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Position Paper of La Vía Campesina:Environmental and Climate Justice Now!
by La Vía Campesina 04 Dec '14

04 Dec '14

CLIMATE CHANGE AND AGROFUELS POSITION PAPER OF LA VÍA CAMPESINA:ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE JUSTICE NOW! [1] Published on Wednesday, 03 December 2014 21:54 _WE CONTINUE ORGANIZING, MOBILIZING, AND BUILDING ALTERNATIVES TO REDRESS THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND DEFEND MOTHER EARTH._ [2]We, La Vía Campesina, indigenous people, small farmers, youth, migrants, rural workers, agricultural day laborers, fisherfolk, artisans, alongside our allies in the struggle for profound social transformations, are coming together in Lima for the COP 20 to reiterate once again our commitment to feeding the people of the world, to organizing, mobilizing, struggling and building alternatives that cool down the planet, not just for our own benefit but for all those who share Mother Earth. Very recently, civil society witnessed again how the people of the world continue defending ourselves and rejecting the false solutions of capital and its institutions who claim to take us into account. With 2014 being International Year of Family Farming, the World Bank and its allies in the United Nations (UN) tried selling the world what they termed "Climate-Smart Agriculture" as some sort of new product that would put the brakes on the climate crisis once and for all. However, on the streets of New York and within the Climate Summit itself, we unmasked this fallacy and informed public opinion what "Climate-Smart Agriculture" is all about: more industrial agriculture, more World Bank financing and support for the capital of the few, more contamination and plundering of natural resources, more exploitation of lands, territories, peoples and workers. Above all else, it is part of the same green economy proposal based on less justice and less ecology. In the United States of Sandy (2012) and Katrina (2005) - where the poor suffer most the intensification of each hurricane, flood, drought, and forest fire - we added our voice as organized small farmers, blacks, indigenous, migrants, fisherfolk, women and youth to the largest street demonstrations in the history of climate change. There, once again, we demanded: Environmental and Climate Justice Now! Before New York, we were in Venezuela for the Social PreCOP Meetings of 2014. There, we contributed to the Margarita Declaration [3] which was later submitted to government representatives from 40 nations, including the countries that make up the Bolivarian Alternative for the People of the Americas (ALBA). Those countries that share our perspective will be taking the PreCOP message to the formal Conference of the Parts (COP 20) in Lima, Peru, and will be supported in the streets by our Peruvian organizations and their local, national, regional, and international allies. We will be mobilized on the streets of Lima to participate in the People's Summit on Climate Change, raising our voices as we did in Rio (2012 [4]), Durban (2011 [5]), and Cancun (2010 [6]), and will demand that as part of the preparations of a draft for the first binding agreement since Kyoto - to be signed in December 2015 during the COP 21 in Paris, France - that all signatory states fulfill their commitments and promises to reduce carbon emissions and global warming to 2 degrees, as has been recommended by the scientific community in order to avoid a climate debacle of catastrophic proportions. Summits come and summits go, each with its own historical weight and significance, while we in La Vía Campesina continue to build the social base necessary to achieve our principal demand - food sovereignty, the recognition and protection of our people, our lands, our territories, and an end to all attempts at privatizing humanity's commons. In addition, we make special mention here of the increase in forced migrations caused by the climate crisis. If there is one thing that truly symbolizes the human tragedy of climate change, it is the roughly 50 million human beings that today live between the countries that expelled them, and the nations that reject them. Present in Peru, we reiterate: * The green economy does not seek to put an end to climate change or environmental degradation. Instead, it looks to generalize the principle that those who have money can continue to pollute. To date, they have used the farce of carbon credits to continue releasing greenhouse gases. Now there is talk of biodiversity credits. That is, companies will be able to destroy forests and ecosystems so long as they pay someone who promises to conserve biodiversity somewhere else. Tomorrow they will likely invent credits to trade and destroy water, landscapes, and clean air. * The payment for environmental services is being used to displace indigenous people and small farmers from their lands and territories. The mechanisms most being promoted by governments and companies are REDD and REDD Plus, which they affirm will reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation and forest degradation. These mechanisms are in fact being used to impose, with derisive payments, management plans that deny rural families and communities their right to access their very own lands, forests, and watersheds. In addition, these projects guarantee companies unrestricted access to collective forests, increasing the likelihood of biopiracy. They also impose contracts on communities for periods of over 20 years, limiting community control over lands that are leased by indigenous and small farmers in a process that will most likely result in these communities losing the resources they depend on for survival. The basic idea behind the so-called environmental services is to take control of people's natural resources and then reach into new areas. * Another green economy initiative is to convert plants, algae, and all organic residues into a source of energy to substitute fossil fuels: what they call "the use of biomass". These "agrofuels", as we call them, have already caused millions of hectares of lands once covered in forests or food crops to be converted into lots for feeding machinery. If the use of biomass for energy becomes widespread, we will see life in the oceans reduced even further because many marine species will be left without anything to feed on. We will also see our soils unable to recover their organic material, essential for conserving fertility and protecting against both erosion and draught, and witness our animals starve as crops and feed become more rare and expensive. Water will also become rarer, be it because of agrofuel production or because our soils won't have the capacity to absorb and retain water because soil organic matter will be missing. * Then comes "climate-smart agriculture", which aims only to impose a new Green Revolution on people - this time including transgenic crops - and suggests we give up our demands for effective mechanisms to defend ourselves against climate change, accepting instead insignificant payments that work just like REDD. This proposal also seeks to impose production systems on us that are