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[La Vía Campesina] Coming soon on your screen on April 17 : A new Via Campesina documentary: "The Jakarta Call"
by La Vía Campesina 10 Apr '14

10 Apr '14

COMING SOON ON YOUR SCREEN ON APRIL 17 : A NEW VIA CAMPESINA DOCUMENTARY: "THE JAKARTA CALL" The International farmers' movement La Via Campesina is launching a new documentary on April 17 to celebrate the international day of peasant's struggle. "The Jakarta Call" is a 38 minutes film featuring the exchanges, debates and reflections of the movement's VIth International Conference that took place in Jakarta in June 2013. This new documentary highlights the cultural diversity and the values of solidarity and unity converging in this political project. It reflects the multitude of local struggles for the defence of a food system by and for the people. WATCH THE TEASER ON VIA CAMPESINA TV [1] SYNOPSIS: Vía Campesina, the international peasant movement that brings together over 200 millions members through 164 organizations in 73 countries, is celebrating in Jakarta, Indonesia, the first two decades of its struggles. For 10 days, women and men organize, discuss, share, debate, expound and propose… How to transform the world? Propositions from peasant organisations from all around the world burst forth: food sovereignty, agro-ecology, social and climate justice, solidarity, seeds, water, struggles by women, youth, indigenous and migrants, agrarian reform benefitting those who work the land… "People's mobilisation, confrontation with oppressors, active resistance, internationalism and local engagement are all necessary components for social change." Successfully listening to and understanding each other when coming from different realities, cultures and languages is already the first step towards changing the world. Over the past 20 years, Vía Campesina has become one the world's biggest social movement - a fertile ground to nurture struggles and solidarity. A documentary by La Via Campesina, ZinTV and AlbaTV. More information on the VI international conference of La Via Campesina : DOWNLOAD THE REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE. [2] Links: ------ [1] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Teaser-The-Jakarta-Call?lang=es [2] http://www.viacampesina.org/dl/click.php?id=56

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[La Vía Campesina] E-newsletter April 2014. Special issue Peasants'seeds in resistance
by La Vía Campesina 08 Apr '14

