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La Via Campesina Electronic Newsletter-April Edition
by La Vía Campesina 05 May '16

05 May '16

La Via Campesina | Newsletter | April Edition Donate [1] This edition of the newsletter is the result of a collective effort of organisations, which are part of_ La Via Campesina_ movement worldwide. To subscribe click here [2] PEASANTS MOBILISE TO MARK TWO DECADES OF STRUGGLE TO DEFEND LAND AND LIFE ------------------------- With hundreds of actions taking placed in all continents [3] peasants and their allies are united in solidarity to defend their land and to push back the frontal assault on their fellow people in all parts of the world. The actions, led locally by peasant organisations who are members of La Via Campesina and by many other groups, collectives and organisations, involve reclaiming grabbed lands, demonstrations against agro-business models, food sovereignty fairs, seed exchanges, video screenings, conferences and more. (READ THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE [4]). This edition of the newsletter brings to you highlights from actions that took place around the world. #17APRIL2016 | HIGHLIGHTS 'THE MARABA DECLARATION' _From the International Conference of Agrarian Reform, Maraba, Para, Brazil_ ------------------------- "We are organizations of peasants, family farmers, indigenous peoples, landless, farm workers, herders, fisherfolk, collectors, forest dwellers, rural women and youth, as well as allied organizations from across the world. We are here to remember the massacre of rural workers in El Dorado dos Carajás, Pará, which took place exactly 20 years ago and led to the creation of the International Day of Peasant Struggle, celebrated every year on April 17th. We are also here to demand that the governments of the world follow through on their commitments to agrarian reform, made 10 years ago at the FAO's International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) in Porto Alegre, Brazil." CLICK TO READ THE FULL DECLARATION [5] EVERY DAY SHOULD BE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEASANTS' STRUGGLES ------------------------- The 20th anniversary of the International Day of Peasants' and Farmers' Struggle was marked on Sunday - a date that highlights the persecution and violence suffered by peasants and farmers around the world. It's probably a date not many people have even heard of. Another one of those "international days of something really, really important" that passes by almost daily. But consider this: Peasants and small farmers make up half of the world's population and grow at least 70% of our food, using less than 30% of agricultural resources. READ MORE > [6] DHAKA: SOLIDARITY ACTION BY BAFLF & NWFA ------------------------- Bangladesh Agricultural Farm Labour Federation (BAFLF) and National Women Farmers & Workers Association (NWFA) have observed the International Day of Peasants Struggle to commemorate the massacre of landless farmers in Brazil as well as the recent killing of farmers and landless defenders for struggling their land, food and livelihood throughout the world including Bangladesh, Honduras, Columbia, Philippines and Brazil. To mark the Day, BAFLF and NWFA organized a rally in Gazipur, Dhaka. READ MORE> [7] LONDON: THE LANDWORKERS' ALLIANCE: PUBLIC LAND FOR PUBLIC GOOD ------------------------- The Landworkers' Alliance (LWA) hung a 7m banner over the entrance to the treasury today to highlight the continued sell off of publicly owned farmland and council housing under the Government's austerity programme. The action took place as part of La Via Campesina's 'International day of Agrarian Struggle' that will see co-ordinated actions across more than 70 countries highlighting threats to the livelihoods of 200 million ecological and family farmers worldwide. The LWA's action focused on the 9,500 acres of publicly owned farmland and 219 working farms that have been sold by local councils since 2010 under pressure from the Government to raise capital and meet fiscal deficits. READ MORE> [8] BUCHAREST: THE RIGHT TO FOOD SOVEREIGNTY – PUBLIC PEASANT CONSULTATION ------------------------- Eco Ruralis Association together with partners, held the Conference for The Right to Food Sovereignty - public peasant consultation - on 24 April, 2016, at the Conference Center of the National Statistics Institute of Romania (Libertății Bvd., no. 16, sector 5, Bucharest). It was be the first time that Romania hosts a Food Sovereignty event, putting peasants in the center of decisions for the future of farming and food. READ MORE> [9] BANGALORE: MIGRANT PEASANTS LAUNCHED THE ORGANISATION IN THE CITY ON APRIL 17 NAIROBI: KENYAN PEASANTS LEAGUE HELD AN ACTIVITY AT THE FREEDOM CORNER IN NAIROBI TO MARK THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY PALESTINE: UAWC'S STATEMENT ON THE OCCASION OF INTERNATIONAL PEASANT DAY ------------------------- The largest peasant movement in the world, La Via Campesina, commemorated on the 17th April, the international Peasant Day, that commemorates the massacre of 19 landless farmers demanding access to land and justice in 1996. This day is also the Palestinian prisoners' day, a day of commemoration in honor of our detainees. Also, it came few days after the Palestinian Land Day, a day when all the Palestinian people have revolutionized to defend the Palestinian land from the settlers' confiscation. READ MORE > [10] USA: STATEMENT BY USFSA ON INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEASANTS AND FARMERS STRUGGLES - APRIL 17TH ------------------------- The US Food Sovereignty Alliance calls for mobilizations for food sovereignty and food justice that put food producers - farmers, workers, urban gardeners, fishermen - back in control of their land and their food. April 17th is an important day in the struggle for food sovereignty. READ MORE> [11] KARACHI: PFF OPPOSES CAPITALISM MODEL OF AGRICULTURE TO SAVE LAND AND LIVELIHOODS ------------------------- Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) has launched a week-long mobilization campaign with peasants in Sindh province to commemorate the International Day of Peasants' and Farmers' Struggle, scheduled on April 17, 2016. The theme of the world peasant day for this year is ' Life, Land, and Healthy Food'. PFF chairperson Muhammad Ali Shah in a statement issued on Wednesday said they are going to express solidarity with world peasants. READ MORE> [12] ECVC: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEASANT STRUGGLES 2016: CELEBRATION, RESISTANCE AND MOURNING ------------------------- This 17th of April, reasserting our demands for land and rights, honoring those that have paid this struggle with their