highly dependent on agrochemicals, such as direct seeding accompanied by aerial spraying of RoundUp - defined by its promoters as "low-carbon agriculture". In short, they will force us to do their type of agriculture, and we will lose control of our territories, our ecosystems, and our watersheds. * One of the most perverse false solutions promoted during international negotiations is that which calls for restricted access to and use of irrigation waters. Based on the pretext that this water is scarce, they propose that it be concentrated on "high-value crops". That is, that irrigation be saved for export crops, agrofuels, and other industrialized crops instead of to water the crops that feed our people. * The promotion of technological fixes that are in no way real solutions is part of the agenda and discussions that took place in Rio. Among the most dangerous are geoengineering and the acceptance of transgenic crops. To date, no geoengineering solution has proven itself capable of addressing the climate problem in any significant way. On the contrary, some forms of geoengineering (such as ocean fertilization) are considered so dangerous that they have been prohibited internationally. For us to accept transgenics, they promise to create crops that are resistant to drought and heat. The only crops they offer, however, are those resistant to their herbicides which, in fact, has now brought about a return to the market of highly toxic herbicides such as 2,4,-d. * The most ambitious plan, described by some governments as "the greatest challenge", is to place a price on all of nature (including water, biodiversity, landscapes, wildlife, seeds, rain, etc.) so as to privatize (using the excuse that conserving nature requires money) and later charge us for its use. This is what they call the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), and is in fact the final assault on life and nature, as well as on the means with which our people survive as workers, farmers, hunters and fisherfolk. * We call on civil society to pressure governments so that they remove all barriers to decentralized, community-controlled renewable energy solutions including solar, wind, and tides and that these receive funding for the design and implementation of said energy systems. At the same time, we must educate people about the benefits of community-based energy systems, the preservation of small farmer systems based on agroecology, a sustainable environment, as well as economies that are healthy, local, dignified, and just. Once again we present our proposals, in contrast to the false solutions sold by the culprits of the climate crisis. In Peru, as we have done in other COP Summits, we affirm: * We must transform the world's industrialized, agro-export food system into a system based on food sovereignty, on the return of land's social function as producer of foods and sustainer of life, based on local production, processing, and distribution. Food sovereignty allows us to end monocultures and agribusiness, foment small farmer systems of production characterized by greater intensity and productivity, increased economic opportunities, better care for the soils, and a healthy diversified harvest. Small farmer and indigenous agriculture is also the way to cool down the earth: it has the capacity to absorb, or avoid, up to 2/3 of the greenhouse gases released annually. * 20% of arable lands worldwide are currently in the hands of small farmers and indigenous people. With just 1/5 of all arable lands, our families and communities produce over half the world's foods. Ours is the most secure and efficient way to overcome hunger in the world. * To secure food for all and the restoration of climate balance, agriculture must return to the hands of small farmer communities and indigenous people. For this to occur, integral agrarian reforms are urgently needed that are truly transformative, putting an end to the extreme and increasing land concentrations that are negatively affecting humanity. These agrarian reforms will provide the material conditions for agriculture to fulfill its role as humanity's caretaker, which is why the defense of small farmer and indigenous agriculture is a collective responsibility. In the immediate future, it is necessary to halt all transactions, concessions, and transfers that result in further land concentration and grabbing and/or the displacement of rural communities. * Small farmer and indigenous systems of agriculture, hunting, fishing, and herding help care for food and the planet and, as such, should be adequately supported by unconditional public funding. Market mechanisms - such as carbon credit and environmental services schemes - should be dismantled right away and replaced by real measures such as those mentioned above. Putting an end to contamination is the responsibility of all, and no one can evade this buying up the "right" to destroy. * The only legitimate use of what international entities and companies call "biomass" is as food for living beings and the restoration of soil fertility. The emissions released as a result of energy misuse should be reduced at the source, bringing and end to wasteful consumption. We need renewable energy sources that are decentralized and controlled by the people. We of La Vía Campesina, small family farmers, landless workers, indigenous and migrant communities - men and women - stand in direct opposition to the commodification of nature, of our territories, of water, seeds, foods, and human life. We reiterate what we said at the People's Summit of Cochabamba, Bolivia: "Humanity is facing an historic decision - we can continue along the path that capitalism created, based on predation and death, or set about on the path of harmony with nature and a respect for life". We repudiate and denounce the green economy as one more masked attempt to cover up increased corporate coveting and food imperialism across the globe. It is a brutal way for capitalism to try washing its hands, and offers nothing but false solutions such as "climate-smart agriculture", carbon trading, REDD, geoengineering, transgenics, agrofuels, biocarbon, among other market solutions to the environmental crisis. Our challenge is to reestablish another way of relating to nature, and between peoples. This is our right and responsibility, and for this reason we will continue the struggle to do so, calling on all people to keep up the endless fight for food sovereignty, for integral agrarian reforms, for the return of territories to indigenous people, for an end to capital's violence, and to restore agroecological small farmer and indigenous food systems. NO TO THE FALSE SOLUTIONS OF GREEN CAPITALISM! SMALL FARMER AGRICULTURE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE JUSTICE, NOW! Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/-climat… [2] http://viacampesina.org/en/images/afiche%20ingles%20COP%202.jpg [3] http://www.precopsocial.org/sites/default/files/archivos/margarita_declarat… [4] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/-climat… [5] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/-climat… [6] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/-climat…

