Act Now to Support Gaza’s Farmers, Farmworkers and Fisherfolk! Help Gaza Feed Itself!
by La Via Campesina
ACT NOW TO SUPPORT GAZA'S FARMERS, FARMWORKERS AND FISHERFOLK! HELP GAZA
FEED ITSELF!
22 JUNE 2021 INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY [1]
The recent spate of bombings by Israeli forces in Gaza has killed over
260 people, including 60 children and 40 women and forcibly displaced
more than 120,000 people from their homes. Missiles pounded the region
for 11 consecutive days inflicting catastrophic damages to the lives and
livelihood of the people of the area.
Gaza's Ministry of Agriculture estimated around $27 million in damages,
including greenhouses, agricultural lands and poultry farms. Union of
Agricultural Workers Committee (UAWC), a member of La Via Campesina,
informs that thousands of peasant workers, farmers and fisherfolk in
Gaza have suffered crop losses and damages to farm and fishing
infrastructure.
Agricultural facilities such as animal farms, wells and irrigation
networks have been severely damaged. A full closure of the sea and
destruction of fishing boats have disrupted fishing activities and
threaten the food security of over 3600 fisher families.
A rapid assessment by UAWC in Gaza estimates crop loss in over 50
hectares. Missile attacks have impacted the soil heath and inflicted
severe damages on irrigation and transmission networks. Hundreds of
greenhouses have been destroyed. The assessment team also informs that
scores of agricultural ponds are polluted or covered under rubble.
Extensive damage to sewage stations, sewage networks, water wells pose a
humungous challenge and leading to health risks due to unsanitary
conditions. The United Nations said approximately 800,000 people in Gaza
do not have regular access to clean piped water, as nearly 50 per cent
of the water network was damaged in the bombing.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Gaza's food system is in ruins. Palestinians now seek to restore their
water wells, greenhouses, animal barns and fishing boats, among other
needs, and La Via Campesina wants to help by contributing USD $250,000
by August 31st, 2021.
By contributing funds through THIS LINK [2], you can directly help the
people of Gaza, particularly the family farms and fisherfolk, to rebuild
and reclaim their dignity and livelihood. Every amount counts. As
compassionate citizens of this planet, let us stand with the people of
Gaza in their struggle to rebuild their lives and access justice.
GLOBALIZE THE STRUGGLE, GLOBALIZE HOPE!
LA VIA CAMPESINA
Links:
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[1]
https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-for/international-solida...
[2]
https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/gaza-appeal-farmers-fishers-2021
3 years, 6 months
New edition of the Nyéléni Newsletter is now online!
by La Via Campesina
NYÉLÉNI NEWSLETTER: COMMUNICATING FOR FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
The new edition of the Nyéléni Newsletter is now online!
Food sovereignty, among the multitude of ideas that it encompasses, is
also about defending the billion diversities that exist on this planet,
and is a celebration of our many unique practices, tastes, cultures and
customs. An important pillar in this struggle for food sovereignty is
the role played by popular rural cultures, of peasants, fisher-folk,
family farmers and Indigenous Peoples. These communities are inheritors
of a rich and diverse tradition of oral and visual forms of
communication, whether in the form of folklore, legends, tales,
proverbs, songs, murals and more. These varied forms of communication
are also the recorded histories of human struggles and survival.
However, this diversity is, today, under threat. Just as the
agro-industrial complex pushes for a homogeneous, singular view of a
global agrifood system, the international-corporate-media complex has
also resulted in a singular, centralized form of mainstream
communication. A handful of corporations today control much of what we
read or watch and how people access information.
Despite the challenges, organized peoples and communities around the
world are countering this marginalization of peoples' culture. The
current edition of the Nyéléni newsletter focuses on the wide variety of
popular, community-driven communication approaches, drawing inspiration
from local symbols, context and culture. It explores how these
approaches are integral to pedagogy among peasants, family farmers,
Indigenous Peoples and fisher-folk, crucial for political formation and
popular education, and an essential element of our struggle for food
sovereignty.
_Click here to download the English edition_ [1] or read it directly on
the website at www.nyeleni.org [2] !
Links:
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[1] http://www.nyeleni.org/ccount/click.php?id=158
[2] http://www.nyeleni.org
3 years, 6 months
Newsletter #4 | Colombia Peace Agreement Monitor
by La Via Campesina
*|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|*
This newsletter is the result of La Via Campesina's collective effort
to make visible and accompany the implementation of the Peace Accords in
Colombia.
To subscribe click here [1]
COLOMBIA: DESPITE STATE VIOLENCE, THE STRIKE CONTINUES
Protests unleashed by President Duque's tributary reform have turned
into a nationwide protest for historic injustices and the deepening
economic crisis behind the pandemic. read the full press release [2] of
La Vía Campesina.
COLOMBIA: IS ACCESS TO LAND DEMOCRATIZED?
