[E-rundbrief] Info 2033 - Via Campesina, End Violence against Women, Patriachy

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief Info 2033 - Via Campesina:28 October 2020 Campaign to End 
Violence against Women, Patriachy. Call to Action – November 25th – 
International Day for the Elimination of all Forms of Violence against 
Women.

Bad Ischl, 29.10.2020

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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#Nov25: Peasants in the Struggle for our Rights, against the Virus of 
Capital and Patriarchy!

28 October 2020 Campaign to End Violence against Women, Patriachy.

Call to Action – November 25th – International Day for the Elimination 
of all Forms of Violence against Women.

https://viacampesina.org/en/nov25-peasants-in-the-struggle-for-our-rights-against-the-virus-of-capital-and-patriarchy/

Harare – October 28th, 2020: Today, November 25th – La Via Campesina 
calls to affirm Food Sovereignty as a concrete measure of the States 
to put an end to violence against women in the countryside and in the 
cities, just as it is stated in the Declaration on the Rights of 
Peasants in its Art. 4. LVC denounces the structural violence of 
extractive capitalism and patriarchy, especially during this crisis 
that hits women and LGBTQ communities the hardest, as well as the 
working class as a whole, increasing the levels of exploitation with 
double and even triple working days, worsening their living conditions 
and with severe setbacks in matter of rights, even in the midst of 
this pandemic.

Not only has COVID 19 caused a horrifying number of deaths worldwide, 
it has also lead to a spike in the rates of femicide as a result of 
lock down measures that left millions of women and children with no 
escape from their aggressors. This is one of the worst aspects of this 
crisis. COVID 19 is also increasing the workload for women as a result 
of remote schooling and the needs associated with the care taking of 
family members, such as the elderly and ill.

During the pandemic, the rates of sexual and physical violence against 
women and children have risen horrifically. Pregnant little girls 
forced to give birth, assassinations of leaders, advocates and 
defenders of territories. Millions of women in rural and urban areas 
have entered the escalating figures of poverty, sub employment, 
unemployment and hunger.

In the meantime, the States who claim to represent them continue 
implementing extractive, conservative and neoliberal policies that 
only worsen the violence and result in serious regressions of rights. 
La Via Campesina has denounced that even during a health crisis of 
this magnitude, the States have taken advantage of the situation to 
hand over land to transnational companies and large landholders. This 
has lead to higher numbers of evictions in several countries and a 
worsening of the criminalisation of peasants.

More than ever, this crisis has made us reflect on the importance of 
solidarity and organisation. This is why we salute all women and LGBTQ 
communities who stand in resistance in all the different territories: 
the Zapatistas, the Turkish, Kurdish and Palestinian women and LGBTQ 
populations. Be it in the seashores, the plains, the mountains, the 
jungles, the forests, the countryside and the cities, we all come 
together to act globally demanding an end to all forms of violence 
against women and children, for a just, egalitarian and peaceful society.

We acknowledge all the actions of tangible solidarity that organised 
women have been sustaining worldwide, especially during the pandemic, 
such as the production of healthy food, food donations, people’s and 
ancestral health brigades, community soup kitchens against hunger, 
collective community workdays focused on sanitation, peasant markets, 
establishment of barter systems and other forms of popular and 
solidarity economy. These are concrete examples of self organisation 
and collective work. #Time to Transform

We demand that the States recognise and value the potential of peasant 
women to ensure Food Sovereignty. The peasantry continues to be the 
main source of food for the peoples of the world, whereas the 
industrial system of transnational corporations has proven incapable 
of meeting minimum sanitary, safety and sustainability conditions.

Worldwide women produce half the food, yet own less than 15% of the 
land, of which barely 2% belong to developing countries, according to 
the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture. Peasant 
women are also the ones most affected when the common goods and 
peasant agriculture are threatened by extractive and agro-industrial 
projects that dramatically impact the lives of their communities. We 
peasant women resist the continuous violations of the capitalist and 
patriarchal system, by the States and agribusiness that destroy 
nature, take away our lands, poison the planet and appropriate the water!

For these reasons, on this Day of Struggle #Nov25, we as La Via 
Campesina call on our member organisations and allies to join in our 
struggle full of hope and resistance to transform the realities that 
perpetuate violence and ensure that the rights of all women and LGBTQ 
people are respected; to ensure that they are able to participate in 
the construction of new societies.
#TimeToTransform #WomenInTheStruggle #StopViolenceAgainstWomen

Call for Life, against Violence!

Solidarity, sorority and resilience are essential values to live and 
coexist as societies fighting against the violence and brutality of 
this system.

This #Nov25 join our call for life and against violence:

     Participate in any symbolic act or local action promoted by your 
local organisation, community or country to end violence against 
women. #TimeToTransform

     Join our LVC online streaming “Actions for Life and against 
Violence” on the 25th, an event of collective struggle, reflection and 
mistica. Link: [to be updated soon]

     Stay Home but not Silent! Use the materials for social media of 
our Global Campaign Stop Violence against Women, available here

     Commit to your organisation, community, neighbourhood and/or 
friends to support women and LGBTQ people at risk. Produce healthy 
food, donate baskets, organise a community soup kitchen or buy 
products of peasant women! #WomenInTheStruggle

     Print our booklet with basic safety tips against violence, the 
importance of collective care and don’t forget to translate it to your 
local language! Available here

During the entire month of November we want to receive letters from 
our women and LGBTQ comrades, sharing their experiences of struggle 
and how LVC has contributed to empower them against violence and 
patriarchy. The letters shouldn’t be too long and you can add a 
picture if you’d like, but that’s not essential. We want to build our 
collective memory and rescue our voices from oblivion!

We would also like to receive pictures and videos of people of all 
ages and genders to share in our social media accounts. You can use 
these slogans: No one will silence our voices! Stop Violence against 
Women! Women in the Struggle against the Virus of Capital and Patriarchy!

Become a people’s communicator and let’s take social media by storm 
this #Nov25! Send all materials from October 28th to November 25th to 
lvcweb at viacampesina.org so we can publish it online.

-- 

     Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
     Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
     Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
     Wolfgangerstr. 26, 4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
     fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
     Impressum in: http://www.begegnungszentrum.at


-- 

     Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
     Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
     Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
     Wolfgangerstr. 26, 4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
     fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
     Impressum in: http://www.begegnungszentrum.at