lives, and celebrating our peasant movement, ECVC and its members carried out a series of actions, conferences, farmer's markets throughout the continent; the same way as it's been organized throughout the world. The peasant struggle for land and rights is global. READ MORE> [13] MARABA: IN DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACY AND THE SOCIAL CIVIL RIGHTS IN BRAZIL ------------------------- We are in solidarity with the people in struggle in Brazil and the Brazilian people because we understand that this attack of the coup hungry Right, is orchestrated as a great imperialist coup in other parts of the world, especially in Latin America. We repudiate all attempts to cause a political coup and defend the continuation of the mandate of President Dilma Rouseff, acquired legally through democratic elections. READ MORE> [14] BRUSSELS: JUSTICE FOR BERTA – JOIN US TO STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH COPINH ------------------------- _Friends of the Earth Europe and Protection International Invitation:_ Two Honduran activists from COPINH - the indigenous group that was led by murdered environmental and indigenous rights activist Berta Cáceres - came to Brussels on Wednesday 20 April to share their experiences of resistance and repression and call for justice for Berta. READ MORE> [15] #17APRIL2016 Check out La Via Campesina's Facebook Page [16] and Twitter timeline [17] for more photographs and videos. To see all the peasant actions in an Image Slideshow click here [18]. To share them on Facebook, click here [19] [20] "PEASANTS WERE THERE BEFORE, THEY EXIST TODAY AND WILL EXIST TOMORROW" ------------------------- Themba Chauke from _The Landless Peoples' Movement in South Africa_ reaffirms his solidarity to the peasant struggle on the occasion of the International Day of the Peasant Struggle. He was in Maraba, Brazil to also attend the International Conference of Agrarian Reforms. "Peasants were there before, they exist today and will exist today, tomorrow and forever. That was why as La Via Campesina, we express solidarity with the peasants of Brazil and around the world", added Themba Chauke. Watch it on Via Campesina TV [21] [22] "NOT A MOMENT OF SILENCE, BUT A LIFE TIME OF STRUGGLE" ------------------------- Shalmali Guttal, from Focus on the Global South India speaks about the increasing accounts of criminalisation of dissent and attack on peasants that is occurring in many parts of the world, including India and reasserts the importance of global peasant solidarity in the form of International Day of Peasant's Struggle. Speaking to us during the International Conference of Agrarian reform in Maraba, Brazil, Shalmali also expressed her honour and pride in being with the peasants from around the world, in their moments of resistance. Watch it on Via Campesina TV [23] [24] INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AGRARIAN REFORMS | INTERVIEWS TO REAL WORLD RADIO ------------------------- Marta Di Piero, of the Associazione Italiana per l´Agricoltura Biologica and the European Coordination of La Via Campesina and Pará, Temba Chauke of the Landless Movement, Via Campesina South Africa, spoke to Real World Radio during the International Conference on Agrarian Reforms in Maraba, Brazil. Watch it on Via Campesina TV [25] [26] APRIL 17, 2016 | PEASANT STRUGGLE DAY IN BRUSSELS | BY ZIN TV ------------------------- Evey year, RESAP organizes events on April 17, as part of the International Day of Peasant Struggle. This year while proclaiming "no landless, no landless peasants" they drew attention to the problem of the acquisition of agricultural land in Europe or forced eviction of indigenous territories in other parts of the world. Watch it on Via Campesina TV [27] [28] 7TH CONFERENCE | LA VIA CAMPESINA ------------------------- Here is the music video created for the VIIth conference of La Via Campesina that will take place in July 2017 in the Basque country. The words were written by the writer Joseba Sarrionaindia and the singers are from the group "En tol Sarmieto" with the participation of Ines Osinaga (Gose). Watch it on Via Campesina TV [29] 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 on the Donate button on our home page [30] and following the link to our PayPal account. [31] [32] Follow us on twitter [32] [33] Find us on Facebook [33] [34] Subsribe our Vimeo Channel [34] To unsubscribe from the distribution list, questions or comments, write to LVCWEB(a)VIACAMPESINA.ORG WEBSITE: www.viacampesina.org TV: https://tv.viacampesina.org To subscribe to this newsletter - Click Here [35] Links: ------ [1] https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=7cgPKKpQWIKC… [2] http://ttps://mail.viacampesina.org/lists/listinfo/Via-info-en [3] http://viacampesina.org/map/17april/2016/map.html [4] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-apri… [5] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-apri… [6] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-apri… [7] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-apri… [8] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-apri… [9] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/food-sovereign… [10] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-apri… [11] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-apri… [12] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-apri… [13] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-apri… [14] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-apri… [15] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/2031-ju… [16] https://www.facebook.com/viacampesinaOFFICIAL/?fref=ts [17] https://twitter.com/via_campesina [18] https://tv.viacampesina.org/April-17-around-the-World?lang=es [19] https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1017193931684511.1073741880.34256… [20] https://vimeo.com/165066393 [21] https://tv.viacampesina.org/Thema-Kone-About-April-17-2016?lang=en [22] https://vimeo.com/165068278 [23] https://tv.viacampesina.org/Shalmali-Guttal-April-17-2016?lang=en [24] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsvDJVE67VY [25] https://tv.viacampesina.org/International-Conference-of?lang=en [26] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG-NssycKSU [27] https://tv.viacampesina.org/17-avril-2016-Luttes-paysannes?lang=en [28] https://vimeo.com/163099895 [29] https://tv.viacampesina.org/La-Via-Campesina-7th-Conference?lang=en [30] http://www.viacampesina.org/ [31] https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=IK5Hgl6MlPxD… [32] http://www.twitter.com/via_campesina [33] https://www.facebook.com/viacampesinaOFFICIAL/ [34] https://vimeo.com/viacampesina [35] https://mail.viacampesina.org/lists/listinfo/Via-info-en

