La Via Campesina TV

Food Sovereignty is Land, Water, Seeds, Bread and Solidarity!

Ndabezinhle Nyoni — 2021-10-14T15:04:03Z

Call to humanity to take action for food sovereignty
On October the 16th, we celebrate 25 years of envisioning food sovereignty. This 25-year celebration and reflections are happening at a time when the planet and humanity is facing unprecedented crisis upon crisis. Climate change ravages the planet and biodiversity loss at catastrophic levels. Pollution is pervasive and chokes both terrestrial and marine life. Hunger, poverty and inequality are on the rise. COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the already dire situation. We urgently need to transform our way of life to adapt and survive. Now is the moment to globally coordinate people's actions in rural and urban to build equitable and healthy food systems. Food sovereignty is the solution to transform food systems, end hunger and malnutrition and to cool the earth, to preserve biodiversity, and respect the rights of peasants and workers!
There is no Future without Food Sovereignty: Now is the Time to Transform!
We, the peasants, men and women, indigenous peoples, rural populations, agricultural workers, the youth in urban and rural areas, have the solution –Food sovereignty and Peasant Agroecology.

LET'S UNITE TO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE!
Send us your actions, images, posters and articles to our email: lvcweb@viacampesina.org, tag us on social media twitter (@via_campesina), Instagram (@la_via_campesina_official) and Facebook (@viacampesinaOFFICIAL), and make visible globally our collective mobilization for a better society based on food sovereignty.

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Food Sovereignty is Land, Water, Seeds, Bread and Solidarity!
#NoFutureWithoutFoodSovereignty | #FoodSovereigntyNow

Sow the seeds of struggle and resistance, and cultivate our rights! – #TimeToTransform

Ndabezinhle Nyoni — 2020-07-30T12:40:54Z

The world is currently living through a different and intense context and historical moment, with a much-accelerated change in the balance of forces and the political struggle.

Taking into account the peculiarity of each country or territory, as the working-class and peasants in the countryside, we face two great enemies of the people; (i) A visible enemy like Covid-19, (however invisible the causative virus), and the consequences of the pandemic, which causes fear, tension, pain, suffering, low esteem, stress, shock, deaths, and terror. It demands of the society and of the powers of the State: executive, legislative and judicial; to put life, to save lives, first. Defending life, in these times of a pandemic, must be above all. (ii) An enemy, also common to all the people, is Capitalism. Capitalism is a parasitic system that takes advantage of these moments of crisis and social upheaval, to suck the State, society and nature, to follow its course and lead to a higher concentration of wealth, income and profits.

We cannot go back to business as usual. It is time to usher in a social transformation. #TimeToTransform

La Via Campesina has concrete proposals in this regard. They include among many others; (i) implementing agrarian reform; (ii) promoting agroecology; (iii) recognizing peasant solutions to bring about climate justice; (iv) guaranteeing peasants' rights and control over seeds; (v) building robust local peasant markets as the backbone of rural economies. Such proposals based on our experiences in our territories should be accepted and implemented by all nations if we have to achieve food sovereignty. Food Sovereignty is our concrete answer to hunger, food, economic, and environmental crises. The Declaration on the Rights of the Peasants (UNDROP) is a tool alongside many other international instruments, that put forth the demand for our rights vis-à-vis the States, to achieve Food Sovereignty (and Emergency Policies) and dignified life in the fields and cities.

Francisco Daniel from MST painted this beautiful, hopeful image of our collective future. Share it. Give voice to this vision for a new society that we urgently need, one that is rooted in people's rights, where solidarity and social justice define every aspect of our social, cultural, political, and economic life. Let the principles of food sovereignty take root everywhere! Its #TimeToTransform

Download the posters here:
https://cloud.viacampesina.org/s/JsFEt6LqZ9P67R3?path=%2F

EXPLAINED: What is Food Sovereignty

Ndabezinhle Nyoni — 2020-06-02T08:03:06Z

The COVID-19 pandemic is pushing many to recognise the importance and urgency of food sovereignty. In this video, produced by @brutnaturefr Via Campesina leaders and allies explain what is food sovereignty and why is it most urgent than ever! #FoodSovereigntyNow

https://vimeo.com/425049649

#17April2020 – Till, sow and harvest transformative ideas for the future!

