[E-rundbrief] Info 1188 - International Day of Peasants’ Struggles, 17.4.2013

Matthias Reichl info at begegnungszentrum.at
Di Feb 26 10:39:24 CET 2013


E-Rundbrief - Info 1188 - Via Campesina International: 17 April: 
International Day of Peasants’ Struggles; Resist the commercialisation 
of nature - Stop land grabbing!; Call for mobilisation.

Bad Ischl, 26.2.2013

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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17 April: International Day of Peasants’ Struggles

Resist the commercialisation of nature - Stop land grabbing!

Call for mobilisation

The dramatic environmental, economic and social crises that we are 
currently observing have surprisingly not led to a complete change in 
the direction taken by most national and international elites. On the 
contrary, we are seeing an increased offensive by economic 
super-powers to grab all the resources still available to make a 
profit. Land has become a valuable commodity entering speculative 
trade, followed by water, seeds etc. This hyper-commercialisation of 
the commons leads to a massive dispossession of the people who are 
simply living on the land. Women and men farmers are particularly 
affected.

At the same time, resistance is blooming everywhere. All over the 
world, urban and rural communities hit by the same wave of 
privatisation and destruction of life are resisting against 
transnational companies which impose the rule of profit over the 
people's needs and rights.

People's resistance against GMOs has recently led to some victories: 
sustainable agroecological farming initiatives have developed in 
cities and in the countryside to feed local populations; thousands of 
people have protested against the absurdity of some "development 
projects" such as destructive mines, airports, shopping malls, or 
industrial plantations. Farmers and civil society groups have strongly 
opposed land grabbing everywhere...

The international peasants’ movement La Via Campesina has been 
defending and expanding the practice and policies of food sovereignty 
around the world for 20 years. To launch another 20 years of struggle, 
we are calling for a massive mobilisation day on 17 April, the 
International Day of Peasants’ Struggles, to reclaim our food system 
which is being increasingly occupied by transnational capital. We 
invite everyone to organise activities, protests, art exhibitions, 
direct actions, discussions, film screenings, farmers markets etc., in 
your village, school, office, neighbourhood, organisation, community...

Wherever you are, join this collective celebration on 17 April!

     * Inform us about your plans by sending an email 
toviacampesina at viacampesina.org
     * Subscribe to our special mailing list by sending a blank email 
to via.17april-subscribe at viacampesina.net
     * Send us reports, pictures and videos of your action! We will 
publish them on the new Via Campesina TV channel.
     * We will publish the map of actions around the world 
onwww.viacampesina.org
     * Join our Facebook event!


Origins of this Day of Action: On 17 April 1996, in Eldorado dos 
Carajás in the Amazonian state of Pará in Brazil, the state military 
police massacred peasants involved in the Movement of Landless Rural 
Workers (MST), killing 19 individuals. That day, 1500 women and men 
participating in the MST occupied and blocked a highway with the 
intention of pressuring the state and federal governments for agrarian 
reform. At about 4pm, 155 state military police from two brigades 
surrounded the MST on the highway, firing tear-gas and live ammunition 
from machine guns. In addition to the 19 MST killed during the 
massacre, three more died later from injuries, and 69 people were 
wounded. State authorities – the police, the army and powerful local 
landowners – were involved in planning and executing the massacre. 
More than fifteen years later, none of those responsible for the 
massacre at Eldorado dos Carajás has been imprisoned or punished.

-- 

La Via Campesina
Via Campesina is an international movement of peasants, small- and 
medium-sized producers, landless, rural women, indigenous people, 
rural youth and agricultural workers. We are an autonomous, pluralist 
and multicultural movement, independent of any political, economic, or 
other type of affiliation. Born in 1993, La Via Campesina now gathers 
about 150 organisations in 70 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and 
the Americas.

International Operational Secretariat:

Jln. Mampang Prapatan XIV no 5 Jakarta Selatan, Jakarta 12790 Indonesia

Tel/fax: +62-21-7991890/+62-21-7993426

Email: viacampesina at viacampesina.org


-- 

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
Spenden-Konto Nr. 0600-970305 (Blz. 20314) Sparkasse Salzkammergut,
Geschäftsstelle Pfandl
IBAN: AT922031400600970305 BIC: SKBIAT21XXX

--

Ausgezeichnet mit dem (österr.) "Journalismus-Preis von unten 2010"

Honoured by the (Austrian) "Journalism-Award from below 2010"






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