Call to Action #Nov25: Peasants in the Struggle for our Rights, against the Virus of Capital and Patriarchy!
by La Via Campesina
#NOV25: PEASANTS IN THE STRUGGLE FOR OUR RIGHTS, AGAINST THE VIRUS OF
CAPITAL AND PATRIARCHY!
28 OCTOBER 2020 CAMPAIGN TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN [1], PATRIACHY
[2]
-------------------------
_Call to Action - November 25th - International Day for the Elimination
of all Forms of Violence against Women._
-------------------------
HARARE – OCTOBER 28TH, 2020: Today, November 25th - La Via Campesina
calls to affirm Food Sovereignty as a concrete measure of the States to
put an end to violence against women in the countryside and in the
cities, just as it is stated in the Declaration on the Rights of
Peasants in its Art. 4. LVC denounces the structural violence of
extractive capitalism and patriarchy, especially during this crisis that
hits women and LGBTQ communities the hardest, as well as the working
class as a whole, increasing the levels of exploitation with double and
even triple working days, worsening their living conditions and with
severe setbacks in matter of rights, even in the midst of this pandemic.
Not only has COVID 19 caused a horrifying number of deaths worldwide, it
has also lead to a spike in the rates of femicide as a result of lock
down measures that left millions of women and children with no escape
from their aggressors. This is one of the worst aspects of this crisis.
COVID 19 is also increasing the workload for women as a result of remote
schooling and the needs associated with the care taking of family
members, such as the elderly and ill.
During the pandemic, the rates of sexual and physical violence against
women and children have risen horrifically. Pregnant little girls forced
[3] to give birth, assassinations [4] of leaders, advocates and
defenders of territories. Millions of women in rural and urban areas
have entered the escalating figures of poverty, sub employment,
unemployment and hunger.
In the meantime, the States who claim to represent them continue
implementing extractive, conservative and neoliberal policies that only
worsen the violence and result in serious regressions of rights. La Via
Campesina has denounced that even during a health crisis of this
magnitude, the States have taken advantage of the situation to hand over
land to transnational companies and large landholders. This has lead to
higher numbers of evictions in several countries and a worsening of the
criminalisation of peasants.
More than ever, this crisis has made us reflect on the importance of
solidarity and organisation. This is why we salute all women and LGBTQ
communities who stand in resistance in all the different territories:
the Zapatistas, the Turkish, Kurdish and Palestinian women and LGBTQ
populations. Be it in the seashores, the plains, the mountains, the
jungles, the forests, the countryside and the cities, we all come
together to act globally demanding an end to all forms of violence
against women and children, for a just, egalitarian and peaceful
society.
We acknowledge all the actions of tangible solidarity that organised
women have been sustaining worldwide, especially during the pandemic,
such as the production of healthy food, food donations, people's and
ancestral health brigades, community soup kitchens against hunger,
collective community workdays focused on sanitation, peasant markets,
establishment of barter systems and other forms of popular and
solidarity economy. These are concrete examples of self organisation and
collective work. #Time to Transform
We demand that the States recognise and value the potential of peasant
women to ensure Food Sovereignty. The peasantry continues to be the main
source of food for the peoples of the world, whereas the industrial
system of transnational corporations has proven incapable of meeting
minimum sanitary, safety and sustainability conditions.
Worldwide women produce half the food, yet own less than 15% of the
land, of which barely 2% belong to developing countries, according to
the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture. Peasant
women are also the ones most affected when the common goods and peasant
agriculture are threatened by extractive and agro-industrial projects
that dramatically impact the lives of their communities. We peasant
women resist the continuous violations of the capitalist and patriarchal
system, by the States and agribusiness that destroy nature, take away
our lands, poison the planet and appropriate the water!
For these reasons, on this Day of Struggle #Nov25, we as La Via
Campesina call on our member organisations and allies to join in our
struggle full of hope and resistance to transform the realities that
perpetuate violence and ensure that the rights of all women and LGBTQ
people are respected; to ensure that they are able to participate in the
construction of new societies.
