Via-info-en September 2016

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“Nothing about us without us”, say peasants as the Farmers’ Rights Global Consultation begins in Bali
by La Via Campesina 27 Sep '16

27 Sep '16

PRESS RELEASE: "NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US", SAY PEASANTS AS THE FARMERS' RIGHTS CONSULTATION BEGINS IN BALI [1] [2]AT FARMERS' RIGHTS GLOBAL CONSULTATION IN BALI, GLOBAL PEASANTS' MOVEMENT LA VIA CAMPESINA TO DEFEND PEASANT-SEED SYSTEMS AND INSIST PEASANT PARTICIPATION IN DECISION MAKING. BALI, 27 SEPTEMBER 2016: A delegation comprising peasants, women and men, indigenous people and youth from various regions of the world will represent La Via Campesina at the Farmers' Rights Global Consultation, to be held between 27-30 of September in Bali, organized by the Government of Indonesia with support from The Government of Norway and The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). Serikat Petani Indonesia (SPI), the Indonesian Peasants' Union and a member of La Via Campesina is hosting the movement's delegation coming from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America. The Treaty, which is housed inside the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and despite its decade long existence, has done little to advance 'farmers' rights', which is one of its key provisions. In this regard, the delegation of rural peasants and indigenous people representing La Via Campesina will be calling upon the Treaty and the contracting parties (governments) to recognize and implement peasants' rights and to reject the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) legislations and patent laws that endanger food sovereignty. The selected seeds kept by peasants in their fields are one of the irreplaceable pillars of food production. Peasants all over the world have been aware of this throughout the centuries. It is one of the most universal and basic understandings that all peasants share. Except in those cases where they have suffered external aggressions or extreme circumstances, almost all peasant communities know how to save, store and share seeds. Millions of families and farming communities have worked to create hundreds of crops and thousands of varieties of these crops. The regular exchange of seeds among communities and peoples has allowed crops to adapt to different conditions, climates and topographies. This is what has allowed farming to spread and grow and feed the world with a diversified diet. Therefore, peasants' unconditional and unrestricted access to a diverse range of peasant seeds and their right to keep, use, exchange and sell farm seeds is the first condition necessary for feeding the world. In defense of the peasant-seed systems, at the consultation, La Via Campesina delegation will speak for the right to protect traditional and modern peasant knowhow and defend it from the assault of IPR laws. Right here in Indonesia where the consultation is taking place, peasants in East Java have been criminalised for allegedly infringing the rights of a company called BISI, the subsidiary of Thai seed company Charoen Pokhpand. Although BISI has produced no evidence, farmers have been summoned to court and fourteen of them have been prosecuted; there have even been short jail sentences[1] [3]. In most cases, these farmers did not have a lawyer to represent them and they did not understand what they had done wrong. There are numerous such examples worldwide, of criminalization of peasants by the industry in the name of patents and intellectual property. It is this blatant violation of peasants' rights that La Via Campesina will challenge at the Global Consultation. The delegation will also emphasise that the peasant participation in decision making must not be reduced to the inclusion of a few organisations who bow to pressure from the industry and accept decisions already made. Furthermore, participation must not also not be reduced to just big landholders, but must include women, indigenous people, landless peasants, landless agricultural workers, fisherfolk and pastoralists. La Via Campesina urges the Treaty and the Contracting parties to look at progressive laws that are passed in various regions of the world, the most recent being the one passed by the Government of Venezuela[2] [4] early this year, which upholds national food sovereignty, regulate the production of hybrid seed, and rejects the production, distribution and import of GMO seed. Governments of Indonesia, Mali, Nepal and several others have already adopted food sovereignty as a principle, some of them even enacting this into law (e.g. Indonesia). La Via Campesina also demands that the 'Benefit-Sharing Fund' must not finance research institutions and other institutions devoted to collecting peasant seeds and knowhow and other genetic information aimed at facilitating the excise of patents. Instead, it must directly finance small peasant organisations that select, produce and conserve their seeds locally, the best peasant conservation field or long duration techniques (for example without electricity), researchers who collaborate in this collective work under the direction of these farmers and exchanges of associated peasant knowhow on a national and international level. ~Ends~ ------------------------- [1] [5] https://www.grain.org/article/entries/5142-seed-laws-that-criminalise-farme… Asia struggles [2] [6] http://www.gmwatch.org/news/latest-news/16602-venezuela-passes-national-ant… FOR MEDIA ENQUIRIES CONTACT; 1. Indonesian Media: (English, Bahasa) - Zainal - zainal(a)spi.or.id 2. Global Media: Abhilash Babu - abhilash(a)viacampesina.org EDITOR'S NOTE: The following organisations are part of the La Via Campesina Delegation in Bali; Zimbabwe Small Holder Organic Farmers' Forum (ZIMSOFF), Movimento dos Pequenos Agricultores (MPA, Brazil), Movement for Land and Agriculture Reform (MONLAR, Srilanka), Serikat Petani Indonesia, Confédération Paysanne (France), Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers' Movements (ICCFM), Assembly of Poor (Thailand), Coordinador Nacional Agrario-CAN (Colombia). To know more about La Via Campesina visit: www.viacampesina.org [7] Links: ------ [1] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-… [2] https://viacampesina.org/en/images/2016-09-27%20Bali%20Seeds%20Meeting%201.… [3] cid:part4.989534EE.7FAB0B10@viacampesina.org [4] cid:part5.BA57954D.5F55617C@viacampesina.org [5] cid:part6.C4386805.255145C8@viacampesina.org [6] cid:part7.76E3FF62.C291E7AD@viacampesina.org [7] http://www.viacampesina.org/

