| The People's Caravan 2000: Citizens on the Move for Land and Food Without Poisons |
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| Written by Administrator |
| Thursday, 31 May 2001 18:48 |
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Engaging a crowd of over 50,000 on November 30 - one year since the massive protests against the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and its brand of globalisation - the People's Caravan 2000 ended three weeks of activities in India, Bangladesh and the Philippines, with simultaneous events in Japan, Korea and Indonesia. Carrying the theme, Citizen's on the Move for Land and Food Without Poisons, the People's Caravan traveled over 2500 kilometers through Tamil Nadu, India from November 13-18, Bangladesh from November 17-24 and within Manila, the Philippines from November 25-30. The caravan called for an end to the devastating effects from the globalisation of agriculture and instead advocated genuine agrarian reform, food security, social justice and land and food without poisons. Over 10,000 people - local farmers, agricultural workers, fisherfolk, students, scientists, teachers, the media, government officials, policy makers, and anti-pesticide and anti-genetic engineering advocates - participated in lively discussion at public meetings, press conferences and educational 'teach-ins' at bus stops, in rice fields, in villages and towns. Food festivals, seed exchanges, songs and street theatre celebrated our local initiatives towards more sustainable, healthy agriculture. The People Challenge Globalisation The People's Caravan brought the Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP) together with partner groups in facilitating grassroots action across Asia - giving millions of people a voice to express their resistance to globalisation and its devastating effects. The caravan was organised by PAN AP; Society for Rural Education and Development (SRED) and Tamil Nadu Women's Forum (TNWF), India; UBINIG (Policy Research Centre for Development Alternatives) and Nayakrishi Andolon (New Agriculture Movement), Bangladesh; and Kilusang Magbubukid Ng Pilipinas (KMP - Peasant Movement of the Philippines); in collaboration with SHISUK, Bangladesh; CIKS and PREPARE, India; Gita Pertiwi, Indonesia; NESSFE Japan; CACPK, Korea; IBON Foundation Inc.; and Food First, U.S.A. By coming together, through intercultural exchange, the People's Caravan was about understanding: Who are those driving and benefiting by promoting the industrial agricultural system? What are their strategies? It was about resistance: How can we resist them and take actions to strengthen this resistance in our own lives and within our own communities? It was about solidarity: How do we translate these actions into creating solidarity with people in other communities, regions and countries and unite towards a common vision that will strengthen our local struggles. It was also about hope, about celebrating our local/ traditional food diversity and knowledge. And finally, and most importantly, it was about reclaiming the right to land, the right to decent livelihoods and the right to safe food for all. For Rafael Mariano, chairperson of KMP, the caravan brought together farmers from many different countries, from the South and the North, to discuss and compare the effects and challenges of globalisation on their lives. Individuals shared their experiences on the transition of traditional farming practices to export oriented crop production and what this has meant for them, for their families and their communities - increasing landlessness; hazardous pesticide use; and the potential onslaught of unsafe, unproven experimental genetic engineering technologies. "Farmers view these developments with great concern because this threatens food safety, security, health, and livelihoods," said Sarojeni Rengam, Executive Director of PAN AP. Rengam said the input on the impacts of globalisation on small farmers in the North from Anuradha Mittal, Co-director of Food First U.S.A. on tour with the caravan in Indian and Canadian farmer, Percy Schmeiser, on tour with the caravan in Bangladesh, provided important lessons for Southern farmers. In Solo, Indonesia, the seminar - "Strengthening Farmers and Systems of Sustainable Agriculture in the Free Market Era in Indonesia" - informed participants of the agricultural policy of the Indonesian government within the context of globalisation and trade liberalisation. The impacts of globalisation on agriculture were also the highlight of activities in Korea. Simultaneous demonstrations were held in 171 towns and cities and the leaders of 21 national farmer organisations went on a hunger strike in protest of the unjust, unfair and distorted trading system pushed by the WTO in concert with governments, corporations and multilateral organisations. The Reality of the Landless Speaking in Bangladesh on land conversion and the erosion of food security Santi Gangadharan, a pesticide activist with TNWF, said: "As we travel this country we are very happy to find the fields so full of paddy. In our country most of the farmers have been forced to grow cash crops instead of food crops due to the process of globalisation