April 17th, 2016: International Day of Peasants’ and Farmers’ Struggle
by La Vía Campesina
April 17th, 2016: International Day of Peasants' and Farmers' Struggle
[1]
Published on Monday, 28 March 2016 12:31
LA VIA CAMPESINA CALL FOR MOBILISATION-FOR LIFE, LAND, AND HEALTHY FOOD:
20 YEARS OF RESISTANCE
[2]_20 years after the Eldorado dos Carajás massacre, the bloodshed
continues. But our resistance as peasants and farmers is stronger than
ever_
(Harare, March 24th, 2016) This 20th anniversary of the International
Day of Peasants' and Farmers' Struggle is taking place in the midst of a
truly alarming situation with regard to the human rights of peasants and
farmers. [3][1] Recently, there has been an increase in the repression
suffered by peasants and farmers, both women and men, in their daily
struggle for their rights.
At the beginning of March, Berta Caceres, the coordinator of the Civic
Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras (COPINH) was
assassinated in her home. One week later, in Colombia, a member of the
Peasant Association of Arauca (a member organisation of FENSUAGRO) was
killed and three other peasant farmers, also members of an Association
affiliated to FENSUAGRO, were taken prisoner. These four peasant farmers
are part of a long list of Colombian human rights defenders and members
of farmers' and indigenous peoples' organisations who have been
threatened, imprisoned, or assassinated since the beginning of 2016.
Tragically, every day and in every part of the world, very many farmers
and defenders of peasant and small-scale agriculture are victims of such
murderous attacks.
The capitalist model of production based on the domination of nature is
in crisis. We see a confrontation between two productive models, two
social models, and two ways of living with nature. It is a question of
two different ways of envisioning the future. On the one hand, there is
the agrobusiness model, which subjects everything to its insatiable
appetite for profit, a model that imposes the practice of monoculture,
destroys biodiversity, uses more and more toxic inputs, drives peasants
off their land, and forces governments and nation states to bow to its
will. On the other hand, there is La Via Campesina's model, built on
food sovereignty, in which agriculture produces healthy foods for
everyone while respecting the balance of nature and the well-being of
the rural population. Violence and repression on the part of large
landowners and government inertia are symptoms of this perpetual and
daily confrontation between two ways of viewing nature, agriculture,
life, and food. In addition, incidents of violence against peasant
families are likely to become even more prevalent with the expected
increases in landgrabbing in Africa and Asia, for the supposed purpose
of compensating for the carbon emissions of the most industrialised
countries.
Our international days of mobilisation are important symbolic dates.
They have their origins in events that deeply affected our lives. Today,
they inspire us to continue to develop our work of denunciation and
resistance. They allow us to communicate with the whole of society in
order to develop another agricultural model.
This is the context in which La Via Campesina is calling upon all of its
member organisations, its friends and allies, all those who believe in
peasant agriculture and are striving for food sovereignty, to mobilise
on April 17th, 2016, in order to demand access to land for those who
cultivate it with respect, and to protest against the assassinations of
leaders of peasant farmer movements - which constitute crimes against
humanity. [4]
More especially, in Brazil, twenty years after the Eldorado dos Carajás
massacre - for which those responsible have still not been punished - La
Via Campesina Brazil and La Via Campesina International are organising a
youth camp, which will be followed, from April 13th-17th, by a
conference on agrarian reform where the two production models described
above will be debated and discussed. Finally, an international political
event calling for a transformation of society will be held on the spot
where the massacre took place in the state of Pará.
Let us join together to make this 20th anniversary a hymn to life, by
organising demonstrations, public debates and discussions, film
screenings, farmers markets, festivals, or solidarity actions. All of
your ideas and plans are welcome! Tell us about them by writing to
lvcweb(a)viacampesina.org so that we can circulate the information ahead
of time. On April 17th, send in your photos and audio or video
recordings to dramatise this special day. We are attaching 2 posters
which you can use to publicise your events.
Download high resolution poster for web [5] and A3 printing [6]
Follow us on _Social media_:
@via_campesina [7] and https://www.facebook.com/viacampesinaOFFICIAL [8]
-------------------------
[9][1] On April 17th, 1996, 19 peasants were killed when military
police in the Amazonian State of Pará in Brazil attacked a large number
of members of the Landless Workers Movement (MST) who were blockading a
highway in order to demand agrarian reform. Two more people died from
their injuries several days later, and hundreds of others were so
seriously injured that they could not go on working in agriculture. La
Via Campesina, which was then in the midst of holding its second
international conference at Tlaxcala in Mexico, declared April 17th to
be the International Day of Farmers' and Peasants' Struggle.