#TIMETOTRANSFORM #WOMENINTHESTRUGGLE #STOPVIOLENCEAGAINSTWOMEN
Call for Life, against Violence!
Solidarity, sorority and resilience are essential values to live and
coexist as societies fighting against the violence and brutality of this
system.
THIS #NOV25 JOIN OUR CALL FOR LIFE AND AGAINST VIOLENCE:
* Participate in any symbolic act or local action promoted by your
local organisation, community or country to end violence against women.
#TimeToTransform
* Join our LVC online streaming "Actions for Life and against
Violence" on the 25th, an event of collective struggle, reflection and
mistica. Link: _[TO BE UPDATED SOON]_
* Stay Home but not Silent! Use the materials for social media of our
Global Campaign Stop Violence against Women, AVAILABLE HERE [5]
* Commit to your organisation, community, neighbourhood and/or friends
to support women and LGBTQ people at risk. Produce healthy food, donate
baskets, organise a community soup kitchen or buy products of peasant
women! #WomenInTheStruggle
* Print our booklet with basic safety tips against violence, the
importance of collective care and don't forget to translate it to your
local language! AVAILABLE HERE [5]
During the entire month of November we want to receive letters from our
women and LGBTQ comrades, sharing their experiences of struggle and how
LVC has contributed to empower them against violence and patriarchy. The
letters shouldn't be too long and you can add a picture if you'd like,
but that's not essential. We want to build our collective memory and
rescue our voices from oblivion!
We would also like to receive pictures and videos of people of all ages
and genders to share in our social media accounts. You can use these
slogans: _NO ONE WILL SILENCE OUR VOICES! STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN!
WOMEN IN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE VIRUS OF CAPITAL AND PATRIARCHY!_
Become a people's communicator and let's take social media by storm this
#Nov25! Send all materials from October 28th to November 25th to
LVCWEB(a)VIACAMPESINA.ORG so we can publish it online.
Links:
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[1]
https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-against/patriachy/campai...
[2] https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-against/patriachy/
[3]
https://www.elcomercio.com/actualidad/embarazo-adolescente-ecuador-costos...
[4]
https://www.eltiempo.com/politica/proceso-de-paz/van-mas-de-80-lideresas-...
[5] https://cloud.viacampesina.org/s/zf5XPA5AoxNsNc4
4 years, 2 months
16 October: "Food Sovereignty is the flame that will show us the way" La Via Campesina
by La Via Campesina
"FOOD SOVEREIGNTY IS THE FLAME THAT WILL SHOW US THE WAY", INSISTS LA
VIA CAMPESINA AS IT MARKS #16OCTOBER IN A PANDEMIC YEAR
PRESS STATEMENT: 16 OCTOBER 2020, _INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR
PEOPLES' FOOD SOVEREIGNTY AND AGAINST TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS_
-------------------------
HARARE: Thirty-five million confirmed cases--over a million dead people.
All in just eight months. COVID 19 is now an existential crisis for
humanity.
Report after report has informed the world of the devastating impact
this pandemic has had on the lives of people. No country or community is
immune to this. Yet, it is essential to remind ourselves that people who
were already poor and marginalised are facing a dilemma like no one
else; either die of COVID or die of hunger.
COVID-19 pandemic may add between 83 and 132 million people to the total
number of undernourished in the world in 2020, according to Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (SOFI 2020 [1]). A
cruel irony here is that this increasingly hungry world also loses or
wastes 1.3 billion tons [2] of food a year! FAO estimates that this
wasted food would be enough to feed 2 billion people. Yet, the
transnational agribusiness corporations that control much of the world's
food supply are unable to do it, even as hunger is a lived reality of
nearly a billion people!
The pandemic will undermine [3] international efforts to bring down
global poverty. Some 160 million people in Asia alone may be forced
below the poverty line. In Latin America, that figure is around 45
million people. UNICEF, the U.N. Children's Fund, reported that 872
million students in 51 countries are unable to access education. Over
50% of these students live in circumstances where remote learning is
impossible -- a scale that suggests a generational crisis in education,
cites [3] news reports.
