International Seed Treaty: Let’s Not Sweep Peasants’ Rights to Seeds Under the Carpet
by La Via Campesina
VIITH SESSION OF THE INTERNATIONAL SEED TREATY : LET'S NOT SWEEP
PEASANTS' RIGHTS TO SEEDS UNDER THE CARPET
_ 30 October 2017 | Press Release_
KIGALI, OCTOBER 30, 2017: The 7th meeting of the governing body of the
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
(ITPGRFA) begins today in Kigali (Rwanda). At a time when patents on
genetic information have been alarmingly eased by new genetic
technologies, the risk that this Treaty be entirely overturned is major.
Delegations from La Via Campesina and the IPC (The International
Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty*) have traveled to Kigali to
incite government representatives in taking the right decisions and
actions if the current Treaty is to be saved from obliteration.
Indifferent to the fact that peasants contribute enormously to
reproducing and increasing seed diversity each year, these patents
currently allow the privatization of all gene bank-saved seeds as well
as those on the farm. This is contrary to the objectives of the Treaty,
that aim to make seeds available to ensure healthy, adequate and local
food production and to face global challenges prompted by climate
change, the needed phasing out of toxic pesticides, social-economic
crisis and wars.
La Via Campesina urges the ITPGRFA governing body to prohibit the
patenting of genetic information - and of any other measure limiting the
access and use of all plant genetic resources of the Multilateral System
- as well as to fully implement peasants rights to save, use, exchange
and sell seeds, as specified in the preamble and Article 9 of the
Treaty.
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La Via Campesina Delegation in Kigali - Rwanda
To reach the delegation please contact :
Marciano Silva (ES, PT) +55 49 99199 5595 or Stefano Mori: (EN, FR, ES)
+39 347 596 6424
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_* The International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty is an
autonomous and self-organised global platform of small-scale food
producers and rural workers organizations and grass root/community based
social movements to advance the Food Sovereignty agenda at the global
and regional level. The organizations participating at the international
level to the IPC are: La Via Campesina (LVC), World Forum of Fishers
People (WFFP), World Forum of Fish Harvesters & Fish Workers (WFF),
World Alliance Mobile Indigenous People (WAMIP), Mouvement International
de la Jeunesse Agricole et Rurale Catholique (MIJARC), {The
International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering,
Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations - (IUF)}, URGENCI,
International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), Habitat International
Coalition (HIC), World March of Womens and International Federation of
Rural Adult Catholic Movements (FIMARC)._
7 years, 2 months
The solution to the climate crisis is in our peasant struggle for Food and Energy Sovereignty!
by La Via Campesina
THE SOLUTION TO THE CLIMATE CRISIS IS IN OUR PEASANT STRUGGLE FOR FOOD
AND ENERGY SOVEREIGNTY!
LA VIA CAMPESINA – CALL TO ACTION
_click here for German version_ [1]
The next United Nations conference on climate change will take place
from the 6th to 17th of November in Bonn, Germany 2017 - with Mother
Earth heating up dramatically and humanity plagued by unprecedented
adverse weather and rising sea levels. The capitalist system, fuelled by
the profit greed, is not capable of addressing the current climate
crisis. Even the COP21 Paris Agreement and its inadequate proposals to
keep temperature increases below 2 degrees celsius is in limbo, with the
recent pull out by U.S. President Donald Trump.
This year we witnessed the increased impacts of climate change both in
scale and intensity: hurricanes (Harvey, Irma, Maria, etc.), floods
(India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, etc.), storms, droughts, heat
waves and more. Hundreds of thousands of people displaced, thousands
killed, and total disappearance of some island territories. In many
cases, peoples have lost all the resources needed for living. The most
affected: peasants, poor people, rural workers, the indigenous, the
fisherfolk.
We know the cause of this climate crisis: the global industrial food
system is responsible for over 50% of greenhouse gas emissions through
intensive use of agrochemicals, toxins, fossil energy, freight land
grabbing and forest degradation through plantations, mining, logging
etc. Perpetrators of the crisis, using their "monetary muscle", now
lobby and push for false solutions: "climate-smart" agriculture, GMOs,
REDD and REDD+, "blue carbon", and all other green economy schemes that
seek the financialization of nature and its services. Multinationals
pollute the climate negotiations and make them the place of economic and
financial power over peoples, to the detriment of our rights.
As the COP23 draws nearer, we reaffirm the importance of struggling for
public policies that promote and support agroecology, local
community-controlled energy systems and collective action for a just
transition away from fossil fuels and against the false energy solutions
that encourage corporate capture of our natural resources. Our peasant
agroecology feeds the soil with organic matter, conserves and recovers
biodiversity, using the knowledge of our peoples and our Mother Earth to
feed us. We reject any attempt by agribusiness to co-opt agroecology and
commit ourselves to defending and promoting our peasant agroecology!