Links:
------
[1]
http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-ap...
[2]
http://viacampesina.org/en/images/2016-03-27-Internet-Affiche-Via-Campesi...
[3]
file:///C:/Users/nyoni/Downloads/llamado%2017%20de%20abril%20EN.doc#_ftn1
[4]
http://viacampesina.org/en/images/2016-03-27-Afiche%2017%20de%20Abril%20E...
[5]
http://viacampesina.org/en/images/stories/pdf/2016-03-27-Internet-Affiche...
[6] https://dl.poivron.org/wkf4mx5lzmj5neqvl2xk-3gjygj4sw6xcgbw7
[7] https://twitter.com/via_campesina
[8] https://www.facebook.com/viacampesinaOFFICIAL
[9]
file:///C:/Users/nyoni/Downloads/llamado%2017%20de%20abril%20EN.doc#_ftnref1
8 years, 9 months
Position of the La Via Campesina in Honduras against the increasing criminalisation of the peasant and indigenous social struggle
by La Vía Campesina
HUMAN RIGHTS
POSITION OF THE LA VIA CAMPESINA IN HONDURAS AGAINST THE INCREASING
CRIMINALISATION OF THE PEASANT AND INDIGENOUS SOCIAL STRUGGLE [1]
Published on Tuesday, 22 March 2016 20:12
[2](Comayagua, March 16th, 2016) We, the organisations belonging to La
Via Campesina Honduras - The National Office of Rural Workers (CNTC);
The National Association of Honduran Peasants (ANACH); The Council for
the Integral Development of Women Peasants (CODIMCA); The National
Peasant, Indigenous, and Afro-descendant Youth Front (FRENAJUC); and the
regional representatives of the Association for the Development of
Honduras (ADROH) from Gracias, Lempira; Opatoro and Márcala, La Paz;
Colomoncagua, and Intibucá, meeting together in the municipality of
Siguatepeque, Comayagua - responding to the very serious social and
political crisis affecting women and men peasants, indigenous people,
the Garifuna people, and the popular movement throughout the country,
strongly condemn:
1. The state policy of neglecting and fragmenting small-scale peasant
production.
2. The extreme poverty in rural areas (more than 3 million peasants are
suffering from hunger) with poverty levels as high as 70% of the
population, of whom 54% are in extreme poverty.
3. The violent evictions taking place on orders of the Courts and the
National Police and serving the interests of the power elite and
landowners.
4. The imprisonment of more than 5,000 peasants, including 1,700 peasant
women, and the assassination of over 140 women and men peasants in
conflicts involving land tenure or the defence of territory.
5. The new Criminal Code bill, which we strongly oppose - both because
the peasant movement was not consulted and it criminalises the peasant
struggle for land as well as all social movement demands.
6. The negative effects of climate change on production, productivity
and food sovereignty. These are so severe that, as has never happened
before in the history of Honduras, we now have to import corn, beans,
rice, vegetables, meat, eggs, and other foods.
7. The total lack of interest shown by the Executive and the Parliament
in discussing or passing the proposed bill for a Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform with Gender Equity for Food Sovereignty and Rural Development.
The purpose of the bill is to create a new, equitable, and fair legal
framework for the nonviolent resolution of the country's agrarian
problems.
8. The very worrisome levels of breakdown of state institutions. The
Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches, the Supreme Court, and
the Office of the Public Prosecutor have all been linked to acts of
corruption. These government bodies have chosen a public policy of open
repression against peasants, human rights defenders, and social
commentators like the journalist David Romero Ellner, to whom the
Honduran state has given a ten-year prison sentence for six defamation
offenses. Similarly, the fire sale of our national sovereignty, with the
creation of Economic Development Zones (ZEDE), has led to the
large-scale displacement of rural families.
9. The persecution and assassination of persons engaged in struggles to
defend land and territory. This includes the assassinations of Margarita
Murillo, Berta Cáceres, and Nelson Noé García, among other sisters and
brothers. The arrest without warrant of Juan Angel Flores, the president
of the Unified Peasant Movement of the Aguan (MUCA), and that of human
rights defender and member of the Permanent Human Rights Observatory of
the Aguan, Orbelina Flores Hernández.
