National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA)

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National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA)

National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA)

Mexican Tribunal Suspends All Genetically Modified Corn Plantations

By: Carol Schachet | octobre 24, 2013

In an unprecedented move last week, a Federal Mexican Tribunal suspended authorization for the planting of all genetically modified corn by transnational corporations such as Monsanto, Pioneer and Syngenta. The Tribunal recognized the legal interests of 53 individuals and 20 civil associations that filed a class action lawsuit against the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, the federal government and the transnational corporations that applied for permits to plant transgenic corn. While this decision is not a permanent one, it is a groundbreaking victory in preventing commercial GMO plantations until the collective action lawsuit is resolved.
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National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA)

The Fight Against Monsanto Continues

By: Shannon Duncan Bodwell | mai 16, 2013

On May 13, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of agro-chemical giant Monsanto and against small farmers on a seed patent case. This is just another example of the attacks faced by small farmers around the world. Our global partners have been fighting against international corporations like Monsanto for years—in Haiti, Mexico, and right here in the United States.
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National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA)

Holding Their Ground

By: Claire Gilbert | mars 15, 2013

“The Conquistadors came and they subjugated us and they killed us, but they couldn’t make us disappear because we always had corn. Through corn, we survived and we kept our feet in our territories. With corn at the center of our homes we kept our languages, kept writing our histories. We continued as villages, as families, as workers, as fighters, as a community with our own government, because we had and because we have corn. Now, with the invasion of genetically modified corn they are trying to throw a mortal blow at our existence, the blow that they have not been able to throw in 500 years.”
--The Organizations and Communities of the Network in Defense of Maize (Translated from Spanish from the article El maíz, corazón de la esperanza de los pueblos—Corn, heart or the hope of the village—by Veronica Villa of the Red Maiz—Network in Defense of Corn)
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National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA)

The Maize Manifesto

By: Carol Schachet | janvier 29, 2013

Below is a letter from the National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA) to officials in Mexico. UNORCA members began a hunger strike last week to prevent Monsanto from large-scale planting of genetically modified corn. They have called for international support in their efforts to protect their the biodiversity of this essential seed and staple of their lives.
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National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA)

Wind Farm Mega-Project in Oaxaca sparks resistance, repression

By: Carol Schachet | janvier 24, 2013

Local residents from San Dionisio del Mar (Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico) are protesting the construction of a huge wind farm in their community. Their prolonged and energetic resistance has been met with violent repression and even death threats made against several opposition leaders. To take action in support of the community, click here.
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National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA)

Hunger Strike Aims to Stop GMO Corn in Mexico

By: Saulo Araujo | janvier 23, 2013

By Claire Gilbert and Saulo Araujo
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National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA)

The global forum “For Life, Environmental and Social Justice” has begun

By: CLOC/La Via Campesina | décembre 6, 2010

By Cloc/The Via Campesina
(Cancún, 5 December 2010) One idea dominated the opening and first working day of the global forum “For Life, Environmental and Social Justice”, organized by La Via Campesina and its allies at their camp in Cancún: we must foil the carbon markets and the REDD programme which governments intend to legitimize at COP16.
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National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA)

Grassroots International and Partners at the USSF in Detroit

By: Alisa Pimentel | juin 25, 2010

By Alisa Pimentel

Among the almost 20,000 activists gathered in Detroit for the US Social Forum this week are several Grassroots International partners and allies. Grassroots International regularly provides funding to our partners and allies to participate in movement-building and leadership development gatherings.
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National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA)

System Change, Not Climate Change

By: Nikhil Aziz | mai 17, 2010

Last month, I traveled to Cochabamba, Bolivia for a number of reasons. The main one was to attend the World Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth. Many of Grassroots Internationals partners from Latin America, Asia and Africa were also there some of whom we supported to attend and it was a great opportunity for me to meet with them and with many of our allies in one central location. They were all at the conference because for them the climate crisis is immediate in its impact and not some theoretical scenario for the future.
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National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA)

Amigo, Can You Spare a BTU?

By: Daniel Moss | septembre 23, 2009

Chances are, the average U.S. resident has no idea that their demand for electricity might require that a Mexican village be flooded for a hydroelectric dam. The question is: if the human cost were known, would we consume just a little bit less?

At Grassroots International, our bet is that a little bit of knowledge would go a long way. For those who value human rights, that high social and environmental cost is not likely to sit right.

Our unabashedly biased perspective is based upon the way we’ve worked for more than a quarter century: offering financial support to communities around the world whose natural resources have been extracted and despoiled and sharing their stories in living rooms, community centers and across cyberspace.
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National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA)

A March for Maize–and More

By: Carol Schachet | février 5, 2008

Driving their tractors and greeting supporters along the way, a group of Mexican farmers recently traveled 1,200 miles over 14 days, protesting the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and demanding that the agricultural section of NAFTA be renegotiated.

Click here for a great photo of the over 200,000 strong march and an article in Spanish from La Jornada.
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National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA)

Another World is Possible; Another US is Necessary – the United States Social Forum

By: Nikhil Aziz | juillet 3, 2007

“Our Youth is not the Future, Our Youth is the Present” – Julian Moya, Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP), Albuquerque, New Mexico
“We cannot choose the historical conditions we find ourselves in, but we can choose how we respond to them” – Ajamu Baraka, Director, U.S. Human Rights Network, Atlanta, Georgia
These two quotes, among many other hopeful messages I heard at the U.S. Social Forum (USSF) from June 27 to July 1, 2007 in Atlanta epitomized for me the USSF – what it stands for and envisions in terms of a different kind of United States. Both represent the truth embedded in the official slogan of the USSF – Another World is Possible; Another US is Necessary.
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National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA)

Join Grassroots International at the United States Social Forum, Atlanta, June 27-30

By: Carol Schachet | juin 27, 2007

Please join Grassroots International at the United States Social Forum, Atlanta, June 27-30, 2007. The US Social Forum is more than a conference, more than a networking bonanza, more than a reaction to war and repression, more than a collection of local solutions. It's an important moment to further build the global movement for social justice.
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National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA)

Globalization-from-Below: Building a Better Future from the Grassroots at the World Social Forum

By: Carol Schachet | janvier 26, 2006

Editor's note: This week, Maria Aguiar and Corrina Steward are attending the World Social Forum (Foro Soical Mundial (FSM)) in Caracas, Venezuela. The FSM originated as an alternative to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switerzland, where the world's global elite--CEOs and OECD politicians--meet to exchange ideas to improve their nations' systems of commerce.
The FSM, alternatively, is a space for all to participate--social movements, coalitions, NGOs, unions--and the goal is to improve the social, economic and environmental conditions in their communities and around the world.
Corrina's sends her first report from the Forum:

Greetings from Caracas!
I'm writing from our hotel, where FMS delegates from all over the Americas are meeting and mingling, continuing to make connections after a long day of learning, listening and presenting. I have come to the FSM to meet with our partners and to learn more about their struggles for food, water and land. What I have learned so far is that for every local problem, there is a solution when communities unite and build global networks.
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