Urgent: La Via Campesina and ECVC express their dismay at the authoritarian drift in France
by La Via Campesina
LA VIA CAMPESINA AND ECVC EXPRESS THEIR DISMAY AT THE AUTHORITARIAN
DRIFT IN FRANCE
Bagnolet | 28 June 2023: Instead of finding real answers to the
environmental, social and democratic crises, the French government is
choosing to imprison activists and ban movements critical of the
extractivist agro-industrial model.
On 21 June, the French government announced the dissolution of the
movement Les Soulèvements de la Terre, which campaigns against land and
water grabbing and the destruction of ecosystems. That same week, dozens
of activists were arrested by the anti-terrorist police, on the pretext
that they had taken part in demonstrations against mega-basins,
extractivist industries or agro-industry and its pollution. On June
28th, two peasant trade unionists from the _Confédération Paysanne_,
Nicolas Girod and Benoît Jaunet, along with Julien LeGuet, spokesperson
for the collective _Bassines non merci_, were arrested by the police for
their involvement in organizing these collective gatherings as
representatives of their respective organizations. They were released
later in the day but received court summonses for the month of
September. Such acts of repression against legitimate protests are
unacceptable and unjust, creating a negative precedent and seeking to
intimidate all defenders of fundamental rights. In this context it seems
that the FNSEA, a French farmers' union, has also been calling for the
dissolution of La Confédération Paysanne.
We, La Via Campesina and European Coordination Via Campesina, stand
together with our member organisation in France, La Confédération
Paysanne. We firmly reject these threats and will act decisively in
Europe and around the world to ensure that La Confédération Paysanne and
its members can continue to defend peasant agriculture and its workers.
We express our support for Les Soulèvements de la Terre (the Uprisings
of the Earth ). These tens of thousands of young people mobilising to
ensure land and water are shared fairly, which is an expression of the
acute sense of responsibility that young people have in the face of
social inequalities and the destruction of ecosystems.
We call on the French Government to cease its violations of human
rights, and in particular of the rights recognised in the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other Rural Workers (UNDROP),
such as freedom of thought, opinion and expression, freedom of
association and the right to participation.
We call on our member organisations and allied organisations to mobilise
in support of the
Confédération Paysanne and social movements in France, in particular by
sending letters to French embassies and the French government and by
organising rallies in front of French embassies.
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For interview requests and queries, contact:
Morgan Ody , ECVC CC Member, LVC General Coordinator, Member of La
Confédéraation Paysanne (FR, EN, ES)
ECVC/LVC press offices: press(a)eurovia.org , press(a)viacampesina.org
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Sign petition Click here [1]
Links:
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[1] https://ee.kobotoolbox.org/i/kOOHb1po
1 year, 6 months
Nyéléni Newsletter No. 52: Recognizing the power of people’s movements
by La Via Campesina
*|MC:SUBJECT|* *|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|*
Nyéléni process: Recognizing the power of people’s movements
*The new edition of the Nyéléni newsletter is online!*
In 2007 the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC)
played a vital role in uniting small-scale food producers and their
allies to establish a shared vision of food sovereignty and implement
strategies to make it a reality. Over time, a robust global movement for
food sovereignty emerged, gaining significant political recognition.
Together, we have achieved the democratization of global food and
agricultural arenas, including the reform of the Committee on World Food
Security. Our struggles also influenced food sovereignty policies in
various national contexts and successfully secured political
acknowledgment of peasants as rights holders through the ratification of
the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in
Rural Areas.
However, our achievements are now under threat due to an extended period
of systemic crises. Right-wing forces, authoritarian regimes, and the
corporate capture of democratic governance spaces are on the rise
globally, accompanied by the dismantling of the United Nations
multilateral system. Human rights violations against peasant and
Indigenous communities, along with climate change, biodiversity loss,
armed conflicts, and hunger, are escalating rapidly. Furthermore,
renewed threats to food sovereignty come from new business
configurations, in which hedge fund speculation firms and digital
technology titans join forces to oil the wheels of the failing
agro-industrial production system.
In this context, the IPC advocates for a new global Nyéléni process,
leading up to the next Nyéléni Global Forum in India in 2025.
Recognizing the power of people’s movements, we aim to strengthen
solidarity and unity by bridging local and global struggles. We are
striving to adopt an intersectional perspective to address the
multi-dimensional global crisis effectively.
By collaborating with climate justice, workers’ rights, feminist,
solidarity economy, anti-war, youth, and other movements, we seek to
resist the corporate takeover of governance spaces, safeguard human and
collective rights worldwide, protect ecosystems, and secure a dignified
life on Earth for present and future generations.