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La Via Campesina: Day of Action Against Violence Towards Women
by La Vía Campesina 25 Nov '14

25 Nov '14

LA VIA CAMPESINA: DAY OF ACTION AGAINST VIOLENCE TOWARDS WOMEN [1] _LA VIA CAMPESINA PRESS RELEASE _ On this International Day of Action Against Violence Towards Women, La Via Campesina is again denouncing the structural violence that women have to confront each day and that has been systematically silenced, made to appear natural, and rendered invisible by patriarchal capitalist society. In 2008, in its Vth Conference, La Via Campesina launched the Global Campaign to End Violence Towards Women, both as an urgent appeal for a social, cultural, and political change in peoples, in communities, and in organisations, and as a challenge to society as a whole to effect a cultural transformation in order to overcome the relations of inequality between men and women. Violence and oppression against women existed in pre-capitalist societies, but it is since the onset of capitalism that violence in all its forms - political, economic, physical, and pyschological - has intensified. Today, violence against women is found among all social classes, generations, and sexual orientations, affecting both urban women and rural women. For La Via Campesina, the violence experienced nowadays by rural women is directly related to agribusiness and to capitalist production methods, which exploit and dispossess peasant women who have, historically, guaranteed Food Sovereignty for their Peoples, and who are the caretakers of ancestral knowledge -both with respect to food production and to biodiversity conservation. Agribusiness is the strategy of patriarchal capitalism in the countryside, one which ignores the essential role of women in peasant agriculture. Neo-liberal structural adjustment policies have exacerbated the conditions of oppression, discrimination, and increasing violence suffered by rural women. This November 25th, 2014, women across the world are calling for a day of mobilisation and denunciation, challenging ourselves to strengthen our forms of resistance and struggle, in order to make a definitive break with the silence imposed by capitalist patriarchal hypocrisy and to establish new human relations. Our political project as La Via Campesina is to construct a new vision of society that is based on the principles of respect, equality, justice, solidarity, peace and freedom, and which is linked to the struggles for land, water, seeds, comprehensive land reform, Food Sovereignty with gender justice, and for the dignity of rural peoples. _WOMEN SOWING STRUGGLE AND HOPE,_ _FOR FEMINISM AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY_ See the new set of post cards of the campaign [2] : you can print and send them around More videos about Women on Via Campesina TV [3]. Publication of the Campaign to stop violence againts Women [4] Links: ------ [1] http://www.viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/women-main… [2] http://tv.viacampesina.org/-RADIO-PICTURES-?lang=en [3] http://tv.viacampesina.org/La-Via-Campesina-End-violence?lang=en [4] http://www.viacampesina.org/downloads/pdf/en/Cartilha-VCSudam%C3%A9rica-ing…

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Nutrition is not for profit: Second International Conference on Nutrition
by La Vía Campesina 20 Nov '14

20 Nov '14

NUTRITION IS NOT FOR PROFIT: SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NUTRITION [1] _(Rome November 20th, 2014)_ La Via Campesina and URGENCI, jointly with other Social movements, gathered in Rome for the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), where Member States of FAO and WHO are discussing and adopting a framework for action on nutrition. This event, organised jointly by FAO and WHO, is happening 22 years after the first ICN, 22 years in which no improvements have been made by the international community; 22 years in which the private sector has captured nutrition as a business opportunity to provide a never-ending list of "nutrient-enriched" and GMO pseudo-solutions to consumers. Transnational corporations have no place in trade agreements or our food systems! As movements of small-scale farmers and consumers, LVC and URGENCI feel the need to remind the Member States that the problem of malnutrition is not just a technical issue, but a systemic one. It is not possible to have healthy and culturally appropriate nutrition without food sovereignty. Teikei, the original Japanese CSA movement was founded in the 1970s as Japanese housewives' answer to the problems caused by industrial heavy metal pollution of their food. These issues, as well as those of land-,water- and ocean grabbing, mono-cropping and pollution from agrochemicals have become much worse in the last 40 years. As Marciano Da Silva, a member of the movement of small-scale farmers in Brazil says "The people of the world could all be well fed, if peasant agricultural systems were protected by States. Nutrition can not exist without food in all its diversity" Tianle Chang, of the Beijing Farmers' Market says that " ...in China, there is an emerging movement of small organic producers working with local consumers to create sustainable food communities together. Initiatives like farmers' markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) have proved to be good solutions to nutrition while supporting the health of environment and communities" The issue of building and defending sustainable local food systems is central for producers and consumers alike. Agroecology combined with alternative food distribution systems and economic change are central to achieving nutrition, the right to food and food sovereignty! Nutrition should be grouped together with food and jointly covered under the auspices of the CFS (Committee on World Food Security) within the inclusive framework of the CFS. Public Institutions and States' policy on food and nutrition must also remain separate and independent from all private business interests. _NUTRITION IS NOT FOR PROFIT!_ LVC and Urgenci press contacts in Rome: Judith Hitchman (EN, FR), Advocacy officer, Urgenci International Network +(33)680600391 Andrea Ferrante (EN, ES, FR, IT), La Via Campesina, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. +39 3480189221 Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/sustainable-pe…