08 Apr '14

Peasant seed systems are the root of food sovereignty and sustainability "_Hunger is a social problem … to resolve … we must start by choosing peasant seeds as the basis for food sovereignty_." Paul Nicholson, a farmer from Basque Country. The majority of peasants and smallholder farmers subsist on peasant seed systems, and farm-saved seeds. These systems mostly in developing countries, despite being resilient, are facing new and renewed onslaught from the transnational agribusinesses working together with the so-called developed nations through bilateral agreements and multilaterally in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In Africa, legislation is being drafted to pave way for increased use of industrial seeds, while the "second tidal wave of Green Revolution" sweeps over the continent driven by the winds of "addressing hunger through improved agricultural productivity". In Latin America, countries such as Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil etc, peasants and farmers' struggles against GMOs continue and major encouraging victories have been won. The seed laws being drafted globally are based on the UPOV91 Convention, a legal framework of property rights which includes "protection" of genetic material, certification and trade which excludes non-commercial seeds. The Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) which have been displacing millions of small-scale farmers are being used to open borders to industrial seeds. Moreover, some national governments have set up discriminatory agricultural support systems which exclude farmers who do not use certain industrial seeds to qualify for government credit and support programs. This is despite the evidence that the monoculture and industrial farming methods are not providing sufficient affordable food and cause mounting environmental damage. If we lose the fight, not only nature will suffer grave consequences but humanity! Below are summaries of selected articles and videos published between 2012 and 2014 to further provide compelling evidence of why we should be defending and struggling for the use and protection of traditional seeds, and continue to fight against transnational corporations (TNCs). SELECTED ARTICLES ON APRIL 17 WE DEFEND OUR SEEDS AND FIGHT AGAINST THE SEED INDUSTRY This year the 17th of April, international day of peasant struggles, is dedicated to the defense of seeds. This article explains why seeds are an essential basis for achieving food sovereignty because almost everything in agriculture depends on them: What we can plant and how it is grown; the quality and nutrition of our food, our ability to account for different tastes and cultural preferences; and also the wellbeing of our communities, our ecosystems and the planet. Moreover, it explains why this is not so much the defense of seeds in general but the _peasant seeds_ in particular, which remain in the hands of the peasant and family farmers of the world. Examples of how to defend and struggle for seeds among the organizations in the 73 countries that make up La Vía Campesina, are highlighted. READ MORE and Globalize struggle! Globalize hope! NO AGRO-BIODIVERSITY WITHOUT PEASANTS, SAY GRAIN The world is witnessing an explosion of popular initiatives and experiences to use, save and develop agro-biodiversity. At GRAIN we also see this happening. Seed saving projects, seed festivals, community seed initiatives and exchange networks are mushrooming everywhere. This is both extremely encouraging and dearly needed. We can't count on governments to help us with the tremendous task of keeping biodiversity alive. They tend to move in the opposite direction as they facilitate the corporate takeover of seed and animal breeding, and promote industrial farming. We can only save agro-biodiversity if we save peasant farming. Global farmer movements such as La Via Campesina are trying to do precisely that by advocating food sovereignty. Food sovereignty promotes the use of agro-ecology, biodiversity, local markets and indigenous knowledge. It pushes for agrarian reform, fights against the industrial food system and global trade and puts local food producers centre stage again. Unless we all join and win the battle against the industrial food system and for food sovereignty, local agro-biodiversity initiatives won't stand a chance of surviving. At most, they will become isolated pockets of interesting experiments in a world of uniformity, controlled by corporations. READ MORE … [1] SEED LAWS IN LATIN AMERICA: THE OFFENSIVE CONTINUES, SO DOES POPULAR RESISTANCE GRAIN reports that as the world's agribusiness corporations pursue their attempts to privatize and monopolize our seeds, and make traditional age-old practice of saving and breeding seeds a crime, popular resistance by peasants, farmers and social movements to such control has increased. This resistance has borne fruit in nearly every country in Latin America where campaigns and struggles for traditional seeds have been prevalent: * In Argentina, the draft of the Seeds Act being discussed in secret never emerged from the Ministry of Agriculture to be tabled in Parliament. * In Chile, societal mobilization helped secure a majority of senators to vote against the "Monsanto Bill." * In Colombia, peasant mobilization put a temporary stop to Resolution 9.70. * In Venezuela, there are firm commitments to keep the principles upheld by Hugo Chávez from being betrayed. * And in Mexico, societal campaigning prevented the Federal Plant Varieties Act from being revised for compliance with UPOV 91. READ MORE… [2] Karnataka farmer develops non-Bt cotton seed bank Jayashree Nandi of The Times of India, New Delhi published an article on a peasant farmer, Nagappa, who after three years of relentless efforts, managed to revive 13 varieties of indigenous cotton and 11 other varieties of non-Bt cotton on his farm. Nagappa, used to grow Bt cotton, a genetically modified variety developed by an American company, was finding it difficult to grow this variety as it did not allow mixed-cropping and in times low rainfall, the yields were low. This compelled him to search for