From Carajás to Gaza: Peasant Struggles Are Global — To Defend Land,
Water, and Territories for Life!
17 April 2025
*17 April 2025, Bagnolet | Statement on #17April – International Day of
Peasants’ Struggles*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every year, La Via Campesina marks the 17th of April as the
International Day of Peasants’ Struggles, to honour the memory of the 21
landless peasants brutally murdered by the police while they
participated in a peaceful protest in the southern region of Para state,
Brazil, in 1996. Despite the gravity of this crime justice remain
elusive with perpetrators still unpunished.
*This year, 17 April unfolds against the backdrop of a _genocidal war in
Gaza_
<https://viacampesina.org/en/international-solidarity/la-via-campesina-missi…>,*
where food has been weaponized to exterminate the Palestinian population
through starvation. Systematic mass killing carries on with total
impunity. Had the so-called liberal world order, through its
international institutions and Western democracies, truly wanted to stop
the genocide, it would have done so months ago. Gaza has laid bare the
truth: these powers are willing to sacrifice thousands of Palestinian
children—and the very principles of human rights and international
law—in service of their imperial ambitions.
*What ties Palestine, Eldorado dos Carajás, Sudan, the DRC, Haiti, and
many other territories is not only repression and violence—but the
silence and complicity of global institutions and so-called democratic
governments.* Instead of ending the suppression and operation waged
against the peoples, many of them are only enabling these wars and
conflicts. They actively create and sustain them —paving the way for
militarization, the destruction of peasant livelihoods, the grabbing and
devastation of land, water and forests through extractivism, and the
adoption of laws pushed by submissive governments that auction off our
territories and commons.
*The criminalization and violence against those who defend land, water,
and territories is a persistent reality across all regions of the world
<https://viacampesina.org/en/international-solidarity/>. *Peasants,
Indigenous Peoples, and rural and urban activists face threats,
persecution, and even assassination for resisting land grabs,
extractivism, and agribusiness. These attacks threaten not only lives,
but also the survival of alternative models of production — like peasant
agroecology — that defend communities and ecological balance against the
greed of multinationals and the plunder of Mother Earth.
In March, La Via Campesina *called on*
<https://viacampesina.org/en/2025/03/17-april-2025-international-day-of-peas…>**
<https://viacampesina.org/en/2025/03/17-april-2025-international-day-of-peas…>
social movements and civil society organizations everywhere to hit the
streets and push back against this violent, extractivist system that is
fueling hunger, poverty, forced migration, wars, and ecological collapse..
*The response has been resounding.*
Made with Padlet
<https://padlet.com?ref=embed>
In April, from Brazil to Kenya, from Australia to Puerto Rico,
solidarity actions and struggles for land, water, and territories were
reported. While these actions were organized autonomously in different
locations by movements and civil society members, *what tied them
together were the chorus for a common set of demands.*
*Food Sovereignty in the times of geo-political crisis: *
Amid growing militarization, trade wars, and rising prices of food,
fertilizers, and fuel, the demand for food sovereignty is gaining
momentum worldwide. This month, in actions across Asia, Africa, and
Central America grassroots movements urged their governments to learn
from recent supply shocks and geopolitical conflicts and prioritize
national food sovereignty. There is also a growing call to shift from
an export-driven monoculture model to domestic production through
peasant agroecology. This involves investing in short agro-food chains,
supporting local solidarity markets, and establishing robust market
regulations to improve price transparency, ensure fair prices for
peasants, and create public food stocks. Furthermore, this
transformation must go hand in hand with the strengthening of the value
chain for peasant products, boosting food sovereignty and control over
our territories.
*Agrarian reform and the Right to Land:*
Across the world, peasant movements have been key defenders of land,
agroecology, and food sovereignty. In South America, examples like
Bolivia’s Plurinational Constitution, the struggle for overdue agrarian
reform in Colombia, and the land occupations led by Brazil’s Landless
Workers’ Movement (MST) show that real solutions are born from the
organized bases of the countryside. These struggles echo in peasant
movements worldwide, where Agrarian Reform and the Right to Land remain
urgent demands to protect and uphold food sovereignty.
This April, many organizations across Latin America, Europe, and East
Asia have called for reforms not only for landless peasants, but for all
working-class people — using land and territory as tools to rebuild and
defend community.
