[E-rundbrief] Info 819 - La Via Campesina Youth-declaration

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 819 -  La Via Campesina youth from South East and 
East Asia mobilise! Dili, Timor Leste, 30.3.2009

Bad Ischl, 31.3.2009

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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  La Via Campesina youth from South East and East Asia mobilise!



La Via Campesina - South East Asia and East Asia held it’s second youth 
assembly in Dili, Timor Leste on March 25-29, 2009. Youth leaders from 
Thailand, Indonesia, Philippine, South Korea, Japan, Australia and Timor 
Leste shared and discussed the youth situation and the role of youth in 
the country and our commitment to struggle for food sovereignty.



The youth spent a few days in Timor Leste where they lived and learnt 
from the community of Uma Kaduak village, district of Manatutu. There we 
Shared the local food, culture, and planted trees together for their future.



La via campesina youth shared experience of struggle in each country and 
learnt the worries of Timorese youth, and their current situation. The 
use of 100.000 ha of fertile land for sugar cane plantation for 
agrofuel, the promotion of a heavy oil power plant project, the 
development of hybrid seeds on more than 3000 ha in Maliana district, 
the distribution of hand tractors to the farmers, the shift from 
environmentally friendly agriculture into mechanization, migration of 
the youth from villages to foreign countries to become low wage workers.



Similar problems also occur in other countries. In Australia, farm sizes 
have become much larger and the number of farmers is decreasing sharply, 
in Japan young people migrate to the cities in search of work and if 
they do not find work they become homeless in the cities. The struggle 
for agrarian reform in Philippine, Thailand and Indonesia increase the 
peasant rights violation in these countries. Our struggle to defend our 
rights as peasants is becoming stronger and stronger, we are heading 
towards the adoption of an international convention on the rights of 
peasants. The ASEAN human rights body will be our opportunity to 
introduce peasant rights in the region.



The crisis in the world threatens people mental and physical well-being. 
Over the past three years, more than 3000 farmers committed suicide in 
South Korea because of their heavy debt and because cheap imported food 
is flooding the markets. In Australia an estimated 1, 5 million people 
under the age of 18 are considered obese. This means that about 20-25% 
of Australian children are overweight.

WTO and the liberalisation of agriculture had caused the prices of 
agriculture product drop. This has increased hunger and poverty and as a 
result million of farmers suffer in many countries. Trade liberalisation 
and the Economic Partnership Agreements and Free Trade Agreements hit 
farmers who are losing their livelihood. Transnational Corporations 
promote GMO seed and chemical fertilizers, which makes peasants very 
dependent on buying their products. As a result we also lose our local 
seeds.   A dam construction in the Mekong river is affecting more than 
one million people in six countries. The dam is blocking  the river and 
causing the destruction to the rivers' ecosystem. Fisher folk are losing 
their livelihood along the river.


Faced with this harsh reality, the young women and men of la Via 
Campesina, with strength and passion :


     * We express our solidarity with Timorese youth on their struggle 
to strengthen the national youth and agrarian reform.
     * We commit ourselves to build alliances between youths and to 
organize exchanges among the youth in various countries in the region.
     * We struggle to have access to agricultural land and to create 
jobs for youth to stay in the countryside in order to ensure food and 
the future of our planet.
     * We reject all forms of neo-liberalism policies which do not stand 
for the people.
     * La Via Campesina youth will organize various actions during the 
April 17th on the occasion of the international day of peasant’s struggles.


Dili, March 30th, 2009


Globalize struggle,
Globalize hope!!

-- 
International Operational Secretariat
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La Via Campesina - International Secretariat:
Jln. Mampang Prapatan XIV No. 5 Jakarta Selatan, Jakarta 12790  Indonesia
Phone : +62-21-7991890, Fax : +62-21-7993426
E-mail: viacampesina at viacampesina.org, Website: http://www.viacampesina.org
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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
Wolfgangerstr. 26, A-4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
Impressum in: http://www.begegnungszentrum.at
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