native varieties from different states and through careful selection has developed new varieties. He is developing a seed bank of these indigenous varieties which are difficult to find even at research institutions. His efforts have been applauded by others and are seen as a step towards reviving biodiversity and liberating farmers from the monopoly of seed companies, and require government support. READ MORE [3]... NGOS PETITION AGAINST PLANT BREEDERS BILL IN GHANA Thirty seven international non-governmental organizations petitioned the Ghanaian Parliament over the Plant Breeders Bill, which is heavily tilted in favor of commercial breeders and undermines farmers' rights. The Bill does not allow farmers to sell and exchange seeds. Farmers' use of farm saved seed on its own holdings is limited to "personal use" and regulations by the Minister and may be subject to payment of royalties. These organizations which signed the petition are concerned with the conservation of agricultural biodiversity for livelihood security and food sovereignty, promoting farmers' rights and self-determination and citizen involvement in the decision-making process. READ MORE [4] On this article by Ghana News Agency FARMERS MOBILIZE IN BRUSSELS: “RECLAIMING PEASANTS' RIGHTS OVER OUR OWN SEEDS” PRESS RELEASE - EUROPEAN COORDINATION VIA CAMPESINA (Brussels, 20 January 2014) At the start of the year devoted to family farming by the UN to feed the world, peasants from all over Europe held a demonstration in front of the European Parliament on Monday January 20 2014. They called for reclaiming recognition of peasants' rights to select, preserve, use, exchange and sell our own seeds. They also declared that they seeds are essential if peasants are to feed the world, and could overcome the challenge of discontinuing the use of toxic pesticides, protection of the environment and the struggle of adapting to climate change. Only peasant family farming helps to cool the planet. GMOs must be banned. Co-existence alongside them is not a viable option. Intellectual property rights on living organisms, which allow industry to lay claim to all the world's seeds, must also be stopped. We call on the European institutions to enshrine these peasants' rights in all regulations. READ MORE … [5] THE GLOBAL STRUGGLE FOR PEASANTS SEEDS: A STRUGGLE FOR OUR FUTURE In November 2013, La Via Campesina' launched its publication _"Our Seeds, Our Future"_ capturing ten experiences of peasant seed selection, saving, improvement, and re-use. These experiences in recovering and reproducing knowledge to improve peasant agricultural food production mirror what obtains in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. This marks a critical moment for the future of the planet's seed diversity. While industry pursues legal and institutional battles to further control and monopolize global seed supplies, the evidence is growing in support of diversified peasant seeds and agroecology as fundamental to producing healthy food while mitigating environmental and climate impacts. This publication is instructive and each experience proves that farmers are not only safeguarding traditional knowledge, but are also birth new knowledge and new techniques for improving seeds and sustainable agricultural methods. Farmers are thus originators, the scientists, who study problems and challenges obtaining in their localities and finding crucial solutions and answers to address them. They have done this over centuries, before the conception of capitalism, and will continue to do so, avoiding dependence on purchased industrial seeds and other agro-inputs. READ THE NEW PUBLICATION OUR SEEDS OUR FUTURE [6] Defending peasant seeds is fighting for our right to life LA VIA CAMPESIAN- AFRICAN DECLARATION ON PEASANT SEEDS La Via Campesina together with African men and women farmers issued a declaration on Peasant Seeds. The declaration was issued on the 13th of November 2013, in Harare where members of La Via Campesina had gathered to discuss and prepare strategies to defend African peasant seeds against the current corporate and institutional attacks. The attacks through reforming of seed laws by SADC, COMESA and ARIPO in line with UPOV91 convention which seeks to set the stage for privatization and monopolization of seeds in the continent. Moreover, these laws seek to do away with peasant seed systems, and criminalise any exchange of farm saved seeds. The declaration calls upon the policymakers to uphold the seed rights of peasant and small farmers to sow, conserve, sell and exchange seeds. It rejects, among other things, the green revolution technologies and calls for the ban of GMOs. CLICK HERE [7]to read the declaration and for more of the issues discussed in the meeting CLICK HERE [8]to read more THE INTERNATIONAL SEED TREATY: A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF FARMERS' RIGHTS PRESS RELEASE OF LA VIA CAMPESINA Last year (2013) on the 28th of September, the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, also known as the seed treaty, adopted a resolution calling on states to implement and support Farmers' Rights, i.e. the rights of peasants and farmers over their own seeds. This followed the concerted pressure of regional groups from Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa and the Middle East, along with many Asian and European countries, and in spite of opposition from a handful of industrialized nations. The resolution acknowledges the important role played by farmers in the conservation and development of seeds, and welcomes the participation of farmers' organizations and civil society in its work. The Governing Body also notes that patents and plant variety protection (PVP) can "interact" with Farmers' Rights, implicitly acknowledging that they are currently opposed to them in many countries. La Via Campesina welcomed this development and will be vigilant that this new resolution will be upheld. READ MORE ON THE TREATY [9] and for the press release of La Via Campesina issued before this crucial resolution CLICK HERE [10] The European Commission organizes the pollution of our fields by industrial