For Vía Campesina, our lands, our knowledge, our seeds, our rights are
not negotiable! We call for the strengthening of all mobilizations
against this system that engenders the current and future climate
crimes. We must fight against all free trade agreements and disastrous
oil, gas and mining projects as well as all exclusionary mega projects
(dams, highways, airports, plantations, etc). We must urgently transform
the financial, social and ecological production systems, as well as the
sharing of labor and wealth, the preservation of common goods such as
water, land, flora and fauna.
We call upon our allies, friends and social movements to mobilize
together with the civil society outside the UN climate talks in Bonn,
spreading our voice and our true solutions.
LET US MOBILIZE AT COP23 FOR THE CONVERGENCE OF STRUGGLES!
FOR PEASANT AGROECOLOGY AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY!
Links:
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[1]
http://www.eurovia.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/DE-COP23-Call-to-Action...
7 years, 2 months
La Via Campesina | e-newsletter | September 2017
by La Via Campesina
La Via Campesina | e-newsletter | September 2017
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]
ON 'FOOD SOVEREIGNTY DAY' LA VIA CAMPESINA LAUNCHES PUBLICATION THAT
CALLS FOR A MASSIVE CHANGE IN THE CURRENT AGRO-FOOD SYSTEMS
On the International Day of Action for Peoples' Food Sovereignty and
against Transnational corporations, La Via Campesina officially launches
its new publication "Struggles of La Vía Campesina for Agrarian Reform
and the Defense of life, Land and Territories" that argues for a massive
change in the current agro-food system, if we have to overcome the food,
climate, poverty, financial, economic and democratic crises facing the
planet and its people.
With the aim of strengthening the convergence of struggles, we will
demonstrate in this publication that this change must be based on an
integral and popular agrarian reform within the framework of Food
Sovereignty. Download the Publication [3]
FEATURED ARTICLES
TRANSFORMING SOCIETY AS CAPITALISM CRUMBLES:
Lessons from Brazil's Peasant Movement. Rafael Soriano, a member of
MST's Communications Collective, discussed this political climate with
Débora Nunes, member of the National Directory of Brazil's Landless
Workers Movement (MST). Read More [4]
MEXICO EARTHQUAKE: CALL FOR ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE AND SOLIDARITY!
The North American Region of La Via Campesina is asking for urgent
economic assistance to support the peasants and indigenous peoples of
Mexico to rebuild their lives, their homes, their plots and their
communities. Read More [5]
INDIA: PRIVATE FIRMS UNDERMINE SELF-FINANCING INITIATIVES OF RURAL
PEASANT WOMEN
Private firms have been harassing peasant women in a variety of ways to
recover their money. Tactics include turning up at odd hours in the
night, verbally abusing women in front of others, pressurizing all the
women from the SHG, locking up their houses, and so forth. . Read More
[6]
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FIGHT FOR WAY OUT OF GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS
Heather Gies, editor at upsidedownworld.org argues that social
movements organizing over the past decade offers reason for hope about
the future of the food. Read More [7]
29 NEW MEMBERS ACCEPTED INTO LA VIA CAMPESINA DURING THE 7TH CONFERENCE
The new members were presented by their respective regions, of which
South America and Central America had the most new organisations- a
total of 17. La Via Campesina now has about 186 member organisations in
over 70 countries around the world. Read More [8]
BRING AGRARIAN REFORM UNDER THE PRESIDENT'S DIRECT COMMAND: SPI
Serikat Petani Indonesia - the Indonesian Peasants' Union - demanded
that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) must immediately strengthen the
agrarian reform agency at the local-to-central level and brings the
program under his direct command.
Read More [9]
CETA THE WRONG DEAL FOR PEOPLE SAYS NATIONAL FARMERS UNION
CETA is not about trade! CETA is all about limiting the ability of
governments to govern in the public interest. CETA will expand corporate
interests as paramount at the expense of our democracies.
Read More [10]
GERMAN CORPORATIONS EXPLOITING LEGAL LOOPHOLES TO GRAB SMALL FARMS.
The German LVC member AbL and the opposition green party in the German
Parliament called the government to lease the land to peasants and
landless to give them the chance to start farming.
Read More [11]
MAB PROTESTS AT THE VALE OFFICE IN RIO DE JANEIRO
Approximately one thousand people denounce two years of impunity of the
crime that occurred with the rupturing of the dam in Mariana, Minas
Gerais (MG). Read More [12]
A NEW STEP FORWARD IN THE PROCESS FOR A UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF
PEASANTS!
The resolution on peasants' rights was adopted by the UN on Friday 29th
of September 2017 by 34 votes in favour, 11 abstentions and 2 against.
Read More [13]
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
[14]
TITLE: Stop New GMOs!
A beguiling refrain has been implying this for some time now, promising
a series of "new breeding techniques" that would be clean, surgical,
fully controlled and without any risk whatsoever. According to this
refrain, these New Breeding Techniques, or NBTs, should above all not be
classified as GMOs so as not to block their ongoing development. But
what are these NBTs really?
