From Mons
to the World: La Via
Campesina Celebrates
30 Years of
globalizing peasant
struggle and
solidarity
PRESS
RELEASE 14/05/2023
| Bagnolet, France
On May 15, La
Via Campesina will
celebrate its 30th
anniversary of the
formal founding of
global peasant
movement. This
celebration is a
reflection of three
decades of commitment
to the realization of
social justice, human
dignity and food
sovereignty through
peasant agroecology,
popular feminism and
peasant rights.
The history of
La Via Campesina has
an important stage in
Mons, Belgium, in May
1993, when different
peasant and land
workers’ organizations
from various
continents met to
concretize the
strategies planned a
year earlier in
Managua, Nicaragua,
and coordinate common
actions at the
international level.
Thirty organizations
established the
movement we now
recognize today, and
since then its
principles and
convictions have been
solidly grounded. The
movement has grown to
include 182 member
organizations and over
200 million rural
workers, and is now
the world’s largest
social movement with
the slogan “globalize
the struggle,
globalize hope.”
Over the years,
La Via Campesina has
played a pivotal role
in supporting peasant
emancipatory struggles
at all levels and in
recognizing their
rights in the UN
declaration on the
rights of peasants and
other people working
in rural areas. Today,
La Via Campesina
brings a voice of hope
to all societies in
times of
multidimensional
crises. As we
celebrate the 30th
anniversary of the
founding of the
movement, we are
excited to share that
this November we are
also organizing our
eighth international
conference in
Colombia. This event
will be a moment to
continue building our
proposals based on
respect for the
living, grassroots
organization,
diversity and
solidarity, which are
serving to build fair
and equitable food
systems, and from
there, fair and
equitable societies.
30 years of
sharing struggles to
sow hope
To celebrate 30
years of globalizing
struggles, La Via
Campesina, in
collaboration with the
European Coordination
Via Campesina and
LVC’s Belgian member
organizations:
Boerenforum, FUGEA,
MAP, is organizing a
commemorative event on
May 15, that will be
divided into three
sections. The first
part will feature
people who were
present and involved
in the founding, the
second part will
include former La Via
Campesina general
coordinators, and the
third part will have
current ICC
representatives of La
Via Campesina to look
at the context of the
movement today.
The entire
event program will be
a enriching experience
in itself, including a
live music show, group
readings of historical
documents, audiovisual
presentations, and a
peasant-style meal
accompanied by music
and dance.
La Via
Campesina invites
everyone to join the
commemorative event on
May 15 through their
social networks to
continue sharing
struggles and sowing
hope.
“Globalize
the struggle,
globalize hope”.
For more
information, please
contact us at press@viacampesina.org
|