patented seeds PRESS RELEASE OF THE EUROPEAN COORDINATION VIA CAMPESINA (ECVC) (Brussels, Tuesday, May 7) The European Commission adopted a proposal on Seed Regulations in early May. The proposal represented an assault on farmers' and gardeners' rights, as it opened wide the door to unrestricted commercialization of patented plants, extolling patents and property rights of the agribusiness industry and reinforced the bureaucratic control over such issues. This goes against the reasons put forward by the Commission to reform the existing legislation, namely a need for administrative simplification and protection of biodiversity. The European Coordination Via Campesina called on the European Parliament and the European Council to amend this proposal, and to endorse the right of farmers to produce and exchange their seeds as opposed to endorsing patented seeds and ownership of living organisms by industry. READ MORE ON THIS PRESS RELEASE [11] GMOS IN MEXICO: A CRIME AGAINST PEASANT AND INDIGENOUS MAIZE; A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY LA VIA CAMPESINA- PRESS RELEASE In Mexico City, November 20, 2012, the multinationals Monsanto, DuPont and Dow are expecting a positive response from the Mexican Government to sow 2.4 million hectares of GM maize in Mexico, a surface area equivalent to that of El Salvador. The situation is extremely alarming since Mexico is the world's centre of maize diversity, with thousands of varieties (each one the product of different climates, soils, ecosystems and cultures) in the fields of peasant and indigenous communities. Maize is currently one of the world's three main food staples, so the contamination of Mexican maize by dangerous GMOs is a threat to the entire planet. These hybrid varieties are dependent on pesticides and other inputs, which peasants must purchase. For years, the Mexican Government has been jeopardizing the Mexicans' food sovereignty by opening agriculture to free trade, flooding us with cheap, low quality maize and leaving thousands of peasants in poverty. Now they want to poison us with GM maize. La Via Campesina organizations united with Mexican civil society and men and women peasants to oppose Monsanto's demands and it called upon its members to organize a major actions and campaigns including filing complaints at Monsanto, DuPont and Dow and with the governments that support them; filing complaints with bodies such as the FAO and the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity (CBD); pressuring Mexican embassies throughout the world; organizing demonstrations and other actions; disseminating the information through all possible media. The people and peasant communities of Mexico resist the multinationals. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE. [12] The National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA) published a Maize Manifesto in which they appealed to the Mexican against issuing of commercial permits to grow GMO maize. CLICK HERE TO READ THE MAIZE MANIFESTO [13] VIDEOS Last January 20, in Brussels, peasants from all over Europe, members of the European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) protested outside the European Parliament to demand recognition of their rights to select, retain, use, exchange and sell their seeds. Plant local seeds, Harvest global future [14] is the video of the mobilization Interview with José-Manuel Benitez [15] : this interview was realized on January 20, 2014, during the mobilization of the farmers of the European Coordination Via Campesina in front of the European Parliament. Resistant seeds [16]: A trip between Europe and Africa through agro-ecological practices of resistance, in disobedience to the laws that through patent rights prohibit storage, exchange and reuse of traditional seeds. This video was produced by Crovecia The film entitled "10 Years of Failure, Farmers Deceived by GM corn" [17] shows the dire situation of corn farmers in the Philippines who have adopted GM corn. Argentina : the bad seeds. [18] On the consequences on public health of the soy production in Argentina. The World According to Monsanto [19]is a 2008 documentary film directed by Marie-Monique Robin. Originally released in French as Le monde selon Monsanto, the film is based on Robin's three-year long investigation into the US agricultural giant Monsanto corporation's practices around the world. Of Peoples, seeds, Indigeneous breeds, forests and fields [20] : Journeys of adivasis, dalits, pastoralists, small and marginal farmers across 11 districts in Andhra Pradesh, India, towards Food Sovereignty and Manchi Jeevitham as a way of life. Links: ------ [1] http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4911-no-agrobiodiversity-without-peasa… [2] http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4808-seed-laws-in-latin-america-the-of… [3] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Karnataka-farmer-develops-non-Bt-c… [4] http://www.spyghana.com/ngos-petition-plant-breeders-bill/ [5] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-a… [6] http://viacampesina.org/downloads/pdf/en/EN-notebook6.pdf [7] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-a… [8] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-a… [9] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-a… [10] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-a… [11] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-a… [12] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-a… [13] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-a… [14] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Plant-local-seeds-harvest-global?lang=en [15] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Peasants-seeds-interview-with-Jose?lang=en [16] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Resistant-seeds?lang=en [17] http://tv.viacampesina.org/10-Years-of-Failure-Farmers?lang=en [18] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Argentina-the-bad-seeds?lang=en [19] http://tv.viacampesina.org/The-World-According-to-Monsanto?lang=en [20] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Of-peoples-seeds-indigenous-breeds?lang=en

