Food Sovereignty & Human Rights
On Monday, October 16th, Rural Vermont released our collective statement regarding the Palestine/Israel conflict in our online newsletter which we now share here...
“The globe is viscerally horrified and saddened by the atrocities against civilians committed by armed fighters of Hamas in Israel - and in Palestine by the heightened state of Israel’s siege on, and bombing of, Gaza and the continued colonization of the occupied Palestinian Territories and its civilian population. Our hearts and tears are with those who’ve lost loved ones, with those who are living as hostages, to those living as refugees, and to those living under occupation, bombardment and siege with no safe place to go, no food, no water, no electricity, no medical resources.
Today, October 16, 2023, is the International Day of Action for People’s Food Sovereignty. One of the greatest threats to food sovereignty and collective wellbeing is warfare and human conflict. Today, we affirm our commitment to protecting human and territorial rights.
As stated in our 2021 Statement of Solidarity with Palestine, ‘Rural Vermont affirms the equal rights of all Palestinian people and Israeli Jews to self-determination, and to freedom from discrimination and human rights abuses… We explicitly stand with our Jewish, Palestinian, and Muslim brothers and sisters against antisemitism, against islamophobia, and against discrimination towards Palestinians in the pursuit for equality, safety, and dignity for all peoples. National self-determination cannot be a fundamental right awarded to some yet denied to others. It is wrong to dehumanize any peoples, and efforts involving the dehumanization and oppression of one peoples in pursuit of liberation for another bring us ever further from our collective liberation.’
We are at a critical moment in this conflict - we call on VT’s representatives, the United States government, and international actors to act now and prevent the escalation of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, and to apply and enforce standards of international humanitarian law equally between Palestinians and Israeli Jews throughout Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. The United States must not militarily or rhetorically continue to “unconditionally" support the actions of the state of Israel and share complicity in crimes of war and crimes against humanity exacted upon the approximately 2 million inhabitants of Gaza and Palestinian civilians across the occupied territories of Palestine. We ask those organizations who have not spoken out to use your voices to help end this conflict, and to support transforming the role of the United States into one calling for peace, human rights, and territorial sovereignty in the region for all peoples and nations.
Why is Rural VT speaking on this issue? As stated in our Mission, Rural VT is an organization which finds its home and community locally, and also in our relationships with organizations and communities around the world grounded in shared principles of equity, justice, and human rights. We believe that internationalism is a critical aspect of local movement building; and that local movement building and the voices of local stakeholders are critical to creating change by and for the people and planet. As an organization which works with federal representatives on policy, while being committed to grassroots education and movement building - we feel it is important to speak and advocate in this moment, and on this issue, in particular given the role of the United States in this conflict and region.”
After the Hamas assault on southern Israel which killed approximately 1300 people, approximately 7,500 civilian Palestinians and inhabitants of Gaza and the West Bank have now been killed by the state of Israel. More than 3,000 children in occupied Palestine have been killed, more than 130 children in southern Israel were killed. More than 50% of Gaza's civilian infrastructure has been destroyed. These are all crimes of war, but of entirely different proportionalities and from entirely different positionalities of power.
The world watches on in horror as the United States continues to "unconditionally support" Israel's assault, and militarily and diplomatically defend its crimes of war - as recognized by the Sec. General of the UN, and Amnesty International - and by the unwillingness of VT's delegation to support an immediate ceasefire and recognize these war crimes. President Biden, Rep. Balint, Sen. Welch, Sen. Sanders - your positions and US policy must change.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Farmers, eaters, farmworkers, community members - urge our congressional representatives to advocate for an immediate ceasefire, an unconditional support for human rights and humanitarian law, an end TO the occupation of Palestine, and the foundation of a sovereign Palestinian state as the starting points - not the ending points - of a lasting and legitimate peace process.
Contacts
D.C: 202-224-5141
Vermont: 802-862-0697
D.C: 202- 225-4115
Vermont: 802-652-2450
D.C: 202-224-4242
Vermont: 802-862-0697