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Newsletter La Via Campesina - October 2014
by La Vía Campesina 11 Nov '14

11 Nov '14

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Rome: World Meeting of Popular Movements
by La Vía Campesina 23 Oct '14

23 Oct '14

ROME: WORLD MEETING OF POPULAR MOVEMENTS [1] POPULAR MOVEMENTS´ PRESS RELEASE STATEMENT October 27, 28 and 29th Various movements representatives of the most postponed and excluded, along with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, with the explicit support of Pope Francis, impulse the World Meeting of Popular Movements to be held from October 27 to 29th, 2014 in Rome. We are very glad of this unique opportunity to let their voice be heard, to have the opportunity to give visibility to the excluded, in the Vatican itself. We are deeply grateful to Pope Francis for this possibility, a new sample of his permanent support and proximity not only to the injustice we, the excluded, suffer but also to those that organize ourselves and fight it back. The Meeting is primarily aimed at organizations and movements of the excluded. We expect the participation of 100 delegates from different backgrounds, those backgrounds bring together: a) the precarious workers, temporary workers, migrants, and those involved in the popular sector, informal and/ or self-employed, without any legal protection, workers rights or recognized union; b) landless peasants and indigenous people or those at risk of being expelled from the countryside because of agricultural speculation and violence; c) people living in slums and informal settlements, the marginalized, the homeless, the forgotten without adequate urban infrastructure. Unions, social and human rights organizations will participate as well, due to their joint efforts accompanying the processes of organization and struggle of the above sectors. Many bishops and other church workers from several countries are also invited, in order to stimulate dialogue and collaboration with the Church. The meeting will be conducted in Spanish, French, English, Italian and Portuguese. The meeting will conclude with an international body promoting coordination between popular movements with the support and collaboration of the Church. THE WORK IS DIVIDED IN THREE DAYS: a) The objective of the first day is to know today´s reality, struggles and thoughts of popular movements. It will be held at the Salesianum. b) The objective of the second day is to appreciate Pope Francis´ teaching on how to move forward and together towards an authentic human development. Will be based at the Old Synod Hall. c) The third and final day will be devoted to taking concrete commitments to coordinate the excluded organizations and their collaboration with the Church. It will be hosted at the Salesianum. THE MAIN OBJECTIVES ARE: · To share Pope Francis social thought, especially items that he bring in his Apostolic Exhortation "The Joy of the Gospel" and discuss it from the perspective of popular movements. · To develop a synthesis of the vision of popular movements around the causes of the growing social inequality and exclusion, increasing deeply worldwide, mainly the exclusion of land, labor and housing. · To reflect collectively on the organizational experiences of popular movements as forms of solution for the above injustices dialoguing through our practices, forms of interaction with institutions and future prospects. · To propose popular alternatives to address problems -war, displacement, hunger, poverty, unemployment, insecurity, exclusion- generated by the financial capitalism, military arrogance and the immense power of transnational companies from the point of view of the poor, with the prospect of building a peaceful society, free and fair. · To discuss the relationship of Popular Movements with the Church, and how to move forward in creating an instance of articulation and ongoing collaboration. AMONG OTHERS, THE ORGANIZATIONS THAT WILL PARTICIPATE IN THE MEETING ARE: Articulação Dos Povos Indígenas Do Brasil (APIB) - Brasil Asian Social Institute (ASI) and CBSCom Cooperative - Philippines Asociación De Trabajadores Del Campo (ATC) - Nicaragua Asociación Democracia Real Ya (Indignados) - Spain Asociación Democracia Real YA (Indignados) - Spain Asociación Nacional De Recicladores De Colombia (ARB) - Colombia Asociación Nacional de Trabajadores Agropecuarios (ANTA) - El Salvador Associacao Dos Peradores E Trabalhadores Do Sector Informal (ASSOTSI) - Mozambique Associação Juízes para a Democracia - Brasil Association des Marchés Economiques Locaux du Recyclage (AMELIOR) - France Associazione Trentini Nel Mondo Onlus - Italy Banca Etica - Italia Biffins - Francia Bigkis Lakas Pilipinas (Fishermen) - Philipines Border Agricultural Workers - US/Mexico Border Central de Movimentos Populares (CMP) - Brasil Central Única dos Trabalhadores Minas Gerais - Movimiento Sindical de Maestros (CUT) Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas (Frayba) - México Centro Memorial Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (CMMLK) - Cuba Centro Sociale Leoncavallo - Italy Children and Youth in Action for Sustainable Future (CYASF) - Philippines Comité De