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International Conference of Agrarian Reform: Marabá Declaration
by La Vía Campesina 23 Apr '16

23 Apr '16

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF AGRARIAN REFORM: MARABÁ DECLARATION [1] Published on Friday, 22 April 2016 22:11 WHO ARE WE? PEOPLE WHO STRUGGLE FOR TERRITORY (Marabá, April 17 2016) We are more than 130 representatives of La Via Campesina member organizations and allies from four continents, 10 regions and 28 countries of the world. We are here in Marabá, Pará, Brazil, to analyze, reflect and continue our collective processes to develop our ideas, proposals, and alternative projects for confronting the offensive of global capital against the peoples and natural goods of the countryside, coasts and seas. More than anything, we come together to struggle for our territories, and for a different kind of society. We are organizations of peasants, family farmers, indigenous peoples, landless, farm workers, herders, fisherfolk, collectors, forest dwellers, rural women and youth, as well as allied organizations from across the world. We are here to remember the massacre of rural workers in El Dorado dos Carajás, Pará, which took place exactly 20 years ago and led to the creation of the International Day of Peasant Struggle, celebrated every year on April 17th. We are also here to demand that the governments of the world follow through on their commitments to agrarian reform, made 10 years ago at the FAO's International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) in Porto Alegre, Brazil THE CURRENT SITUATION: THE OFFENSIVE OF CAPITAL AGAINST OUR TERRITORIES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD AND THE ATTACKS ON DEMOCRACY We have listened to our brothers and sisters from our organizations in the Americas, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East, and we can see that everywhere we are facing the same enemy and the same problems. There are ever more cases of land-, forest- and water-grabbing, attacks against democracy and popular will, political prisoners, etc. in Latin America, Asia Africa, Europe and North America. In the current historical period, we are witnessing the emergence of an alliance between financial capital, transnational corporations, imperialism, broad sectors within national states (almost without regard to their purported ideology), particularly but not only judicial and public security institutions, the private sectors in industrial agriculture, fishing and food (including agribusiness and aquaculture), mining, construction, forestry and other extractive sectors, and the mainstream media. The members of this new alliance are promoting an avalanche of privatizations, grabbing and taking over the commons and public goods, such as land, water resources, forests, seeds, cattle raising, fisheries, glaciers and entire territories. In order to achieve their goals, they are using financialization to convert everything into commodities, free trade and investment agreements, the corruption of our politicians and leaders, control of the mass media and financial system, and mergers and acquisitions of companies. Lately we have noted, with increasing alarm, how this alliance--and Capital in general--no longer tolerates the implementation by democratically elected governments of public policies that show the slightest independence, no matter how weak. This alliance has become the main force behind a wave of coup d'état attempts, many of which are taking place right now. These coups range from "soft," "technical," "parliamentary," and "judicial" coups, to the most "hard-core," military and violent coups, all of which disregard the law, constitutions and popular will. This is the case in Brazil, where we find ourselves together now. We add our voices to the voices of the Brazilian people, who struggle to defend democracy against an illegitimate coup attempt, and try to push forward the political reforms needed so that democracy can get out of the dead-end it is in toda WHY WE STRUGGLE AGAINST AGRIBUSINESS The offensive of Capital is threatening rural life and our entire society, including our health, Mother Earth, the climate, biodiversity, and our peoples and cultures. Mass migration, the destruction of the social fabric of our communities, urban sprawl, insecurity, agrochemicals, GMOs, junk food, the homogenization of diets, global warming, the destruction of mangrove forests, the acidification of the sea, the depletion of fish stocks, and the loss of anything that resembles democracy, are all symptoms of what is taking place. The emergence of this new alliance between financial capital, agribusiness, the State and mass media--and its capacity to dispute territories, public opinion and the State, even where the government is "progressive"--has forced us once again carry out a process of reflection and reformulation of our concepts and proposals, as well as our strategies, forms and practices of struggle. Here in Brazil, we have seen how financial capital has transformed the old enemy of peasants and landless workers--the unproductive large landholdings or latifúndios--into capitalized agribusinesses, mines, industrial fishing and aquaculture, and energy projects. In reality, all these so-called "productive" sectors are mostly "producing" extreme poverty and environmental devastation. In this transformation, capitalism no longer requires a "classical agrarian reform" to raise productivity in rural areas. In the past, the landless peasantry formed alliances in favour of this kind of agrarian reform, with factions inside the parts of the State that represented the interests of productive capital. But this change takes any alliance with a fraction of capital off the table, leaving future agrarian reform squarely in the domain of class struggle. It also reduces the usefulness of the old argument for agrarian reform, that so much land in the hands of people -who do not even use most of it- is an injustice in the face of so many more people with no land at all. But at the same time it creates the basis for a new call to all of society and to all working classes, both rural and urban, to question the very basis of the project of Capital for the countryside. Any resistance by rural peoples is demonized by the mainstream media, as organizations, their leaders and supporters face repression, criminalization, persecution, assassinations, enforced disappearances, illegitimate jailing, administrative detentions, sexual harassment and rape. Laws are being changed to criminalize peasant and working class struggles even more, as well as granting total impunity to perpetrators of crimes against peasants, workers, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples and all rights defenders. Facing this terrible panorama, rural peoples, and our organizations, movements, alliances and convergences, currently represent the best hope for humanity and Mother Earth. We are on the front lines of the territorial and political fight against this dark alliance. Our proposals for food sovereignty, popular agrarian reform, the building of agroecological food production territories, and peasant agriculture to cool the planet, represent real alternatives and solutions to the problems created by the capitalist system and by this barbaric alliance in particular. WHAT WE DEFEND AND CALL FOR: POPULAR AGRARIAN REFORM In La Via Campesina and the Global Campaign for Agrarian Reform we have more than 20 years of history in the struggle for land and the defense of land and territory. In 2012, in Bukit Tinggi, Indonesia, we took stock of this history, how it has evolved in the context of a changing world and our own accumulation of experiences and dialogues, and identified key elements of a common strategy for agrarian reform. But in 2012 we were only beginning to see the scope of the ascendance of financial capital and its growing dominance over other kinds of capital. This changes the nature of the game, and how we approach society on the question of rural territories. Now we ask, which is better? Do we want a countryside without peasants, trees or biodiversity? Do we want a countryside full of monocultures and feedlots, agrochemicals and GMOs, producing exports and junk food, causing climate change and undermining the adaptive capacity of communities? Do we want pollution, illness, and massive migration to cities? Or do we want a countryside made up of the food producing territories of peasants, indigenous peoples, family farmers, artisanal fisherfolk, and other rural peoples, based on human dignity and diverse knowledges and cosmovisions, with trees, biodiversity, and the agroecological production of healthy food, which cool the planet, produce food sovereignty and take care of Mother Earth? In this sense, we consider the proposal of our Brazilian comrades for a Popular Agrarian Reform, an agrarian reform not only for landless peasants, but for all of the working classes and for all of society. This agroecological and territorial approach to agrarian reform can only be won through class struggle and direct confrontation of the project of Capital, including its profits, media outlets and its national and international agents. This is an agrarian reform to maximize the potential of peasant