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USAID Gets It Right?

By: Carol Schachet | July 21, 2009

Dr. Paul Farmer is slated to be the next head of the United States Agency for International Development. Farmer, long known for his outspoken criticism of U.S. developmental and other policies, could quite possibly be the one making many of them. USAID has continuously implemented the rules of the Washington Consensus – stabilization, structural adjustment, and export-led growth in the developing world. Over and over this code of conduct has failed the Global South, leaving countries without adequate public infrastructure such as healthcare.
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Food & Water Watch Disputes Obama Administration’s Reliance on Trade, Biotechnology to Combat Global Hunger and Poverty

By: Nikhil Aziz | July 12, 2009

Grassroots International ally, Food & Water Watch (FWW) issued a statement questioning the Obama Administration's "new" approach to addressing global hunger and poverty announced at the G8 Summit in Italy. Is this really new, or old wine in new bottles? FWW argues that more free trade and biotechnology (or reinventing the Green Revolution) are not new ideas and only end up supporting agribusiness and other corporations.
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Diverse Group of Nonprofits including Grassroots International Seek Meeting with Obama Administration on New Rules for Charities

By: Nikhil Aziz | July 11, 2009

July 2, 2009
Barack Obama President of the United States 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President, We are writing as American nonprofit organizations to thank you for the comments in your Cairo speech that recognized the problems current rules for charitable giving create for American Muslims, and for your commitment to correct the situation.
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National Lawyers Guild Calls on U.S. to Cut Ties with Illegal Junta in Honduras

By: Nikhil Aziz | July 10, 2009

Our allies at the National Lawyers Guild have put out a call to the Obama Administration to do the right thing on Honduras. Take a look at their analysis of the context and situation, and what in their view the US should be doing. We agree entirely!

The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association. The NLG is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.
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Latin America Experts Call on Clinton to Oppose Early Elections Option in Honduras:

By: Nikhil Aziz | July 9, 2009

Anything Less Than the Urgent Restoration of Zelaya to Office "Would be an usurpation of the will of the Honduran people" They State in Open Letter

Santa Cruz, CA - Over 35 scholars and experts on Latin America sent an open letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today urging against the idea of early elections in Honduras as a possible resolution of the current crisis resulting from the June 28 military coup d'etat. Stating that "Anything less than the urgent restoration of President Manuel Zelaya to office would be an usurpation of the will of the Honduran people," the signers urged Clinton to enact forceful sanctions on the coup regime to ensure Zelaya's prompt reinstatement.
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Obama and Honduras: Si, Se Puede?

By: Nikhil Aziz | July 6, 2009

It has been said before that the real test as to whether President Obama’s foreign policy is going to be meaningfully different from past U.S. policies -- not just George W. Bush’s -- is in his relations with Latin America. Until last week many would have argued that the test primarily referred to U.S.-Cuba relations, or even relations between the U.S. and Venezuela. The line in the sand has, sadly, shifted since the coup in Honduras.
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Honduras: Crisis of Democracy & Human Rights

By: Nikhil Aziz | July 2, 2009

Last April my colleague Saulo Araujo (Program Coordinator for Brazil & Mesoamerica) and I visited Honduras. What impressed us the most was the strength and vibrancy of social movements, like our partners the Via Campesina (Central America) and COCOCH (the Honduran Coordinating Council of Peasant Organizations), and our allies like COPINH (Civic Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras) and OFRANEH (Honduran Black Fraternal Organization). And especially the strong and resilient women in the forefront of struggle. Afro-Hondurans like Leoncia and Wendy, Lencas like Pasqualita, and Mestizo women like Analina and Berta

At a candidates forum convened by the Via every single presidential candidate attended.
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Violence Sparked by US-Peru FTA Highlights the Need for Stronger Communal Resource Rights

By: Dory Dinoto with Saulo Araujo | July 1, 2009

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.
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Free Gaza Reports: We are NOT the “Story” – It’s Not Just Our 21 Kidnapped Passengers

By: Carol Schachet | July 1, 2009

Yesterday the Israeli Navy forcibly boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat Spirit of Humanity in international waters and kidnapped 21 human rights workers and journalists who were on their way to deliver much needed humanitarian and reconstruction supplies to Gaza. Those abducted by the Israeli Navy include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman and presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney.

Since their kidnapping, tens-of-thousands of people around the world have mobilized to demand their immediate and unconditional release. Although deeply grateful for international support, Free Gaza said the following:
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Let CAT Know What You Think

By: Carol Schachet | June 5, 2009

Grassroots International joins our ally Jewish Voice for Peace in calling on Caterpillar to respect human rights and end its business with the Israeli government. Please sign onto the petition and forward it to friends and family by June 9th. Jewish Voice for Peace will deliver the signatures at Caterpillar's annual shareholder meeting next week!

Here is the message that I received from Jewish Voice for Peace this morning:

"See if you can explain this… I can't.
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Dairy Farmers Host Emergency Rally in Iowa

By: Carol Schachet | June 4, 2009

Even though I grew up in Missouri, my first introduction to agriculture did not occur until my college days in Northfield, Minnesota, in the early 1980s. Depending on which way the wind blew, my college (Carleton) was filled either with the toasted grain aroma from the Malt-o-Meal factory or the smell of the surrounding dairy farms. Sadly, the dairy farms began to lose out in more than just the scent in the air. I remember clearly my sophomore year when a big stoic man stood up at church and, with tears in his eyes, told us that the last of his dairy cows were sold in an attempt to pay off farm creditors. Thus began my awareness of corporate farming, agricultural and trade policy and their devastating impact on families and communities.
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Tell Congress: No Blank Check for Military Aid to Israel

By: Carol Schachet | May 27, 2009

President Obama's 2010 budget calls for $2.775 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Israel, an increase of $225 million compared to the 2009 budget. Send a resounding message to Congress that this appropriation for military aid to Israel is unacceptable.