/IPC for food sovereignty, Friends of the Earth International, La Via
Campesina, Transnational Institute/
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/Click here to download the English edition (pdf)/
<https://nyeleni.org/DOWNLOADS/newsletters/Nyeleni_Newsletter_Num_52_EN.pdf>
or read it directly in the website
<https://nyeleni.org/en/category/newsletters-nyeleni-in-english/newsletter...>!
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For any further information, contact info(a)nyeleni.org – www.nyeleni.org
*Circulate it!*
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1 year, 6 months
Political Declaration of the Youth Articulation Meeting in Indonesia
by La Via Campesina
*|MC:SUBJECT|* *|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|*
Political Declaration of the Youth Articulation Meeting in Indonesia
Bagnolet | June 13, 2023
We, the peasant youth delegates of Asia, Africa, the Americas, the
Caribbean, and Europe of La Via Campesina gathered at the International
Youth Articulation Meeting in Banten, Indonesia from 29 May to 2 June,
2023. Dozens of us traveled from our communities to strengthen our
relationships, prepare for the VIII Conference and our 5th international
youth assembly, develop a collective strategic action plan, and
ultimately, demonstrate our commitment to La Via Campesina.
United in our diversity, during our time together we shared common
challenges, strategized about alternatives together, and committed
ourselves to carry forward collective proposals in a spirit of
solidarity, internationalism and systemic transformation. We reflected
on our respective regional processes, concerns, and dynamics in the
framework of the common struggle for food sovereignty and the fight for
peasants’ rights.
We recognize the significance of connecting not only with our cultural
roots, but to learn from and with senior members of our organizations
and communities to bring their experiences and wisdom to our current
struggles. We understand the importance of walking hand in hand with the
goal of expanding our bases, reaching those fighting capitalism,
imperialism, and colonization on different fronts, and forging alliances
with other youth movements. Together, we will strive for a world built
on solidarity, human dignity, and social justice, amplifying our
presence in all the spaces where we fight.
Today, more than ever, we are convinced that peasant agroecology,
peasants’ rights, and Popular Peasant Feminism, are critical pathways
towards food sovereignty and climate justice.
With strength and unwavering passion, during our time together in Banten
we outlined our course of action to confront the challenges of our time.
We stand in solidarity with the struggles for food sovereignty and
commit ourselves to advancing our political priorities for the
empowerment of our movement. Additionally, we pledge to intensify our
fight against the climate crisis and engage in profound discussions
about agricultural systems and new technologies, emphasizing the primacy
of agriculture for and by peasants, including the preservation of
biodiversity and the integration of indigenous technological knowledge
(ITK). Crucially, we came to clear understanding that the crisis of
generational renewal in agriculture is global in scope. Both our
organizations and the countryside are suffering from the increasing lack
of young peasant farmers. Land grabbing, free trade agreements, and a
lack of access to markets and financial resources, among others, were
identified as critical causes of youth flight from agriculture.
Simultaneously, we are observing a phenomenon of forced youth migration,
as they are compelled to depart from their countries and enter the
workforce as exploited cheap labor within the agribusiness sector. We
stand in solidarity with migrants, and we commit to expanding the
mobilization of young peasants within our communities by asserting our
rights protected under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP
<https://viacampesina.org/en/tag/undrop-booklet-2022/>). We believe that
young peasants are the future of food, but we need drastic systemic
change to ensure there are adequate resources and support to guarantee
dignified livelihoods in agriculture for us and the next generations.
We, the peasant youth, possess the determination to change the world. We
are the agents of a vibrant future, wielding the collective power to
dismantle existing systems and propel society forward. We dare to dream
of utopia, to strive for what may seem impossible, to nurture
revolutionary aspirations for a just and equitable world. We cultivate
radical hope, as we strive , fight, and emerge as the heralds of
tomorrow. Now is the time to infuse our movement with joy and creativity
and share our visions and solutions far and wide. We possess the
potential to be the turning point, shaping the future of the world and
society.
United, we stand against converging forces of hegemonic food systems:
patriarchal capitalism, authoritarian governments, and multinational
corporations . These neo-colonizers and capitalists, shielded by their
wealth from the realities of the world, will not listen to us. But this
shouldn’t discourage us: we must create the alternative systems we seek
to live in. To do so, we must be organized, disciplined, and committed
to expanding our movement and carry our collective goals. Let our voices
reverberate across the planet, reaching every corner.
To achieve food sovereignty across scales, the youth must embrace
farming and political organization dynamics, prioritize peasants’
rights, climate justice, peasant agroecology, seed sovereignty, and
generational renewal in agriculture, as the cornerstones of our
discourse. In order to achieve political and systemic goals, we must be
organized. During our gathering, we committed to specific tasks related
to communicating our struggles, developing political education
strategies, and strengthening our organizational structures. Over the
next four years we will work together and hold ourselves accountable to
implementing the action plan that we created collectively.
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*Unity in diversity, youth peasants change the world!*
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1 year, 6 months