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[La Vía Campesina] La Via Campesina Call in Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution and the Venezuelan Peasant Movement
by La Vía Campesina 03 Apr '14

03 Apr '14

CALL TO ACTION IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTION AND THE VENEZUELAN PEASANT MOVEMENT [1] (Managua, the 29th of March, 2014) We, Vía Campesina Internacional, the international peasant movement that brings together over 200 million families in 77 countries, express our solidarity with the Venezuelan people, their peasant movement Bolivarian Revolution - currently the victim of an imperialist crusade that, together with reactionary right-wing forces, conspires within Venezuela and abroad in an attempt to retake the power they lost legitimately, democratically, and repeatedly at the ballot box. Those of us who struggle for social justice, land reform, and food sovereignty consider the Bolivarian Revolution a reference for social transformation and inclusion. As women, youth, rural workers, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, and migrants, we reject all media-backed attempts at coup d' états that look to place into the collective imagination a set of demonstrators that are frustrated with the consequences of an economic war being imposed on Venezuela by powerful oligarchical, fascist, and imperialist sectors, all aimed at destabilizing the government of President Nicolás Maduro. Since the physical loss of President Hugo Chavez, leader in the Latin American integration process, the North American empire and its allies in the region have underestimated the courageous Venezuelan people. The imperialists wrongly think that by using physical, economic and media violence they can took back the clock and once again dominate a region that now has important spaces of integration, such as ALBA, UNASUR and CELEC, among others. It is no coincidence that the attempted destabilization is taking place only a few days after the successful conclusion of the CELAC summit in Havana, and one year before the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela takes on the presidency of the Moviment of Non-Aligned Countries. It is in this context that the Via Campesina International, with hundreds of thousands of women and men organized in the Latin American Coordination of Rural Organizations (CLOC), we will continue to mobilize ourselves in defense of the processes of transformation and struggle that Latin American peoples are building. We are conscious of the fact that powerful transnational interests are looking to revert the advances that have been achieved by the Bolivarian Revolution and its peasant movement--including an agrarian reform that has permitted the democratization of land access for thousands of peasant and indigenous families, and that at the same time has resulted in important increases in national food production, the cultural recuperation and promotion of traditional agroecological practices, access to credit, marketing, among others--we reaffirm our commitment to the Ezequiel Zamora National Peasant Front (FNCEZ) and the Ezequiel Zamora National Agrarian Coordination (CANEZ), member organizations of the Via Campesina Internation in the sister republic. These organizations' struggle for land, food production by and for the Venezuelan people, and the consolidation of peoples' power in the countryside is also our struggle. Finally, we manifest our unconditional commitment to and solidarity with the peoples' cause and the Bolivarian Revolution, sure that the efforts of the corporate-owned media--to manipulate public opinion and minimize the advances of the organized people of Venezuela--will not succeed. We will continue united and on our feet in struggle with our sister people and her struggle to defend her social achievements. International Coordinating Commission (ICC) of the Via Campesina International, gathered in Managua, the 29th of March, 2014. Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/36-news-from-the-regions/1579-call-to-…

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[La Vía Campesina] 17th of APRIL: Call to mobilization / European Coordination Via Campesina
by La Vía Campesina 02 Apr '14

02 Apr '14

17TH OF APRIL 2014 INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FARMERS' STRUGGLES IN DEFENCE OF PEASANTS' AND FARMERS' SEEDS To strengthen the call made by La Via Campesina [5] worldwide, the European Coordination Via Campesina would like to strongly encourage people to organise activities throughout Europe on the theme of seeds on 17TH OF APRIL 2014, TO MARK THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FARMERS' STRUGGLES. This theme is particularly important [1] since on the 11th of March the European Parliament rejected the European Commissions' regulation proposal for the marketing of seeds (PRM), published in May 2013. This vote has taken place in the context of a Europe dominated by trade negotiations with the USA, known as TAFTA, and the European Parliament election campaign until May 2014 (more information HERE [6]). BUT THE FIGHT IS FAR FROM OVER! Last month's mobilisation was just a warm up: we have not won the battle yet, as the same issues will arise again in the near future. Whichever direction the European institutions take (continuing with the current proposal, reconsidering the text or to shifting it to TAFTA negotiations), seed regulation will be revised over the coming months. This means we must fight another battle for seed regulation guaranteeing the fundamental rights of farmers over their seeds, and we cannot afford to loose. These actions will follow on from the action that took place in Brussels 20th of January, in defence of farmers' seeds_ in your own country_ and in preparation for the next stage of mobilisation. YOU CAN WATCH HERE THE VIDEO FROM THIS MOBILISATION [7]. On the 17th of April, mobilise! Plant local seeds, Harvest global future! HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE TO THE INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT? * TELL US ABOUT your mobilisation, no matter what your focus is, and send us your videos, pictures and other actions at: lvcweb(a)viacampesina.org [1] > Please put your country in brackets [ COUNTRY ] at the beginning of the e-mail subject. > Please feel free to pass on the MAP of all activities reported in the world to be published on viacampesina.org [1] * SPREAD the ECVC [7]VIDEO call for mobilisation in defence of peasant seeds. * AT THE EUROPEAN LEVEL, we propose a JOINT ACTION: a short video with brief statements from each ECVC member organization. > This video will be published on the ECVC website and will be published on the ECVC website [2] and on Via Campesina TV [3] and will express our collective vision as European peasants and farmers committed to food sovereignty. > You can find the guidelines for participating in this small but exciting project, HERE [4]. * Subscribe to our special mailing list by sending a blank email to:via.17april-subscribe@viacampesina.net [1] According to the FAO (the United Nations organization for Food and Agriculture) crop biodiversity has declined by 75% since the start of the century. The seed industry has made farmers dependent: their crops can be contaminates by patented genes and the industry is trying to prevent them replanting their crops from a year to another, unless they pay royalties and exchange seeds. However, today, only peasant seeds allow farmers to adapt to climate change and provide healthy and nutritious food for the entire European population. For these reasons, La Via Campesina launched a major international campaign for the recovery of seeds by farmers (see HERE [8] for more info). Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org [2] http://www.eurovia.org [3] http://tv.viacampesina.org/?lang=en [4] http://www.eurovia.org/spip.php?article978&lang=en [5] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-apri… [6] http://www.eurovia.org/spip.php?article825&lang=en [7] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Plant-local-seeds-harvest-global?lang=en [8] http://viacampesina.org/downloads/pdf/en/EN-notebook6.pdf

