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.
Over 450 peasant movement representatives from all over the world will gather at the VIIth International Conference of La Via Campesina to continue the struggle against capitalism and to propose concrete ways to build an alternative world based on dignity and Food Sovereignty.
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.
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
On May 10, hundreds of community members, climate justice supporters, and grassroots organizations gathered with Grassroots International and the Boston Public Library to share stories and hear words of wisdom from international Climate Justice leaders.
MA’AN Development Center details in their latest video (below) how an Israeli company is dumping toxic waste from Israeli settlements into Jordan Valley and turning it into compost which it then sells to unsuspecting Palestinian farmers. The toxic compost damages crops and poisons the soil.
We are meeting with a longtime Grassroots International partner organization, the Union of Agricultural Workers Committee (UAWC). UAWC focuses on building sovereignty for men, women and youth, farmers and the poor.
In September 2016 eleven of our partners, grantees and allies flew to Goiás, Brazil to participate in a learning exchange of peasant movements that Grassroots International organized along with our friends at IDEX/Thousand Currents.
Grassroots International and other Haitian groups are urging the international donor community to direct hurricane relief through Haitian-led organizations and networks.
The US Food Sovereignty Alliance (USFSA) named the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) and the Farmworker Association of Florida (FWAF) as the honorees for the eighth annual Food Sovereignty Prize.
All people have the right to decide what they eat and to ensure that food in their community is healthy and accessible for everyone. This is the basic principle behind food sovereignty. If you want to support domestic food security...
For small farmers, climate change feels like “the sun is getting closer.” That’s what Ginette Hilaire says, and she goes on to describe the escalating droughts, floods and other climate events that she and her community are experiencing with new intensity. “The seasons have completely changed,” she added.
But Ginette and others in her Haitian community are not merely enduring these hardships. They are working to address the root causes, adapt to the changes and put forward workable solutions.
The term peasant often conjures up images of medieval serfs out of touch with the ways of the world around them. Such thinking is out of date. Today, peasants proudly and powerfully put forward effective strategies to feed the planet and limit the damages wrought by industrial agriculture. What’s more, they understand the connections between complex trade and economic systems, champion the rights of women, and even stand up for the rights of gay men and lesbians.
These are not your great ancestors’ peasants.
Recently David Bacon, whose work amplifies the voices of those who otherwise might be unheard, shared the story of Lorena Hernandez. Lorena is a single mother and farmworker laboring in California’s agricultural fields. Like so many other women whose stories need to be heard, Lorena describes the physical violence caused by economic exploitation, and hunger.
Last Wednesday, October 10th, in New York City, I had the privilege of witnessing the US Food Sovereignty Alliance award the fourth annual Food Sovereignty Prize to the Korean Women Peasant’s Association (KWPA).
The Latin America Bureau (LAB) interviewed Grassroots’ partner, Rafael Alegría in Honduras. Co-coordinator for the Via Campesina-Central America, Rafael joins hundreds of other peasants in occupying land to call attention to the need for agrarian reform. Below is the interview, which also appeared on the Via Campesina website.
Grassroots International met with leaders of the Via Campesina from Mexico, the Dominican Republic and the United States in New York City last week during the Grantmakers without Borders (GwoB) conference – a space for progressive international funders to come...
In another great piece in GRIST, author Tom Philpott stresses that we can’t change the broken food system only through changing what food we consume and how, important thought it may be. This echoes what progressive U.S. food system advocates have been saying for some time: to fix the current food system we need structural change. “We also have to get out there and organize for policy reform: to become, in short, a countervailing force that challenges the power of the food lobby”, Philpott contends.
The U.S.