Israel has consistently misused U.S. weapons to commit human rights abuses against Palestinians and systematic violations of international law. Some of those violations are documented every year in the State Department's own human rights reports. Even more are documented by the United Nations and respected human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
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Legislative activity heats up

By: Carol Schachet | May 20, 2009

Both the House and Senate are considering legislation with tremendous implications for farmers and agriculture across the globe. On the Senate side, the Global Food Security Bill, S.384 (also known as the Casey-Lugar Bill), calls for the United States to play a leadership role in implementing questionable food production strategies in developing countries. The bill mandates that massive investments in foreign assistance for agriculture shall include genetically engineered (GE) technologies. However, numerous studies and reports tell otherwise and warn of the dangers posed by GE technolgies, including soil erosion, cross-breeding, lower long-term yields and other environmental hazards.
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New Report on Biofuels Exposes $400 Billion in Taxpayer Subsidies

By: Lilian Autler | May 14, 2009

Our colleagues at Friends of the Earth and Earth Track recently released a report titled A Boon to Bad Biofuels: Federal Tax Credits and Mandates Underwrite Environmental Damage at Taxpayer Expense which examines the extent to which the biofuels industry is subsidized by federal tax credits and a federal renewable fuels mandate. The report finds that between 2008 and 2022, biofuels will receive more than $400 billion in subsidies. The report also shows that, rather than promoting the production of less harmful biofuels, many of these subsidies
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Brazilian Activist from MST Participates in the Brooklyn Food Conference

By: Grassroots International | May 7, 2009

The Food Sovereignty movement in the United States is well and alive. And thanks to the work of food cooperatives, community supported agriculture (CSA) and local farmers, little by little more neighborhoods and cities are joining this social movement that is reclaiming the right to quality food.

This past weekend, the movement's strengthen was displayed in Brooklyn, NY, where over 2,000 people met in one of the largest U.S. events for Food Sovereignty this year.

Participants in the Brooklyn Food Conference represented different places and backgrounds in the U.S. food movement. Event speakers included some of the leading voices in the United States, such as social activist Malik Yakini from Detroit, and Raj Patel, the author of Stuffed and Starved.
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U.S. Family Farmers Mark April 17th With A Protest Against Commodity Speculation

By: Carol Schachet | April 16, 2009

Family farmers and other food justice activists will mark April 17, the International Day of Peasant's Struggle, with a protest against corporate speculation on agricultural commodities which is behind the global food crisis now threatening the livelihoods of millions of farmers. This action is in solidarity with La Via Campesina, the world's largest umbrella movement of family farmers, Grassroots International's ally the National Family Farm Coalition, rural workers and indigenous peoples.

Specific demands include:
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Why the Lugar-Casey Global Food Security Act will Fail to Curb Hunger

By: Carol Schachet | April 16, 2009

"A new bill before the U.S. Senate stands to completely overhaul the way the U.S. offers agricultural development and food aid to the developing world. This bill, the Lugar-Casey Global Food Security Act, aims to reform aid programs to include a stronger focus on long-term agricultural development and the restructuring of aid agencies to better respond to crises. While this renewed focus is commendable, the Lugar-Casey bill also mandates funding for genetically modified crop research as a major underpinning of its food security strategy. Just as food aid expands markets for U.S. grain even as it destroys markets and farm livelihoods abroad, the agricultural development aid in the Lugar-Casey Global Food Security Act will open markets in Africa and elsewhere to the U.S.
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April Showers with Significant Trade, Food and Agricultural Policy Debates

By: Maria Aguiar | April 16, 2009

When it rains, it pours. This week has seen a deluge of global food and trade strategies, all of which may deeply impact food and agriculture policies for Grassroots International, our partners and our allies.
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Grassroots International, 200 Civil Society Groups Urge Obama & Congress to Curb Food Speculation to Fight Global Hunger Crisis

By: Carol Schachet | March 25, 2009

Today, a coalition of faith, hunger, international development, farm and food organizations – including Grassroots International – sent a letter to President Barack Obama requesting decisive support for efforts to wring out excess speculation in agricultural futures markets that threatens the food security of hundreds of millions of people. The letter notes that "A significant part of last year's food price fluctuations were the result of excessive speculation in the commodities markets by the very hedge funds and investment banks that helped create the current economic meltdown."
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Food Speculation Coalition Letter to President Obama

By: Carol Schachet | March 25, 2009

The Honorable Barack Obama President of the United States The White House Washington, D.C. 20500
March 24, 2009

Dear Mr. President:

In 2008, the price of basic food staples rose by incredible proportions. Between May 2007 and March 2008, hard red winter wheat rose 137 percent, from July 2007 to June 2008 corn prices rose 98 percent. Other food commodities rose in a similar fashion putting daily sustenance out of reach for 200 million more people in the developing world.
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