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[La Vía Campesina] International campaign to define Forests by their true meaning!
by La Vía Campesina 28 Mar '14

28 Mar '14

INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO DEFINE FORESTS BY THEIR TRUE MEANING! [1] (26 March, 2014) La Via Campesina, Friends of the Earth International, Focus on the Global South, World Rainforest Movement and more than 120 organizations from around the world sent a letter to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO, in Rome, on the occasion of March 21st, the UN International Day of Forest. The letter demands that the FAO change its present definition of forests. During the coming three months, groups will also present the demand to national and regional FAO offices. Isaac Rojas, coordinator for forests and biodiversity of Friends of the Earth International notes that "FAO's forest definition needs to reflect the cultural wealth that forests represent. The present definition only helps to hide this diversity, rather strengthening a set of false solutions and privatization trends, as well as activities that create negative impacts in the communities that depend on forests". For these people who depend on forests, non-timber forest products like fruits, seeds and medicinal plants have a huge importance, as well as fishing, hunting and also agriculture. "Peasants in forest areas traditionally practice agriculture based on knowledge transmitted over many generations, conserving, not destroying forests. Forests are fundamental for peasants to guarantee their food sovereignty. We oppose the increasing commodification of natural resources like forests, pushed by TNCs and mechanisms like REDD. Forests are crucial to maintain the ecosystem and therefore the farmers' livelihoods", explains Henry Saragih from the largest global peasant organization La Via Campesina. One of the most perverse aspects of the present FAO forest definition is the fact that it includes industrial tree monocultures. According to Teresa Perez of the World Rainforest Movement, "these large-scale industrial tree plantations have expanded four times in the past 20 years in the global South and now account for tens of millions of hectares. The result has been deforestation and many other negative impacts for indigenous, other traditional and peasant populations like loss of territory, water and biodiversity". Shalmali Guttal from Focus on the Global South adds that "the present FAO definition benefits first and foremost corporate interests, especially the tree plantation and timber industries. These companies - national and transnational--exacerbate and often drive land and resource grabbing over territories of communities across the global South". It is shameful that the FAO and other international institutions associated with forest conservation continue to perpetuate this charade. The letter concludes with the appeal to FAO to reflect in its definition what makes a forest a forest for the communities who depend on them: "In contrast to the existing process within FAO, a process of elaborating a new and more appropriate definition of forests must effectively engage those women and men who directly depend on forests. An appropriate forest definition must support their modes of living, their networks and organizations. On the International Day of Forests we commit to continue the campaign to move the FAO and all concerned institutions to initiate a process led by forest communities to formulate a new definition of forest." CONTACTS: * Isaac Rojas - Friends of the Earth International - tel. +59899621591 - email: isaac(a)coecoceiba.org (Spanish-English) * Shalmali Guttal - Focus on the Global South - tel. +66-2 - 218 7363/4/5 - email: s.guttal(a)focusweb.org (English) * Perla Alvarez Britez - La Via Campesina - tel +595 981146575 perlaalvarezbritez(a)gmail.com (Spanish) * Henry Saragih - La Via Campesina - +505 78228041 (English) henry.saragih(a)viacampesina.org * Teresa Perez - World Rainforest Movement - tel.: +598 2413 2989 - email: teresap(a)wrm.org.uy (English- Spanish) Link to the Open Letter [2]. Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-a… [2] http://wrm.org.uy/all-campaigns/open-letter-to-fao-on-the-occasion-of-the-i…