Download the PDF [15]
[14]
TITLE: Nyeleni Newsletter
September edition of Nyéléni Newsletter exposes the growing global
threat of privatization and commodification of water
Edition: September, 2017
Download the PDF [16]
FEATURED VIDEOS
[17]
Popular Agrarian Reform: In defence of Life and Land!
Watch Video [18]
[19]
La Via Campesina & the context of the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM)
in Committee on Food Security (CFS) Watch Video [20]
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 [1]here.
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To unsubscribe from the distribution list click here [2]
For questions or comments, email LVCWEB(a)VIACAMPESINA.ORG
WEBSITE: www.viacampesina.org [24]
TV: www.tv.viacampesina.org [25]
To subscribe to this newsletter - Click Here [2]
Links:
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[1] https://viacampesina.org/en/donations/
[2] https://mail.viacampesina.org/lists/listinfo/Via-info-en
[3]
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[4]
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[5]
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[6]
https://viacampesina.org/en/private-financial-firms-threaten-undermine-se...
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[9]
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[10]
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[16] https://viacampesina.org/en/nyeleni-newsletter-oceans-water/
[17] https://vimeo.com/196906046
[18]
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[19] https://vimeo.com/238558151
[20] https://tv.viacampesina.org/Fifth-International-Women-s?lang=en
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7 years, 2 months
New Publication: Struggles of La Via Campesina for Agrarian Reform and the Defense of Life, Land and Territories
by La Via Campesina
PRESS RELEASE: ON 'FOOD SOVEREIGNTY DAY' LA VIA CAMPESINA LAUNCHES
PUBLICATION THAT CALLS FOR A MASSIVE CHANGE IN THE CURRENT AGRO-FOOD
SYSTEMS
_ [1]HARARE, 16TH OCTOBER 2017: _Today, on the _International Day of
Action for Peoples' Food Sovereignty and against Transnational
corporations__, _La Via Campesina officially launches its new
publication "Struggles of La Via Campesina for Agrarian Reform and the
Defense of Life, Land and Territories [1]" that argues for a massive
change in the current agro-food system, if we have to overcome the food,
climate, poverty, financial, economic and democratic crises facing the
planet and its people.
With the aim of strengthening the convergence of struggles, we will
demonstrate in this publication that this change must be based on an
integral and popular agrarian reform within the framework of Food
Sovereignty.
The concepts, strategies and struggles have undergone many changes
within La Via Campesina, partly as a result of the current context, but
also as a result of collective processes at the grassroots level in
territories that are rich in historical, cultural, political and
economic diversity. In this respect, it is evident that integral and
popular agrarian reform is understood to be a process for the building
of Food Sovereignty and dignity for the people.
Working on the basis of this conceptual framework, in which agrarian
reform is presented as a defense and a recovery of land for Food
Sovereignty, and as a people's process, this publication will be
structured as follows:
Firstly, chapters 2 and 3 present La Via Campesina's analysis of the
global context we are currently facing and the form in which capital is
appropriating territories. What developments have led to this
unprecedented level of land grabbing, land concentration and eviction of
people from their territories? To which actors do we refer when we speak
of "capital"? What is the political framework that favours these
processes on a global level? What are the consequences for the food and
agricultural system? And how is that reflected in our territories?
La Via Campesina's concept of integral and popular agrarian reform,
developed in this context, will be presented in Chapter 4. How has the
concept been modified from a vision of land distribution to a
territorial vision? What were the most important milestones? Beginning
with the question "How, in today's world, can we achieve a change in the
paradigm towards Food Sovereignty and agrarian reform?" we will present,
in chapter 5, the strategies of La Via Campesina, which include direct
actions and bottom up praxis, alternative communications and research,
and political intervention on a national and international level.
While the analysis focuses more on global processes, the interviews held
with leaders of La Via Campesina's member organisations from different
continents and regions show the multidimensional mechanisms which
specifically affect territories. They also reflect the way in which the
diversity of cosmovisions in territories which are so historically,
culturally, politically and economically diverse (which can also be seen
in their terminology) has enriched and extended La Via Campesina's
construction of visions.
Because the aim of the publication is to summarise these aspects as a
whole from the perspective of La Via Campesina's organisations, it is
not possible to enter into each issue in depth. Therefore, at the end of
each chapter we provide suggestions for further reading, which will be a
useful starting point for acquiring more in depth knowledge of the
issues discussed here.
DOWNLOAD THE FULL PUBLICATION HERE [1]
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL NETWORKS TO GET NEWS ABOUT VARIOUS ACTIONS AND
MOBILISATIONS THAT ARE EXPECTED TO TAKE PLACE AROUND THE WORLD.
Follow the Hashtags:
* # FoodSovereignty
* #PopularAgrarianReform
* #WeFeedThePeople
* #16October
Twitter: @via_campesina [2]
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Links:
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7 years, 2 months