10. The political persecution of the General Coordinator of La Via
Campesina Honduras, Rafael Alegría, and other peasant leaders at the
national, regional, and local levels, as well as the stalking of and
attacks against La Via Campesina offices - a total of 6 incidents since
the 2009 coup. We are very concerned by the attack on our employee
Cristian Mauricio Alegría, who was shot in his left hand in front of La
Via Campesina premises in the Colonia Alameda in Tegucigalpa, on March
15th of this year.
For these and other reasons, we, the progressive Honduran peasant
movement belonging to La Via Campesina, are making the following
demands:
1. That the Parliament immediately discuss and pass the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform with Gender Equity for Food Sovereignty and Rural
Development Bill, which was presented to it on April 9th, 2014.
2. The immediate and unconditional release of the more than 5,000
peasants who are on trial for asserting their right to land and
defending their territory.
3. As a Peasant Movement, we are joining the Popular Honduran
Articulation "Berta Cáceres Lives On" (Articulación Popular Hondureña
"Berta Cáceres Vive") in demanding that the political assassination of
our sister Berta Cáceres be clarified. We are calling for the immediate
withdrawal of DESA-Agua Zarca from the sacred waters of the Gualcarque
River; this also applies to the international bodies that are supporting
these death projects.
4. We are proposing a Peasant-Indigenous-Garifuna Alliance for the
defence of land and territory, and we are calling for a National
mobilisation.
5. We are in complete solidarity with the journalist David Romero, and
we demand that the government provide a just and peaceful solution to
this case. The Honduran people will not permit more attacks against
freedom of expression and the reporting of corruption in our country.
6. We call upon the national and international community to speak out in
defence of life and of Human Rights in our country, and to condemn the
state policy of criminalizing and suppressing social struggles.
HONDURAN PEASANT MOVEMENT BELONGING TO LA VIA CAMPESINA (MOVIMIENTO
CAMPESINO HONDUREÑO ARTICULADO EN LA VÍA CAMPESINA).
CENTRAL NACIONAL DE TRABAJADORES DEL CAMPO (CNTC)
ASOCIACIÓN NACIONAL DE CAMPESINOS HONDUREÑOS (ANACH)
CONSEJO PARA EL DESARROLLO INTEGRAL DE LA MUJER CAMPESINA (CODIMCA)
FRENTE NACIONAL DE JUVENTUD CAMPESINOS, INDIGENAS Y AFRODESCENDIENTES
(FRENAJUC)
REPRESENTACION DE ASOCIACIÓN PARA EL DESARROLLO DE HONDURAS (ADROH)
LA VIA CAMPESINA HONDURAS (LVC)
Links:
------
[1]
http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/human-rights...
[2] http://viacampesina.org/en/images/Comunicado%20Honduras%202.jpg
8 years, 9 months
International Condemnation: Honduras - End the violence and death against the peasant-indigenous movement
by La Vía Campesina
HUMAN RIGHTS
INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION: HONDURAS - END THE VIOLENCE AND DEATH
AGAINST THE PEASANT-INDIGENOUS MOVEMENT [1]
Published on Thursday, 17 March 2016 04:30
(Managua, 16 March 2016) La Vía Campesina denounces the grave
criminalization taking place in Honduras today in the form of prisons,
repression and the assassination of peasant and indigenous leaders. In
the last few weeks the situation has worsened greatly with the
proliferation of hired assassins aiming to take the lives of those who
demand land to produce food, of those who struggle against extractivism,
dams, and agribusiness.
Yesterday, March 15th, several regrettable events took place which we
summarize below. All require the urgent attention and action of our
organizations, allies and human rights entities:
1. Assassination attempt on Cristian Alegría, cousin of Rafael Alegría,
lawmaker for the Libre Party and Coordinator of La Vía Campesina
Honduras. This attack ocurred in front of La Vía Campesina offices
located at Colonia Alameda, Tegucigalpa.
2. Assassination of Nelson García, member of COPINH and community leader
in Río Chiquito. This tragic event took place during the forced eviction
of the Río Lindo community, in department of Cortés, when an estimated
100 police officers, 20 members of the military police, 10 members of
the Army, and various members of DGIC invaded the territory previously
recovered by 150 families, 75 of which had built homes in the area with
materials and efforts they worked hard to obtain.