Ndabezinhle Nyoni — 2020-04-28T14:39:08Z

Now is the moment to demand food sovereignty – #17April
Harare: On 17 April 2020 – the International Day of Peasants' Struggle – La Via Campesina will keep alive the memory of #EldoradoDosCarajás in Brazil and our continued fight against Corporate and State impunity. The COVID-19 crisis shows us that now is the moment to demand structural reforms of the agri-food systems at a global level.

States must ensure their populations' access to healthy, culturally appropriate food and prevent shortages. They must act now to end all forms of commodity speculation practised by transnational agribusiness monopolies. In this fight against hunger, there is an urgent need to invest in peasant agriculture and support local peasant markets, while complying with the necessary health measures. Now is the time to uphold the food sovereignty of our communities and to guarantee the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas. It is now essential to promote Public Policies that benefit the majority of the population, that prioritise care for the most vulnerable sectors, such as rural workers, women, migrants and the working class of the cities.

While calling to mobilise around 17 April 2020, La Via Campesina has urged its members and allies to stay home but not silent and denounce the multiple killings, evictions and economic blockades. It has asked its communities to highlight and expose the continued criminalisation of peasant struggles, and highlight the precarious conditions of rural economies. It is essential to call out the States' negligence and its fascist, patriarchal and military practices against its people – that has worsened in times of the pandemic. This crisis shows us once again; the need to enact a profound change in the capitalist system. It is a system that is untenable and incompatible with nature and life. It is time to introduce structural transformations in the agri-food systems, and not just push for more aid programs. In many countries, hunger will rise. The quarantine and the historical neglect of peasant agriculture can have serious consequences that can aggravate the problem of hunger worldwide.

Our task as La Via Campesina is to feed the people, and we want to continue doing so. We understand that the production of healthy food cannot cease and that it is the first line of defence against COVID-19. However, this requires providing safe and dignified living conditions for peasants, during and after the crisis. As La Via Campesina on this #17April2020 – International Day of Peasant Struggle – we commit ourselves to continue working collectively in every corner of the world, upholding solidarity and internationalism. Today, we call upon society to think of transformative and progressive ideas. We urge you to till – in search of answers to address this emergency; to sow – alliances and solidarity; and to harvest – in times of economic recession, our collective rights as peasants and workers. The resistance continues!

Till, in search of answers!
We need to learn from our history. It is essential to work in collectives as has been the practice for several thousand years. Civil society, organised people and States must work together in favour of the vast majorities for justice and dignity:

Public Policies – it is crucial to understand the far-reaching impact of public policies in people's lives. It is essential to defend education, health and the right to better living conditions for the working class in urban and rural areas. We have the task of recovering privatised public services. The governments that dismantled the public systems are now facing the consequences of their grave mistakes.

Food Sovereignty is vital to feed the population healthily and sustainably. Local Peasant Markets and Local Fairs must open again urgently to supply cities and prevent hunger. During this crisis, States must ensure the public procurement of food produced by small-scale farmers. We must adopt principles of agroecology and feed our communities nutritious, healthy food to improve our immunity, something that supermarkets and fast food chains cannot do.

States must guarantee and invest in Quality Public Health Care. In the context of the COVID19 crisis, it is urgent to ensure access to free testing and full treatment, in urban and rural areas, free of discrimination, with a firm commitment in defence of life. We denounce all attempts to take advantage of this crisis to privatise services or to generate a profit.

We condemn abusive practices of private and transnational companies, mass layoffs, agricultural workers subjected to slave labour, with extended hours and no security, direct fumigation, and wage reductions of up to 60%. Governments must step in to guarantee public policies in favour of workers, and defend the interests of the vast majority. It is essential to act quickly, decisively and in a coordinated manner. Taking correct and urgent measures could make the difference between survival and collapse.

Human Rights / Peasant Rights – in this climate of war, militarisation and death, even under lock-down, we must stand in defence of Human Rights, Peace and the lives of the men and women who protect their territories. Stop violence, death and impunity in Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Honduras, Palestine, the Philippines and the world!

It is essential to guarantee Peasant Rights, as stated in the UN Declaration adopted in 2018. We need to ensure access to land, seeds and all the conditions required to feed the populations safely. In this sense, improving the infrastructure of the countryside increases the availability of food. In this crisis, we need to increase the cultivated areas and increase productivity through Popular Agrarian Reform and Peasant Agriculture in harmony with nature, providing healthy food to the populations and cooling the planet.