agriculture, economy and territory. Throughout the Americas, Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, our organizations, movements and convergences are putting forth similar proposals and territorial approaches in their dispute with the global project of Capital. These include the convergence among our diverse popular and traditional knowledges and ways of knowing the world in agroecology, artisanal fishing, traditional herding, and in our diverse strategies and ways of life. Our proposals, though similar, differ based on the nature of our different realities. In places where land is concentrated in few hands, we struggle for its redistribution. In some countries, we speak of an "agrarian revolution." In places where our peoples still hold onto their lands and territories, we struggle to defend those territories, and prevent land and water grabbing. Meanwhile, in places where land was nationalized and is now being conceded to foreign entities by governments, we struggle for the return of ancestral land rights to our communities. The fisherfolk among us speak of the struggle for the recovery and defense of artisanal fishing territories. In Europe we have once again taken up the strategy of land occupations, and organized struggles against land use changes, making clear to all that the problems of land grabbing and concentration are also a growing problem in Northern countries. In Palestine we struggle against a brutal occupation and we call to boycott Israeli products. And everywhere, there are burning struggles by young people to access land and other resources. We have achieved great victories, such as the massive agrarian reform carried out after peoples' land occupations and recuperations in Zimbabwe, the "Education for and by the Countryside" policy in Brazil, the cancellations of mining concessions and plantations in many parts of Africa and Asia, and the permanence of Cuba's agrarian reform and its successful "peasant-to-peasant" agroecology movement. We also have partial but promising victories, such as the possibility of a large scale agrarian reform in Indonesia, for which we must mobilize in order to make our governments follow through on their promises. We have organized our struggles by providing political and agroecological training for both leaders and grassroots members of our organizations. We have built training centers and peasant agroecology schools in all continents, and provided educational alternatives for our children. We have learned from the indigenous peoples of our movements that "the life of people and nature are one." We have old and new tactics, such as occupation and recovery of land and territory, solidarity, caravans--such as in East Africa and in Bangladesh--as well as alternative media outlets, art and culture. We continue to develop our popular peasant feminist, humanist, environmentalist and socialist values, youth mobilization and creativity, new rural-urban alliances, the voluntary guidelines of the FAO, the Peasant Rights Charter, and other efforts. We need to continue to adjust and innovate new tactics, especially since the enemy quickly evolves new ways of taking our territories. We need new approaches and strategies, such as the construction of autonomous spaces and self-provisioning, as well as the scaling-up of peoples' agroecology. OUR CHALLENGES - We will transform the struggle for land into the struggle for territory, along with developing a new productive model for food sovereignty, based on a more "independent" agroecology by using our own local resources and inputs and recovering our ancestral knowledges. - We will organize the struggle for public policies supporting peasant and small farmer production as well as health, education, culture and sports in our communities. - We will carry out our political and ideological training on a mass scale, fortify our work with our membership and our work with the masses, in order to improve the internal structure and operation of our organizations, and progressively integrate the leadership and participation of woman and youth. - We will confront the ways by which the mass media demonize our movements and promote the culture of consumption and the hollowing out of democracy. We will work hard to build our own media, which foster dialogues with our membership as well as with the working class and the entire society. - We will oppose more effectively the criminalization and repression of our movements as well as militarization, and organize an international struggle in support of our political prisoners. We will organize an ongoing solidarity campaign that will be based on the principle of sharing what we have rather than on sharing only what we don't need. - We will continue to carry out our permanent task of building class alliances, without dependencies, between the country and the city, between food producers and consumers, and with progressive researchers, academics and support organisations that share our vision. - We will denounce and oppose so-called "anti-terrorist" laws and their use against our legitimate struggles. - We will increase our solidarity with the struggles of the Palestinian and Kurdish peoples as well as other peoples that are subjected to military aggression. We condemn military occupations and the militarisation of lands and territories. - We will develop an analysis of the role played by drug trafficking in the destabilization of our territories with the complicity of capital and governments, as well as a strategy to fight this problem more effectively. - We will take on corporate concentration in different sectors of the economy, especially agro-industrial farming, fishing and food, media and financial systems, as well as the frontal attacks against democracy. We shall create forms of struggle that generate economic losses for capital, transnational corporations, banks and other agents of capital. - We will build convergences and greater unity based on common objectives and our diversity (women and men, peasants, workers, fisherfolk, pastoralists, indigenous peoples, urban populations, consumers, etc.). - We will oppose the ascendance of conservative and right-wing religious fundamentalism, racism and cultural discrimination. We will fight the new wave of neoliberal privatization laws and treaties. - We will rethink the relation between our popular movements, the State, political parties and electoral processes, taking into account the specific history and context of each country, and fight the generalized undermining of international and national human rights mechanisms. - We will fight against US imperialism, and while we recognize the importance of multi-polarity in the world, we sound the alert about the emergence of new economic, political and military imperialisms. - Through our organizations, we will strive to build convergence movements around alternative popular projects developed through collective constructions; we will also work to improve the organization of production, such as cooperatives, promote small- and medium-sized agro-industries in order to add value to our products, and we will work to achieve more and improved short and medium marketing circuits, and promote cooperation. - We will struggle to address the issue of credit: how to obtain more credit for the peasantry and at the same time produce without credit and with less debt. - We will oppose the institutional tendency (for example by the World Bank, FAO, and some academia and NGOs) to try to dilute the content of concepts such as "agrarian reform" and "agroecology", by launching "light" versions of these concepts, as in "access to land", "corporate social responsibility" and "industrial organic" food production in monocultures, with the objective of green-washing agribusiness. - We will struggle to achieve international mechanisms to defend and support our visions and strategies that are not "voluntary" but rather compulsory and actionable. - We will stop the approval and proliferation of dangerous new technologies, such as "terminator" seeds and synthetic biology. - We will strengthen the participation of women and youth in our social movements. We will develop mechanisms to increase the number of youth who remain in the countryside. We will struggle against the dominant model of patriarchy in the capitalist system, and demand the full rights of peasant and indigenous women to land, water and territory. - We will carry out ever more unified international struggles to oppose our common enemies. DEFENDING THE LAND AND HONOURING LIFE On this 17th of April, International Day of Peasant Struggles, 20 years after the El Dorado dos Carajás massacre in the State of Pará, Brazil, we are meeting once again, inspired by the thousands of men and women who defend the right to life itself, who fight for a more just society through a permanent struggle for peoples' rights to land and territory, for the promotion of food sovereignty and agroecological production, to end hunger and poverty. GLOBALIZE THE STRUGGLE! GLOBALIZE HOPE! GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR AGRARIAN REFORM OF LA VÍA CAMPESINA DELEGATES FROM 4 CONTINENTS AND 10 REGIONS, UNITED TO DEFEND LAND AND HONOUR LIFE. Links: ------ [1] http://www.viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-…