In all this doom and gloom, for some, it is as if the pandemic does not
exist. Swiss bank UBS reported that billionaires increased their wealth
by more than a quarter at the height of the crisis from April to July.
Not surprisingly, those in the healthcare their total wealth increased
by over 50%.
> WHAT DO WE MAKE OF A WORLD LIKE THIS? WHERE IS JUSTICE IN ALL THIS? IT IS IN THIS CONTEXT THAT LA VIA CAMPESINA IS MARKING THE _INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR PEOPLES' FOOD SOVEREIGNTY._
La Via Campesina, the global peasant movement that represents millions
of peasants, indigenous peoples, fishers, migrants and other small-scale
food producers in 82 countries has called upon the world's governments
to recognise the limitations and inherent injustices of the industrial
food system. The aggressive expansion of industrial food production [4]
in the last five decades has also increasingly put human health in
harm's way. Apart from the overuse of chemicals and over-processing of
foods, which makes them less nutritious and more harmful, it has also
resulted in a significant increase in zoonotic diseases - those caused
by pathogens which jump from animals to humans (just like COVID-19).
Yet, at the first signs of a global pandemic, this industrial food
complex cracked up and left countries and citizens in disarray.
For decades, governments did little to protect small farms and food
producers which were pushed out of business by these growing
dysfunctional corporate giants. They stood idle as their countries grew
increasingly dependent on a few major suppliers of food who forced local
producers to sell their produce at unfairly low prices so corporate
executives can keep growing their profit margins.
Even now, amidst the pandemic, we see persistent efforts by the
agribusiness lobby to capture all democratic spaces of governance. For
instance, the partnership between the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the
UN Secretary-General to organise a "Food Systems Summit" in 2021 openly
reflects a corporate takeover of the United Nations at the highest
level.
If anything, this pandemic has given us enough reasons to resist such
corporate capture and instead accelerate our demands for a Binding
Treaty [5] that can hold corporations accountable for human rights and
peasants rights violations.
FOOD SOVEREIGNTY THROUGH PEASANT AGROECOLOGY
The elected representatives of people must frame public policies in
their states to promote local production and distribution of a diverse
basket of food.
It is essential that every government everywhere, prioritises the
autonomy of their citizens in designing their food systems.
When small-scale food producers are given the power to design and
decide, we will have a food system that is not just culturally and
climatically appropriate and diverse; but also produced through peasant
agroecological methods, based on centuries of evidence and experience. A
recent report [6] from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
recommends an "agroecological transition" to face global food crisis and
land degradation.
FOOD SOVEREIGNTY AND AN URGENT AGRARIAN REFORM
Food Sovereignty guarantees the most basic needs of the human society at
all times - food.
Pandemic or any other disruptive shocks that the world may witness can
be withstood and survived if food is guaranteed to all people. Our food
systems must be built on this most fundamental understanding of our
basic rights and needs. Eating healthy food is the right of every human
being on this planet.
Healthy nutritional food cannot be replaced by tasteless,
nutrition-less, homogeneous frozen meat and dairy packs produced in
faraway factories. For food sovereignty to be guaranteed, all countries
must embark on an agrarian reform that protects farmlands, rivers,
oceans and forests from real estate and extractivist industries. How can
people produce food if the land is taken away from them? How can a
country call itself free, if it cannot feed its citizens healthy
nutritious food?
Yet, what we are seeing, even amidst the pandemic is States and
agribusiness lobbies violently evicting people from their territories
[7], criminalising [8] peasant leaders and enabling [9] land grabs.
FOOD SOVEREIGNTY CAN BEAT RECESSION AND REVIVE RURAL ECONOMIES AND
LIVELIHOODS
The pandemic has also exposed the everyday horror of migrant workers
[10], living in unsafe conditions in a foreign land that is hostile,
xenophobic and patriarchal. It took a global pandemic to make the lives
of billions of rural and urban workers visible to the powerful elites of
the world, who were quick to sympathise on social media, yet called to
make labour laws more "corporate-friendly". This criminal hypocrisy of
the world's elites must stop. Workers must have the right to find work
in or near their native places. Food Sovereignty can guarantee such a
system as it involves using local resources - human and capital - in the
production, distribution and consumption of food. Why would a worker
migrate into a city and lead an undignified pitiful life, if one can
find work and food, in or near one's village?
