regionalism
by La Vía Campesina 08 Aug '14

08 Aug '14

FARMERS, RURAL WOMEN AND MINING IMPACTED COMMUNITIES AT THE 2014 SADC PEOPLE´S SUMMIT TO PROPOSE PEOPLE-BASED REGIONALISM [1] Media Advisory VIA CAMPESINA, RURAL WOMEN ASSEMBLY, PEOPLE´S DIALOGUE AND WOMIN [2]Harare, 08 August 2014 - Hundreds of people from grassroots organizations, including small-scale farmers, rural women, farm workers and members of mining impacted communities from Southern African countries will be at the 2014 SADC Peoples Summit. The summit takes place in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe from 14 to 16 August, 2014. Members of Via Campesina Africa, the Rural Women's Assembly (RWA), WoMin and the People's Dialogue will be strongly present in Bulawayo, to build alternatives and propose a regionalism that prioritizes people, not corporations. Caravans of African farmers, rural women and mining impacted communities from Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Lesotho, the DRC, Malawi and other countries will unite with Zimbabwean organisations and movements in Bulawayo to demand social and economic justice, based on the people´s perspectives. The southern African region is faced with ongoing challenges and deepening crisis as a direct consequence of neo-liberal economic policies. Transnational corporate capture and control of people's basic means of production (land, water, seed, etc.) is escalating, with the complicity of political and government elites. Natural resources are increasingly being privatized due to the myriad of investment agreements our governments have entered into with corporations, western governments and the "newcomer" emerging economies, like the BRICS. Land has been grabbed at a significant scale in almost all SADC countries and the agribusiness model is destroying peasant-family agriculture, the only proven sustainable and ecologically friendly model that produces most of the food for SADC countries. Extractives corporations are grabbing land and water, and polluting the soil, air and water that rural farmers rely on to grow food and sustain livelihoods. Ana Paula Tauacale, a farmer and leader of Mozambique Union of Famers, UNAC - member of Via Campesina - said that in the case of Mozambique, "land is being given away to foreigners to grow crops for export in the expense of dispossession of local small-scale farmers. This is the case of the ProSavana in Nacala Corridor", a programme to increase crop output by bringing in large-scale agribusinesses. Ana Paula added saying that "we need to defend small-scale and family based agriculture in our countries since we have proven that we can feed the world". Seeds, our common heritage, are now also within the radar of corporate control and under threat from the proposed seed protocols under the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The former seek to ease the flow and marketing of commercial seeds in the eastern and southern African regional markets and the latter, to harmonize the SADC region seed policy on Plant Variety Protection (PVP) basis respectively. These new laws will, with time, open up the whole region to transgenic seeds (GMOs), which have found space in South Africa and recently in Malawi. Traditional seeds will be pushed out and smallholder farmers' use and exchange of such seeds will be criminalized. Mercia Andrews from the Rural Women's Assembly added: "we need to fight for peoples' livelihoods, which will benefit the home market, organically linked to agriculture and manufacturing industries. This will create jobs not only for the urbanites but also for the rural communities and allow an equitable development within the SADC countries. The SADC people need to be free to self determine their destiny in all spheres of life (social, political and economic)". Samantha Hargreaves from WoMin said "we call for a just transition to an alternative development model, which protects and defends the land and natural resources upon which rural communities depend, which is based on a transformed renewable energy system, and in which decisions to extract are made by the people and not by the transnational corporations and their lackeys in our governments". In Bulawayo, Via Campesina, the RWA, the People's Dialogue and WoMin will have self-organized events addressing important themes, such as Public Policies for Food Sovereignty in SADC, Tax justice to stem the illicit flow of funds by crooked transnational corporations, and Alternative development paths to address the devastating environmental and social impacts of extractives industries. Solidarity exchanges to local communities will be undertaken, and the Southern Africa People's Tribunal on transnational corporations will also be launched. These activities will help build a consciousness within a broader constituency, which will be the locomotive of our struggle for popular sovereignty, popular livelihoods and popular democracy. CONTACTS FOR PRESS (FOR MORE INFORMATION AND PHONE INTERVIEWS): Boaventura Monjane, Via Campesina - Email: boa.monjane(a)gmail.com - Phone: +263 782049558 (From August 11) Nyoni Ndabezinhle, Via Campesina - Email: nyoni.ndabezinhle(a)viacampesina.org - Phone: +263 772 441 909 Thandiwe Chidavarume, Women and Land Zimbabwe - Email: wlz(a)mweb.co.zw - Phone: +263 77 328 9764 Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/news-from-the-regions-mainmenu-29/1647… [2] http://viacampesina.org/en/images/stories/logo/via-mediaadvisory.jpg

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[Info EN] Newsletter La Via Campesina -July 2014
by La Vía Campesina 04 Aug '14

04 Aug '14

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Via Info EN August 2014