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17th April: Peasants mobilize to mark two decades of struggle to defend land and life
by La Vía Campesina 15 Apr '16

15 Apr '16

17th April: Peasants mobilize to mark two decades of struggle to defend land and life [1] Published on Friday, 15 April 2016 17:39 PRESS RELEASE: LA VIA CAMPESINA (Harare, 15 April 2016): On April 17, The International Day of Peasant's Struggle - millions of peasants and their allies - women and men - around the world are uniting in action to commemorate the massacre of 19 landless farmers in 1996 [2][1]in Brazil and to continue the struggle for land and life. Two decades after that despicable incident took place in Eldorado dos Carajás, peasants and peasant leaders continue to be assaulted and killed for defending their rights. The killing of Honduras activist, Berta Caceres, and other peasants in Columbia, Philippines and Brazil in recent weeks and the criminalization of social protest and many other forms of human rights abuses continue. La Via Campesina denounces all forms of injustices that affect the peasant way of life, an important heritage of the people at the service of humanity. Constant attempts are being made to push forth an agro-business model that imposes the practice of monoculture which privatizes land and natural resources in order to increase profit, denying their appropriation by the society for common good. It destroys biodiversity, uses more and more toxic inputs, drives peasants off their land, and forces governments and nation states to bow to its will. Unlike many governments, which continue to build repressive alliances with big businesses to promote profit maximisation, La Via Campesina believes the time has come to build an economy based on equity that will restore the balance between humanity and nature founded on peoples' Food Sovereignty principles. _"It's unacceptable that in 2016 farmers are still being killed for defending the very basis of life: the nature and the right to grow food"_ said Elizabeth Mpofu, General coordinator of La Via Campesina. With hundreds of actions taking placed in all continents [3] peasants and their allies are united in solidarity to defend their land and to push back the frontal assault on their fellow people in all parts of the world. The actions, led locally by peasant organisations who are members of La Via Campesina and by many other groups, collectives and organisations, involve reclaiming grabbed lands, demonstrations against agro-business models, food sovereignty fairs, seed exchanges, video screenings, conferences and more. _Press Contact:_ Viviana Rojas Flores: (55) 6199299536 _Spokespeople:_ Marina Dos Santos (Spanish, Portuguese) Federico Pacheco (French) Elizabeth Mpofu (English): +263 772 443 716 Register your actions by sending us information about the planned events to our mail:lvcweb@viacampesina.org Please also send us pictures, videos, posters, flyers etc. We will publish them together with a map of all actions on www.viacampesina.org [4] ------------------------- [5][1]On April 17th 1996, in the Amazonian state of Pará, at Eldorado dos Carajás, the state military police massacred peasants organized in the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST), killing 19 individuals and injuring 69. That day, 1500 women and men organized in the MST occupied and blocked the BR-150 highway in Eldorado dos Carajás, with the aim of bringing pressure to bear on the State and Federal governments to implement agrarian reform. State authorities, the police, the army and powerful local landowners were involved in the planning and executing of the massacre. Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-apri… [2] file:///C:/Users/nyoni/Downloads/2016-%2017%20avril%20EN%20Final.docx#_ftn1 [3] http://viacampesina.org/map/17april/2016/map.html [4] http://viacampesina.org/ [5] file:///C:/Users/nyoni/Downloads/2016-%2017%20avril%20EN%20Final.docx#_ftnref1

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MST: Call for International Mobilizations on April 15
by La Vía Campesina 12 Apr '16

12 Apr '16

MST: Call for International Mobilizations on April 15 [1] Published on Monday, 11 April 2016 21:48 [2]_APRIL 11, 2016_ On behalf of MST we thank you for all the messages of support and solidarity for the brutal murder of our comrades Vilmar Bordim and Leomar Bhorbak. We made a beautiful act in Quedas do Iguaçu (city where they were murdered) with about 5,000 comrades from all over the country, who occupied the city to protest against the violence, in solidarity with the families of the dead, and for agrarian reform. In Brasilia we made a vigil in honor of the comrades murdered and demanding the investigation and punishment of the perpetrators. We live in difficult times and we know that repression and violence may intensify. Our response will be in the streets, in the land occupations, in the blockade of roads, strengthening our National Day of Struggle for Agrarian Reform and the mobilizations against the coup. We have a camp set up in Brasilia with 2,000 militants from MST and several other popular movements to monitor the process of the coup in the House and Senate. April 15, all popular movements of the Brazil Popular Front will hold a big national strike in protest against the impunity of Carajas, the murders of Paraná and against the coup. On 17 April, the day of the impeachment vote in the Parlament and International Day of Struggles for Agrarian Reform, there will be demonstrations in every capital of the country and a major mobilization in Brasilia. So we urge all POPULAR MOVEMENTS AND FRIENDS OF MST TO JOIN US IN THIS PERIOD OF INTENSE STRUGGLES AND ORGANIZE DEMONSTRATIONS IN FRONT OF BRAZILIAN EMBASSIES IN SUPPORT FOR THE DEMONSTRATIONS IN BRAZIL ON THIS DAY APRIL 15: AGAINST THE COUP AND IN DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACY, AGAINST THE VIOLENCE AND IN PROTEST FOR THE MURDER OF OUR MST COMRADES We once again count with the international solidarity of the working class! INTERNATIONALIZE THE STRUGGLE! INTERNATIONALIZE HOPE! In solidarity and struggle MST Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/2024-ms… [2] http://viacampesina.org/en/images/2016-04-12-LOGO%20MST%20OFICIAL.jpg

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Military police and gunmen attack Landless families, murder two workers
by La Vía Campesina 11 Apr '16