The hyper-industrialised society that turned cities into economic
engines have, for long, denied the workers the right to work closer home
and be food sufficient. If anything, this pandemic has exposed the
fragility of this model that deserted the workers at the first sign of
trouble, forcing them to walk hundreds if not thousands of miles, back
home. Corporate food system has exposed many of its workers to
infection. This has been the case with the big slaughterhouses in the
US, Germany and other countries. Migrant workers continue to work
without adequate protection in the big farms in EU and US and many have
been infected. Why should workers trust this system anymore?
FOOD SOVEREIGNTY IS THE FLAME THAT CAN LEAD THE WORLD OUT OF THIS
DARKNESS
This long dark tunnel that the world has found itself in, is desperately
seeking light. A majority of the world's people, living in despair and
disarray are looking for a hopeful sign that can guarantee them and
their future generations, equity, equality and dignity.
Even in these difficult times, the solidarity among the world's poorest
and most dispossessed people give us that hope. The fraternity and
courage displayed by millions of health workers, sanitation workers,
domestic workers, farm workers, indigenous peoples, electricians,
technicians, delivery agents, drivers, sailors and countless other
front-line workers is offering us a lesson; That in times of existential
crisis, it is the workers and peasants who can save the world, even
while forsaking their own safety and health.
If this solidarity must persist, the world's governments must listen to
the working class people and the peasants who feed the world. As a
movement that represents over 200 million peasants in 82 countries, La
Via Campesina is echoing the repeated demands for food sovereignty and
agrarian reform coming from our territories and is asking for the urgent
implementation of the UN Declaration on Rights of Peasants and Other
People Working in Rural Areas.
LA VIA CAMPESINA, 16 OCTOBER 2020
-------------------------------------
For press enquiries: write to lvcweb(a)viacampesina.org
To follow the solidarity actions around the world, check out the
hashtags #FOODSOVEREIGNTYNOW #TIMETOTRANSFORM #16OCTOBER on Facebook,
Instagram and Twitter.
Links:
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[1]
http://www.fao.org/3/ca9692en/online/ca9692en.html#chapter-executive_summary
[2]
http://www.biodiversidadla.org/Noticias/Un-mundo-cada-vez-mas-hambriento-...
[3]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/09/25/pandemic-pushes-hundreds-...
[4] https://www.etcgroup.org/content/breeding-next-pandemic
[5]
https://viacampesina.org/en/peoples-mobilisation-for-a-bindingtreaty-gath...
[6]
http://www.biodiversidadla.org/Documentos/Publicacion-de-ONU-recomienda-u...
[7]
https://viacampesina.org/en/mst-quilombo-campo-grande-camp-resists-evicti...
[8]
https://viacampesina.org/en/indonesia-spi-calls-for-urgent-solidarity-wit...
[9]
https://viacampesina.org/en/india-krrs-farmers-protest-in-different-distr...
[10]
https://viacampesina.org/en/covid-19-several-members-of-la-via-campesina-...
4 years, 2 months
La Via Campesina backs the UN Special Rapporteur’s observation on Trade Policies
by La Via Campesina
After 25 years, the World Trade Organization (WTO), one of the flag
bearers of international free trade, is gradually losing its relevance.
"Trade policy has primarily focused on economic frameworks and has
either ignored or marginalised people's human rights concerns," said the
Special Rapporteur on the right to food in its latest report: "The right
to food in the context of international trade law and policy [1].
La Via Campesina that has been fighting against free trade imposed by
WTO, welcomes this observation.
The Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, started to
carry out his tasks and presented the report to the UN General Assembly
75th session this September. It reflects on the longstanding critiques
of the WTO's _Agreement on Agriculture_ and then proposes human rights
as one of the overarching principles of better trade practices. The
23-page report is also rich in its references to the right to food,
dignity, and solidarity while responding to the current Covid-19 crisis.
La Via Campesina has long been at the forefront of the struggle against
agriculture and food liberalisation pushed by the WTO.