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La Via Campesina | e-Newsletter | August 2016
by La Via Campesina 14 Sep '16

14 Sep '16

La Via Campesina | e-Newsletter | August, 2016 Donate [1] This edition of the newsletter is the result of a collective effort of organisations, which are part of_ La Via Campesina_ movement worldwide. To subscribe click here [2] 'TTIP STALLS, WTO AND FTAS MUST FALL' | PRESS RELEASE: INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST WTO AND FTAS ------------------------- On September the 10th, the International Day of Action Against WTO and Free Trade Agreements, La Via Campesina, the International Peasant Movement that brings together over 200 million peasants from 164 member organisations in 73 countries, commemorates the death of Lee Kyung Hae and continues to struggle to END WTO. [3] We call upon, on this day, our member organisations, allies and social movements of the world to mobilize against the neoliberal agenda of the WTO which promotes corporate power over humanity. We must continue to struggle to build a world based on food sovereignty. Read full press release [3] NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD MORE FARMERS, BETTER FOOD - A FRAMEWORK FOR BRITISH AGRICULTURAL POLICY ------------------------- The Landworkers' Alliance today announces eight key recommendations that will form the foundation of our post-Brexit representations to Defra and the Government's Environmental Audit Committee. Read More [4] WORLD SOCIAL FORUM 2016 | DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS ------------------------- Several delegates comprising women, men, youth, and representing peasants and migrant agricultural and rural workers from several regions of La Via Campesina, are carrying messages of global solidarity and food sovereignty at the 2016 World Social Forum being held at Montreal, Canada. Read More [5] SOUTHERN AFRICA PERMANENT PEOPLES TRIBUNAL (PPT) ON TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS ------------------------- The time has come to unite our struggles in Southern Africa - the campaigns, networks, movements and organizations that are combating transnational corporations - the way they are exploiting our destinies, natural heritage and human rights, dismantling public services, destroying the commons, fomenting violence and endangering food sovereignty in every corner of the continent. Read More [6] PRESS INVITATION: NYÉLÉNI EUROPE ------------------------- Up to 1,000 people from 42 countries - small-scale farmers, fishers, pastoralists, consumers, urban gardeners, indigenous peoples, researchers, agricultural workers, environmentalists, human rights defenders and trade unionists - will converge from all over Europe for a series of workshops and discussions on how to take back control of the farming and food system. Read More [7] SHASHE AGROECOLOGY SCHOOL: A TRUE CENTRE OF AGROECOLOGY AND PRACTICAL FOOD SOVEREIGNTY ------------------------- Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has hosted on it's Family Farming Knowledge Platform profiles of successful agroecology, carried out by members of La Via Campesina(LVC). This joint effort comes as part of the collaboration between FAO and LVC to promote agroecology. Read More [8] LA VIA CAMPESINA DISCUSSES THE CRIMINALIZATION OF MOVEMENTS AND THE RIGHTS OF PEASANTS ------------------------- About 60 participants from 18 countries of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas participate in this Via Campesina Conference on Human Rights. Read More [9] BUILDING GLOBAL ALLIANCES AND CONVERGENCES FOR ALTERNATIVES TO CAPITALISM ------------------------- La Vía Campesina Youth Participate in Brazil's 2016 'International Summit for Struggling Youth': Building global alliances and convergences for alternatives to capitalism. Read More [10] THANK YOU NICOLAS; FARMWORKER, FRIEND AND TIRELESS FIGHTER FOR HUMANITY ------------------------- On the occasion of the death of our dear friend Nicolas Duntze, the Coordinating Committee and Working