International Day of Farmers' Struggle 17 April
February 26, 2004
During the Ministerial Conference in Cancun, peasants, indigenous, youth and other sectors of civil society organized against neo-liberal policies and the WTO. Together these groups were able to stop the WTO through strong actions in Cancun and other parts of the world. Through mobilization and organizing these groups convinced some governments to resist neo-liberal policies and to stop destructive international negotiations that provoke disintegration, increase poverty and bring misery to rural areas. During the World Social Forum and the International Peasant Forum held in Mumbai, India, in January of this year strategies and plans of action were drafted with social movements in resistence and struggle against neo-liberal policies. The International Day of Peasant Struggle is an important part of this common agenda, and we call everybody, worldwide, to action on this day.
Full Communique in PDF Format
In Cancun during the Ministerial Conference, peasants, indigenous, youth and other sectors organized strong mobilisations against neo-liberal policies and the WTO. We were able to stop the WTO in Cancun through strong actions in Cancun and other parts of the world. We successfully convinced certain governments to resist neo-liberal policies and to stop destructive international negotiations that provoke disintegration, increase impoverishment and misery in the rural areas. We have strengthened our strategic alliances.
We went through a very sad moment, the self-immolation of our friend Lee, in a deliberate act of despair, convinced that his sacrifice would contribute to strengthen our struggles and victories ; Lee was a person profoundly commited to the peasant cause.The Vía Campesina felt supported and inspired by the letter from the Zapatistas that we received in Cancun.
During the World Social Forum and the International Peasant Forum held in Mumbai, India, in January of this year we discussed strategies and plans of action with social movements in resistence and struggle against neo-liberal policies. We elaborated a common action agenda. The 17th of April, the International Day of Peasant Struggle is an important part of this common agenda. Therefore, we call everybody, worldwide, to action on this day.
We call to focus mobilisations on three key issues :
1) Demand for genuine agrarian reform and rejection of the land policies of the World Bank,
2) Demand for peasant-based sustainable agriculture for people and strong opposition to the control and dominance of transnational corporations, especially Nestlé and Monsanto,
3) Elaboration of policies focused on domestic production and consumption, and rejection of dumping practices and the liberalisation of markets imposed through policies of WTO, FTAA and other regional and bi-lateral « free » trade agreements.
We defend our peasant rights and we want our key demands to be taken into account at the national, regional and international levels.
We demand :
- the implementation of the principles of peoples’
food sovereignty ;
- genuine agrarian reform ;
- the maintainance and protection of seeds as a
heritage of peasants men and women, and
indigenous peoples ;
- a ban on the use of GMOs and patents and
other forms of intellectual property rights
on life forms;
- full respect and participation of women,
indigenous people, the « Dalits » and other
marginalized and excluded groups in our
societies ; We denounce at the international
level the Human Rights violations against
peasants and indigenous people. These days of
struggle will be dedicated to our friends
worldwide that are in prison or suffer
persecution.
- Recognition, respect, and promulgation of
Peasant Rights at the national and
international levels.
Through our list-serve “viacam17april” and our web page we will circulate more information, and documents that can be used during the actions.
April 17th is the International Day of Farmers’ Struggle. We hope that it will be a day of strong protest that will contribute to strengthen pressure on our governments for changes to current policies. Let’s engage in a strong day of international struggle!
Let’s globalise the struggle,
let’s globalise hope!
INTERNATIONAL CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE
OF VIA CAMPESINA
If you want to receive all the information on the 17th of April please subscribe to the list by sending a blank message to viacam17april-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
The 17th of April is the celebration of the International Day of farmers struggle, established because of the massacre of 19 farmers of the Landless Movement (MST) in Brazil on the 17th of April 1996 during the second conference of Via Campesina in Tlaxcala Mexico.
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For more information on the 17th of April and the positions of Via Campesina please contact the members of the International Co-ordinating Committee of Via Campesina in your region:
South America
MST-Brasil Tel/fax: +55.11.3361.3866
Email: sri@mst.org.br
ANAMURI-Chile Tel/fax : +56-6973217
Email : internacional@anamuri.cl
Europe
CPE Tel: +32.2.217 3112 Fax: +32.2.218 4509 Email: cpe@cpefarmers.org
Caribean
ANAP-Cuba Tel : +53-7-324717 Fax : +53-7-333044
Email : amigo@anap.org.cu
WINFA (Islas Barlovento) Tel: +1-784- 456 2704
Fax: +1-784-456 1383 winfa@caribsurf.com
South East-East Asia
FSPI Indonesia Tel no: +62 - 61 - 7864286
Fax No:+ 62-61-7862073 Email : petani@indosat.net.id
KWFA South Korea Tel.: +82 2 529 6349
Email: junyeonong@hanmail.net
North America
UNOCA -MexicoTel/Fax: +52-57-4150 65 o +52-57-40 04 86 unorcared@laneta.apc.org
NFU Canada Tel : +1-306 -6529465
Fax : +1-306-664 6226
Email : nfu@nfu.ca
South Asia
KRRS Tel/fax: +91.80.330.2171
Email: chukki10@hotmail.com
Central America
ASOCODE Tel/fax: +504. 235.99.15
Tel/fax: +504. 232.21.98
E-mail: asocode@sdnhon.org.hn
BAPO-Belize Tel/Fax: +501 923672
Email: bapo@btl.net
International Operative Secretariat-IOS, Rafael Alegria
Tel/fax: +504. 235.99.15 Tel/fax: +504. 232.21.98 E-mail: viacam@gbm.hn
Webpage Via Campesina http://www.viacampesina.org
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