Six Organizing Principles for a Sustainable Future
Some of the most important lessons I know about grassroots organizing come from the poet Wendell Berry, who advises, “Invest in the millennium; plant Sequoias.”
Carol Schachet, Author at Grassroots International | Page 12 sur 28
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Hoodwinked in the Hothouse: False Solutions to Climate Change
From REDD to COP-16 to pending US legislation like ACES, the climate change debate has become a whirlwind of confusing acronyms, new (or newly branded) technologies, data and concepts. Yet these seemingly incomprehensible policy debates will set the rules not only...
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What Connects Your Carrot to the Climate Crisis?
A new online film from WhyHunger, “The Food and Climate Connection: From Heating the Planet to Healing It,” highlights the impact of today’s global food system on the climate and how a community-based food movement around the world is bringing to life a way of farming and eating that’s better for our bodies and the planet. Featuring interviews with farmers, community leaders, and sustainability advocates, the film highlights how the industrial food system is among the greatest contributors to global warming and how sustainable farming practices can pose a powerful solution to the crisis.
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Supporting Haitian-led Rebuilding and Recovering Efforts 6 Months Since the Earthquake
Only six months ago, Haiti was violently shaken by an earthquake, killing nearly 300,000 and leaving the country reeling from its latest disaster. With help from responsive and generous donors, Grassroots International has been able to provide support directly to community-led organizations -- the people on the front-line of helping rebuild.
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The Haitian Delegation to the U.S. Social Forum Seizes their Moment
Grassroots International recently supported a delegation of Haitian social movements to attend the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit. This diverse group represented several of our partners and allies on the ground in Haiti and offered them a unique networking and educational platform.
Doudou Pierre, representing our partner the National Congress of the Papaye Peasant Movement and our close ally, the National Haitian Network for Food Security and Food Sovereignty, recently told us that the experience changed his perception of the U.S. -
You Are What You Eat
I have a button on my backpack that says: “If You Are What You Eat, Then I’m Fast, Cheap, and Easy.” Thankfully, this quip is sarcastic in my case, but for many people, including many of those working for global justice, it is all too true. Whether due to marketing hype or sheer convenience, usually smart folks can fall down when it comes to what they put in their mouths. The personal is political, and this is reflected each time someone votes for “business as usual” by giving their money to a fast-food chain or big box retailer. The result is a broken food/farm system that is systematically abusing animals, exploiting workers, perverting biodiversity, undermining democracy, jeopardizing health, and destroying the planet.
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A Victory for Human Rights: Marlin Mine in Guatemala Ordered to Shut
After tireless campaigning by the indigenous people of Guatemala and international solidarity organizations, including Grassroots International, the Goldcorp Marlin Mine has been ordered to shut by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. This is a huge victory for local Mayan residents who have fought for the past six years to hold Goldcorp accountable for appalling social and environmental problems caused by the mine. Grassroots International supported their struggle for justice by funding indigenous representatives to attend meetings with allies in Canada and the United States as well as hearings at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
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‘So That Everyone Can Eat, Produce It Here’
Doudou Pierre is a Grassroots International partner and a member of the National Peasant Movement of the Papay Congress and the Peasant Movement for Acul du Nord. He.is also on the coordinating committee of the National Haitian Network for Food Sovereignty and Food Security (RENHASSA .and a member of the International Coordinating Committee for Food Sovereignty, organized by Vía Campesina, the worldwide coalition of small farmer organizations. This week he will be heading to the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit.
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Grassroots International Supporter Shares One Hour of Unedited Video of Flotilla Raid
Today Iara Lee, a Grassroots International supporter and an independent documentary filmmaker and activist, posted online more than one hour of unedited video taken aboard the Mavi Marmara. The video, recorded in high definition, shows clear uninterrupted footage of the events that occurred before, during, and after Israeli Navy Commandos raided the boat in international waters. At least nine passengers were killed during the raid, and dozens more were wounded. The video provides a previously unavailable timeline of the raid as it unfolded, and may shed light on disputes over how and why violence ensued.
