Thursday, 29 March 2007

The 17th of April is the International Peasant's Struggle Day, establishedafter the massacre of 19 landless peasants belonging to the Landless Movement(MST) in Brazil on the 17th of April 1996 during the second conference ofLaVia Campesina in Tlaxcala Mexico.

In commemoration of the International Peasant's Struggle Day, La Via Campesinaand its allies are organizing activities and actions all over the world.Peasants and friends will rally around the following demands:

1.The WTO negotiations should not resume.
We want the WTO to permanently remain in the lethargy state it entered in July2006. Under the WTO policies, the crisis of food, agriculture and familyfarming has deepened in every corner of the world.
We call peasants' organizations and other social movements to urge theirgovernments to put an end to the so-called Doha Development Agenda (DDA).
Inreality there will not be any development as long as countries are competingwith each others to grab each others food and agriculture markets.

Challenging the Doha Development Agenda, peasants, fisher folks,
pastoralists,workers, women and ordinary people in the world are demanding theimplementation of food sovereignty.

(Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturallyappropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods,and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It putsthose who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systemsand policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations.

It defends the interests and inclusion of the next generation. It offers astrategy to resist and dismantle the current corporate trade and food regime,and directions for food, farming, pastoral and fisheries systems determinedby local producers. Food sovereignty prioritises local and national economiesand markets and empowers peasant and family farmer-driven agriculture, artisanal - fishing, pastoralist-led grazing, and food
production,distribution and consumption based on environmental, social and economicsustainability.

Food sovereignty promotes transparent trade that guarantees just income to allpeoples and the rights of consumers to control their food and nutrition.
Itensures that the rights to use and manage our lands, territories, waters,seeds, livestock and biodiversity are in the hands of those of us who producefood.

Food sovereignty implies new social relations free of oppression andinequality between men and women, peoples, racial groups, social classes andgenerations.
(Excerpt of the Declaration of Nyeleni 2007, International Forumon Food Sovereignty in Selingue, Mali, February 2007))

We call peasants organizations and other social movements to discuss withtheir
governments about trade and production alternatives based on foodsovereignty and out of the WTO.

2.Stop Free Frade Agreements (FTAs) and Economic Partnership Agreements(EPAs) in food and agriculture.
FTA and EPAs are just a breakthrough created to deal with the collapse of theWTO negotiations and to speed up the liberalization process. They are notalternatives to the WTO, but the other side of the same sharp blade, theblade of neo-liberalism.

Bilateral agreements and partnerships should be made between peasants andordinary people based on the principle of solidarity. People to peoplerelations in solidarity will create brotherhood and sisterhood, while FTAwill pave the way for transnational corporations to destroy people'seconomies.

3.End with the colonial model of monoculture.
History shows that that exploitation of other countries' agricultural wealthusually happens through monocultures farming. This was the colonial mode ofproduction because the rulers were only concerned about getting commoditiesin huge volume at the cheapest price. They did not care about the impact
ofmonocultures on the land and on the workers. It led to
environmentaldestruction and slavery.

Until today, agriculture systems based on monocultures keep exploiting humanbeings and the environment. They create overproduction, which in turndestroys the peasants' economy because of the dumping of agriculturalproduces.

We urge all governments to phase out from monoculture farming and to develop asustainable agriculture based on family farms that respects the ecology oragro-ecology and produces healthy and nutritious food.

4.Oppose the World Bank policies on land and rural development The World Bank has been imposing policies leading to privatisation of land,water, public services, seeds, etc. As a consequence, farmers and ruralcommunities are kicked out of the land and are loosing their livelihood,while big corporations are
grabbing most of the world resources.

Those policies are even implemented under the name of "agrarian reform" (theMarket Assisted Land Reform of the World Bank).
We call people's organisations not to be cheated by those neo-liberal policiesand to keep struggling for genuine agrarian reform which ensures the rightsof communities to access and control of their land, territories, water andagricultural biodiversity.

Instead of listening to the World Bank and IMF's advice, governments shouldwork with their people towards social justice.