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[La Vía Campesina] Poster for April 17 in high resolution for printing
by La Vía Campesina 27 Mar '14

27 Mar '14

Dear all, Last week we circulated the poster that we prepared for the mobilisation of April 17 but some of you asked for a higher resolution in order to be able to print it. That's why, here come the poster in the 3 languages, you just have to download it from the links. English : https://dl.poivron.org/idugmekbnyoyaelkpu4w-aqol4oqdv5qqyiju [1] Spanish : https://dl.poivron.org/tj7tufwhn7wugzopahrh-4pj6fuwtejfz2r3r [2] French : https://dl.poivron.org/mx6qnfw5f4i6ykmteoav-6u4ipp23lkalsxmh [3] Warm regards. Links: ------ [1] https://dl.poivron.org/idugmekbnyoyaelkpu4w-aqol4oqdv5qqyiju [2] https://dl.poivron.org/tj7tufwhn7wugzopahrh-4pj6fuwtejfz2r3r [3] https://dl.poivron.org/mx6qnfw5f4i6ykmteoav-6u4ipp23lkalsxmh

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[La Vía Campesina]April 17th : International Day of Farmers’ Struggles in defence of Peasants’ and Farmers’ Seeds
by La Vía Campesina 25 Mar '14

25 Mar '14

The men and women peasant farmers who make up La Vía Campesina call out for a day of action on this 17th of April. IT WILL BE A GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION AND MOBILIZATION IN DEFENSE OF PEASANT STRUGGLES WITH AN EMPHASIS ON PEASANT SEEDS. Seeds have a special place in the struggle for food sovereignty as well as peoples' sovereignty. Please download and share our international call: April 17th : International Day of Farmers' Struggles in defence of Peasants' and Farmers' Seeds [1] On this occasion we have designed this poster to convey our unity and internationalism. Also, we call out to our friends, allies, activists and movements in urban areas to join together and give visibility to the global mobilization. Also, please refer to the following links: - Watch the video Call for Action made by the International Coordination Committee of La Via Campesina in preparation for April 17 [2] - Also watch the selected videos on the seeds issue on Via Campesina TV [3]. - Send us reports, pictures and videos of your action by sending an email to lvcweb(a)viacampesina.org. If you create short videos calling for the seed mobilization or if you make video of your April 17th action, please send them to us. We will publish them on via campesina TV. [4] - Subscribe to our special mailing list by sending a blank email to via.17april-subscribe(a)viacampesina.net - You can also participate in our facebook event [5] Contacts for media (From March 30 onwards) : Guy Kastler (interview en français) : + 33 6 03 94 57 21 Elizabeth Mopfu (interview en anglais) + 263 772 443 716 Eberto Diaz (interview en espagnol) : + 57 31 03 01 75 34 Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/17-apri… [2] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Jornada-Mundial-de-las-Luchas?lang=en [3] http://tv.viacampesina.org/April-17th-International-Day-of?lang=en [4] http://tv.viacampesina.org/ [5] https://www.facebook.com/events/1450497111850070/?ref=5

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[La Vía Campesina] Declaration of Agadir
by La Vía Campesina 24 Mar '14

