La Via Campesina | April, 2021 | e-Newsletter
by La Via Campesina
*|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|*
This edition of the newsletter is the result of a collective effort
of organisations that are part of_ La Via Campesina's_ global movement.
To subscribe to our monthly newsletter click here [1]
CELEBRATION OF 25 YEARS OF FOOD SOVEREIGNTY AND THE MOVEMENT WE BUILT
AROUND IT
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Today, as in 1996, food sovereignty remains as the most coherent
solution for a systemic shift, it remains the most coherent proposal to
guarantee access to local and nutritious food for all and to defend
peasants' and people's rights.
Peasants, indigenous communities, small scale fishers, pastoralists,
waged workers need to be involved in the formulation of solutions, we
need to be part of policy making processes. And we cannot allow that the
dominant forces that are strongly working to reshape governance spaces
turn the table. This is not a game! Life is at stake!
So, it is indeed time to celebrate the 25 years of our joint struggle
for food sovereignty, but much more, it is time to recharge our energies
and to reaffirm our commitment, using the convictions, spaces and
alliances we built since 1996, to strongly fight for a world based on
solidarity, justice and dignity - especially considering our future
generations. READ MORE [2]
Fighting for food sovereignty also means fighting to have women farmers'
work acknowledged as well as to reorganize domestic, care, and food
preparation work. This international virtual gallery features
photographs of the archives of La Via Campesina, Friends of the Earth,
and the World March of Women [3]. The pictures show how women are
fundamental for sowing the seeds of a political, peasant, grassroots,
diverse struggle for a society with no fences and no toxic chemicals.
Food Sovereignty is about deciding to change the world. It is not just
about producing. It's the right to agrarian reform, to land, to water,
the right to remain a peasant man or woman. READ MORE [4]
25 years ago, on April 17th 1996, a group of landless peasants were
killed by military police in Brazil's state of Para. A look at the
history of the day and why we stand with peasants worldwide. READ MORE
[5]
The word "agribusiness" brings to mind instant associations like
"soybeans," "Brazil," or "the Mennonites." Why? When did this word first
enter common parlance? READ MORE [6]
Achieving food sovereignty is not a linear, uniform process: it looks
different in each community and region. Just as communities and
geographies vary across the country, so too do the struggles for food
sovereignty. READ MORE [7]
On April 28, South Korea constituted a 'UNDROP Forum' to implement
and promote the UN Declaration on Rights of Peasants and Other People
Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) at the national level. The forum will be
active for about eight months until the end of this year. READ MORE [8]
In a letter to the European Commission and CAP legislators, European
Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) and civil society members demand that
the EU policy must support and increase the number of small-scale
farmers.
READ MORE [9]
In a letter addressed to the President of Sri Lanka, the Movement for
Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR) has supported the government
decision to ban the import of all agrochemicals with immediate effect.
READ MORE [10]
The Indonesian Peasants Student Movement (Gema Petani) held its First
Conference in Jambi, attended by student delegations from 13 provinces
covering eastern, central and western Indonesia. READ MORE [11]
NEW PUBLICATION
The Path of Peasant and Popular Feminism in La Via Campesina
-------------------------
Edition: 2021
Download the PDF copy (32MB) [12]
FEATURED VIDEO
[13]
"Formation" in La Via Campesina with a perspective of human emancipation
has the historical task of contributing to forging collective political
subjects, capable of mobilizing consciences, resources, and processes
for the construction of an emancipatory political project and to
transform the reality, the living conditions in the countryside and in
the cities.
"A movement in formation" that first premiered on 18 April 2021,
explores this construction in the movement, with different voices and
actors from all over the world, showing the different practices and
methodologies but with the same objective, since to globalize the
struggle and the hope is not just a slogan, it is our permanent task.
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 HERE
[14]. [15]
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To unsubscribe from the distribution list click here [1]
For questions or comments, email LVCWEB(a)VIACAMPESINA.ORG
WEBSITE: www.viacampesina.org [20]
TV: www.tv.viacampesina.org [21]
To subscribe to this newsletter - Click Here [1]
Links:
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[1] https://mail.viacampesina.org/lists/listinfo/Via-info-en
[2]
https://viacampesina.org/en/celebration-of-25-years-of-food-sovereignty-a...
[3]
https://capiremov.org/en/multimedia/gallery/peasant-struggles-and-food-so...
[4]
https://viacampesina.org/en/pancha-rodriguez-food-sovereignty-is-about-de...
[5]
https://viacampesina.org/en/a-look-at-the-history-of-the-day-and-why-we-s...
[6]
https://viacampesina.org/en/paraguay-the-struggle-for-food-sovereignty-is...
[7]
https://viacampesina.org/en/nfu-statement-on-the-international-day-of-pea...
[8]
https://viacampesina.org/en/south-korea-undrop-forum-to-mainstream-peasan...
[9]
https://viacampesina.org/en/ecvc-sends-open-letter-to-the-institutions-fo...
[10]
https://viacampesina.org/en/srilanka-monlar-backs-government-decision-to-...
[11]
https://viacampesina.org/en/gema-petani-indonesia-peasant-youth-and-stude...
