La Via Campesina | e-Newsletter | May, 2016
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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]
La Via Campesina's Annual Report for the year 2015 is out and is available for download in three languages. The report has been made possible by the collective action and contribution of all its members and allies.
Download English Version [3] Download Spanish Version [4] Download French Version [5]
MONTH OF MAY WITNESS THREE CRUCIAL ENGAGEMENTS AT THE GLOBAL LEVEL BY LA VIA CAMPESINA
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While peasant actions on the ground continued in the form of #MayDay and #MarchAgainstMonsanto and several other mobilizations, the month of May was crucial on three fronts: the engagement with the CSM within of FAO on the question of connecting small hold farmers to territorial markets; the push for a global declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas; and a public hearing at the European Parliament to bring forth human rights violations and abuses by transnational corporations across the world. This edition of the newsletter carries updates about all these and more.
NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
JOINT STATEMENT: ON UN DECLARATION ON RIGHTS OF PEASANTS AND OTHER PEOPLE WORKING IN RURAL AREAS
------------------------- We are representatives of peasants, indigenous peoples, pastoralists, fishers and rural workers from around the globe, between us representing many millions of rural people, from La Via Campesina along with CETIM, FIAN International and other human rights organizations.
READ MORE [6]
WHAT IS AT STAKE IN THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR A PEASANT RIGHTS' DECLARATION?
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_Vincent Delobel, member of La Via Campesina, during the third session of the intergovernmental working group on a United Nations declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas. _
READ MORE [7]
INDUSTRY BENEFITS BUT DOES NOT PAY ITS DUES. PATENTS ARE AN ASSAULT ON GENETIC RESOURCES
_Guy Kastler from Via Campesina argues in this article. _ -------------------------
Patents increasingly undermine the strong legal edifice patiently constructed by UPOV. However, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture guarantees free access to the main industrial resource of plant breeders - peasants' seeds collected from farms across the world.
READ MORE [8]
REPORT: FARM SUCCESSION IN ROMANIA | ECO RURALIS
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This report looks specifically at Romania, which reflects the global statistics on aging peasants. In Romania, 66.4% of peasants are over 55 years old and only 7.3% are under 35 years of age.
READ MORE [9]
MOBILISATION CALL: 2ND NYÉLÉNI EUROPE FORUM FOR FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
------------------------- The 2nd Nyéléni Europe Forum for Food Sovereignty will be organised around 5 thematic axes, and oriented towards 4 goals.
READ MORE [10]
ZIMSOFF AND UCAMA FARMERS JOIN HANDS TO FIGHT FOR FARMER SAVED SEEDS
------------------------- Farmer visits were arranged to identify good practices of community based seed systems and to develop a pilot collaborative programme on 'smallholder farmer managed seed systems' between the two organisations.
READ MORE [11]
EVENT INVITE: 'TTIP - TRADING AWAY OUR FOOD AND FARMERS?'
------------------------- Civil society groups and farming organisations have expressed concern that the TTIP will lead to the further intensification and corporate concentration of agriculture on both sides of the Atlantic, threatening family farms' survival and citizen's health.
READ MORE [12]
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BY TNCS | PUBLIC HEARING AT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
------------------------- In order to prepare the next meeting of the Working Group and put together the efforts and experience of activists and Human Rights lawyers from all over the worlds, GUE/NGL, PODEMOS, the Global Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity, Friends of the Earth International, the Centre Europe Tiers-Monde (CETIM) and the Transnational Institute organized a Public Hearing at the European Parliament in Brussels. La Via Campesina also represented itself at the public hearing.
READ MORE [13]
ARTICLE 19-RIGHT TO LAND AND OTHER NATURAL RESOURCES- ABSOLUTELY UNNEGOTIABLE
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An intervention by David Jelinek of ÖBV- Via Campesina Austria, during the third session of the intergovernmental working group on a United Nations declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas
READ MORE [14]
INDONESIAN PEASANTS UNION (SPI) HOLD A CONSULTATION ON PEASANT RIGHTS
_In the run upto the Geneva consultation_ -------------------------
Serikat Petani Indonesia (SPI, Indonesia Peasants Union) and La Via Campesina (international peasants movement) held a Regional Consultation, Training and Meetings on Peasant Rights in PKBI Guesthouse, Jakarta, April 26 to 29, 2016.
