[E-rundbrief] Info 1123 - Women Farmers Share Their Visions

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 1123 - La Via Campesina: Women Farmers Share Their 
Visions.  IV International Women assembly of La Vía Campesina , in 
Indonesia, June 2013.

Bad Ischl, 10.6.2013

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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Women Farmers Share Their Visions

http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/our-conferences-mainmenu-28/6-jakarta-2013/1420-women-farmers-share-their-visions

Watch pictures of the women assembly: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/97053996@N03/sets/

Watch here the video "Women planting struggles and hope for Feminism 
and food sovereignty" produced for the IV International Women assembly 
of La Vía Campesina , In Indonesia, June 2013.. 
http://tv.viacampesina.org/Women-planting-struggles-and-hope?lang=en

News from la Via Campesina

(Jakarta, June 7, 2013) Lidia, Waheba, Nandini, Ilona and Ana Paula 
are women farmers from Paraguay, Palestine, Norway, India, and 
Mozambique. On the occasion of the 4th Women’s Assembly of La Vía 
Campesina, These women have gathered in Jakarta, Indonesia, to give 
voice to the situations faced by women in their respective countries. 
Although they live very different realities and contexts, these women 
share a common struggle: the struggle for the rights of women farmers 
and farmworkers and the defense of women as the mothers of food 
sovereignty.

“Since the 1990s, we women farmers have been resisting the major 
offensive of liberalism”.

In our continent, the decades of the the 60s, 70s, and 80s were marked 
by dictatorships that perpetrated violence and repression that greatly 
impacted women. It is precisely those women who were impacted who 
became the primary organizers of the struggle for democratic 
processes. Since the 1990s, women farmers have been resisting the 
major offensive of liberalism, that has been promoted in particular by 
the policies of North American imperialism. Only when fighting towards 
an end to the repression of one gender over another will we be able to 
achieve a more just and egalitarian society. It is necessary to defeat 
capitalism and transnationals in order to end the conquest of women 
farmers and afro-descendents. (Lídia Ruiz, Paraguay. (Via Campesina 
South America).

“In Palestine, women are strong and clever and fight for their survival”.

Palestine is a hysterical and very religious country and it is packed 
with historic sites. We have a good climate and we produce olives, 
wheat, fruits and vegetables of all kinds. The Palestinian people love 
their land and freedom. Yet, the country is currently victim of an 
occupation; the Israeli Occupation. Every day, we experience armed 
confrontations that decimate our lands , orchards, and trees, with 
bombs and rockets. This is a very serious situation, but call fro the 
recognition of our our right to national sovereignty as a people..In 
Palestine, a woman is strong and clever, since often she has a 
brother, father or son who has been imprisoned, and she has to take 
care of the children, cultivate the land and fight for her survival. I 
affirm that to solve the problems of the world, women have to work 
together. Waheba Shamali, Palestine.

“The only things governments do is to apply antiquated policies under 
a purely masculine point of view”.

We are few men and women farmers in Norway. The majority of the 
population goes to cities to work and the government imports products 
from impoverished countries. What we wish to do, is to produce food in 
Norway and achieve food sovereignty – also for the other European 
countries. Violence is not only physical and sexual; a very common 
form of violence is psychological and social, - in our homes and in 
the public sphere. Women are marginalized from decision-making bodies 
and the governments only create implement policies with a purely 
masculine point of view. Ilona Drivdal, Norway (European 
CoordinationVía Campesina).

“We must teach men to treat women as human beings”.

In India, violence against women begin the day a female child is is 
born; in rural areas a boy is considered active whereas a girls are 
passive; a girl is considered a burden, especially due to the 
obligations involved with the need to produce a dowry in order to 
guarantee an arranged marriage and with traditional wedding expenses. 
As a result, we have high rates of abortions of female fetuses; 
abortions decided based on the gender of the baby. In rural areas, 
girls begin to work when they are six years old and they work until 
they are 66 years old. Domestic violence is very common, so common 
that a woman with a high tolerance for violence is even respected by 
other women. This all brings along health problems among women in 
India. Not only do we need to teach women in the countryside, we 
especially need to teach men to treat women as human beings. Nandini 
Singadowda, India

“In Mozambique, women are a bargaining chip.”

In Mozambique they teach us to protect the men, and despite the fact 
the we produce the food for our families, we do not have any 
decision-making power. There is no balance, no equality or parity; 
only men occupy bodies of power. We get married young so that our 
parents can have more money since they are paid once we get married; 
we are a bargaining chip; that is why we always get married. It is 
imperative to raise awareness among women about the importance of 
literacy, to train and teach women in order for them to have the 
courage to report what happens to them. Ana Paula, Mozambique (União 
Nacional de Camponeses UNAC).

Communication team of La Via Campesina


Read also the article on the women assembly by Salena Tramel, 
published June 8, 2013 by Common Dreams
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/06/08-4


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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
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