"As people working in the field to feed 70% of the world's population,
we were the first to face the brunt of free trade agreements that were
pushed forth by WTO and other multilateral institutions. The devastation
caused by this top down model of global governance was first felt in our
territories when it crashed the prices of our produce, destroyed local
peasant markets, wiped away the rich biodiversity that existed in our
fields, took away our autonomy over seeds and evicted millions of our
sisters and brothers from their territories," said Kim Jeongyol, a
peasant from South Korea.
"The report is very crucial especially for public awareness - it shows
that free trade is not working, especially in the current context of
pandemic and also in from the eyes of human rights principles," said
Zainal Arifin Fuat, from Serikat Petani Indonesia. "This is why from the
beginning we put out our slogan 'WTO Out of Agriculture' which then
expanded to 'End WTO'... And we have to stay vigilant as well as the
danger is not only with the dying WTO - but also many free trade
agreements that already take over in so many parts of the world," he
continued.
La Via Campesina commemorates the global fight against WTO and free
trade in its "International Day of Struggle against WTO and Free Trade
Agreements (FTAs)", which is organised every 10 September. This year,
the movement organised a web-dialogue "Globalise Solidarity, Localise
Agriculture", which concluded that food sovereignty and the right to
adequate food could only emerge from family farming and
peasant-agriculture using agroecological means.
"The UN Special Rapporteur reflects this sentiment in his report,"
Zainal mentioned. "We are happy that a UN report highlights this
important issue, and that our voices and struggles are being heard. "We
are pleased with the references to the UN Declaration on the rights of
peasants and other people working in rural areas,"
"Now we continue defending and demanding our rights to land, to seeds,
to water, to biodiversity, all of which have been hindered by the trade
policies pushed by WTO and other FTAs," added Kim Jeongyol.
One among the first and specific conclusions of the report is to wind
down the WTO Agreement on Agriculture. The report is available here (in
English, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Russian):
https://undocs.org/A/75/219
Links:
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[1] https://undocs.org/A/75/219
4 years, 3 months
Let’s strengthen Food Sovereignty: Produce, Buy and Eat local products
by La Via Campesina
LET'S STRENGTHEN FOOD SOVEREIGNTY: PRODUCE, BUY AND EAT LOCAL PRODUCTS
CAMPAIGN FOR A BINDING TREATY [1], FOOD SOVEREIGNTY [2], TRANSNATIONAL
COMPANIES AND AGRIBUSINESS [3]
_"EATING HEALTHY IS OUR RIGHT; IT'S OUR STRUGGLE"_
_GLOBAL CALL FOR SOLIDARITY ACTION_
(Harare, October 6, 2020) This October 16th, the _INTERNATIONAL DAY OF
ACTION FOR PEOPLES' FOOD SOVEREIGNTY AND AGAINST TRANSNATIONAL
CORPORATIONS, _ La Via Campesina insists that it is #TIMETOTRANSFORM our
society with food sovereignty and peasant agroecology.
We are what we eat. Having healthy food is a basic human right.
It is important to insist today, that the peasant way of producing food,
in harmony with nature, is not just an act to reclaim our autonomy and
food sovereignty, but it is also an act of resistance against the
aggressive corporatization of our food systems and habits.
Around the world, peasants, indigenous peoples, farm workers, the
landless, fisherfolk, consumers, women, and the youth face difficult
challenges because of the influence on and control of food systems by
transnational corporations (TNCs). Increasingly, the control of common
goods essential to humanity and nature is concentrated in the hands of a
few rich and elite people, with disastrous effects on most people and
their rights. In agriculture, this has led to intensive farming methods
based on monocultures with the high use of toxic agro-chemical inputs,
threatening and destroying peasant agriculture and life on the planet.
This destruction is happening through land grabbing, water and air
pollution, destructive extractive mining of resources, poisoning of food
with agro-toxics and destroying biodiversity, and even the murder of
peasant and indigenous activists and leaders. The climate crisis has
also worsened.