Unidad Campesina (CUC) - Guatemala Condederacion De Trabajadores Por Cuenta Propia CNTCP - Nicaragua Conf. Nacional De Mujeres Campesinas Indigenas Originarias Bartolinas Sissa - Bolivia Confederación de Trabajadores de la Economía Popular (CTEP) - Argentina Confederation Paysanne (CIFTCI-SEN) - Turquia Conseil National De Concertation Et De Coopération Des Ruraux (CNCR) - Senegal Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas (COPINH) - Honduras Consejo Coordinador Obrero Popular (COCOPO - MLN) Mexico Coord. Nac. de Org. de Mujeres Trabajadoras Rurales e Indígenas (CONAMURI) - Paraguay Coordenação Nacional De Entidades Negras (CONEN) - Brasil Corriente Villera Independiente (CVI) - Argentina Enhe Bizkaia (Euskal Herria)- Spain and France ETC Group European Coordination Via Campesina Faith In Community Scotland - Scotland Farm Workers Association Of Florida - USA Federacion Nacional De Recicladores Del Ecuador - Ecuador Federación Argentina de Cartoneros y Recicladores (FACyR) - Argentina Federación Uruguaya de Cooperativas de Viviendas por Ayuda Mutua (FUCVAM) - Uruguay Forum Des Alternatives - Morocco Frente Nacional Comunal Simón Bolívar (FNCSM) - Venezuela Genuino Clandestino - Italy Hermandad Obrera De Acción Católica (HOAC) Homeless Peoples Fedreation - Philippines Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Associations- Camboya Industrial Workers Of The World (IWW) International Coordination Of Young Christian Workers (ICYCW-CIJOC) - France Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne Internationale (IYCW) Aisbl Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat - India Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat - Waste Pickers Collective (KKPKP) - India Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat (KKPKP) - India Karnataka State Farmers Union (KRRS) - India Kenya National Alliance Of Street Venders And Informal Traders (Kenasvit) - Kenya Korean Women Peasants Association - Korea Korean Women Peasants Association - Korea La Junta - Perú Levante Popular Da Juventude - Brasil Liga Operária Católica - Malawi Union for Informal Sector - Malawi Minga Informativa de los Movimientos Sociales (ALAI) - Latinoamérica Mouviman Peyzan Papay (MPP) - Haiti Movimento De Mulheres Camponesas (MMC) - Brasil Movimiento de los Trabajadores Rurales Sin Tierra (MST) - Brasil Movimiento De Trabajadores Excluidos (MTE) - Argentina Movimiento Indígena-Campesino De Chiapas - Mexico Movimiento Nacional Campesino Indígena (MNCI) - Argentina Movimiento Nacional De Trabajadores Cristianos (MMTC) - Rwanda Movimiento Nacional Empresas Recuperadas (MNER) - Cooperativa Subpga - Argentina National Coordination of Peasants' Organizations (CNOP) - Mali National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) - USA National Slum Dwellers Federation - India National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) - South Africa Network for Political and Social Rights - Grece New Zealand Council of Trade Union - New Zealand Parlamento Xinca - Guatemala Plataforma Afectados Por La Hipoteca (PAH * co-fundador a título personal) - Spain Proceso de Comunidades Negras (PCN) - Brasil Re-Food 4 Good - International RIMAFLOW, Fabbrica Recuperata - Communia Network - Italy Shack Dwellers International (SDI) Shack Dwellers International (SDI) Shack Dwellers International/Zimbabwe Affiliate - Zimbabwe Shehab Institution - Egypt Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas (SME) - Mexio Slum Dwellers International South African Federation of the Urban Poor - South Africa South African Waste Pickers Association - South Africa Spirit Of Youth Association For Environmental Services (Zabaleens) - Egypt Syndicate Of Informal Workers (Homenet Eastern Europe) - Bulgaria The French Organizations Droit Au Logement/No-Vox - France Truth Foundation - South Korea Tunisian Forum For Economic And Social Rights - Tunisia Turkish Peasant Confederation (CIFTCI-SEN)- Turquía União Nacional de Camponeses (UNAC) - Moçambique Union Of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) - Palestina United Steelworkers - USA Youth Organization of The Kurds - Siria Zambia Homeless And Poor People's Federation - Zambia Zimbabwe Smallholder Farmer Forum (ZIMSOFF) Zimbabwe We hope this Meeting will mark a milestone in the articulation process of popular movements strengthening a transformative perspective, empowering the poorest sectors and making visible the popular view about the serious problems humanity is facing. JOAO PEDRO STÉDILE Movement of the Landless (Brazil) Via Campesina International XARO CASTELLÓ Workers Christian Action (Spain) World Movement of Christian Workers (Spain) JOCKIN ARPUTHAM National Slum Dwellers Federation (India) Slum Dwellers International JUAN GRABOIS Excluded Workers Movement (Argentina) Confederation of Popular Economy MEDIA CONTACTS: Gabriela Bonus + 54 911 3269917 - Argentina - in Spanis Carolina Palacio +39 3357192098 - Italia - in English Elvira Corona +39 3471895632 - Italia - in Italian Rita Zanotto +556199700420 - Brazil - in Portuguese Isabelle Delforge +39 3511556740 - Italia - in English, French, Spanish Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/2-uncategorised/1690-rome-world-meetin…