READ MORE [15]
INTERVENTION BY LA VIA CAMPESINA AT THE '30TH FAO REGIONAL CONFERENCE FOR EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA', IN TURKEY
------------------------- Adnan Çobanoğlu from the Confederation of Farmers' Unions (ÇİFTÇİ-SEN), a member organization of La Via Campesina, made a few important interventions at the 30th FAO Regional Conference for Europe and Central Asia, being held in Antalya, Turkey.
READ MORE [16]
ECVC PUSHES FOR A UNITED FRONT IN DEFENSE OF SEEDS
------------------------- The European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) Seed Group organized a meeting on April 22th to 24th at the Farm in Dottenfelder Hof in the periphery of Frankfort (Germany), in order to intensify information exchanges on the breeding, exchange and use of seeds.
READ MORE [17]
MST STATEMENT ON THE SUSPENSION OF PRESIDENT DILMA ROUSSEFF
------------------------- The Landless Workers Movement (MST) publicly expresses its disgust and dissatisfaction regarding the decision of the Senate, this Thursday (12), in admitting the process of impeachment against President Dilma Roussef and temporarily withdrawing her from the post.
READ MORE [18]
HONDURAS: STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO CRIMINALISATION OF THE PEASANT MOVEMENTS
------------------------- Having made a thorough analysis of the social situation in Honduras, particularly with regard to the peasant and indigenous movements, the Political Coordination Committee of the CLOC-La Vía Campesina Central America, composed of representatives from Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, meeting together in Tegucigalpa, issued the following statement:
READ MORE [19]
SEED CARAVAN THROUGH FRANCE, SWITZERLAND, GERMANY
------------------------- The idea of the caravan is to be in direct exchange with farmers who actively engage in seeds work. To do so, we do not want to sit in a lecture hall and listen passively, but to actively visit farms in Southern Germany, Switzerland and in France that work with seeds in their everyday farm work.
READ MORE [20]
BAFLF: "WTO TREATY ON SUBSIDY WITHDRAWAL FROM AGRICULTURE SUICIDAL"
------------------------- Bangladesh Agricultural Farm Labour Federation has termed the recent WTO treaty on subsidy withdrawal from agriculture as suicidal for the food security of Bangladesh.
READ MORE [21]
[22]
The _March against Monsanto_, that took place around the world on May 21, is a people's response to denounce intensive agriculture , using genetically modified seeds (GMOs) and dependent toxic pesticides. Monsanto is the global symbol but not the sole representative (Dow Chemical , Syngenta, Bayer, BASF , DuPont, Limagrain and so forth) of the adverse impact of industrial agricultural system on social, environmental and health systems. To watch the image slideshow, click here [22].
[23]
'GREENING THE REVOLUTION' - A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT FOOD JUSTICE -------------------------
An 80-minute, HD award-winning documentary about food justice -- filmed in Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Kenya, Zambia, India, Brazil and across the United States. "Greening the Revolution" features interviews with small farmers and revolutionaries, political intellectuals such as Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, and Vandana Shiva, as well as government/corporate officials such as the director of the FDA and the government relations executive for Monsanto (yes, an interview with Monsanto.
Watch it on Via Campesina TV [24]
[25]
'ARE WE COAL?' - SHORT FILM -------------------------
A film that exposes human rights violations caused by mining company Vale and the impacts of ProSavana Project in Mozambique
Watch it on Via Campesina TV [26]
[27]
'FIGHTING FOR SEEDS AND OIL' - SHORT FILM -------------------------
Tanzania is at the forefront in the battle for control over Africa's food system. With the help of the UK government (and others in the G7) corporations are scrambling to expand their markets in seeds, fertilisers, agrochemicals and land. But small-scale farmer organisations are fighting back by strengthening farmers' knowledge of land, seeds and soil. Aid donors need to decide; is aid money there to help small-scale farmers get better access to chemical free technologies or is it simply to expand the market reach of large corporations?
Watch it on Via Campesina TV [28]
YOU ARE AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE AUTONOMY OF OUR MOVEMENT
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