IN THIS CONTEXT, PRODUCING HEALTHY FOOD, SUPPORTING LOCAL FOOD MARKETS,
AND EATING HEALTHY ARE IMPORTANT ACTS OF RESISTANCE AND GUARANTEE LOCAL
DEVELOPMENT WITH EQUITY AND DIGNITY.
As Via Campesina, we believe in and defend food sovereignty as peoples'
right to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced with
ecologically sustainable methods. If we build local food sovereignty, we
build strategies to resist and dismantle the current exploitative,
destructive and repressive corporate food system and move towards food,
agriculture, pastoral, and fishery systems determined by local producers
and consumers.
NOW IS THE TIME TO TRANSFORM AND BUILD A BETTER SOCIETY:
The current COVID 19 pandemic has shown us the importance and the
resilience of local food systems that keep many people from hunger and
starvation.
We, peasants, men and women, indigenous peoples, rural populations,
agricultural workers, the youth in urban and rural areas, have the
solution - FOOD SOVEREIGNTY AND PEASANT AGROECOLOGY - to end hunger, to
cool the planet, to preserve biodiversity, and respect the rights of
peasants and workers.
JOIN US TO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE!
We can only guarantee a safe and better world not only for today but
also for future generations if you join us to transform our society:
* Adopt a seed(s) and start growing your food to strengthen local
production. Experience the joy of eating homegrown food. Send us or
share with the following hashtags _#TIMETOTRANSFORM #FOODSOVEREIGNTYNOW_
(complete it with your own message) a video or a photo(s) of you doing
this act of resistance against corporate capture of our food system
* Join us, starting October 6th, to stop corporate impunity and
violations of our rights by posting this message on social media FOOD
SOVEREIGNTY BECAUSE ... using blank posters to complete it with your own
message (download blank posters here [4])
* Request your local authorities to support local food production and
buy from local food markets. Let's strengthen our local food systems.
* Put pressure on governments to prioritize food sovereignty in public
policies and implement the UN Declaration of Rights of Peasants and
other people working in Rural Areas (UNDROP).
Please send us your actions and articles to our email:
lvcweb(a)viacampesina.org, tag us on social media twitter (@via_campesina
[5]) and FaceBook (@viacampesinaOFFICIAL [6]), and make visible globally
our collective mobilization for a better society based on food
sovereignty.
#LAVIACAMPESINA #TIMETOTRANSFORM #FOODSOVEREIGNTYNOW
LET US GLOBALIZE THE STRUGGLE; LET US GLOBALIZE HOPE.
Links:
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[1]
https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-against/transnational-co...
[2]
https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-for/food-sovereignty-and...
[3]
https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-against/transnational-co...
[4] https://cloud.viacampesina.org/s/2Ws8ecGt98nbGT3
[5] https://twitter.com/via_campesina
[6] https://www.facebook.com/viacampesinaOFFICIAL
4 years, 3 months
Manifesto for the Future #AntiImperialistWeek
by La Via Campesina
MANIFESTO FOR THE FUTURE
1 OCTOBER 2020
_When confronted by us hungry bellies, the imperialists reach for their
guns. When confronted by imperialists, we hungry bellies lock arms and
march forward._
Our humanity is threatened by an invisible virus that spreads rapidly;
but we have long been challenged by other _viruses_, such as
unemployment, hunger, racism, patriarchy, inequality, and war. These
_viruses_ manifest themselves differently in different parts of the
world, sharply attack the lives of the workers and the peasants, and
those who experience the impact of social inequality; meanwhile, there
are a minority of people that profit from the devastation.
The capitalist system has no answers to these crises; its policies are
hollow. Rather than find a way to house us and feed us, the capitalists
build vast machinery of destruction - the police and military that
suffocate the life out of the working-class inside the rich nations and
of the working-class and the peasantry in the poorer nations. If a poor
country tries to stand upright and seeks to exercise its sovereignty, a
full arsenal of force is used against it: financial, diplomatic, and
military power. They dominate us with weapons, but also with ideas; they
try to convince us that their views are the correct views.