Sub-point 1.1 of the Peace Agreement establishes mechanisms for access
to land for the benefit of peasants without land or with insufficient
land, mainly through land allocation processes and formalization of
rights. READ MORE... [3]
COLOMBIA: IMPACTS OF COVID-19 ON PEACE
The crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic has had various impacts,
amongst them, the increase in poverty numbers, the deepening of food
insecurity, the deterioration of the security crisis and the limitations
in the implementation of the Peace Agreement. READ MORE... [4]
COLOMBIA: GLYPHOSATE AERIAL SPRAYING FORCES COMMUNITIES TO SEEK LEGAL
ACTION
The processes of voluntary eradication of illicit crops are supported,
but marginally, compared to the force eradication operations prioritized
by the government. READ MORE... [5]
SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS DENOUNCE LIMITATIONS ON PARTICIPATION IN
TERRITORIAL FOCUSED DEVELOPMENT PLANS (PDET) IN COLOMBIA
Territorial Focused Development Plans - PDET, in Spanish, are designed
by the Agreement as participatory territorial planning instrument to
implement as a priority the components of Integral Rural Reform - RRI.
READ MORE... [6]
COLOMBIA: ARMED CONFLICT REACTIVATED IN 2021
During the year 2020 acts of violence with great intensity are recorded,
there has been an increase in the assassination of social leaders,
massacres, and confrontations among armed groups. READ MORE... [7]
RURAL INTEGRAL REFORM IS EXCRUCIATINGLY SLOW IN COLOMBIA
The assessments of the implementation of the Peace Agreement made by
different institutions and social organizations highlight the lack of
political will for the materialization of what has been agreed and the
constant failings on the part of the government regarding principally
the Rural Integral Reform - RRI, in Spanish. READ MORE... [8]
COLOMBIA: CALL FOR LIFE, DEMOCRACY AND PEACE!
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. READ MORE... [9]
COLOMBIA: END THE STATE-SANCTIONED VIOLENCE, INVESTIGATE THE CRIMES OF
THE COLOMBIAN STATE!
A month into the National Strike against the neoliberal reforms that
seek to undermine rights, promote privatization and labor
flexibilization. READ MORE... [10]
SOLIDARITY WITH THE WORKING CLASS OF COLOMBIA
We, the undersigned popular organisations of the peoples of the
countryside, of the waters and of the forests, and other organisations
of the whole world, lend our solidarity to the peasant, indigenous and
Afro-descendant people who, allied to the working class of the cities,
are demonstrating in Colombia to defend human rights as basic as the
right to live in peace and dignity. READ MORE... [11]
[12]
Omar Moreno, life and peasant struggle
[13]
HYMN OF THE INDIGENOUS GUARD
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]
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
To unsubscribe from the distribution list click here [1]
For questions or comments, email LVCWEB(a)VIACAMPESINA.ORG
WEBSITE: www.viacampesina.org
TV: www.tv.viacampesina.org
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/colombia-despite-state-violence-the-strike-co...
[3] https://viacampesina.org/en/colombia-is-access-to-land-democratized/
[4] https://viacampesina.org/en/colombia-impacts-of-covid-19-on-peace/
[5]
https://viacampesina.org/en/colombia-glyphosate-aerial-spraying-forces-co...
[6]
https://viacampesina.org/en/socia-l-organizations-denounce-limitations-on...
[7]
https://viacampesina.org/en/colombia-armed-conflict-reactivated-2021/
[8]
https://viacampesina.org/en/rural-integral-reform-is-excruciatingly-slow-...
[9]
https://viacampesina.org/en/colombia-call-for-life-democracy-and-peace/
[10]
https://viacampesina.org/en/colombia-end-the-state-sanctioned-violence-in...
[11]
https://viacampesina.org/en/solidarity-with-the-working-class-of-colombia/
[12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhOgyaHgiJc
[13] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwR6VgQ1mOE
[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/
3 years, 7 months
05 June, World Environment Day: Call for Mobilization | La Via Campesina
by La Via Campesina
05 JUNE, WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY: CALL FOR MOBILIZATION | LA VIA CAMPESINA
2 JUNE 2021 CAMPAIGN AGAINST AGROTOXICS [1], CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL
JUSTICE [2], LAND, WATER AND TERRITORIES [3], TRANSNATIONAL COMPANIES
AND AGRIBUSINESS [4]
_THIS WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY, LA VIA CAMPESINA CALLS FOR ACTIONS TO
PROTECT MOTHER EARTH AND DEMAND THE URGENT IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN
DECLARATION FOR THE RIGHTS OF PEASANTS AND OTHER PEOPLE WORKING IN RURAL
AREAS._
LIFE OVER PROFITS – THIS PLANET IS OUR ONLY HOME!