Group on Migration and Rural Workers of ECVC would like to extend our deepest sympathies to both his family and the Paysanne Confederation of France. Read More [11] DECLARATION OF LVC DELEGATION TO THE 2016 WORLD SOCIAL FORUM ------------------------- 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. Read More [12] THE STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATION IN QUEBEC GETS A BOOST AT THE 2016 WSF ------------------------- For years, Union paysanne members have been organizing to break the monopoly of the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA) over the representation of farmers in Quebec. Read More [13] STATEMENT FROM THE POPULAR UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS WORKSHOP HELD AT HARARE ------------------------- >From July 12-14 2016, various social movements and academics from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Spain and Portugal gathered in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare to discuss and debate the state of land, seeds, food, climate and people in Southern Africa. Read More [14] OVER 15 YEARS' STRUGGLE FOR THE RECOGNITION OF PEASANTS IN THE INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM ------------------------- The current draft Declaration is the result of the work undertaken by La Via Campesina (LVC) over more than 15 years, supported by FIAN International and CETIM (Europe Third World Centre), with the support of other social movements. Read More [15] ZERO BUDGET NATURAL FARMING IN INDIA ------------------------- Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has hosted on it's Family Farming Knowledge Platform profiles of successful agroecology, carried out by members of La Via Campesina(LVC). This joint effort comes as part of the collaboration between FAO and LVC to promote agroecology. Featured here is the profile of Amritabhoomi in Karnataka, that promotes Zero Budget Natural Farming.. Read More [16] "WE SHALL NOT REST UNTIL WE'VE FREED ALL OUR POLITICAL PRISONERS", AFFIRMS VIA CAMPESINA ------------------------- Between 18th and 20th August, La Via Campesina held a Conference on Human Rights at the Florestan Fernandes National School (Guararema, São Paulo) in which people's lawyers, rural movements and organisations discussed the criminalisation of the worldwide struggle borne by social movements. They brought forth a multitude of proposals aimed at strengthening, expanding and substantiating LVC's Collective of Human Rights.. Read More [17] [18] WSF 2016: Carlos Marentes from La Via Campesina, Pat Mooney ETC group, Lise-Anne Leveille Union Paysanne-La Via Campesina, Eric Holt-Giménez Foodfirst, debating about corporate strategy to control the food system. Watch Now [19] Video Credit: Focus Puller / WSF TV [20] WSF 2016: Dena Hoff from La Via Campesina North America, spoke at the session on "Climate Change - Crisis or Collapse?" held at Université du Québec à Montréal. In this video, she speaks about the movement's efforts of setting up agroecology schools around the world. Watch Now [21] Video Credit: Focus Puller / WSF TV [22] WSF 2016: Youssef Nasser, from the Union of Agricultural Committee in Palestine speaks about the dispossession and lack of access to land and water under the Israel regime. Watch Now [23] Video Credit: Focus Puller / WSF TV [24] WSF 2016: Several delegates comprising women, men, youth, and representing peasants and migrant agricultural and rural workers from several regions of La Via Campesina, carried messages of global solidarity and food sovereignty at the 2016 World Social Forum that was held at Montreal, Canada from 9-14 August. Watch Now [23] Video Credit: Focus Puller / WSF TV [24] WSF 2016: Several delegates comprising women, men, youth, and representing peasants and migrant agricultural and rural workers from several regions of La Via Campesina, carried messages of global solidarity and food sovereignty at the 2016 World Social Forum that was held at Montreal, Canada from 9-14 August. Watch Now [23] Video Credit: Focus Puller / WSF TV [25] WSF 2016: Carlos Marentes of La Via Campesina North America explains what is Popular Agrarian Reform. He was talking in a panel organized by WhyHunger with the participation of First Nation representative, Food First in the World Social Forum, Montreal, Canada. Watch Now [26] Video Credit: Focus Puller / WSF TV [27] WSF 2016: Farmers from Union Paysanne Quebec and La Via Campesina readout the final declaration of the AgroEcology Alliance, at the World Social Forum in Quebec. The forum took place from 9-14 August 2016. Watch Now [28] Video Credit: Focus Puller / WSF TV [29] WSF 2016: First Nation, La Via Campesina, WhyHungher and Food First representative met to talk and share opinion and common future struggles. Watch Now [30] Video Credit: Focus Puller / WSF TV [31] What does it mean to be a peasant in Romania? By Carlo Bolzoni and Guglielmo Del Signore for Eco Ruralis association. Watch Now [32] YOU ARE AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE AUTONOMY OF OUR MOVEMENT ------------------------- As a supporter who has contributed financial resources to La Via Campesina, and as an activist who joins us on the streets and in the fields, your support is always welcome and put to good use. You can renew your contribution to La Via Campesina by clicking on the Donate button on our home page [33] and following the link to our PayPal account. [34] [35] Follow us on twitter [35] [36] Find us on Facebook [36] [37] Subsribe our Vimeo Channel [37] To unsubscribe from the distribution list, questions or comments, write to VIACAMPESINA(a)VIACAMPESINA.ORG WEBSITE: www.viacampesina.org TV: www.tv.viacampesina.org To subscribe to this newsletter - Click Here [38] Links: ------ [1] https://viacampesina.org/en/donations/ [2] http://ttps://mail.viacampesina.org/lists/listinfo/Via-info-en [3] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/10-yea… [4] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/sustainable-p… [5] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/world-… [6] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/stop-t… [7] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/news-from-the-regions-mainmenu-29/212… [8] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/sustainable-p… [9] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/human-rights-… [10] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/youth-mainmen… [11] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/news-from-the-regions-mainmenu-29/211… [12] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/world-… [13] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/world-… [14] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/agrarian-refo… [15] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/human-rights-… [16] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/sustainable-p… [17] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/human-rights-… [18] https://vimeo.com/178435106 [19] https://tv.viacampesina.org/WSF2016-Peasant-led-agriculture-is?lang=en [20] https://vimeo.com/178435445 [21] https://tv.viacampesina.org/WSF2016-Peasant-Agriculture-can?lang=en [22] https://vimeo.com/178435801 [23] https://tv.viacampesina.org/Some-of-the-most-fertile-land-and?lang=en [24] https://vimeo.com/179000962 [25] https://vimeo.com/179286213 [26] https://tv.viacampesina.org/FSM-2016-Carlos-Marentes-of-La-Via?lang=en [27] https://vimeo.com/179296458 [28] https://tv.viacampesina.org/FSM2016-Agroecology-Alliance-Final?lang=en [29] https://vimeo.com/180382583 [30] https://tv.viacampesina.org/FSM-2016-Montreal-First-Nation?lang=en [31] https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MuHBnnOBQy4 [32] https://tv.viacampesina.org/What-does-it-mean-to-be-a-peasant?lang=en [33] http://www.viacampesina.org/ [34] https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=IK5Hgl6MlPxD… [35] http://www.twitter.com/via_campesina [36] https://www.facebook.com/viacampesinaOFFICIAL/ [37] https://vimeo.com/viacampesina [38] https://mail.viacampesina.org/lists/listinfo/Via-info-en

