This March, the Burkina Faso National Farmers’ Union and the Inter-professional Cotton Association of Burkina (AICB) won $76 million in an out-of-court settlement with Monsanto for income lost on the company’s Bt Cotton seeds.
On September 20, Hurricane Maria made a direct hit on Puerto Rico. The initial reports and photos only tell a portion of the story of destruction. These impacts come on top of the impacts of a man-made disaster — one with its roots in the US colonial relationship with Puerto Rico. This moment requires a proactive vision that will uphold the rights and leadership of the people of Puerto Rico. Please join us in demanding a Just Recovery and Relief Aid Package that exposes the root causes of inequality and climate change and, instead, calls for economic transformation, ecological justice, and social change.
We went to Mexico to participate in an international learning exchange hosted by Grassroots’ allies Thousand Currents and their partner in Chiapas, the Civic Association for Economic and Social Development of Indigenous Mexicans (DESMI). The learning exchange brought together 120 small farmers and Indigenous Peoples from 11 different countries to share their knowledge and strategies towards advancing food sovereignty and buen vivir.
Grassroots International, along with our allies in the fight for a fair and just food system, have signed a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee, led by Chair Conoway (R-TX). We are asking them to reconsider the current state of our food system and to take steps to address its problems, rather than write policies that condone them.
While avoiding the bulls-eye of the storm, Hurricane Irma’s impact in Haiti included pouring rain, high seas and devastating winds pummeled the northern regions of the country.
This year forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are predicting an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season, with “ a 70 percent likelihood of 11 to 17 named storms, of which 5 to 9 could become hurricanes, including 2 to 4 major hurricanes. An average season produces 12 named storms of which six become hurricanes, including three major hurricanes.”
Grassroots International was honored to be in attendance at the VIIth International Conference of La Via Campesina and gathered some of our partners' perspectives and thoughts about the conference and their work in the below photo blog.
While our Palestinian partners acknowledge that UN member states are failing Gaza, and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories, they believe people-to-people engagement and solidarity can change the status quo. Grassroots International remains committed to supporting Palestinian human rights and livelihoods, supporting our partners there and engaging in advocacy in the US.
We welcome three new staff babies to the Grassroots International family.
In Palestine, the 50-year anniversary of Israeli occupation and decade of near-total blockade in Gaza is a time of looking back on difficult historical moments in which rights enjoyed in most parts of the world vanished. At the same time, it is an opportunity to look forward to a future in which they will be restored and advanced. Even though states and political parties have continually neglected such a political project, social justice movements inside and outside of Palestine are acting as its guardians.
Video about why the US Congress must pass the Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act (H.R. 1299)
Below is a statement from COPINH, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, our grantee and ally, concerning the alleged exit of hydroelectric investors in Honduras.
Grassroots International is proud to work with WAS to expose the dangers of the "green revolution" and promote agroecology as a more ecologically and socially sound approach for West African farmers.
We celebrate the many Black communities across the country who organize on this date and every day of the year towards a vision of racial and ecological justice. A few such examples include Alternatives for Community and Environment, Cooperation Jackson, the Black Land and Liberation Initiative, and the Movement for Black Lives.
In Miami, government representatives of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico and the United States will wrap up the Conference on Prosperity and Security in Central America, where yesterday Vice President Pence gave a keynote address. The three-day conference, jointly hosted by the US and Mexico, signals further militarization of US policy in Central America.
The announcement by Donald Trump that that United States intends to ignore the non-binding Paris Climate Agreement, with the intention to renegotiate it to foist his America First policy on the rest of the world, should come as no surprise to anyone. What is surprising is who opposed the US withdrawal: Big business.
The Guardian recently reported that international investors plan to pull $44 million in funding from the Agua Zarca dam megaproject in Honduras—a project opposed by Indigenous and social movements for years. According to COPINH, however, investors have not yet withdrawn their funding for the dam.
Abdul-Razeq is the Administrative Director of Grassroots International's partner organization, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees. He was arrested by Israeli forces at midnight on May 24 from his home, in front of his family. Abdul-Razeq was brought to an Israeli jail where he is still being held under administrative detention.
The Brazilian political crisis and ensuing violence have intensified rapidly since the institutional coup of August 31, 2016. At Grassroots, we are receiving regular reports from our partners in Brazil listing incidents of attacks, arrests and even assassinations of land rights activists in a wave of right-wing aggression
