Declaration of LVC Delegation to the 2016 World Social Forum
Montreal, Quebec, August 14, 2016
"We not only believe that another world is necessary, the members of La
Vía Campesina are already building a better world."
Carlos Marentes, co-coordinator of the North America Region of LVC
We, representatives of member organizations of La Vía Campesina from the
North America Region (Union Paysanne from Quebec, National Farmers
Union, Canada, National Family Farm Coalition, Rural Coalition and
Border Agricultural Workers Project from United States), accompanied by
LVC members from Europe, Palestine and Brazil took part in the World
Social Forum in Montreal, Quebec from August 9-14, 2016.
We were graciously hosted by the Union paysanne and reaffirmed our
support for their struggle to end the syndicate-monopoly control of
agriculture in Quebec, adding our voice to the demand that "There is no
Food Sovereignty without Peasant sovereignty".
In our press conference of August 11th, Maxime Laplante declared: "The
Quebec situation is extremely particular in that there is in Quebec only
one organization having the right to represent farmers here, to
negotiate with the government or to intervene in the management of
marketing plans, marketing, etc. That organization is the Union des
Producteurs Agricoles (UPA). It is the only organization with the legal
right to represent farmers."
La Via Campesina North America woman coordinator and vice-chair of the
National Family Farm Coalition Dena Hoff stated: ''The whole region of
La Via Campesina stands behind Union paysanne in its demands for
recognition by the government of Quebec as the voice of the peasants
struggling for food sovereignty."
The LVC delegation participated enthusiastically in the opening march,
in many workshops, panels and assemblies on the themes of food
sovereignty, the right to food, post extractive societies, agro-ecology
and peoples agrarian reform, and the future of the WSF, among many
topics, together with allies like ETC Group, Grain, Climate Space, the
Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), Global Justice Now, USC Canada,
SUCO, Why Hunger, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, Global Forest
Coalition, Focus on the Global South, Development and Peace,
Inter-Pares, Vigilance OGM Québec, and others.
As Dena Hoff, stated: "The fight for food sovereignty will be won with a
million grassroots efforts".
At a time of deepening crises in the world, including massive suffering
of migrants fleeing war, increasing poverty and hunger, extreme weather
events, corporate driven land and resource grabs, the expansion and
consolidation of big agribusiness and monocultures of feed and fuel
plantations across the planet, we declare our firm commitment as LVC to
the life-or-death struggle for food sovereignty, a peoples agrarian
reform, seed and biodiversity sovereignty, the democratization of the
food system and the strong defense of human rights.
We question the use of the concept of "agro-ecology" and climate
buzzwords that are removed from the context of food sovereignty and used
as a means of justifying an expansion of "green washing" or for NGO
fund raising. We insist that agro-ecology signifies a validation of
small and medium scale farming, peasant-led research and innovation, and
it signifies the integration of traditional practices, and peasant and
rural community control of our seeds.
Food sovereignty is the right of farmers and eaters to control their own
food production, processing and distribution with culturally appropriate
foods and equitable compensation and dignity for food providers. We
assert that small-scale farming, fishing, herding, hunting and gathering
are essential in the struggle to bring relief to climate change and
continue feeding humanity. We seek access to land for all, especially
youth with the drive to feed their communities. We seek an end to the
invasion of GMO seeds into our territories and we demand the right of
farmers to continue to produce, save and share their own seeds. We say
"No" to corporate agriculture and say "Yes" to the people of the land
and to the peasant way.
LVC also publically criticized the Canadian Government because many
leaders of important social movements were unable to attend the WSF as
many hundreds of visas were denied, including the visas of two of the
peasant leaders in our delegation.
We have also taken the opportunity provided by the WSF 2016 to express
our solidarity with all the movements currently fighting against
violence, dispossession, exclusion and the attacks against the
democratic rights of people. We specially expressed our solidarity with
the struggle of the Palestinian people against the oppression, and
exploitation at the hands of Zionist Settler Colonialism, the struggle
of our compañeras and compañeros of the Landless Movement of Brazil
against the recent State Coup, the First Nations courageous struggle
against the threats to the integrity of their land posed by tar-sand
exploitation, pipelines and other destructive actions by capital, and
the fight against the increasing violence against black people and
therefore we fully support the Black Lives Matter Movement.
¡GLOBALIZE THE STRUGGLE, GLOBALIZE HOPE!
Given in Montreal, Quebec, on August 14, 2016
