Youth carry the work forward
From her humble beginnings, Sayra never imagined the profound impact she would have on the global movement for food sovereignty.
Carol Schachet, Author at Grassroots International | Page 10 sur 27
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Monsanto Nation
In the article below, Ronnie Cummins outlines the danges posed by Monsanto's takeover of global food systems, and the mounting resistance occuring across the world. Thousands of Davids -- including the Via Campesina, Millions Against Monsanto, Combat Monsanto and other coalitions -- are rising up to thwart this hulking Goliath.
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Taking on TIAA-CREF, with pain and outrage
July 20, 2011
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Losing Jerusalem, Piece by Piece
In Bir Nabala, a neighborhood in East Jerusalem, Israel’s separation Wall provides a concrete backdrop to what was once a view of the old city. On a stormy afternoon, Bir Nabala’s head of counsel Haj Tawfik Nabeli guided me through the ghostly streets isolated from the rest of the city by massive sections of the eight-meter high Wall that is, in Nabeli’s words, “affecting every single aspect of life.”
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Food Sovereignty
“Food sovereignty is the right of peoples, communities, and countries to define their own agricultural, labor, fishing, food and land policies, which are ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate to their unique circumstances. It includes the true right to food and to produce food, which means that all people have the right to safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food and to food-producing resources and the ability to sustain themselves and their societies.” –“Food Sovereignty: A Right For All, Political Statement of the NGO/CSO Forum for Food Sovereignty,“ Rome, June 2002
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The Landless Workers Movement wins the Food Sovereignty Prize
The International Links Committee of Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) announced the Landless Workers Movement (MST) of Brazil as the recipient of the 2011 Food Sovereignty Prize. Grassroots International congratulates our longtime partner and celebrates their accomplishments in promoting community-led initiatives for land and food rights in Brazil, and leading the struggle worldwide.
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Learning and Constructing with Haitians
Bev Bell, a long time Grassroots International ally, recently published the article below, which describes a Learning Exchange program between Brazil and Haiti, supported by Grassroots International. Bev has worked with Haitian social movements, including many of Grassroots International’s partners, for decades. This piece describes the dynamic cross-border collaboration between partners in Haiti and Brazil. Jose Luis Patrola of the Landless Workers Movement puts it well: "We're not here to teach, we're here to learn." He also acknowledged the financial support provided by Grassroots that helped make the Haiti-Brazil learning exchange happen. Perhaps it’s largely true, as noted by Patrola, that social movements have forgotten the concept of internationalism.
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Gaza Diaries: Leaving a Legacy of Seeds
RAFAH, Gaza—I’m sitting around a table at the Rural Women’s Development Society (RWDS) near the Gaza Strip’s southernmost border with a group of women discussing grassroots agricultural initiatives and drinking sugary sage tea. For a second, the sound of a war plane suffocates our words. One of the center’s leaders looks out the window and rolls her big brown eyes. “As I was saying,” she repeats, “we are dealing with real threats here.”
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Al-Nakba demonstrations experience violence
Below is an article from Grassroots International’s ally, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, outlining actions planned for the commemoration of the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba on May 15, 2011. Al-Nakba, which means “the catastrophe” in Arabic, commemorates the day in 1948 on which Palestinians either fled or were forced to leave their homes, villages and towns as war broke out between the newly declared State of Israel and neighboring Arab countries in the wake of Israel’s declaration of statehood on May 14, 1948.
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Gaza Diaries: Prison Visits
GAZA CITY— The turnstile locks behind me and I’m standing in a small metal room. I flashback to the first time I crossed Erez checkpoint last year and remember the claustrophobic feeling of walking into a trap, three small metal doors blending into the steel. This time, I know the drill, and place bets on which one of these gateways to Gaza will randomly open. One finally does, revealing a seemingly endless open-air tunnel that snakes through the expanse of the buffer zone. I have been waiting for this moment, for the long walk alone to the other side. I crank up Gran Vitaly’s “Looming Hurricane” on my iPod and weave through the cage, separated from heavily armed soldiers by razed agricultural land. Time stands still for a while, and then before I know it, I’m back in the Strip.
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Bury the corporate food system!
Below is an article from Grassroots International partner, the Via Campesina, in preparation for the International Day of Peasants’ Struggles. The Via is an international movement which brings together millions of peasants, small and medium-size farmers, landless people, women farmers, indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers from around the world. It defends small-scale sustainable agriculture as a way to promote social justice and dignity and strongly opposes corporate driven agriculture and transnational companies that are destroying people and nature.
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Haitians Still Seek to Lead Reconstruction Efforts
Last year, significant international donors (including several nations and financial institutions) gathered at the United Nations headquarters in New York to discuss the massive reconstruction task ahead of them in post-earthquake Haiti. One year later, the situation on the ground in Haiti demonstrates their failure—both in terms of the lack of meaningful reconstruction, and by refusing to allow Haitians themselves to speak for their own development and sovereignty.
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Attacks on Gaza: Global silence as civilians lose their lives
After a relatively quiet few months in Gaza, conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians have erupted anew, with each side claiming retaliation rights. Flexing its superior military might—and causing mighty damage—the Israeli armed forces have intensified their attacks on the blockaded territory. And just like during operation “Cast Lead,” Gazan civilians are paying the heaviest price.
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Mourning the death of a colleague, and fearing for the life of another
Sometimes the work we engage in as people who believe in a just peace in the face of a brutal world is quite simply heart breaking. Today is such a day.
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Closure in Beit Ommar violates resource rights
This article, Israel lays Gaza-like siege on West Bank village, highlights many threats to resource rights in Palestine, as the people living there have diminishing access to land, water, and food. These developments in Beit Ommar not only show the severity of the politics of occupation, but also stand in the way of a just peace .
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Update from farmers in Japan
Below is an update from Grassroots International’s partner, the Via Campesina, concerning the situation of farmers in Japan. To keep up to date with the Nouminren blog, visit http://earlybirds.ddo.jp/earlybirds/saigai/?lang=en.
News from Nouminren, La Via Campesina member in Japan “I do not think that I can farm this year, but with the members of local NOUMINREN, we will take one step after another to make a come back of our agriculture in our village! -
Fact Sheet: Elbit, TIAA-CREF and the Wall
"No company is more deeply embedded in Israel's brutal architecture, occupation and segregation than Elbit."
-- Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster CapitalismThe Wall, currently being built by Elbit Systems Ltd., separates Palestinian families from thousands of acres of farmland, aqueducts and wells. To make way for the massive structure, more than 100,000 olive trees have already been uprooted. And with each slab of concrete erected and security trench expanded, Elbit reaps ever greater profits while Palestinians endure violations to their resource and human rights.
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Charity Ratings: What Does It Mean to See a Falling Star?
Like many other non-profit organizations, last year Charity Navigator lowered our rating from four stars (excellent) to two stars (needs improvement). Since many donors rely on third-party rating services such as Charity Navigator to inform their giving, we would like to offer an explanation.
Since 2007, Grassroots International received Charity Navigator’s highest rating of four stars. However, after a review in November 2010, Charity Navigator downgraded the rating to two stars. When asked why, we were given the following reasons: