Keeping the Jordan Valley
It’s hard to imagine that within the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) there’s one region that‘s even more contested than others, but there is: the Jordan Valley.
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In Their Own Words: Gaza’s Farmers and Fishers Speak Out
In this remarkable video, the Gaza branch of Grassroots International partner the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, documents the plight of fishers and farmers in the Gaza Strip. This video is a testament to Palestinians’ commitment to their land and livelihoods despite overwhelming Israeli military pressure to give up. Palestinian farmers and fishers continuously risk their lives by pursuing their craft amidst the Israeli blockade of Gaza. For them giving up their way of life, and a means to sustain their families, is not an option.
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Honduran Human Rights Defender Celebrates a Step toward Vindication
Human rights activists enjoyed a victory this week when charges against an indigenous community leader were permanently dismissed.
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Video Highlights Water Rights and Energy Sovereignty as part of a Just Transition
Today, the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) launches a new video describing Our Power Campaign: Communities United for a Just Transition. The video was shot during last year’s CJA “Our Power” camp and action, hosted by the Black Mesa Water Coalition, which...
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New Farm Bill Leaves Many Families and Farmers Out in the Cold
The new version of the Farm Bill passed by Congress on February 4, 2014, and signed by President Obama three days later leaves several critical programs around nutrition and programs to support family farmers underfunded. The legislation is problematic on many levels, starting with the three below.
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Transformation and Solidarity: Interview with MST member Rita Zanotto
Recently Rita Zanotto from the Landless Workers Movement (MST) sat down with Grassroots International’s Sara Mersha to talk about global movements, partnership and power.
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Alfredo Lopez, Human Rights Defender and Big Headache for Honduran Authorities
Alfredo Lopez is a hunted man.
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Recovery in Gaza After Winter Storm Alexa
The occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) faced one of the worst winter storms seen in decades last month. The West Bank experienced record snow fall, which municipalities were ill-equipped to handle. While Gaza was spared much of the snow, the Strip received a devastating wintry mix of freezing rain, strong winds, and bitter cold that paralyzed an area considered a humanitarian crisis long before the storm.
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Remembering a Family Farm Defender and Champion — John Kinsman, Presente!
John Kinsman was far more than a Wisconsin dairy farmer, though he proudly was that. He was a pioneer of organic and sustainable farming in the United States and a tireless advocate for global food sovereignty. John Kinsman died yesterday, on Martin Luther King Day, after a long life of struggle, humor and compassion.
A fourth generation farmer, John founded Family Farm Defenders to empower farmers to speak for and respect themselves in their quest for social, economic and racial justice. A 2012 profile in The Progressive, describes some of his accomplishments: -
Veolia, a target of human rights organizations, derailed in Massachusetts
Since our office is in Boston, Grassroots International takes special satisfaction with the ouster of Veolia from running Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad system here. Veolia’s operation in the occupied West Bank has made it a consistent target of human rights organizations, including Grassroots International and our allies. We join with other members of the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights, which initiated the “Derail Veolia” campaign. While we celebrate this moment, we recognize the importance of continuing to push for the MBTA and MassDOT to recognize human rights as part of its decision-making – including both international concerns as well as the need to ensure good jobs and local hiring.
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Haitian Movements Speak Out Against Monsanto, Offer Community-led Solutions
Haiti’s peasant movements are reforesting the countryside, building irrigation systems, feeding communities – just to name a few activites that are improving lives for rural communities across the nation. In the video below, members of Haiti’s Group of Four (G4) and the Dessalines Brigade describe how Haiti’s peasant movement connects with the struggle for food sovereignty in the United States, and globally. The video includes Grassroots International partners from Haiti and Brazil speaking at an Occupy the Food Prize rally on October 17, 2013 in Des Moines.
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Cameroon activist takes on land grabber from Wall Street, now faces imprisonment
Land grabs -- the large-scale and sometimes shady acquisition of massive tracts of land by powerful financial interest -- have become a serious problem in the Global South. As a result, peasant farmers, particularly in indigenous communities, are being driven from their ancestral lands. Fortunately, a growing and increasingly well-organized movement of resistance to land grabs is fighting back --and succeeding. The following story, from Grassroots ally GRAIN, shows how one community leader and his community are pushing back against the grabs.
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Celebrating 20 years of the Zapatista Uprising for autonomy and self-determination!
On New Year’s Day, 20 years ago, a group of indigenous peoples, known as the Zapatistas, occupied several municipalities of the state of Chiapas, Mexico. Not coincidentally, that same day the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect. The Zapatistas considered the free trade agreement and the neoliberal political system that spawned it to be a death sentence for indigenous peoples in Mexico. The magnitude of the Zapatista uprising was due to the participation of different indigenous groups which joined forces to change a system that was marginalizing and exploiting them.
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Women Leading the Way for Justice and an end to Violence
By Lydia Simas
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Reports from Honduras Show Repression, Voter Fraud
By Lydia Simas
Grassroots International has been in close contact with our partners in Honduras throughout the recent elections there. Many offered first-hand reports that election observers and agrarian reform activists were intimidated, ballots were not collected, and people were threatened with violence and even killed. The report below from the Real News.com (Honduran Elections: Another Chapter of the Ongoing Coup) describes irregularities with the elections, including allegations of widespread voter suppression that ultimately failed the Honduran people.
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Report from Post-election Honduras Cites Violence, Intimidation
This is a preliminary summary from the US-based Honduras Solidarity Network / Alliance for Global Justice election observation delegation. The summary casts doubt the credibility of Honduran Supreme Electoral Council, which claims that the elections were free and fair, siting the US Ambassador and mainstream corporate media in the USA. Others on the ground, however, disagree.
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Interview with Miriam Nobre, Global Feminist Activist
Miriam Nobre is a Brazilian feminist activist and current coordinator of World March of Women (WMW), an international feminist movement that connects grassroots women to eliminate the root causes of poverty and violence against women. She is also an agronomist, and has completed a master’s program in Latin American Integration at the University of São Paulo (Brazil). Miriam recently received an award from Grassroots International as part of our 30th anniversary celebration in Boston. While in Boston, she talked with Grassroots staffer Jonathan Leaning about her work with the WMW and her activism.
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Standing in Solidarity with the Palestinian People
By Claire Gilbert and Mina Remy
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MPP’s Much Ado About Women
Haiti, like everywhere else, has a complex relationship with women. Women’s work in and out the home is invaluable, sometimes the difference between: eating or not, schooling or not, and medical care or not. The majority of Haitian households are headed by women who are divorced, widowed, or never married. These women are eking out a living by the skin of their teeth—resourceful in a resource-strapped world. But despite Haitian women’s contributions to society and economy, they remain trapped invarious levels of social and institutional discrimination. They face barriers to adequate housing, education, employment, and justice. On the whole, urban-based women fare a little better than rural-based women, but not by much.
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MPPs Much Ado About Women
Haiti, like everywhere else, has a complex relationship with women. Womens work in and out the home is invaluable, sometimes the difference between: eating or not, schooling or not, and medical care or not. The majority of Haitian households are headed by women who are divorced, widowed, or never married. These women are eking out a living by the skin of their teethresourceful in a resource-strapped world. But despite Haitian womens contributions to society and economy, they remain trapped invarious levels of social and institutional discrimination. They face barriers to adequate housing, education, employment, and justice. On the whole, urban-based women fare a little better than rural-based women, but not by much.