The managers of the capitalist system are quick to unholster their guns
and point them at distant adversaries, drive their tanks into our lands
and occupy our homes, tear up nature and destroy our lifeworld; it is
easier for them to provoke war than to fill the bellies of human beings
with food. They would rather inflame people with racism and jingoism
than to manage the fact that a broken system has come to rely more and
more on the unacknowledged care labour of women, more and more on the
harsh working-conditions imposed on miners and factory workers.
The planet is on fire, the viruses are on the march, hunger stalks the
land, and yet even in this mess, we - the vast majority of the people on
the planet - have not given up on the possibility of a future. We hope
for something better than this, a world beyond profit and privilege, a
world beyond capitalism and imperialism, a world singing the song of
humanity. Our hearts are bigger than their guns; our love and our
struggle will overcome their greed and indifference.
Many seeds are being planted by our movements. We need to water them, to
tend to them, to make sure that they bloom. We will build a future that
cherishes life rather than profit, a future of fellowship amongst
peoples, rather than racist wars, a future where social hierarchies are
abolished, and we enjoy mutual dignity.
Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. It is now dark
enough.
SIGNATURES
ORGANIZATIONS
INTERNATIONAL NETWORKS
* ALBA Movimientos
* Federación Democrática Internacional de Mujeres (FDIM)
* Partido Izquierda Europea (PIE)
* Asamblea Internacional de los Pueblos (AIP)
* Instituto Tricontinental
* Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres
* La Vía Campesina
* Foro de São Paulo
ARAB-MAGHREB
* Democratic Way, Morocco
* Tunisian Workers´ Party, Tunisia
ASIA
* Nepal Communist Party, Nepal
* Workers Party of Bangladesh, Bangladesh
EUROPE
* Askapena, Euskal Herria
* ATTAC Hungary, Hungary
* Confederación Intersindical Galega (CIG), Spanish State
* Fundación Europa de los Ciudadanos
* Fundación Investigaciones Marxistas
* Movimiento Democrático de Mujeres, Spanish State
* Norwegian Committee in Solidarity with Latin America, Norway
* Partido Comunista España (PCE), Spanish State
* Partito della Rifondazione Comunista - Sinistra Europea, Italy
* Potere al Popolo!, Italy
* Russia Communist Workers' Party, Russian Federation
* Sindicato de Comisiones de Base (COBAS), Spanish State
LATÍN AMERICA
* Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC), Cuba
* Comité de Unidad Campesina (CUC), Guatemala
* Frente Francisco de Miranda (FFM), Venezuela
* Frente Pátria Grande, Argentina
* Levante Popular da Juventude, Brazil
* Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), Brazil
* Movimiento Popular La Dignidad, Argentina
NORTH AMERICA
* Popular Education Project (PEP), USA
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
* National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, South Africa
* Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG), Ghana
* Socialist Party of Zambia, Zambia
* Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party (SRWP), South Africa
INDIVIDUALS
* Attila Antal, Consciousness journal, Hungary
* Attila Vajnai, Workers Party 2006 - European Left, Hungary
* Bert De Belder, Partido del Trabajo. Belgium
* Enrique Santiago, PIE - Partido Comunista de España (PCE), Spanish
State
* Eszmélet Folyóirat, Consciousness journal, Hungary
* Fran Perez, Izquierda Unida, Spanish State
* György Droppa, Organizers for the Left (SZAB), Hungary
* Heinz Bierbaum, PIE - Die Linke, Germany
* Iñigo Martínez, Izquierda Unida, Spanish State
* Jose L. Centella, PIE - Partido Comunista de España (PCE), Spanish
State
* Judit Striker Ezredvég (Millennium Literary Journal)
* Lydia Samarbakhsh, Partido Comunista de Francia (PCF), France
* Maite Mola, PIE - Partido Comunista de España (PCE), Spanish State
* Manuel Pineda, Eurodiputado, PIE - Partido Comunista de España
(PCE), Spanish State
* Marco Consolo, Partido de Refundación Comunista, Italy
* Mátyás Benyik, Hungary
* Natassa Theodorakopoulou, PIE - Siryza, Greece
* Péter Farkas, Karl Marx Society, Hungary
* Pierre Laurent, Partido Comunista de Francia (PCF), France
* Sira Rego, Izquierda Unida, Spanish State
* Tamás Hirschler, Hungarian Anti-fascist League (MAL), Hungary
* Tamás Krausz, Consciousness journal, Hungary
* Vera Zalka, Organizers for the Left (SZAB), Hungary
4 years, 3 months
La Via Campesina |"Ceasefire" Bulletin-2nd Edition| Colombia Peace Process
by La Via Campesina
La Vía Campesina | "Ceasefire" Bulletin | Sept-Oct. Edition 2020
Donate [1]
This bulletin is the result of a collective effort by La Via Campesina
to share information on the implementation of the Peace Agreement in
Colombia.