(Harare: June 2, 2021) By now it is evident that the capitalist system
causes predatory actions against the environment, leading to severe
damage to our planet. The extractive industrial model, together with
increased militarization to keep imperialist hegemony, destroys our
lands and rivers, forests and seas, reduces biodiversity, pillages our
territories and criminalizes our struggles. The effects of this model
are becoming more and more serious: violent storms, cyclones, droughts,
heat waves, floods, migrations, over-consumption and food waste, as well
as toxic foods that cause illness and kill across the world.
Moreover, high-cost diseases (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome [SARS]
such the current COVID-19 pandemic with over 3.3 million deathsso far)
seem to be linked to contaminated food and livestock, and particularly
affecting people with underlying health conditions such as malnutrition,
obesity, and diabetes.
We can affirm that industrial farming methods have led to untold
environmental and social destruction globally as they oversimplify
complex systems. This has nothing to do with feeding people, since the
number of people affected by hunger and malnutrition continues to raise,
but it's about accumulation of power and control by a few.
Worldwide, we the peasant and indigenous communities of every nation
feed 70% of the world's population while having access only to 25% of
agricultural resources. Women and migrants represent more than 60% of
laborers in agricultural production, yet they continue to suffer
exploitation, racism, violence and a systematic violation of their human
rights.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
We, peasants, indigenous peoples, women, migrants and rural communities
want food sovereignty based peasant agroecology to reduce emissions and
achieve social justice. The fight for food sovereignty is a social,
political and ecological vision that brings together multiple groups
within a single movement to challenge capital, build relationships with
nature and defend systems of shared control over and access to the
requirements of life.
NO TO FALSE SOLUTIONS!
We denounce and reject all the false solutions being put on the table to
face the environmental and climate crisis by our governments working
closely with transnational corporations (TNCs). Climate Smart
agriculture, soil sequestration programs, Nature based solutions,
payments for environmental services (PES), etc., allow capitalism to
keep polluting to the detriment of the environment and our rights.
These false solutions increase the risk of land grabbing the control of
seed diversity by transnational corporations and the use of agrotoxics
and expanded genetic manipulation. All this has led, among other things,
to the emergence of superweeds and superbugs, putting the survival of
life as we know it on a cliff's edge.
TIME TO TRANSFORM! NO FUTURE WITHOUT FOOD SOVEREIGNTY!
As La Via Campesina, we believe that action must be taken without delay
for a complete turnaround, transforming our societies, changing the
capitalist system that exploits, pollutes and uses up our commons, which
are the heritage of peoples throughout the world. This urgent and much
needed change must be implemented through a real social transformation
that will only be possible if the rights of peasants, indigenous
peoples, women, migrants and all those working in rural areas are fully
respected. This means ending all forms of violence against all people
and having access and democratically controlling land, water,
territories and other common resources
WE, THEREFORE, CALL OUR MEMBERS, ACTIVISTS AND ALLY MOVEMENTS AND
ORGANIZATIONS, ON JUNE 5TH THE WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY, TO SUPPORT OUR
ACTIONS TO PROTECT MOTHER EARTH AND OUR EFFORTS TO ENSURE THE FULL
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF
PEASANTS AND OTHER PEOPLE WORKING IN RURAL AREAS (UNDROP) BY NATIONAL
GOVERNMENTS.
WE MUST ALSO URGENTLY UNITE AGAINST THE FORTHCOMING CORPORATE LED UN
FOOD SYSTEM SUMMIT AS IT PROMOTES FALSE SOLUTIONS WHICH WILL NOT ONLY
WORSEN THE CURRENT CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS BUT WILL ALSO
CONSTITUTE A SERIOUS ATTACK TO OUR RIGHTS AS PEASANTS, INDIGENOUS
COMMUNITIES, WOMEN, MIGRANTS AND RURAL COMMUNITIES.
LET'S ORGANIZE SOLIDARITY ACTIONS ON JUNE 5TH AT 12.00 MIDDAY
#INDEFENSEOFTHEPLANET, INCLUDING PLANTING TREES.
HASHTAG #InDefenseOfThePlanet #NoFuturewithoutFoodSovereignty
DOWNLOAD AND READ THE INTERNATIONAL WEEK OF ANTI-IMPERIALIST STRUGGLE
MANIFESTO IN DEFENSE OF THE PLANET IN ENGLISH [5], SPANISH [6],
PORTUGUESE [7]
GLOBALISE THE STRUGGLE, GLOBALISE 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/climate-change-and-a...
[3]
https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-for/agrarian-reform/
[4]
https://viacampesina.org/en/what-are-we-fighting-against/transnational-co...
[5]
https://viacampesina.org/en/en-5-june-manifesto-the-planet-before-profits...
[6]
https://viacampesina.org/en/es-manifiesto-5-de-junio-el-planeta-por-encim...
[7]
https://viacampesina.org/en/pt-manifesto-5-de-junho-o-planeta-acima-do-lu...
3 years, 7 months