3. Capture of Muca President Juan Ángel Flores in the departament of
Colón. Detained in the early morning and accussed of links to drug
trafficking, the lack of evidence forced authorities to release him
hours later.
4. Detention of public defender Orbelina Flores Hernández, member of the
Permanent Human Rights Observatory of the Aguan, accusing her of
involvement in land conflicts.
5. Sentencing of David Romero, journalist of Radio Globo, to 10 years in
prison. David has been courageously denouncing the embezzlement of
social security and other acts of corruption in Honduras, all of which
indicate involvement of the ruling party.
It is evident that these attacks are directed at combative social
movements engaged in the struggle for land and in defense of territories
such as La Vía Campesina, COPINH and Muca.
As such, we of La Vía Campesina:
1. Denounce the Honduran government for executing a plan of repression
against leaders and social movements.
2. Demand respect for the life of Honduran social activists.
3. Call for international human rights organizations to come to Honduras
and accompany the grave humanitarian situation being faced in the
country. It is important that the Honduran government be denounced at
the international level for its direct attacks on, and criminalization
of, social struggles.
4. Ask for all those concerned with human rights and justice to
articulate public acts of solidarity at Honduran embassies around the
world. To make these actions known write to
viacampesina(a)viacampesina.org and, in Honduras, contact the offices of
La Vía Campesina in Tegucigalpa by emailing
viacampesinahonduras2015(a)gmail.com. Members of the press and allies
should contact: Rafael Alegría, 00504 9969-5091, office 00504 2235-9915
and Wendy Cruz 00504 9983-8506.
For La Vía Campesina, solidarity and internationalism are the key values
of our movement. As such, we will continue monitoring the situation in
Honduras closely, making public and denouncing internationally the
persecution and criminalization faced by peasant, indigenous, and afro
movements engaged in the frontline struggle to defend our territories
against transnational capital and its attempt to take control of our
natural resources.
GLOBALIZE STRUGGLE! GLOBALIZE HOPE!
FOR OUR DEAD, NOT ONE MINUTE OF SILENCE! AN ENTIRE LIFE OF STRUGGLE!
Links:
------
[1]
http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/human-rights...
8 years, 9 months
March 8th: Organising and struggle to win our rights
by La Vía Campesina
March 8th: Organising and struggle to win our rights [1]
Published on Monday, 07 March 2016 20:36
(Harare, March 8th, 2016) Today, International Women's Day, La Via
Campesina is calling for action against capitalist violence all over the
world. Capitalist violence is not only the violence that is directly
inflicted upon women; it is also an integral part of a social context of
exploitation and dispossession that is characterised by the historical
oppression and violation of the basic rights of women peasants, farmers,
and farmworkers, landless women, indigenous women and black women.
La Via Campesina emphasises the importance of organising and struggle,
leading to liberation and awareness and enabling women to participate in
politics as historical subjects - with the goal of building a just
society, regardless of ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.
The international peasant and farmer movement is very troubled to see
that, with the spread of conservative policies which constitute an
attack on women's human rights and their very lives, there is growing
oppression of women by capitalism and the patriarchy around the world.
In Turkey, where we recently held the La Via Campesina Midterm Women's
Assembly, we saw how the situation of women has worsened with the
growing extension of neoliberal and conservative policies. Women
continue to be deprived of their most basic freedom, of their elementary
rights; they are exposed to violence and to feminicide. In recent years,
in this region of the world, there has been a dramatic increase in
murders of women. Girls are forced to marry when they are still very
young. In the economic sphere, most of the precarious work is done by
women. In the rural areas, women perform many jobs; they do not,
however, have economic freedom or access to property, and still less do
they have social rights.
In south-eastern Turkey, women's problems are being exacerbated by the
ongoing war, and their lives are under very real threat. The current
political situation in Turkey does not offer any solution to the
problems faced by women. In fact, current policies are compounding the
problems and increasing the discrimination against women. For these
reasons, women are organising, and they are now leading many
environmental, social, and political struggles.
In recent days, we have learned with great sadness of the assassination
of Berta Cáceres, peasant leader of the Lenca indigenous people and
member of COPINH (the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous
Organisations of Honduras). Berta Cáceres had repeatedly expressed her
opposition to the destructive plans and actions of the Honduran
government, which is offering natural resource concessions to foreign
transnational corporations for dam construction and is facilitating the
takeover of the resources belonging to the indigenous peoples.