Sow, alliances and solidarity!
This crisis is also an opportunity to spread seeds of change. We must prepare the land for a different model of society and of agri-food systems. This task demands the creation of alliances that may blossom. Solidarity and internationalism must be the driving values of this re-construction of our societies:

Rural/Urban Alliance – We must promote robust alliances that connect the rights of the working class in the countryside and the cities, and join forces against the worsening of the quality of life, the loss of rights, mass layoffs and evictions.

Producers/ Consumers – We must resist speculation and commodification of agriculture. Instead, we must promote our local networks for trade, by strengthening local peasant markets and innovating in other systems based on fair trade, barter or other solidarity forms of exchange.

Vulnerable Sectors – With the firm commitment in defence of life and respecting diversity, Uphold the rights of the most vulnerable populations and impoverished sectors, LGBTIQ groups, disabled people, the elderly, women and terminally ill patients.

Against Blockades and Interference: We must show solidarity to countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, Palestine and Iran, and denounce the brutal economic blockade and military interference of the imperialistic US, which endangers the lives of large populations for lack of medical supplies. The rejection of a loan request from Venezuela signals how IMF fails rural people and workers. However, Cuba sets an example for the world of tangible solidarity by sending “Medical Brigades” to hundreds of countries, offering their services and experience without any discrimination #CubaSavesLives.

Harvest, our collective rights as peasants and workers!
Amid an economic downturn, like the one we will face after COVID-19, it is urgent to harvest good fruits for the working class, peasants and the vast majority: the time is now!

We demand of the States:

to tax the wealthy corporations and elites and bring an end to tax evasion and money laundering by cracking down on tax havens
Non-payment of foreign debts and reinvestment in public policies for Health, Education, Labor and the rural, as a priority.
Reject the neoliberal recipe of the IMF and World Bank that has dominated the world for the last 50 years. The IMF has actively enabled the depletion of natural resources in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, as well as in the demolition of democratic institutions in country after country.
Demand non-exclusive rights and equal access to medication to fight against COVID-19.
Declare a universal basic income as the right of all citizens, which should at least cover vital needs, providing real support for millions of unemployed families, part of the informal workforce, working in precarious conditions or on their own.
The time is now, to farm, sow and harvest!

#PeasantRightsNOW | #StayHomeButNotSilent

Globalise the Struggle, Globalise Hope!

How is COVID 19 impacting peasants and other people working in rural areas?

Ndabezinhle Nyoni — 2020-04-21T07:41:54Z

The #CoronavirusPandemic is affecting peasants and other people working in rural areas in many ways. Here we explain. #StayHomeButNotSilent

The video is also available in multiple languages.
English
Spanish
French
German
Italian

La Via Campesina, a weapon for political action

Solenne — 2020-02-10T11:53:55Z

Teodor Shanin, creator of the first Russian-British university passed away in Moscow at the age of 89, last February the 4Th, 2020. He inspired generations of progressive academics and activists. Teodor Shanin understood very quickly the significance of La Via Campesina as an articulation by the peasants themselves. Shanin recognized the efforts of peasants to define themselves as a class, defending their existence and THEIR interests as peasants. This went against the opinions in certain spheres of academic orthodoxy who did accept peasants as a separate class.
Shanin recognized La Via Campesina as a “structure “ that was self-defining and self-determining. He acknowledged the effort of the peasantry, as a class to understand itself. Shanin was convinced of the importance for researchers to go back to the villages,to look there at what's is really going on there. He gave a lot of importance to the “villages”, communities and local processes . La Via Campesina owes him a lot and we cannot loose his work. Watch here a video with Teodor Shanin attending a colloquium at Yale University in 2013.

Globalize Hope: New film on the history of La Via Campesina (1h 13 mins)

Ndabezinhle Nyoni — 2020-01-20T13:01:57Z

La Via Campesina is an international movement that brings together millions of peasants, landless workers, indigenous peoples and migrants - comprising women, men, youth and diverse identities - from all over the world. The movement brings them together under its banner of comprehensive and popular agrarian reform and food sovereignty. It is a collective expression of the struggle for recognition, legitimacy and dignity of peasant communities and rural people, in a neo- liberal world that is destroying them.