Revitalizing peasant communities — long fragmented by imposed models of
rural ‘modernization’ that prioritize monoculture, land grabs, and
dependence on agro-industrial giants — goes hand in hand with securing
land rights and diversifying production. Together, these efforts :
* creates pathways for youth to stay in or return to rural areas, and
for all those, whether from rural or urban backgrounds, who wish to
work the land and strengthen local food systems,
* allows migrant family members to return to their lands or begin
farming in their new countries, and
* leads to the empowerment of women in productive activities and
decision-making.
The upcoming _ICARRD+20_ <https://viacampesina.org/en/tag/icarrd20/>
conference in Colombia in 2026 offers a historic opportunity to advance
comprehensive agrarian reform. Public policies are needed to secure our
right to land and support our struggle for life, water, and territories.
*Real rooted solutions to solve the climate crisis:*
In April, many actions focused on the climate crisis and its growing
impact on food production and rural economies. As the world prepares for
COP30 in Belém, Brazil — at the heart of the Amazon — _social movements
and civil society organizations_
<https://cupuladospovoscop30.org/en/home/> are sounding the alarm on the
need for structural responses. Not far from there, in the Andes, peasant
communities are facing fires, droughts, land grabs, and forced
displacement, all while resisting through practices that protect
community commons based on ancestral knowledge. These struggles are not
isolated: they are part of a collective response to a global system in
crisis — climate, food, economic, and political.
*That’s why real solutions must rethink the current industrial model of
food production, storage, processing, transport, and consumption*;
dismantle corporate control over food systems; and move toward local,
peasant-led, agroecological and people-centered alternatives. This
conversation will also be central to the _3rd Nyéléni Global Forum_
<https://nyeleniglobalforum.org/> in September, which aims to build a
shared agenda for transformation from the territories in the face of
systemic collapse.
La Via Campesina firmly believes that the _/UN Declaration on the Rights
of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP)/_
<https://viacampesina.org/en/2021/06/undrop-illustrations/> provides a
clear path to building resilient local economies and food sovereignty.
We are _collaborating with the UN Working Group_
<https://viacampesina.org/en/2024/11/la-via-campesina-participates-and-gives…>
to translate this _Declaration_
<https://viacampesina.org/en/tag/undrop-booklet-2022/> into concrete
national and local policies that will benefit our peoples.
As we advance these proposals, we remain dedicated to honoring the
_memory and struggle of countless peasants and Indigenous Peoples_
<https://viacampesina.org/en/international-solidarity/global-solidarity-stat…>
who have been killed or persecuted for defending their land, water, and
territories.
*Not a moment of silence, but a lifetime of struggle – that is our
commitment.*
*Land, Water and Territories for Life, not Profits!*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
/*For press queries, write to _press(a)viacampesina.org_
<http://press@viacampesina.org>*/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
#17April - International Day of Peasants' Struggles
FROM CARAJÁS TO GAZA: PEASANT STRUGGLES ARE GLOBAL — TO DEFEND LAND,
WATER, AND TERRITORIES, FOR LIFE!
Every year, La Via Campesina marks the 17th of April as the
International Day of Peasants' Struggles, to honour the memory of the 21
landless peasants brutally murdered by the police while they
participated in a peaceful protest in the southern region of Para state,
Brazil, in 1996. Despite the gravity of this crime justice remain
elusive with perpetrators still unpunished.
This year, 17 April unfolds against the backdrop of a genocidal war in
Gaza [1], where food has been weaponized to exterminate the Palestinian
population through starvation. Systematic mass killing carries on with
total impunity. Had the so-called liberal world order, through its
international institutions and Western democracies, truly wanted to stop
the genocide, it would have done so months ago. Gaza has laid bare the
truth: these powers are willing to sacrifice thousands of Palestinian
children--and the very principles of human rights and international
law--in service of their imperial ambitions.
What ties Palestine, Eldorado dos Carajás, Sudan, the DRC, Haiti, and
many other territories is not only repression and violence--but the
silence and complicity of global institutions and so-called democratic
governments. Instead of ending the suppression and operation waged
against the peoples, many of them are only enabling these wars and
conflicts. They actively create and sustain them --paving the way for
militarization, the destruction of peasant livelihoods, the grabbing and
devastation of land, water and forests through extractivism, and the
adoption of laws pushed by submissive governments that auction off our
territories and commons.
The criminalization and violence against those who defend land, water,
and territories is a persistent reality across all regions of the world
[2]. Peasants, Indigenous Peoples, and rural and urban activists face
threats, persecution, and even assassination for resisting land grabs,
extractivism, and agribusiness. These attacks threaten not only lives,
but also the survival of alternative models of production -- like
peasant agroecology -- that defend communities and ecological balance
against the greed of multinationals and the plunder of Mother Earth.
In March, La Via Campesina called on [3] [3] social movements and
civil society organizations everywhere to hit the streets and push back
against this violent, extractivist system that is fueling hunger,
poverty, forced migration, wars, and ecological collapse..
The response has been resounding.
[4]
CLICK TO EXPLORE THE MAP [4]
In April, from Brazil to Kenya, from Australia to Puerto Rico,
solidarity actions and struggles for land, water, and territories were
reported. While these actions were organized autonomously in different
locations by movements and civil society members, what tied them
together were the chorus for a common set of demands.
-------------------------
Food Sovereignty in Times of Geo-Political Crisis:
Amid growing militarization, trade wars, and rising prices of food,
fertilizers, and fuel, the demand for food sovereignty is gaining
momentum worldwide. This month, in actions across Asia, Africa, and
Central America grassroots movements urged their governments to learn
from recent supply shocks and geopolitical conflicts and prioritize
national food sovereignty. There is also a growing call to shift from
an export-driven monoculture model to domestic production through
peasant agroecology. This involves investing in short agro-food chains,
supporting local solidarity markets, and establishing robust market
regulations to improve price transparency, ensure fair prices for
peasants, and create public food stocks. Furthermore, this
transformation must go hand in hand with the strengthening of the value
chain for peasant products, boosting food sovereignty and control over
our territories.
-------------------------
Agrarian Reform and the Right to Land:
Across the world, peasant movements have been key defenders of land,
agroecology, and food sovereignty. In South America, examples like
Bolivia's Plurinational Constitution, the struggle for overdue agrarian
reform in Colombia, and the land occupations led by Brazil's Landless
Workers' Movement (MST) show that real solutions are born from the
organized bases of the countryside. These struggles echo in peasant
movements worldwide, where Agrarian Reform and the Right to Land remain
urgent demands to protect and uphold food sovereignty.
This April, many organizations across Latin America, Europe, and East
Asia have called for reforms not only for landless peasants, but for all
working-class people -- using land and territory as tools to rebuild and
defend community.
Securing land rights and diversifying production that:
* helps youth stay in rural areas, or enables non-rural youth to start
farming,
* allows migrant family members to return to their lands or begin
farming in their new countries,
* leads to the empowerment of women in productive activities and
decision-making.
This revitalization of peasant communities -- fragmented by imposed
processes of rural "modernization" that prioritize monoculture, land
concentration, and dependence on large agro-industries -- creates
pathways for youth to stay in or return to rural areas, and for all
those, whether from rural or urban backgrounds, who wish to work the
land and strengthen local food systems. The upcoming ICARRD+20 [5]
conference in Colombia in 2026 offers a historic opportunity to advance
comprehensive agrarian reform. Public policies are needed to secure our
right to land and support our struggle for life, water, and territories.
-------------------------
Real Rooted Solutions to Solve the Climate Crisis:
In April, many actions focused on the climate crisis and its growing
impact on food production and rural economies. As the world prepares for
COP30 in Belém, Brazil -- at the heart of the Amazon -- social movements
and civil society organizations [6] are sounding the alarm on the need
for structural responses. Not far from there, in the Andes, peasant
communities are facing fires, droughts, land grabs, and forced
displacement, all while resisting through practices that protect
community commons and ancestral knowledge. These struggles are not
isolated: they are part of a collective response to a global system in
crisis -- climate, food, economic, and political.
That's why real solutions must rethink the current industrial model of
food production, storage, processing, transport, and consumption;
dismantle corporate control over food systems; and move toward local,
peasant-led, agroecological and people-centered alternatives. This
conversation will also be central to the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum [7] in
September, which aims to build a shared agenda for transformation from
the territories in the face of systemic collapse.
-------------------------
La Via Campesina firmly believes that the _UN Declaration on the Rights
of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP)_ [8]
provides a clear path to building resilient local economies and food
sovereignty. We are collaborating with the UN Working Group [9] to
translate this Declaration [10] into concrete national and local
policies that will benefit the people.
As we advance these proposals, we remain dedicated to honoring the
memory and struggle of countless peasants and Indigenous Peoples [11]
who have been killed or persecuted for defending their land, water, and
territories.
Not a moment of silence,
but a lifetime of struggle,
and that is our commitment!
Land, Water and Territories for Life, not Profits!
CATCH UP ON #17APRIL UPDATES HERE [12]
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