24 Mar '14

DECLARATION OF AGADIR [1] See some more photos of this meeting and field visit on ViaCampesina TV [2]. (Agadir, March 15, 2014) We, union organisations, peasant movements and social movements: -The National Federation for the Agricultural Sector: Morocco (FNSA)/Moroccan Workers' Union (UMT) - National Union of Inshore and Deep Sea Fishermen: Morocco (SNMPCM) - The French Peasants Confederation - Palestinian Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) - The Senegalese National Council for Rural Cooperation and Coordination (CNCR) - ATTAC/CADTM Morocco - The Association of Rural Women and the Fight for Land Association: Tunisia Met as part of the international peasant movement VIA CAMPESINA at Agadir on the 13th, 14th and 15th March 2014, under the slogan : "For the land and the sovereignty of our peoples! In solidarity and in struggle!" AFTER HAVING DISCUSSED THE LOCAL, REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT, marked by: Firstly, the escalation of the multidimensional capitalist crisis (food, environmental, energy, financial, economic, institutional, debt and migration crisis) and the governments' attempts to make the male and female workers of the land and sea (poor peasants, agricultural workers, impoverished fishermen) and all working class groups bear the burden of this crisis. The austerity policies introduced encourage unemployment, poverty, instability and the persecution of immigrants. This at a time when spending on weapons has increased, as have imperialist wars based on rivalry over the division of spheres of influence and the stockpiling of wealth, under the pretext of international legitimacy. Secondly, the rise in popular resistance and strikes held by the workers of the land and sea in many countries against the repercussions of this crisis, and the beginning of the revolutionary process in Arab and North African regions as a result of decades of impoverishment, tyranny, imperialistic domination and anti-Semitic aggression. AFTER HAVING FOCUSSED, IN PARTICULAR, ON THE FOOD CRISIS linked to global capitalist speculation on agricultural products, and support of the agrofuel industry under pressure from large agribusinesses, leading a race for the acquisition of agricultural land, notably in the Southern countries. This food crisis has had a direct effect on the people of the dependent Southern countries because of policies imposed by global economic institutions and the weight of their debts. This is shown in the popular uprisings and movements against the rise in food prices which exploded in 2007 and have continued to rise. AFTER HAVING STUDIED THE CONSEQUENCES OF FREE EXCHANGE AGREEMENTS, which contribute to the destruction of peasant agricultural production all over the world and particularly in the Southern countries, by flooding the market with subsidised agricultural products, and by imposing a model of agricultural exportation which exhausts resources and pollutes nature. WE DECLARE THAT WE WILL CONTINUE TO WORK TOGETHER TO STAND UP TO: - The neo-liberal choices, imposed by international economic institutions and the governments of imperialist countries, which aim to guarantee the interests of multinationals, and to make the working classes and workers of the land and sea bear the burden of the global capitalist crisis. - The new neo-colonial strategies and imperialist wars which prevent peace in the world, and which flout the peoples' rights to political, economic, social and cultural self-determination. - The patriarchal, capitalist system which incites discrimination and violence towards women. - The capitalist looting of the natural resources of the earth and sea, which worsens the famines which strike many of the planet's poor regions. - The model of industrial agriculture and exportation which worsens the climatic crisis, destroys peasant agriculture and the links of solidarity within the rural world, and exhausts water supplies, damages the earth and pollutes nature. - The multinational and local representative companies' policy of monopolising agricultural land and expulsing peasants from their land, the destruction of local seeds, of plant and animal biodiversity and of the genetic, ancestral heritage; WE PRONOUNCE THE REINFORCEMENT OF LOCAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY: - For integral agrarian reform based on the equal distribution of water and land, and agricultural policies which ensure all methods of production and guarantee food sovereignty and respect for the environment. - With the poor peasants' struggle for the protection of their lands and their waters against multinationals, with male and female agricultural workers' struggle for equal pay, with the right to workers' unions, to collective negotiations and to the improvement of working conditions, and with the fishermen's struggle against the dominanation of large capitalist companies. - With the women's resistance against capitalist oppression and patriarchal domination. To guarantee their dignity, and their right to full and effective equality. - With peoples' struggle for their sovereignty and against colonial plans, notably in Africa. - With the Palestinian peoples' resistance against Zionist occupation. The organisations who have signed this declaration support the struggles of the male and female workers of the Land and the Sea in Morocco. They hereby demand that the Moroccan state respect Human Rights, the freedom of political prisoners; the ratification of international conventions and agreements guaranteeing individual and collective rights and freedoms. They also call for the establishment of collective negotiations with union organisations, an end to constraints on unionism, and the guarantee of the rights of Sub-Saharan migrants, ending racism towards them. The participants express their support for the peoples' struggle for liberation, freedom, dignity, social justice and equality. And for a world in which solidarity amongst peoples will reign, and where the exploitation of Man by Man will be eradicated. The Arabic version of this declaration is available here [3] Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/agrarian-refor… [2] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Reunion-D-Agadir?lang=en [3] http://viacampesina.org/downloads/pdf/LVC%20d%C3%A9claration%20Agadir%20fin…

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[La Vía Campesina] Youth and agriculture
by La Vía Campesina 20 Mar '14

20 Mar '14

YOUTH AND AGRICULTURE [1] The new edition of the Nyéléni Newsletter is now online! Click here to read the English edition [2]. In this edition of the newsletter the Youth of La Via Campesina call to the youth of the world - to educate, mobilize and organize FOR FOOD SOVEREIGNTY NOW! Read about the struggles and visions of young people FOR BUILDING A RADICAL NEW SOCIETY. We are the seeds that take root ; We are the trees that bear fruit ; We are the shaking of the ground as we tear this fortress down! (Recorded during the II Youth Assembly, North American Mistica, Matola, October 2008) Links: ------ [1] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/youth-mainmenu… [2] http://www.nyeleni.org/ccount/click.php?id=53

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