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CFS in Rome: The majority of governments remain blind to the challenges of global food security
by La Vía Campesina 17 Oct '14

17 Oct '14

CFS IN ROME: THE MAJORITY OF GOVERNMENTS REMAIN BLIND TO THE CHALLENGES OF GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY [1] La Via Campesina Press Release [2](Rome October 15th, 2014) The delegation of La Via Campesina, gathered in Rome for the 41st session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), recognizes the CFS as the major international forum for debate and decision making on agricultural and food issues. LVC urges governments to take urgent action in favor of peasant and indigenous agriculture, which is the only model capable of feeding the world. On the occasion of World Food Day, we restate our commitment to struggle for Food Sovereignty as a solution to the multiple crises affecting our societies. We reaffirm our commitment to the recognition and enforcement of peasant rights. The celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Guidelines on the Right to Food has shown a huge gap between rights and their priority, respect, and application in reality. In this sense, LVC expressed deep disappointment with the lack of commitment to the application of the Guidelines. Kannayian Subramaniam, a farmer from the state of Tamil Nadu in India denounced the attacks in the WTO to the food reserves created in India: "Public stock holding is vital to the food and nutrition security of any country. It is one of the main weapons that we have against food price volatility. Any trade measure that comes in the way of countries assisting the poorest and most marginalised people is unacceptable to us. The principle of coherence of human rights overrides any trade negotiation or agreement that comes in the way of food security of our constituent groups." [3][1] LVC confirms that it is essential to discuss market rules within the CFS. The adoption of Principles for responsible investment in agriculture (rai) is not sufficient to guarantee the rights of peasant communities, landless people and agricultural workers. It is positive that the primary role of peasants in investment in agriculture is recognized prior to the recognition of the role of the corporate sector. However, the rai do not give clear and strong guidance in the interest of the small-scale producers. The guidelines do not contain sufficient safeguards to stop land grabbing and other destructive actions by private capital and complicit governments. No real progress in promoting the creation of decent work, workers rights, and in the fight against discrimination of women was made. As mentioned by Javier Sanchez, a peasant farmer from Aragón: "We need public policies in favor of food sovereignty, promoting agroecology, local markets, the empowerment of women, access to the profession for young people and access to and control over land, forests, water and seeds. " La Via Campesina expresses the need for the CFS to take a greater role in the design of agricultural and international food policies. We recognize the progress made since its reform and are committed to further promote policies that address the needs of the most excluded populations. LVC urges the CFS to launch processes to develop policies that support stable markets and agroecological agriculture, which are respectful of human and peasant rights. These policies must also contribute to stop climate change, ensure access to resources such as seeds and water and put the public interest before private interests. LVC press contacts in Rome: Annelies Schorpion (EN, ES, FR, NL): annelies.schorpion(a)viacampesina.org, +39 3511556740 Ivan Mammana (EN, ES, FR, IT): cooperazione(a)aiab.it, +39 ------------------------- [4][1] See the video [5] of Kannayian Subramaniams speech Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/food-sovereign… [2] http://viacampesina.org/en/images/stories/foodsov/9037336579_46090b0647_z.j… [3] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/food-sovereign… [4] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/food-sovereign… [5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnuZRJVWGp4&feature=youtu.be

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16th of October: World Day of Action for Food Sovereignty - Watch our video : La Via Campesina in Movement
by La Vía Campesina 16 Oct '14

16 Oct '14

[1]Today, 16th October, we celebrate the World Day of Action for Food Sovereignty and against Transnational Corporations. In this occasion, La Via Campesina invites its member organisations across the world, grassroots organisations and allied social groups to watch our video: LA VIA CAMPESINA IN MOVEMENT. FOOD SOVEREIGNTY NOW! [1], to inspire your actions and activities today. The film is available in ENGLISH [1], SPANISH [2], FRENCH [3], and other languages... This is a Day of solidarity, resistance, and mobilization in order to make citizens aware of the current threats to Peoples' Food Sovereignty. _ _ _FOOD SOVEREIGNTY NOW!_ _ GLOBALIZE THE __STRUGGLE_, GLOBALIZE HOPE ! Links: ------ [1] http://vimeo.com/27473286 [2] http://vimeo.com/27474387 [3] http://vimeo.com/27473807