In recent years, globalization and the expansion of agribusiness and monocultural practices have destroyed tens of millions of small farms across the continents. Peasants and small scale food producers now have access to only 25% of the world's agricultural land. Despite these odds, peasant and rural communities continue to be the world's major food producers, providing for an estimated 80% of the food needs in non-industrialized countries.

Meanwhile, many governments are increasingly allowing the World Trade Organization (WTO ) and other free trade agreements (FTAs) to govern their national agricultural and food policies. As a result, peasant agriculture finds itself in competition with low-priced imported foodstuffs. The survival of the peasants, who represent almost half of the world's population, is therefore threatened. The consequences for healthy food systems and for humanity itself are dire.

Peasant agriculture carries within itself the solutions that humanity needs to face the challenges of the future. Therefore its defense and the defense of the rights of peasants is essential.

This film chronicles how La Via Campesina was born more than 28 years ago, as an alternative that brings together struggles, dreams and challenges to build solidarity and secure our collective human future.

Important Note: You can select English, French or Spanish subtitles by clicking on the "CC" button on the Vimeo player.

Opening of Cumbre social por el Clima Madrid 2019 during UNCCC COP 25

Ndabezinhle Nyoni — 2020-01-06T08:40:25Z

In 2018 and 2019, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed what our peoples and organizations have been saying for some time: the climate crisis has already hit Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas; agribusinesses has played a major part in creating the crisis; and we must take urgent action to completely transform our societies! We are already witnessing multiple examples of the climate crisis: Cyclone Idai in Mozambique; the flooding of Karnataka and Maharastra in India; heatwaves of over 45° C that have devastated Europe and North America; and the burning of the Amazon in South America.

La Via Campesina believes firmly that the climate should not change. Instead, action must be taken without delay for a complete turnaround, changing the capitalist system that exploits, pollutes and uses up our commons, which are the heritage of peoples throughout the world. This urgent and much needed transformation must be implemented through a just transition and will only be possible if the rights of peasants, indigenous peoples and all those working in rural areas are fully respected. This means ending all forms of violence against women and diverse people; and democratically controlling land, water, territories and other commons.

Peasant communities across the world already feed the majority of people (70% of the world's population) with minimal access to agricultural resources (25%). Meanwhile, monocrop agribusinesses exporters destroy biodiversity, cause illness, displace communities, drive global warming and massacre those who stand up against them. La Via Campesina categorically rejects all false solutions to the climate crisis, including carbon markets (especially on farmlands), REDD and REDD+, agrofuels, GMOs and the so-called ‘climate-smart agriculture', not to speak of the extremely dangerous geoengineering. We want food sovereignty based on peasant agroecology, social and climate justice through a just transition and respect for the majorities. This is what we work for in our respective countries, day in and day out.
History has taught us that solutions come from the peoples. At COP25, we insist that our so-called “representatives” assume their responsibilities instead of simply serving the interests of capital.

Mobilisation week to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Ndabezinhle Nyoni — 2019-11-21T08:33:12Z

From 25 to 30 November 2019, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, La Via Campesina is calling upon its members and allies to carry out mobilisations and actions to strengthen our collective struggle for a conscious and free society, which does not exploit humans and nature. The global peasant movement denounces the capitalist, patriarchal, racist and colonising system that exploits, oppresses and attacks the lives of women and humanity in general.

Globalise our struggle!
We want to make visible all the actions carried out by our member organisations and allies in the territories, whether they be demonstrations, forums, fairs or other actions of denunciation. Please share your press releases, posters, photos or videos with lvcweb@viacampesina.org.

We will share these materials during the week of mobilisation on all our communication channels.

Follow us on social networks: Facebook Page: viacampesinaOFFICIAL; Twitter: @via_campesina
Hashtags
#PopularPeasantFeminism, #PeasantFeminism, #FoodSovereignty, #StopViolenceAgainstWomen, #25Nov

Olivier De Schutter message on the Importance and Implementation of United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural areas

Ndabezinhle Nyoni — 2019-11-15T07:50:45Z

Olivier De Schutter (the former UN special rapporteur on the right to food, and co-chair of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems), message on the Importance and Implementation of United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural areas (UNDROP)

- TV / Peasants' rights, sticky