The US-Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA), created in 2005 by the Bush and Garcia administrations, came into effect on February 1st, 2009. Since this time, several protests have been held within the country by indigenous groups, peasants and their supporters. At the heart of the protests are several laws, which have been enacted, and since revoked, by the Garcia administration under the FTA.
Social movement leaders in Honduras, including members of Grassroots International's partner, La Via Campesina, fear for their lives, as tens of thousands have gathered to protest Sunday's coup d'etat against President Jose Manuel "Mel" Zelaya Rosales.
Please call on the Honduran Embassy to demand that the congress and military respect and guarantee the human rights of all Hondurans and reinstate the democratically elected president, Mel Zelaya.
Grassroots International's friends at the Global Development & Environment Institute (GDAE) at Tufts University announced their award of the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought to Bina Agarwal of Delhi University, India. Agarwal is an early pioneer of research and advocacy on gender and land rights, which many of Grassroots' partners have been fighting for in the field.
Salena Tramel, Grassroots International Program Coordinator for the Middle East and Haiti, recently visited with all of Grassroots' partners in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel. This was not her first time in the region, having lived and worked in the West Bank just two years ago. Her previous experience in the region provides a vantage point from which to consider the current political, economic and social reality in the region.
Saulo and I traveled with our partner Rafael Alegria of the Via Campesina and COCOCH (Honduran Coordinating Council of Campesino Organizations), about an hour northeast of Honduras' capital Tegucigalpa, near the town of Comayagua, to meet Analina Claros, one of the leaders of the Nueve Noviembre (November 9th) settlement, and her neighbors. This is what she shared with us over a wonderful homecooked stew of chicken and vegetables and freshly made corn tortillas, all grown and raised in their settlement:
"The cascading series of events now known as the world food crisis started in Mexico as the 'tortilla war' in January 2007. It then flared up in Italy as the 'spaghetti strike' nine months later. Later it became an unstoppable avalanche ... La Vía Campesina believes that this crisis is the result of decades of destructive policies: pressure from international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to decrease investment in small-scale food production through structural adjustment programs; increasing the power of transnational corporations; financial speculation; and more recently, governments' support for the frantic escalation in the production of agro-fuels."
Many social movements from across the Americas were in Trinidad for the 4th People’s Summit to articulate their demands for moving the hemisphere towards economic (including trade) and climate justice, food sovereignty, human rights, and an end to militarization. They represented movements of women, peasants, indigenous peoples, labor and those struggling for environmental justice.
Sunday marked Land Day in Palestine and around the world. Land Day is an annual commemoration of the events of March 30, 1976, when the Israeli army and police killed six unarmed Palestinian protesters and injured 96 others during a peaceful protest in the Galilee. More than 300 people were also arrested in the demonstration opposing the Israeli authorities' seizure of 5,500 acres as "closed military zones."
Gaza: War on civilians in the world's largest open-air prison[1]
Grassroots International Board Member Marie Kennedy and staff member Salena Tramel visited partners and allies in the West Bank and Israel prior to joining a delegation to Gaza, co-sponsored by Code Pink. This entry is from Marie's notes from her meetings in the West Bank.
Feb 27th – Stop the Wall Campaign Members Tell Their Stories
With thanks in part to $80,000 dollars in generous donations made to Grassroots International in response to the Gaza Crisis, our partners in Palestine have begun the process of rebuilding their communities.
For a Grassroots International staff member and Board member, this International Women's Day offered a real glimpse at global solidarity. The two women, along with 58 other activists, writers and thinkers stepped across the rarely penetrable border into Gaza. Delegates hope to meet with their counterparts, including a number of Grassroots International partners, visit to the urban gardens of the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC), and meet with the Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP), whose building was severely damaged during the Israeli attack.
On February 23, Grassroots International partner, the Via Campesina met with representatives of the United Nations in New York City to discuss ways to address the chronic problems faced by peasant communities around the globe.
The growing violation of resources rights of peasants by development policies - especially mega-projects whose main goal is to speed up the extraction and export of resources for corporate profits - is an issue that demands immediate attention.
While attending the Via Campesina's Vth International Conference, publisher and author Nic Paget-Clarke caught up with Paul Nicholson.
Nicholson is a member of EHNE (Euskal Herriko Nekazarien Elkartasuna), the Basque Farmers Union in the Basque Country, and a member of the International Coordinating Committee in Via Campesina. EHNE is part of the Spanish COAG (Coordinadora de Organizaciones de Agricultores y Ganaderos), which is part of the European Coordination-Via Campesina, a Via Campesina organization in Europe.
While attending the Via Campesina's Vth International Conference, publisher and author Nic Paget-Clarke sat down with members of a peasant and small farmers' association in Mozambique in an attempt to learn more about the reality of their situation.
Paget-Clarke's piece was published In Motion Magazine. We are also providing a PDF version of the article, which has been formatted for printing.
While attending the Via Campesina's Vth International Conference, publisher and author Nic Paget-Clarke caught up with Diamantino Nhampossa. Nhampossa is executive director of the União Nacional de Camponeses (UNAC) / National Peasants' Union of Mozambique and a member for Africa of the International Coordinating Committee of La Via Campesina.
Paget-Clarke's interview with Nhampossa was published In Motion Magazine. We are also providing a PDF version of their conversation, which has been formatted for printing.
While attending the Via Campesina's Vth International Conference, publisher and author Nic Paget-Clarke caught up with Julio dos Santos Pessego. Pessego is a member of UCASN (União dos Camponeses Sul de Niassa / South Niassa Peasants’ Union) and advocacy project director for UNAC (União Nacional de Camponeses / National Peasants' Union) in Niassa province, Mozambique.
Paget-Clarke's interview with Pessego was published In Motion Magazine. We are also providing a PDF version of their conversation, which has been formatted for printing.
While attending the Via Campesina's Vth International Conference, publisher and author Nic Paget-Clarke caught up with Kalissa Regier. Regier is Youth Vice-President of the National Farmers Union (NFU) of Canada.
Paget-Clarke's interview with Regier was published In Motion Magazine. We are also providing a PDF version of their conversation, which has been formatted for printing.
For years, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) has been turning food aid that feeds dependency on its head. Their Farm to Table program purchases food for hungry families from local Palestinian farmers to address critical humanitarian needs and provide local farmers with needed income. Like nearly all organizations working in Gaza, PARC's operations came to a swift halt on December 27, 2008, when Israeli Defense Forces began bombing the region. Their buildings were severely damaged, along with the rooftop and backyard gardens at the core of the urban farm program.
