20 Years
since Cancun: Lee
Lives On! We Are All
Lee, in this
struggle against the
WTO and Free Trade
Agreements!
It has been
twenty years since the
World Trade
Organization’s
imperialist,
neoliberal and
neo-colonial free
trade policies led to
the sacrifice of one
of our peasant leaders
at the gates of the
Ministerial meeting
venue in Cancun,
Mexico.
Lee Kyung Hae,
a small-scale farmer
from Korea, took the
drastic step of
sacrificing himself to
protest
against
the dire situation
that thousands of
peasants found
themselves in after
their country embraced
the WTO’s free trade
policies. In his final
moments, he wore a
banner around his neck
with the words “WTO
Kills Farmers.”
Lee’s sacrifice
brought to the
spotlight the plight
of all peasants
everywhere; the
hyper-globalization of
the 80s and 90s had a
devastating impact on
rural communities
worldwide, stripping
them of their land,
livelihoods, and local
markets.
Lee Kyung Hae
gave his life to voice
the concerns of
millions of peasants
like him, who saw
their lives upended as
their countries opened
up under the banner of
market reforms, only
to be overwhelmed by
fierce international
competition from
affluent nations
flooding their markets
with cheap imports,
often produced in
massive factories and
large-scale industrial
farms. The WTO
spearheaded these
efforts to expand and
find new markets for
transnational
corporations and
agribusinesses
centered in the
wealthy cities of the
global north.
Two decades
have passed since that
tragic day in Cancun,
and things have only
worsened for both
people and the planet.
The Agreement
on Agriculture (AoA),
which forms the core
of the WTO’s food and
agriculture trade
policies, continues to
wreak
havoc
on people’s lives.
Over the past 30
years, La Via
Campesina has
consistently
highlighted the
negative and
devastating effects of
WTO policies on both
people and the planet.
Whenever the WTO
convened its
ministerial meetings
to advance these
harmful policies, La
Via Campesina’s
organized peasant
groups took to the
streets to expose its
falsehoods and deceit.
As the World Trade
Organization
subsequently entered a
state of limbo,
numerous regional and
bilateral free trade
agreements began to
proliferate, with many
of them resembling the
highly detrimental
Agreement on
Agriculture. Thus,
whether with or
without the WTO,
global trade remains
entangled in these
opaque agreements,
frequently negotiated
behind closed doors
without public
consultation or
debates.
During the last
Ministerial meeting in
Geneva in 2022, La Via
Campesina declared
that the time had come
to dismantle the WTO,
discard the Agreement
on Agriculture, put an
end to harmful free
trade agreements and establish a
new trade
framework for
global
agricultural trade
based on
principles of food
sovereignty, solidarity,
and internationalism.
A new framework that
respects and upholds
the UN Declaration on
the Rights of Peasants
and Other People
Working in Rural Areas
(UNDROP)!
It called on
World Trade
Organization member
states, particularly
those from the Global
South, to lead the
charge in creating
this framework and
establishing it as the
bedrock of global
trade. The global food
crisis, resulting in
increasing global
hunger, exacerbated by
speculative commodity
trading practices,
pandemics, conflicts
and wars, is glaring
evidence of a flawed
global food system
that primarily
benefits transnational
agribusiness. Numerous
reports have
highlighted how, even
in the face of growing
global hunger, a
handful of large
agribusiness
corporations continued
to accumulate profits
through speculative
practices. The Agreement
on Agriculture
serves as a pact
to secure
perpetual profits
for agribusinesses,
disregarding the
suffering of peasants,
individuals, and the
environment.
For this
reason, as we
commemorate the
International Day of
Action against the WTO
and Free Trade
Agreements on
September 10th, La Via
Campesina will
intensify this
struggle for an
alternative. We will
lead the effort to
construct this new
framework through
direct involvement of
peasants and numerous
other small-scale food
producers. We will
collaborate with our
governments and civil
society partners to
generate political
pressure in support of
this new paradigm.
As
members of La Via
Campesina prepare
for the 8th
International
Conference
scheduled for
December 2023 in
Bogota, we
call upon all our
members to express
solidarity with Lee
Kyung Hae and his
sacrifice. We
encourage our members
to organize
exhibitions, public
discussions, protests,
and to formulate ideas
for an alternative
global trade
framework. During the
8th International
Conference in Bogota,
we will commemorate
Lee with a mistica,
celebrating his
courage and defiance
and honoring the
endeavors and
sacrifices of millions
of peasants around the
world who persist in
nourishing the planet
and feeding the
people, despite
mounting challenges.
COMMUNICATION
KIT:
In the next few
days, we will be
releasing an official
poster that can be
adapted and used in
your local and
regional mobilizations
and actions. The
official poster and
other materials,
will soon be
available in this link.Check back in
a few days. For
queries and press
interviews, write to
press@viacampesina.org
Faced
with Global Crises,
We build Food
Sovereignty for the
Future of Humanity!
We are all Lee! WTO
Kills Farmers! A New
Trade Framework is
Urgent and Vital!