It is for these reasons, that the women and men of La Via Campesina,
confronted by this context of criminalisation, are calling for March
8th, 2016, to be a day of mobilising and organising against all forms of
oppression, of taking to the streets and public areas of our cities,
towns, and territories, in order to denounce the destructive capitalist
and agribusiness model and to show how it harms the lives of women and
jeopardises the food sovereignty of the world's peoples - directly
affecting women peasants and small-scale farmers. We will continue to
struggle for new gender relations within our movement, and we will
continue to promote a societal model based on justice and equality.
BERTA LIVES ON! THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!
GLOBALIZE THE STRUGGLE! GLOBALIZE HOPE!
LONG LIVE OUR SOLIDARITY WITH TURKISH WOMEN!
_See also:_
La Via Campesina Women's Manifesto [2]
_Video:_ Women Planting Struggles and Hope! [3]
_Postcards and audios:_ Campaign to Stop Violence Against Women [4]
Links:
------
[1]
http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/women-mainme...
[2]
http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/our-conferences-mainmenu-28/6-jakart...
[3] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Women-planting-struggles-and-hope?lang=en
[4]
http://tv.viacampesina.org/Post-cards-to-End-violence-againts?lang=en
8 years, 10 months
Assassination of Bertha Cáceres - Statement from La Via Campesina
by La Vía Campesina
STATEMENT AND CALL TO ACTION FROM LA VIA CAMPESINA
IN RESPONSE TO THE ASSASSINATION OF OUR SISTER IN IN STRUGGLE: BERTHA
CÁCERES
The international peasant movement La Via Campesina denounces to the
national and international public that on this day, 3 March 2016 in the
early hours of dawn, our dear sister in struggle, BERTHA CÁCERES,
General Coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous
Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) was assassinated.
The assassination of BERTHA CÁCERES took place in her home, while she
was resting, which drastically increases the risk to women and men
defenders, to the indigenous peoples who resist in communities, and to
members of popular and social movement organizations who have taken up
our legitimate struggle.
On numerous occasions, BERTHA CÁCERES had publicly denounced
ill-intentioned actions and threats both by the current government
regarding concessions of natural resources, and by the foreign
transnational corporations involved in the construction of dams and the
capture of resources that belong to indigenous peoples.
BERTHA CÁCERES was assigned precautionary measures demanding that the
State of Honduras protect her physical integrity.
That same State of Honduras took measures to persecute BERTHA CÁCERES
for her struggle against foreign companies that destroy natural
resources.
The whole world recognized the courage and contribution of BERTHA
CÁCERES in her struggle for human rights, when she was honored with the
prestigious international Goldman Prize for the defense of natural
resources in the country.
We recognize the historic struggle of BERTHA CÁCERES, side by side with
our peoples, to claim the right to land, her struggle for the defense of
our sovereignty, for comprehensive agrarian reform, for the food
security of our peoples.
It is fitting to highlight that on 9 April 2014, parliament member and
General Coordinator of La Via Campesina Honduras, Rafael Alegría,
introduced in National Congress a proposed law for Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform with Gender Equity for Food Sovereignty and Rural
Development, to seek solutions through the political channels to the
problems that peasants and indigenous peoples face today in Honduras. To
this day, this proposal has not been taken into account by the Board of
Directors of the National Congress.
For this reason, La Via Campesina Honduras denounces the government of
Honduras and the transnational companies that extract and exploit our
country's natural resources.
As an international movement of peasants, we demand that the State of
Honduras punish those responsible for this vile assassination, and we
call to all international organizations that defend human rights to join
this demand.
La Via Campesina makes a call to organize protest actions in the
embassies of Honduras around the world to demand clarity in this crime,
and to protect defenders of land and territory, and of human rights in
Honduras.
We express our solidarity and extend our condolences to the family of
Bertha Cáceres, to the Lenca people, and to the people of Honduras who
suffer her irreparable loss.
TEGUCIGALPA M.D.C. 3 MARCH 2016
GLOBALIZE STRUGGLE, GLOBALIZE HOPE
BERTHA CÁCERES ¡VIVE!
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES
--
8 years, 10 months