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NON AU TTIP, CETA et autres politiques commerciales destructives
by La Vía Campesina 13 Oct '14

13 Oct '14

NON AU TTIP, CETA ET AUTRES POLITIQUES COMMERCIALES DESTRUCTIVES [1] [2](Rome, le 11 octobre) La délégation de La Vía Campesina, réunie à Rome pour la réunion du Comité de Sécurité alimentaire mondial renouvelle son rejet des négociations actuelles sur divers accords de libre échange tels le TTIP [3][1], TPP [4][2] et le CETA [5][3] Dans le cadre de la journée mondiale d'action contre le TTIP et en solidarité avec le 16 octobre, journée d'action mondiale pour la Souveraineté alimentaire. La délégation participe à la 41ème session du CSA, où est célébré le dixième anniversaire des Directives du Droit à l'Alimentation. ´Les paysannes et les paysans, producteurs à petite échelle, ne voient aucune raison de le célébrer puisque lesdites directives n'ont pas été appliquées du tout. D'autre part, les négociations commerciales, menées à l'encontre du droit à l'alimentation, progressent à un rythme préoccupant. La promotion de la concurrence par le biais de la suppression des droits de douane et des normes, permet le renforcement d'un Système agricole et alimentaire chaque fois plus sous le contrôle des multinationales. Le paradigme du commerce néolibéral ignore complètement les normes des droits sociaux, environnementaux et humains et ne fait que garantir les profits et le contrôle d'un petit nombre de transnationales. L'augmentation de la marchandisation des aliments ne respecte ni ne garantit le droit à l'alimentation. La nature antidémocratique et secrète des négociations confirme que ces accords ne profitent aucunement aux personnes. Ils détruisent les capacités des paysannes et des paysans à produire pour leurs communautés et les capacités des citoyennes et citoyens à décider du type d'aliments qu'ils souhaitent consommer. Ils n'encouragent pas le changement urgent dont nous avons besoin pour mettre fin au changement climatique. La délégation de LVC à Rome s'est engagée à défendre des politiques publiques de soutien à une agriculture paysanne et autochtone. Il s'agit de l'unique modèle agricole capable d'éradiquer la faim dans le monde. Nous demandons donc instamment au CSA d'évaluer, de contrôler et de subordonner les décisions politiques adoptées par d'autres organismes internationaux. Nous devons en toute urgence changer les règles du commerce pour aller vers un modèle en accord avec la souveraineté alimentaire en promouvant l'agroécologie et la réforme agraire. CONTACTS PRESSE LVC À ROME: Annelies Schorpion (EN, ES, FR, NL): annelies.schorpion(a)viacampesina.org, +39 3511556740 Ivan Mammana (EN, ES, FR, IT): cooperazione(a)aiab.it, +39 3341667401 ------------------------- [6][1] Partenariat transatlantique de commerce et d'investissement négocié entre l'UE et les USA [7][2] Accord de partenatiat transpacifique [8][3] Accord économqiue et commecial global entre l'UE et le Canada Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/fr/index.php/actions-et-nements-mainmenu-26/non-aux… [2] http://viacampesina.org/fr/images/stories/nonomc/fta-rome.jpg [3] http://viacampesina.org/fr/index.php/actions-et-nements-mainmenu-26/non-aux… [4] http://viacampesina.org/fr/index.php/actions-et-nements-mainmenu-26/non-aux… [5] http://viacampesina.org/fr/index.php/actions-et-nements-mainmenu-26/non-aux… [6] http://viacampesina.org/fr/index.php/actions-et-nements-mainmenu-26/non-aux… [7] http://viacampesina.org/fr/index.php/actions-et-nements-mainmenu-26/non-aux… [8] http://viacampesina.org/fr/index.php/actions-et-nements-mainmenu-26/non-aux…

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STOP TTIP, CETA and other destructive trade policies
by La Vía Campesina 13 Oct '14