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TTIP Stalls, WTO and FTAs Must Fall | Press Release: International Day Against WTO and FTAs
by La Via Campesina 08 Sep '16

08 Sep '16

Press Release: International Day Against WTO and FTAs TTIP Stalls, WTO and FTAs Must Fall [1]On September the 10th, the International Day of Action Against WTO, La Via Campesina, the International Peasant Movement that brings together over 200 million peasants from 164 member organisations in 73 countries, commemorates the death of Lee Kyung Haeand continues to struggle to END WTO. Last year in Kenya, Nairobi at the 10th WTO ministerial meeting tradenegotiations had to be rescued on the last hour [2] to save face as WTO sought to reinvent and seek legitimacy in Africa [3]. WTO members held their first informal meeting of agriculture negotiations post the Nairobi meeting on 8 March this year to discuss the way forward on agriculture talks. We must increasingly mobilise to END WTO and to leave agriculture out of the WTO as they prepare for the 11th ministerial meeting in 2017. On this 13th anniversary of Farmer Lee Kyung Hae's martyrdom, we reject the bilateral and multi-lateral Free Trade Agreements that are anti-people, anti-democracy and that which threaten people's control over their own resources. His words continue to ring true _"My warning goes out to all citizens that human beings are in an endangered situation. That uncontrolled multinational corporations and a small number of big WTO Members are leading an undesirable globalization that is inhumane, environmentally degrading, farmer-killing, and undemocratic. It should be stopped immediately. Otherwise the false logic of neoliberalism will wipe out the diversity of global agriculture and be disastrous to all human beings."_ The free trade agreements such as the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA), Transpacific Partnership (TPP), RCEP are designed to benefit big corporates while killing millions of family and smallholder farmers. Since the adoption of FTAs we have witnessed drastic decline of numbers of peasant farmers as their local markets and farmland are taken over by big corporates. Mother nature has not been spared either as FTAs compromise environmental protection and animal welfare. Food safety too, affecting peoples' health. Moreover, FTAs through contentious Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism erode state sovereignty and leave them at the mercy of big transnational corporations (TNCs). We call upon our governments to commit to build robust public and institutional procurement programs which allow farmers to access to stable, participatory and remunerative markets for farm produce. The controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal between the EU and US is falling apart as negotiations have all but stalled. This is significant step in our mobilisation against FTAs and an opportunity to expose more their fallacies and bring an end to such deals. Farmer Lee wasn't just anybody. He had founded a cooperative and farmers' association in Korea, served as a state legislator, and had been recognized by the government of Korea and by the United Nations as an outstanding farmer. Yet he lost his land, as did millions of other Korean farmers, after his government signed the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1992, the predecessor of the WTO. We call upon, on this day, our member organisations, allies and social movements of the world to mobilize against the neoliberal agenda of the WTO which promotes corporate power over humanity. We must continue to struggle to build a world based on food sovereignty. DOWN DOWN WTO END WTO STOP FTAS FOOD SOVEREIGNTY NOW! Links: ------ [1] https://viacampesina.org/en/images/2016-09-08%20Sept%2010%20PR.png [2] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/10-yea… [3] https://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/10-yea…

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Via-info-en September 2016