5.Reject the G8 domination!
The G8 countries are only representing 13,5 % of the world population, butthey control 62,6% ofthe world economy. They are shaping the world order(economy, development, conflicts, environment...) in a way that affects everyhuman being.
This world order drives us in a situation where the number ofhungry people has increased from 840 to 854 million in 2006 while a tinygroup of millionaires have doubled their capital from 16 to 33 billiondollars.

A few months before the G8 summit in June in Germany, we are denouncing thepolicies put forward by the G8 governments in order to maintain their powerand to protect the interests of the big companies, at the expense of thegreat majority of the world population.

JOIN THE ACTIONS FOR APRIL 17 !- More on www.viacampesina.org

1.Organize public debates, workshops, discussions, seminars, culturalevents, and rallies on food sovereignty as the alternative to the neoliberalmodel. You can use the results of Nyeleni 2007, the Forum for foodsovereignty (Mali, February
2007) to disseminate information and to make surethat food sovereignty principles are implemented in your country. Invitegovernment officials, academics and social movements to take part. (moreinformation at www.nyeleni2007.org)

2.Take part in the global action and activities on 19th of April to stopEU-ACP EPAs.

3.Join the campaign against green deserts!

4.La Via Campesina, together with many other social movements, will takepart in the mobilizations against the G8 in Rostock, Germany, June 2 and 3 toshow that alternative policies are possible. We call people to go to Rostockfor the mobilizations against the G8.

La Via Campesina calls all its member organizations in the world to prepareand organize activities, events and actions in commemoration of 17 April. Weinvite all Via Campesina members to commemorate this event in their farmlandswith their communities and organisations in their villages, provinces andcountries.

We also call other social movements to celebrate this event.

Please inform us about the activities you are planning. We will publish allactions and activities in our website. If you want to get more information

please contact:

International Operative Secretariat of La Via Campesina (Contact Person: Tejo Pramono)
Jln. Mampang Prapatan XIV No. 5 Jakarta Selatan, Jakarta 12790Indonesia.
Phone : +62-21-7991890 Facs : +62-21-7993426 Email:viacampesina@viacampesina.org
And/or join the April 17 listserv by sending a blank message
toviacam17april-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Or contact our regional staffs that are close to where you live:
Africa (Isabelle Dos Reis)
Maputo - Mozambique Tel/Fax : (+258) 2132 7895
Email: vcafrica@tvcabo.co.mz

South-East and East Asia (Irma Yanni)
Jln. Mampang Prapatan XIV No. 5 Jakarta Selatan, Jakarta 12790Indonesia
Phone : +62-21-7991890 Facs : +62-21-7993426Email: petani@indosat.net.id

Caribbean (Francisca Peguero)
Av Independencia No 1063, Zona Universitaria, Distrito Nacional, Apdo Postal
905-2, Feria.
Tel/Fax: 00-1-809 686 7517 Fax: +1-809-682 0075
Email: conamuca@verizon.net.

Europe (Morgan Ody)
Rue de la Sablonnière18
B - 1000 Bruxelles - Métro: Madou
tel + 32 2 2173112 fax: + 32 2 2184509
e-mail: morganody@yahoo.fr

Central America (Wendy Cruz)
Colonia Alameda, 11 Avenida (Alfonso Guillen Zelaya), entre 3 y 4 Calles,
Casa2025, Apartado Postal 3628 Tegucigalpa, M.D.C. - Honduras, C.A. Tel/fax:
+5042359915/ +5042324679.Email: wendy_cruz_s@yahoo.com

South America (Rita Zanotto)
Alameda Barao de Limeira, 1232 - 01202-002 - Sao Paulo -SP - Brasil Phone -
613325 3909
Email: lavia.campesina@gmail.com

North America(Jessica Roe)
110 Maryland Ave., N.E. Suite 307 Washington , DC 20002 - USA
email:jroe@nffc.netThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you
needJavaScript enabled to view it

South Asia (Gayathri Girrish)
Email : gayathri_krrs@yahoo.co.in