13 Oct '14

STOP TTIP, CETA AND OTHER DESTRUCTIVE TRADE POLICIES [1] [2](Rome, 11th October) The delegation of La Via Campesina, gathered in Rome for the meeting of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), reiterates its rejection of the ongoing negotiations of several free trade agreements such as the TTIP [3][1], TPP [4][2] and CETA [5][3]. We do this within the framework of the Global Day of Action against TTIP and in solidarity with the 16th October, the Global Day of Action for Food Sovereignty. The delegation is participating in the 41st session of the CFS where the 10th anniversary of the Right to Food Guidelines is being celebrated. For small-scale farmers there is no reason to celebrate however, as the implementation of the Guidelines has not advanced at all. Conversely, trade negotiations, contrary to the Right to Food, are advancing at a concerning pace. The promotion of competition through the suppression of tariffs and standards is strengthening an agricultural and food system increasingly controlled by multinationals. The neoliberal trade paradigm is blind to social, environmental, and human rights standards and only benefits the profits and control of a few transnational corporations. The increased commodification of food does not respect or support the right to food. The anti-democratic and secretive nature of the negotiations confirms the analysis that people will not benefit from these agreements. They destroy the capacities of farmers to produce for local communities and of citizens to decide on the food they eat. They will not support the urgent shift we need to put a stop to climate change. The LVC delegation in Rome is committed to pursuing policies supporting sustainable peasant agriculture. This is the only agricultural model capable of eradicating hunger in the world and therefore LVC urges the CFS to evaluate, monitor and subordinate the policy decisions taken by other international bodies. We urgently need to shift trade rules to a model in line with food sovereignty that promotes agroecology and agrarian reform. LVC PRESS CONTACTS IN ROME: Annelies Schorpion (EN, ES, FR, NL): annelies.schorpion(a)viacampesina.org, +39 351155674 Ivan Mammana (EN, ES, FR, IT): cooperazione(a)aiab.it, +39 3341667401 ------------------------- [6][1] Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiated between the US and EU [7][2] Trans-Pacific Partnership [8][3] Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement negotiated between the EU and Canada Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/stop-fr… [2] http://viacampesina.org/en/images/stories/fta/fta-rome.jpg [3] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/stop-fr… [4] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/stop-fr… [5] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/stop-fr… [6] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/stop-fr… [7] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/stop-fr… [8] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/stop-fr…

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October 16th, World Day of Action For Food Sovereignty and against transnational corporations
by La Vía Campesina 09 Oct '14

09 Oct '14

STOP TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS! OCTOBER 16TH, WORLD DAY OF ACTION FOR FOOD SOVEREIGNTY AND AGAINST TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS [1] Published on Thursday, 09 October 2014 23:20 _FOOD SOVEREIGNTY IS THE RIGHT OF THE WORLD’S PEOPLES TO PRODUCE AND TO CONSUME HEALTHY FOOD. FOOD CANNOT BE REDUCED TO A COMMODITY IN THE HANDS OF THE TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS._ [2]The international peasant and family farmer movement, La Via Campesina, is calling upon its member organisations across the world, and on grassroots organisations, allied social groups, and concerned consumers to be part of the World Day of Action for Peoples' Food Sovereignty and against transnational corporations, this coming October 16th, 2014. Every year, La Via Campesina organises this Day of solidarity, resistance, and mobilisation in order to make citizens aware of the current threats to Peoples' Food Sovereignty. To this end, we believe that it is important, and absolutely necessary ,to strengthen the alliance between those who work in the countryside and those who work in the city. The human right to food should not only refer to availability; it should also ensure that the available food is wholesome, healthy, and culturally appropriate. In 1996, in Rome, La Via Campesina introduced Food Sovereignty as the right of the world's peoples to decide upon their own food and farming policies, giving preference to local production and distribution systems - in the hands of peasants and family farmers - that meet the needs of the population. Today, taking advantage of the triple alliance between states, banks, and communications media, transnational agri-business gives widespread advertising coverage to the large-scale agricultural model, which, it is argued, is very highly productive and is able solve the food crisis. In reality, however, at this very moment, more than a billion people in the world suffer from hunger and starvation, while the transnational corporations, solely motivated by profit, continue to speculate with food. Agribusiness drives millions of peasants and family farmers, women and men, off their land and away from their territories, leaving the countryside without farmers, leading to a concentration of control over natural resoures such as land and water, and destroying biodiversity. Moreover, companies such as Monsanto, Cargill, Bunge, Dupont, and AMD, among others, have taken over and are monopolising world trade in grains and seeds, criminalising the ancestral practice of saving, and exchanging seeds. Agribusiness encourages the indiscriminate use of toxic agricultural chemicals, which both degrade the soil and threaten the lives of farmers, farmworkers, and urban consumers. On this World Day of Action taking place on October 16th, we peasants and farmers, women and men, of La Via Campesina reaffirm the urgent need for Comprehensive Agrarian Reform as a means of attaining Food Sovereignty; and we endorse agro-ecological production as the alternative farming practice that is consistent with our plans for the future as peasants and family farmers, which also mitigates the effects of climate change and cools the planet down. Therefore, on this October 16th - the World Day of Action for Food Sovereignty and against Transnational Corporations - we will be mobilising: taking over land, holding forums; organising agro-ecological festivals; occupying the streets of towns and cities. We will raise our voices in order to express our resistance to landgrabbing and to the use of toxic agricultural chemicals and genetically-modified seeds - and to call for Comprehensive Agrarian Reform and Food Sovereignty , which together imply a radical transformation towards a fair and decent food system for the world's peoples. _FOOD SOVEREIGNTY NOW!!_ We would like to record all of the actions taking place in your organisations everywhere in the world: photographs; forums; marches; video screenings; seed exchanges; agro-ecological festivals. Please send your information to: lvcweb(a)viacampesina.org Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/stop-tr… [2] http://viacampesina.org/en/images/stories/stoptnc/efsa/Llamado%2016%20de%20…

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