[12] https://cloud.viacampesina.org/s/srbBEf3YnYZGRYz
[13] https://vimeo.com/534888854
[14] https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/viacampesina
[15] https://viacampesina.org/en/donations/
[16] https://www.facebook.com/viacampesinaOFFICIAL
[17] http://www.twitter.com/via_campesina
[18] https://www.instagram.com/la_via_campesina_official/
[19] https://viacampesina.org/
[20] http://www.viacampesina.org
[21] http://www.tv.viacampesina.org
3 years, 7 months
La Via Campesina: 2020 Annual Report
by La Via Campesina
LA VIA CAMPESINA: 2020 ANNUAL REPORT
3 MAY 2021 ANNUAL REPORTS [1], MEDIA AND PUBLICATIONS [2]
[3]
SUMMARY: This annual report [3] highlights the struggles and activities
we had and the progress we made in 2020. The year was one of the most
challenging years of the last half century. No one ever anticipated that
by March, the world would face a pandemic that would bring life as we
know it to a halt. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic did that. The
pandemic exposed two things: (1) the rotten core and the cracks in the
global neoliberal economy and (2) the urgent need for radical policies
to usher in change and bring relief, dignity, and equity to billions of
people whose survival is hanging by a thin thread. With each crisis
desperation has increased leading to unintended outcomes, for instance,
the recent rise of the extreme right, fascism, and
jingoistic-nationalism. Global inequality is at its peak. Empathy is at
its lowest, and destructive economic, social, ecological, and
environmental policies are more prevalent than ever. This pandemic is
rooted in capitalism and strongly connected to the industrial
agriculture model, and is one of the many recent outcomes of such
destructive policies. As the turbulent 2020 drew to an end, many hoped
that 2021 would be a better year. The surge in new infections in most
countries do not show return to the "normalcy" of the pre-COVID times.
Urgent actions are needed from the grassroots to the state level to
transform and rebuild hundreds of millions of lives pushed to starvation
and poverty by the COVID pandemic. The pandemic led us into a period
where the understanding of the importance of local food production and
the need for public health has increased. Food sovereignty as peoples'
right to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced with
ecologically sustainable methods is important.
As La Via Campesina, we have adapted our communication strategy, shifted
resources towards communication actions, and intensified our presence in
social media. This strategy became more central as a possibility to
reach out, "stay at home but not silent", and to mobilize on our agenda.
It is key that a movement like LVC remains present in the public eye and
in public opinion to mobilize for the right changes! The realization of
peasants' rights and those of migrant and seasonal workers by promoting
UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People working in the
Rural Areas (UNDROP) remains a priority for the peasant movement. We
will continue combating the criminalization and repression of peasant
leaders, and explore different ideas of creating our own spaces of
solidarity, while strengthening the existing solidarity networks..
DOWNLOAD PDF REPORT [3]
PUBLICATION DATE: April 2021
AVAILABLE in Spanish [4] and French [5]
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Links:
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[1] https://viacampesina.org/en/media-and-publications/annual-reports/
[2] https://viacampesina.org/en/media-and-publications/
[3]
https://viacampesina.org/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/05/EN_Annual_...
[4] https://viacampesina.org/es/la-via-campesina-informe-anual-2020/
[5] https://viacampesina.org/fr/la-via-campesina-rapport-annuel-2020/
3 years, 8 months
Colombia: Call for Life, Democracy and Peace!
by La Via Campesina
La Via Campesina stands in solidarity with the struggles and protests of
the Colombian people in the NATIONAL STRIKE that began on April 28th and
remains active even now.
The protests unleashed against a proposed tax reform linked to the
pandemic have become a national demonstration against the increase in
poverty, unemployment, the failure to implement the Peace Accord and the
worsening of the violence expressed in the increase of massacres, forced
disappearances, displacements and the murder of 1,167 social leaders
since the signing of the Accord.
The Colombian people express their indignation at these historical
injustices and once again share age-old demands of PEACE, LIFE, WORK and
LAND; they protest against the mismanagement of the pandemic by the
Government of Ivan Duque, which prioritized economic interests and
disregarded the lives of humble Colombians.
We express our solidarity with the Colombian people who are today
exercising their legitimate right to protest. We stand in solidarity
especially with the peasant, indigenous and Afro-descendant
organisations that are mobilising from the territories most affected by
violence in defense of life, land and territory.
We ratify our repudiation of the violence exercised by the state and its
security forces who criminalise people's movements, and against the
state agents who illegally detain, rape, kill, and disappear.
Today the state violence in Colombia is reflected in the murder of 37
demonstrators, 831 arbitrary detentions, 222 cases of physical violence,
22 victims of aggression in the eyes, 10 victims of sexual violence by
the security forces and 86 people disappeared, all in the context of the
National Strike.
WE DEMAND FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF IVÁN DUQUE:
* an immediate ceasefire against those who demonstrate;
* guarantees for the exercise of the right to protest and social
mobilisation;
* the immediate release of those detained for political reasons;
* the investigation and condemnation of murderers and rapists;
* the construction of a process of a dialogue with the population;
* the implementation of the Peace Accords.
We call on the international community and human rights organisations to
demand that the necessary measures be taken to stop the violence and
advance in the construction of peace.
We call on the organizations that are part of La Via Campesina, as well
as allied organizations, to raise awareness on the situation, to express
our rejection of the governmental actions and stand in solidarity, to
strengthen our unity and struggle.
LET'S GLOBALISE THE STRUGGLE AND GLOBALISE HOPE!
3 years, 8 months