To subscribe click here [2]
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS PERSIST UNDER THE DUQUE GOVERNMENT |
#URGENTACTIONCOLOMBIA
"Feelings of helplessness and pain for what the communities are
experiencing," is how one of the participants summed up the Humanitarian
Missions conducted by social organizations and human rights groups in
Colombia. Since the national government decreed its lockdown to fight
the Covid-19 pandemic, the violence has strangely increased against the
country's rural population at the hands of official and irregular armed
groups. Read more ... [3]
FEATURED ARTICLES
COLOMBIA: DUQUE INSISTS ON ENDING THE COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL PROGRAM FOR
THE REPLACEMENT OF ILLICIT CROPS
The implementation of the PNIS (Integrated National Program for the
Substitution of Illicitly Used Crops), laid out in point 4 of the Final
Agreement, is facing serious difficulties under the Iván Duque
administration.
Read more ... [4]
STATEMENT: HUMANITARIAN MISSION FOR LIFE AND PEACE IN THE EASTERN PLAINS
AND ORINOCO, COLOMBIA
Social and human rights organizations and communities of faith carried
out this Humanitarian Mission to respond to the urgent call of the
communities in the south of Meta and the north of Guaviare. FOR TEN DAYS
(JULY 18 TO 27, 2020), WE TRAVELED THROUGHOUT THE REGION. Read more ...
[5]
COLOMBIA: LITTLE PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMPREHENSIVE
RURAL REFORM
Even if the implementation of the Comprehensive Rural Reform is
advancing at a snail's pace, the government's actions don't embrace the
spirit of the agreement and are aimed at faking compliance with the
Agreement. There are several reasons for this: Read more ... [6]
COLOMBIA: HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE IS BLEEDING DRY
Thanks to the peace agreement, the FARC-EP left the territories, but the
Duque Government's inability to fight the new forms of paramilitarism
and criminal gangs has allowed illegal armed actors to take over the
territories abandoned by the FARC. This has led to continued human
rights violations such as forced disappearances, forced displacements,
massacres, sexual assaults and the confinement of communities. Read more
... [7]
THE COLOMBIAN ARMY IS ANOTHER THREAT TO COMMUNITIES | #FALSEPOSITIVES
The murder of civilians by the military with the objective of presenting
them as firefight casualties is a crime popularly known as "false
positives" in Colombia. This common practice of the Army since 1994
peaked in the first decade of this century when 5,763 people were
murdered. The post-agreement process has had to deal with the
persistence of this practice which has apparently become a part of the
public force's modus operandi. Read more ... [8]
COLOMBIA: MARCHERS HIGHLIGHT HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
"As marchers for dignity, we're walking for life and in this way, we
aren't drawing attention from the national government. We're sounding a
warning call to the international community and human rights defenders,
because its the State that is killing us." Read more... [9]
YOU ARE AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE AUTONOMY OF OUR MOVEMENT
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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.
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[3]
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[4]
https://viacampesina.org/en/colombia-duque-insists-on-ending-the-comprehe...
[5]
https://viacampesina.org/en/statement-humanitarian-mission-for-life-and-p...
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https://viacampesina.org/en/colombia-little-progress-in-the-implementatio...
[7]
https://viacampesina.org/en/colombia-human-rights-peace-is-bleeding-dry/
[8]
https://viacampesina.org/en/the-colombian-army-is-another-threat-to-commu...
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4 years, 3 months