and liberalisation and because the government wants more export earnings. Now there is no paddy. The fields have been converted into flower gardens for export. Due to globalisation many people in the villages have been forced to leave. They have left their traditional homes, entered urban areas and many of them are without even food." For the poor farmers of Asia landlessness is on the rise. Local landlords and foreign transnational corporations (TNCs) increasingly grab lands to promote export crop production. So severe is the crisis in the Philippines that the number one mandate for KMP is the struggle for genuine agrarian reform that provides land to landless small farmers and peasants with sufficient support for sustainable rural livelihoods, economies and futures independent of TNCs. Mariano is critical of the Filipino government's commitment to the WTO in promoting the World Bank's imposition of market assisted land reform, or private sector land reform. This involves joint venture schemes that allow landlords and foreign capitalists to appropriate land. In fact while the minority of the rich are getting richer an overwhelmingly large proportion of the poor in developing countries are socio-economically worse off then they have ever been. For example, as reported in the 2000 paper by Apo Leong with the Asia Monitor Resource Center, the assets of the 200 richest people are greater than the combined income of the more than 2 billion people. Sustainable Agriculture The legacy of the Green Revolution, promoting HYVs and intensive chemical farm inputs like pesticides, has poisoned our food, ravaged our land and left millions of small farmers landless or near landless and hungry. The advent of the 'Gene Revolution' will only intensify this trend as the control of our food supply shifts increasingly into the hands of a few large corporations. The People's Caravan, while highlighting these issues, was also about hope. It was about celebrating our local initiatives towards more sustainable healthy agriculture that is in the hands of the people, that is for the people, that can really feed our people and free them from dependence on hazardous pesticides and other dangerous agricultural inputs and technologies. Ganapathi, a sustainable agriculture practitioner from the village of Pudukottai, India, uses an integrated system of crops and animals in his farm to control pests and fertilise his soils. He said: "I use the holistic concept of food production and let nature take care of my farm. I let nature do my work and I do not use pesticides and chemical fertilisers." The father of sustainable agriculture in Tamil Nadu, India, Mr. Namalvar also stated: " We have already done what has been said to be impossible, to grow food without poisons. We have moved away from hazardous pesticides and fertilisers and made use of available resources to grow our food. I am confident that the whole of Tamil Nadu can produce crops sustainably and profitably. Our aim is to make the villages pesticide free by the end of 2001." In Elliotganj, Comilla, Bangladesh, a public meeting held within the Pankowri fishing community - a model of sustainable agriculture integrating fish rearing and rice farming - showed communities can resist globalisation by harnessing their own resources. As Sakiul Millat ‚Â Morshed, Executive Director of SHISUK (Shikkha Shastha Unnayan Karzakram), organisers of the event, explains: "The strategy keeps the people out of the 'TNC dependent mentality' and keeps them out of debt. The project has resulted in reduced pesticide use, and a reduction in fertilser use that has resulted in an increase in the natural fertility of the land. This farming system can help implement integrated pest management (IPM)." While in Bangladesh the People's Caravan also visited numerous Nayakrishi Andolon farms and villages - a farmer led movement of sustainable agriculture spreading throughout the country representing over 50 000 farming families. We Come in Solidarity In Trichy, India, Tony Tujan, executive editor of IBON Foundation, said: "As sustainable agriculture practitioners, we have shown the world that we can grow food without poisons. We must all come together to challenge industrialised agriculture and agrochemical TNCs." The culmination of the People's Caravan in the Philippines coincided with the growing People's Movement protesting their disillusionment and dissatisfaction with the Estrada administration. On November 30 in front of over 50 000 people, Veerapon Sopa, Advisor to the Assembly of the Poor, Thailand, and Rengam gave impassioned speeches to the crowd gathered in support of the resignation of Estrada. Rengam said: "We come in solidarity, in support of your struggles against pesticide poisoning, against the release of genetically engineered organisms and crops. Marginalised communities all over the world are fighting back against the ruthless tactics of transnational corporations who want to control our food production, who want to control our livelihoods, who want to control you. Resist these forces, stand up to them, come together and fight for land and food without poisons!" Like it? Share it!
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