It has been almost four years since the devastating earthquake of 2010 shook Haiti to its core. In the aftermath—amid grand plans to ‘build back better’ and huge promises of international aid—more than 1 million people settled into makeshift camps, their homes destroyed by the quake. Many of these camps were in public areas, highly visible on roads and highways--glaring evidence of the need to re-build.
The $10-billion proposed canal would divert water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea in an effort to save the later from “environmental degradation.” The project is a partnership between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. Grassroots International partners the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees, Palestinian Center for Human Rights, and Stop the Wall are among the signatories to the statement below that calls for a halt to the project. Palestinian organizations cite both political and environmental reasons for their calls to stop this water and land grab that would impede Palestinian rights.
The narrative below is the second in a series of three stories documented by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), a Grassroots International partner since 1996.
The narrative below is the first in a series of three stories documented by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), a Grassroots International partner since 1996.
Jose Luis Patrola is a history professor, farmer, and member of the Brazilian land reform group, the Rural Landless Workers’ Movement, or MST. He lived in Haiti for three years as part of the Dessalines Brigade, an exchange of agricultural and technical cooperation between Haitians and Brazilians. In a departure from many international programs of “teaching” and “aiding” Haitians, Patrola speaks here [with Beverly Bell] about mutual learning and respect.
Strength through unity.
That is the motto on the Haitian flag, and it is being played out now in a new collaboration among the country’s leading social movements.
Each of the four largest Haitian peasant movements have storied histories individually and now collectively under the umbrella of the Group of Four (G4). In Kreyol the G4 is called “4 Je Kontre” or “4 Eyes Meet.”
It is with tremendous pride and admiration that Grassroots International shares the news that Raji Sourani, director of our partner the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), has won the 2013 Right Livelihood Award, often called the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize.
Mr. Sourani was granted the award for “unwavering dedication to the rule of law and human rights under exceptionally difficult circumstances.” The award honors and elevates the status of the careful, thorough, and utterly crucial work of Mr. Sourani and PCHR to document human rights abuses and offer legal support and advocacy to the victims of violations of International Law.
Whether it’s life imitating art or the other way around, the assault so dramatically captured in the Hollywood blockbuster film Avatar (2009) is not pure fiction. The reality is that countries and corporations that are hell-bent on extracting every last resource from the earth continue their relentless assaults on indigenous people, their land and waters, their cultures and ways of life, Whether it’s Afro-Brazilians on the Sao Francisco river in Brazil, Dongria Kondhs on Niyamgiri mountain in India, or Lencas in Honduras’ Rio Blanco territory, they all are facing not only the threat of displacement and devastation but violence, intimidation and even, in some instances, assassination.
Press release 9/10/2013
When: Saturday, September 28, 3:30-5pm. Followed by Grassroots International 30th Anniversary Celebration
Launched in 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) completed the Bretton Woods trio with the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund in promoting neoliberalism and corporate globalization. The WTO was particularly special in its power to legally enforce and penalize countries, taking away the policy space of governments, and on several occasions, forcing them to change their national laws in order to implement global free trade rules.
Twenty years after La Vía Campesina International was founded, the global network of rural organizations has agreed to a new worldwide action plan based on small-scale farming and agro-ecology, food sovereignty, and self-determination of communities. At the same time, the group is reaffirming its stance against transnational corporations, industrial agriculture and agri-business.
The Israeli occupation of Palestine has become so routine—a checkpoint here, a denial of access to farmland there, and a razing of homes and lives everywhere—that we forget its extraordinariness. But, as the author details below, for those who live the brutality of occupation it’s a jarring existence full of perils and unknowns. It’s also a state of chronic fear in which you ask yourself, “will this be the day I’m detained indefinitely without access to a lawyer, I’m brutally attacked by settlers for being on my land, or I lose a family member to illness because they didn’t get permission to leave Gaza or the West Bank?”
For those of us who stand in solidarity with Palestinian folk we must strive against treating the Occupation as anything but extraordinarily out of step with the 21st century. The Israeli occupation, like colonialism itself, should have been left in the annals of 20th century history.
In 1994, the United Nations designated August 9 as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Today, we at Grassroots International celebrate the lives, leadership and struggles of Indigenous Peoples around the world, including our partners who courageously defend their rights to land, territory, water, and food sovereignty, as well as the rights of Mother Earth.
Millions of Brazilians are marching today (July 11) in another demonstration of the vitality of national social movements. The demonstrations taking place in different major cities across the country follow last month’s historic marches.
Building on the political momentum created by the massive mostly youth-led demonstrations, today’s show of force will include both organized labor and social movements, marching side-by-side to demand political reform and expanded constitutional rights.
Grassroots International is honoring four extraordinary women for their vibrant activism and leadership at a special event on September 28. This includes two Boston-area Community Partners, as well as two global leaders working to secure human rights and dignity for all. All four award recipients epitomize the organization’s values.
Earlier this month, hundreds of small farmers from dozens of countries gathered in Jakarta, Indonesia for the 6th International Congress of the Via Campesina.
Ingredients: 183 member organizations. 88 countries. 5 continents. 500 representatives of 200-plus million women and men. Numerous allies from movements of women, indigenous peoples, fishers, pastoralists, environmental/climate justice activists and more. One global peasant movement. All with fearless commitment to social, economic and gender justice.
Once again, TIAA-CREF has denied its shareholders the right to have their voices heard through the ballot box at this year’s shareholder meeting.
Our Palestinian partners frequently tell us: “To stay – and, frankly, to exist – is to resist.” I heard this same message during the 3rd International Youth Assembly of La Via Campesina (LVC). In a world where the ability to live a dignified life as a small farmer is increasingly challenging whether in Iowa or Indonesia the act of staying, and in some cases “going back” to the land is an act of resistance and courage.