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Is Monsanto’s Gift of Hybrid Seeds a Trojan Horse?
No one denies that Haiti needs seeds and support this planting season, as the population still faces steep challenges since January’s devastating earthquake. Many thousands have fled urban areas for the countryside, taxing already strained resources and causing many rural communities to re-purpose for food the seeds set aside for planting.
But is any seed a good seed? No, says Chavannes Jean-Baptiste and other Haitian activists. Chavannes is the executive director of Grassroots International partner the Peasant Movement of Papaye (MPP).
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Haitian Farmers Commit to Burning Monsanto Hybrid Seeds
"A new earthquake" is what peasant farmer leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) called the news that Monsanto will be donating 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds, some of them treated with highly toxic pesticides. The MPP has committed to burning Monsanto's seeds, and has called for a march to protest the corporation's presence in Haiti on June 4, for World Environment Day.
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Tell Congress: Haiti Can’t Wait
Micheline Fleuron lives with her two boys in the median on the road in Carrefour, Haiti. Her home, the pile of rubble across the street from where she is now, collapsed during the earthquake and killed her seven-year-old daughter. Before the earthquake Micheline had a small business selling food items. She lost that in the earthquake. She says food aid has been distributed nearby but she has not been able to get any of it. She says hunger is difficult and "dust from the street is eating us."
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Water Rights for Arab Citizens of Israel
Among the many challenges facing Arab citizens living in Israel, access to water is perhaps the worst. Grassroots International partner the Ahali Center for Community Development is organizing to secure the human right to water in a region that thirsts for justice.
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Biotechnology: A False Sense of Food Security
Recently our colleague Timi Gerson at American Jewish World Service published the article below, debunking the myth that biotechnology will save the world from hunger and exposing the anti-organic bias of biotech advocates. Grassroots International and the American Jewish World Service are working to support food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture worldwide.
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Grassroots International Signs on to STOP LAND GRABBING NOW!
Grassroots International, along with scores of organizations and global activists, endorses the call of the Via Campesina to "Stop Land Grabbing Now!" and say no to the principles of “responsible” agro-enterprise investment promoted by the World Bank.
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Dispatches from World People’s Conference on Climate Change
A World People's Conference on Climate Change has been called by Bolivia as a response to the failure of COP15. As one of the few countries that openly criticized the negotiations in Copenhagen and has refused to sign the Copenhagen Accord, Bolivia has invited governments, organizations, and people to take part in finding solutions to fight climate change.
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The Joy of Justice: Marching with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers
Below is a blog from our colleague Stephen Bartlett of Agricultural Missions entitled “Praying with our Feet Journal.” Along with 1,000 others, he participated in the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) Farmworker Freedom March, a three-day trek of 25 miles ending in Lakeland, FL where Publix supermarket chain corporate headquarters is located. The farmworkers are calling on Publix to pay them a penny more for every pound of tomatoes they pick, which would nearly double their meager wages. CIW and other marchers are also asking Publix to sign onto a code of conduct which would prevent the from buying tomatoes from any growers that did not meet certain basic working conditions.
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Take Action: Food Sovereignty Threatened by Proposed US Legislation
As early as next week, the US Senate could vote on legislation with tremendous consequences for farmers and small producers across the globe. The Lugar-Casey Global Food Security Act, also known as S. 384, aims to increase US foreign assistance for agricultural research and production and represents the biggest US agricultural aid initiative in more than half a century.
However, this ostensibly laudable effort is deeply flawed by a clause which specifically mandates research on genetically engineered (GE) crops. Please take action now to tell your Senator to oppose this legislation until the 'GE Clause' is removed. -
Israeli-ordered Deportations Threaten Palestinians
This week in the West Bank, Palestinians brace for the consequences of one of the harshest Israeli military orders to date. In what Israeli news source Haaretz called “a step too far,” the military order set into action earlier in the week gives soldiers the authority to deport tens of thousands of Palestinians and prosecute them on infiltration charges.