11 Apr '16

Military police and gunmen attack Landless families, murder two workers [1] Published on Monday, 11 April 2016 15:06 [2]MST COMMUNIQUÉ April 8 2016 Last Thursday afternoon, families of the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) organized in the Dom Tomás Balduino Camp, were victims of an ambush by the State Military Police and private security forces of the logging company Araupel. In this cowardly attack, promoted by the Military Police and Araupel's private security, were murdered rural workers Vilmar Bordim, 44, married with three children, and Leomar Bhorbak, 25, who left behind his wife who is nine-months pregnant. At least seven workers were also wounded, and two more were detained by the police to obtain declarations, and have already been released. The camp, located in the municipality of Quedas do Iguaçu, in the state of Paraná, began being inhabited by approximately 1,5 thousand families in May 2015. It's located in the Río Dos Cobras property, which previously had been illegally occupied by the logging company. Justice declared, because of this fraud, that those lands were public and had to be destined to agrarian reform. According to statements by the victims of the attack, there was no previous confrontation. When the ambush occurred, approximately 25 Landless Workers were traveling in a pickup truck, 6 kilometers away from the camp, within the perimeter that was declared public by the Brazilian justice. They were surprised by the police and security forces that were hiding. Upon seeing them aggressively approach the vehicle, the Landless Workers ran towards the camp, running away from the endless shooting, to protect themselves. The place where the ambush occurred was isolated by the police, who prevented the families of the victims, lawyers and journalists, to access the location, and threatening them. This behavior allows the police to destroy any sort of proof that may reveal the truth of these serious events. The Military Police has created a climate of terror in the city of Quadas do Iguaçu, by appropriating the streets, fencing the police station and the hospitals of Quedas do Iguaçu and Cascavel where the wounded are being treated, and preventing the victims from making any type of contact with their families, lawyers or journalists. This attack of the Military Police to the Landless, occurred two days after the visit of the Secretary of State, Valdir Rossoni, and the representative of the leadership of the Paraná police, on April 1, to Quedas do Iguaçu, where they issued the order to send a contingent of more than 60 police officers to the municipality. The MST has been in the region for more than 20 years, and always acted in an organized and peaceful way to advance towards the agrarian reform, and claiming that the land should serve a social role. Only in the great estate that Arapuel had occupied, 3 thousand families were able to make a living. The MST demands: * Immediate investigation, and imprisonment of the policemen and private security forces involved, and sentences for all of those responsible (executors and intellectual authors) of the crime against the Landless Workers * Immediate retreat of the military police and the security forces hired by Araupel. * Guarantees for the security and protection of the lives of all workers of the movement that are living in camps in the region. * That all of the land fraudulently appropriated by Araupel are destined to Agrarian Reform and occupied by the families. _To struggle, to build Popular Agrarian Reform!_ Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/human-rights-m… [2] http://viacampesina.org/en/images/2016-04-11-violencia_campo_rondonia1_mst.…

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La Via Campesina - March 2016 e-Newsletter
by La Vía Campesina 06 Apr '16

06 Apr '16

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La Via Campesina organizes the International Conference of Agrarian Reform in Brazil
by La Vía Campesina 06 Apr '16

06 Apr '16

17 APRIL : DAY OF PEASANT'S STRUGGLE LA VIA CAMPESINA ORGANIZES THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF AGRARIAN REFORM IN BRAZIL [1] Published on Wednesday, 06 April 2016 17:57 PRESS RELEASE – LA VIA CAMPESINA _THE STRUGGLES FOR LAND, WATER, AND TERRITORY ARE CENTRAL TO THE STRUGGLE FOR FOOD SOVEREIGNTY._ (Harare, 6 April 2016) This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Eldorado dos Carajás massacre. On April 17th, 1996, nineteen peasants - women and men members of the Landless Movement - were assassinated while they were taking part in a legitímate struggle to obtain land. Since that time, La Vía Campesina has declared April 17th to be the International Day of Peasants' Struggle. It is in this context of memory and resistance that La Via Campesina, together with its members and allies such as the World March of Women, the World Forum of Fisher People, the Organisation of Indigenous Peoples, the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC), FIAN International, GRAIN, ETC Group, LRAN, and Friends of the Earth International, is organising this International Conference in order to renew and bring up to date the discussion of Agrarian Reform. The Conference will take place in Pará, Brazil, from April 13th to April 17th. Topics for the main discussion panels include: capitalism and agribusiness; the project for popular agrarian reform; and the challenges faced by the peasants' and small-scale farmers' and workers' movements in developing a common plan of action. It is expected that the Conference will be attended by 200 women and men delegates from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. The delegates will also take part in a closing international ceremony of solidarity, mística (celebration of the ideals that inspire our movement), and justice, which will be held in very same place where the Eldorado dos Carajás massacre was perpetrated, on the same date and at the same time of day. For La Via Campesina, the question of land is central to the struggle for Food Sovereignty. That is why La Via Campesina finds it important to have this occasion for collective reflection and planning, at a moment in time when peasants and small-scale farmers struggling to have, or to maintain, access to land are being subjected to landgrabbing, dispossession, hunger, and criminalisation. >From this perspective, the Agrarian Reform model that La Via Campesina is putting forward should not only ensure access to, and control over, land for those who work it. It should also ensure Food Sovereignty through the provision of healthy food produced by agroecological methods. In addition, it should guarantee decent living conditions and basic rights to health care, education, technology, and culture for all of the rural population. It is a social project that not only concerns peasants and small-scale farmers, but that should rather be seen as an alternative solution to problems in the social structure, both in the countryside and in the society as a whole.In this light, it is crucial for a world-wide movement like La Via Campesina to construct a shared platform in order to influence public policies, and, additionally, to strengthen unity and solidarity in the struggles in the territories. PRESS CONTACTS: Viviana Rojas Flores (55) 6199299536 SPOKESPEOPLE: Marina Dos Santos, Moviment landless People, MST, Brazil. Spanish, Portuguese. Federico Pacheco, European Coordination Vía Campesina, French. Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-apri…

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April 17th, 2016: International Day of Peasants’ and Farmers’ Struggle
by La Vía Campesina 28 Mar '16

