Coming out of the great democratic upsurge in Wisconsin where workers and farmers stood together, small-scale farmers and peasants are joining with food and farmworkers to support food sovereignty. Now, they’re asking for your solidarity against the policies and practices that are hurting us all.
As a member of the US Food Sovereignty Alliance, the Food Chain Workers Alliance supports this call to action!
April 17: International Day of Peasant struggles
On April 17, people worldwide celebrate the struggle of peasants and rural people to survive and to feed the world! We also commemorate the death of 19 farmers in Brazil, assassinated in 1996 while struggling for land and dignity.
More than 100 events occur each year to defend a food system based on food sovereignty, justice and equality with small-scale farming, agroecology, and local production. Governments can support this paradigm by giving farmers access to land, water, seeds, credit and education; by protecting them from cheap imports; creating public-or-farmer-owned stocks; and managing production.
Food sovereignty would provide livelihoods of billions of people and reduce poverty —particularly in rural areas where 75% of the 1.4 billion people suffering from extreme poverty reside.
One of several events commemorating April 17:
Friday, April 15, Chicago, IL, 12:00pm: Family Farm Defenders and American Raw Milk Producers Pricing Association will lead food and social activists in a rally at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange/Board of Trade (141 W. Jackson) against corporate speculation of ag commodities. An educational leafleting session at a big-box grocery store and communal potluck & discussion will follow. Members of the FCWA will be at the action! Click here for more details on FB.
For more events related to April 17, click here.
May 1: International Workers’ Day
The U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance calls on all those who are struggling for food sovereignty to participate in May 1st actions in their local communities! May 1st is International Workers’ Day. In the U.S., this day has also become a day of mobilization for immigrant workers’ rights and legalization for undocumented workers.
Millions of small farmers and peasants around the globe have been displaced from their land because of the corporate takeover of agriculture in their home country, and by unfair trade policies that allow cheap food products to be dumped into their country. Because of this loss of land, millions of people become economic refugees, with many coming to the U.S. looking for a way to support themselves and their families. Many end up as workers in the food system on farms, in meatpacking plants, restaurants, and more.
The food system exploits these immigrants and people of color — 5 out of the 8 worst-paying jobs in the U.S. are in the food system. Therefore, as part of our commitment to dismantling racism and to struggle for justice and equality in the food system, U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance calls on everyone to mobilize on May 1st.
To find a May 1st event in your area, go to www.maydayunited.org and www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org.