28 Mar '16

April 17th, 2016: International Day of Peasants' and Farmers' Struggle [1] Published on Monday, 28 March 2016 12:31 LA VIA CAMPESINA CALL FOR MOBILISATION-FOR LIFE, LAND, AND HEALTHY FOOD: 20 YEARS OF RESISTANCE [2]_20 years after the Eldorado dos Carajás massacre, the bloodshed continues. But our resistance as peasants and farmers is stronger than ever_ (Harare, March 24th, 2016) This 20th anniversary of the International Day of Peasants' and Farmers' Struggle is taking place in the midst of a truly alarming situation with regard to the human rights of peasants and farmers. [3][1] Recently, there has been an increase in the repression suffered by peasants and farmers, both women and men, in their daily struggle for their rights. At the beginning of March, Berta Caceres, the coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras (COPINH) was assassinated in her home. One week later, in Colombia, a member of the Peasant Association of Arauca (a member organisation of FENSUAGRO) was killed and three other peasant farmers, also members of an Association affiliated to FENSUAGRO, were taken prisoner. These four peasant farmers are part of a long list of Colombian human rights defenders and members of farmers' and indigenous peoples' organisations who have been threatened, imprisoned, or assassinated since the beginning of 2016. Tragically, every day and in every part of the world, very many farmers and defenders of peasant and small-scale agriculture are victims of such murderous attacks. The capitalist model of production based on the domination of nature is in crisis. We see a confrontation between two productive models, two social models, and two ways of living with nature. It is a question of two different ways of envisioning the future. On the one hand, there is the agrobusiness model, which subjects everything to its insatiable appetite for profit, a model that imposes the practice of monoculture, destroys biodiversity, uses more and more toxic inputs, drives peasants off their land, and forces governments and nation states to bow to its will. On the other hand, there is La Via Campesina's model, built on food sovereignty, in which agriculture produces healthy foods for everyone while respecting the balance of nature and the well-being of the rural population. Violence and repression on the part of large landowners and government inertia are symptoms of this perpetual and daily confrontation between two ways of viewing nature, agriculture, life, and food. In addition, incidents of violence against peasant families are likely to become even more prevalent with the expected increases in landgrabbing in Africa and Asia, for the supposed purpose of compensating for the carbon emissions of the most industrialised countries. Our international days of mobilisation are important symbolic dates. They have their origins in events that deeply affected our lives. Today, they inspire us to continue to develop our work of denunciation and resistance. They allow us to communicate with the whole of society in order to develop another agricultural model. This is the context in which La Via Campesina is calling upon all of its member organisations, its friends and allies, all those who believe in peasant agriculture and are striving for food sovereignty, to mobilise on April 17th, 2016, in order to demand access to land for those who cultivate it with respect, and to protest against the assassinations of leaders of peasant farmer movements - which constitute crimes against humanity. [4] More especially, in Brazil, twenty years after the Eldorado dos Carajás massacre - for which those responsible have still not been punished - La Via Campesina Brazil and La Via Campesina International are organising a youth camp, which will be followed, from April 13th-17th, by a conference on agrarian reform where the two production models described above will be debated and discussed. Finally, an international political event calling for a transformation of society will be held on the spot where the massacre took place in the state of Pará. Let us join together to make this 20th anniversary a hymn to life, by organising demonstrations, public debates and discussions, film screenings, farmers markets, festivals, or solidarity actions. All of your ideas and plans are welcome! Tell us about them by writing to lvcweb(a)viacampesina.org so that we can circulate the information ahead of time. On April 17th, send in your photos and audio or video recordings to dramatise this special day. We are attaching 2 posters which you can use to publicise your events. Download high resolution poster for web [5] and A3 printing [6] Follow us on _Social media_: @via_campesina [7] and https://www.facebook.com/viacampesinaOFFICIAL [8] ------------------------- [9][1] On April 17th, 1996, 19 peasants were killed when military police in the Amazonian State of Pará in Brazil attacked a large number of members of the Landless Workers Movement (MST) who were blockading a highway in order to demand agrarian reform. Two more people died from their injuries several days later, and hundreds of others were so seriously injured that they could not go on working in agriculture. La Via Campesina, which was then in the midst of holding its second international conference at Tlaxcala in Mexico, declared April 17th to be the International Day of Farmers' and Peasants' Struggle. Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-apri… [2] http://viacampesina.org/en/images/2016-03-27-Internet-Affiche-Via-Campesina… [3] file:///C:/Users/nyoni/Downloads/llamado%2017%20de%20abril%20EN.doc#_ftn1 [4] http://viacampesina.org/en/images/2016-03-27-Afiche%2017%20de%20Abril%20EN%… [5] http://viacampesina.org/en/images/stories/pdf/2016-03-27-Internet-Affiche-V… [6] https://dl.poivron.org/wkf4mx5lzmj5neqvl2xk-3gjygj4sw6xcgbw7 [7] https://twitter.com/via_campesina [8] https://www.facebook.com/viacampesinaOFFICIAL [9] file:///C:/Users/nyoni/Downloads/llamado%2017%20de%20abril%20EN.doc#_ftnref1

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Position of the La Via Campesina in Honduras against the increasing criminalisation of the peasant and indigenous social struggle
by La Vía Campesina 22 Mar '16

22 Mar '16

HUMAN RIGHTS POSITION OF THE LA VIA CAMPESINA IN HONDURAS AGAINST THE INCREASING CRIMINALISATION OF THE PEASANT AND INDIGENOUS SOCIAL STRUGGLE [1] Published on Tuesday, 22 March 2016 20:12 [2](Comayagua, March 16th, 2016) We, the organisations belonging to La Via Campesina Honduras - The National Office of Rural Workers (CNTC); The National Association of Honduran Peasants (ANACH); The Council for the Integral Development of Women Peasants (CODIMCA); The National Peasant, Indigenous, and Afro-descendant Youth Front (FRENAJUC); and the regional representatives of the Association for the Development of Honduras (ADROH) from Gracias, Lempira; Opatoro and Márcala, La Paz; Colomoncagua, and Intibucá, meeting together in the municipality of Siguatepeque, Comayagua - responding to the very serious social and political crisis affecting women and men peasants, indigenous people, the Garifuna people, and the popular movement throughout the country, strongly condemn: 1. The state policy of neglecting and fragmenting small-scale peasant production. 2. The extreme poverty in rural areas (more than 3 million peasants are suffering from hunger) with poverty levels as high as 70% of the population, of whom 54% are in extreme poverty. 3. The violent evictions taking place on orders of the Courts and the National Police and serving the interests of the power elite and landowners. 4. The imprisonment of more than 5,000 peasants, including 1,700 peasant women, and the assassination of over 140 women and men peasants in conflicts involving land tenure or the defence of territory. 5. The new Criminal Code bill, which we strongly oppose - both because the peasant movement was not consulted and it criminalises the peasant struggle for land as well as all social movement demands. 6. The negative effects of climate change on production, productivity and food sovereignty. These are so severe that, as has never happened before in the history of Honduras, we now have to import corn, beans, rice, vegetables, meat, eggs, and other foods. 7. The total lack of interest shown by the Executive and the Parliament in discussing or passing the proposed bill for a Comprehensive Agrarian Reform with Gender Equity for Food Sovereignty and Rural Development. The purpose of the bill is to create a new, equitable, and fair legal framework for the nonviolent resolution of the country's agrarian problems. 8. The very worrisome levels of breakdown of state institutions. The Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches, the Supreme Court, and the Office of the Public Prosecutor have all been linked to acts of corruption. These government bodies have chosen a public policy of open repression against peasants, human rights defenders, and social commentators like the journalist David Romero Ellner, to whom the Honduran state has given a ten-year prison sentence for six defamation offenses. Similarly, the fire sale of our national sovereignty, with the creation of Economic Development Zones (ZEDE), has led to the large-scale displacement of rural families. 9. The persecution and assassination of persons engaged in struggles to defend land and territory. This includes the assassinations of Margarita Murillo, Berta Cáceres, and Nelson Noé García, among other sisters and brothers. The arrest without warrant of Juan Angel Flores, the president of the Unified Peasant Movement of the Aguan (MUCA), and that of human rights defender and member of the Permanent Human Rights Observatory of the Aguan, Orbelina Flores Hernández. 10. The political persecution of the General Coordinator of La Via Campesina Honduras, Rafael Alegría, and other peasant leaders at the national, regional, and local levels, as well as the stalking of and attacks against La Via Campesina offices - a total of 6 incidents since the 2009 coup. We are very concerned by the attack on our employee Cristian Mauricio Alegría, who was shot in his left hand in front of La Via Campesina premises in the Colonia Alameda in Tegucigalpa, on March 15th of this year. For these and other reasons, we, the progressive Honduran peasant movement belonging to La Via Campesina, are making the following demands: 1. That the Parliament immediately discuss and pass the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform with Gender Equity for Food Sovereignty and Rural Development Bill, which was presented to it on April 9th, 2014. 2. The immediate and unconditional release of the more than 5,000 peasants who are on trial for asserting their right to land and defending their territory. 3. As a Peasant Movement, we are joining the Popular Honduran Articulation "Berta Cáceres Lives On" (Articulación Popular Hondureña "Berta Cáceres Vive") in demanding that the political assassination of our sister Berta Cáceres be clarified. We are calling for the immediate withdrawal of DESA-Agua Zarca from the sacred waters of the Gualcarque River; this also applies to the international bodies that are supporting these death projects. 4. We are proposing a Peasant-Indigenous-Garifuna Alliance for the defence of land and territory, and we are calling for a National mobilisation. 5. We are in complete solidarity with the journalist David Romero, and we demand that the government provide a just and peaceful solution to this case. The Honduran people will not permit more attacks against freedom of expression and the reporting of corruption in our country. 6. We call upon the national and international community to speak out in defence of life and of Human Rights in our country, and to condemn the state policy of criminalizing and suppressing social struggles. HONDURAN PEASANT MOVEMENT BELONGING TO LA VIA CAMPESINA (MOVIMIENTO CAMPESINO HONDUREÑO ARTICULADO EN LA VÍA CAMPESINA). CENTRAL NACIONAL DE TRABAJADORES DEL CAMPO (CNTC) ASOCIACIÓN NACIONAL DE CAMPESINOS HONDUREÑOS (ANACH) CONSEJO PARA EL DESARROLLO INTEGRAL DE LA MUJER CAMPESINA (CODIMCA) FRENTE NACIONAL DE JUVENTUD CAMPESINOS, INDIGENAS Y AFRODESCENDIENTES (FRENAJUC) REPRESENTACION DE ASOCIACIÓN PARA EL DESARROLLO DE HONDURAS (ADROH) LA VIA CAMPESINA HONDURAS (LVC) Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/human-rights-m… [2] http://viacampesina.org/en/images/Comunicado%20Honduras%202.jpg

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International Condemnation: Honduras - End the violence and death against the peasant-indigenous movement
by La Vía Campesina 16 Mar '16

16 Mar '16

HUMAN RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION: HONDURAS - END THE VIOLENCE AND DEATH AGAINST THE PEASANT-INDIGENOUS MOVEMENT [1] Published on Thursday, 17 March 2016 04:30 (Managua, 16 March 2016) La Vía Campesina denounces the grave criminalization taking place in Honduras today in the form of prisons, repression and the assassination of peasant and indigenous leaders. In the last few weeks the situation has worsened greatly with the proliferation of hired assassins aiming to take the lives of those who demand land to produce food, of those who struggle against extractivism, dams, and agribusiness. Yesterday, March 15th, several regrettable events took place which we summarize below. All require the urgent attention and action of our organizations, allies and human rights entities: 1. Assassination attempt on Cristian Alegría, cousin of Rafael Alegría, lawmaker for the Libre Party and Coordinator of La Vía Campesina Honduras. This attack ocurred in front of La Vía Campesina offices located at Colonia Alameda, Tegucigalpa. 2. Assassination of Nelson García, member of COPINH and community leader in Río Chiquito. This tragic event took place during the forced eviction of the Río Lindo community, in department of Cortés, when an estimated 100 police officers, 20 members of the military police, 10 members of the Army, and various members of DGIC invaded the territory previously recovered by 150 families, 75 of which had built homes in the area with materials and efforts they worked hard to obtain. 3. Capture of Muca President Juan Ángel Flores in the departament of Colón. Detained in the early morning and accussed of links to drug trafficking, the lack of evidence forced authorities to release him hours later. 4. Detention of public defender Orbelina Flores Hernández, member of the Permanent Human Rights Observatory of the Aguan, accusing her of involvement in land conflicts. 5. Sentencing of David Romero, journalist of Radio Globo, to 10 years in prison. David has been courageously denouncing the embezzlement of social security and other acts of corruption in Honduras, all of which indicate involvement of the ruling party. It is evident that these attacks are directed at combative social movements engaged in the struggle for land and in defense of territories such as La Vía Campesina, COPINH and Muca. As such, we of La Vía Campesina: 1. Denounce the Honduran government for executing a plan of repression against leaders and social movements. 2. Demand respect for the life of Honduran social activists. 3. Call for international human rights organizations to come to Honduras and accompany the grave humanitarian situation being faced in the country. It is important that the Honduran government be denounced at the international level for its direct attacks on, and criminalization of, social struggles. 4. Ask for all those concerned with human rights and justice to articulate public acts of solidarity at Honduran embassies around the world. To make these actions known write to viacampesina(a)viacampesina.org and, in Honduras, contact the offices of La Vía Campesina in Tegucigalpa by emailing viacampesinahonduras2015(a)gmail.com. Members of the press and allies should contact: Rafael Alegría, 00504 9969-5091, office 00504 2235-9915 and Wendy Cruz 00504 9983-8506. For La Vía Campesina, solidarity and internationalism are the key values of our movement. As such, we will continue monitoring the situation in Honduras closely, making public and denouncing internationally the persecution and criminalization faced by peasant, indigenous, and afro movements engaged in the frontline struggle to defend our territories against transnational capital and its attempt to take control of our natural resources. GLOBALIZE STRUGGLE! GLOBALIZE HOPE! FOR OUR DEAD, NOT ONE MINUTE OF SILENCE! AN ENTIRE LIFE OF STRUGGLE! Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/human-rights-m…

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