4/17 International Day of Peasants' Struggle
Today on April 17th, we mark the International Day of Peasant Struggles, an annual action day that brings rural communities together to commemorate the Eldorado do Carajás massacre in 1996 and to honor the resistance of agrarian workers worldwide who persist in their struggle for social justice and dignity.
Central to this struggle is the right to food sovereignty, and the rights of people and communities as articulated in the 2018 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas: “Peasants and other people living in rural areas have the right to land, individually and/or collectively (...), including the right to have access to, sustainably use and manage land and the water bodies, coastal seas, fisheries, pastures, and forests therein, to achieve an adequate standard of living, to have a place to live in security, peace and dignity and to develop their cultures.”
Our work here in Vermont is part of and connected to an unwavering global fight for farmer and farmworker rights, and against genocides, wars, violations of people's sovereignty, and the corporate control and domination over our food system.
Through our relationship with the National Family Farm Coalition, Rural Vermont is part of La Via Campesina, an international movement of peasants, youth, women, men, and diversities, migrants, rural and landless agrarian workers, fisherfolk, and indigenous peoples, who stand in unity with hope, connection, and unwavering determination to confront the multifaceted crises agrarian communities face here at home and around the world.
2024 Rural Vermont Blog Posts on Solidarity and Food Sovereignty
Resources to Learn More & Get Involved
4/18/24 Imagining a Palestine without Occupation
On Thursday, April 18th at 12pm EST, several organizations host a virtual conversation on Palestinian Resistance, Climate Justice, and Liberation featuring Moayyad Bsharat of Union of Agricultural Work Committees, Jimmy Dunson of Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, and Zayneb Al-Shalalfeh of Palestinian Women Water Practitioners Network and moderated by Yusra Bitar of Arab Reform Initiative. Speakers will share their vision of a Free Palestine beyond occupation and discuss how real solutions such as Palestinian resistance and liberation, decolonization, food sovereignty, abolition, and climate justice offer frameworks for envisioning a way forward beyond an immediate and lasting ceasefire.
4/23/24 - 5/7/24 Who Decides on Food Policy?
Pushing Back on the US-Mexico Corn Dispute
The Mexican government has restricted the use of genetically modified (GM) white corn for human consumption and glyphosate as part of its broader program for food self-sufficiency and agroecology. Last August, the U.S. government launched a trade dispute, falsely asserting that these rules violate provisions in the U.S-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). This case underscores how trade policy can be misused to undermine countries’ democratic efforts to reshape their domestic food systems. Tune into these 3-part webinar to learn more about this case, and its broader implications for the future of trade policy and food sovereignty.
Disparity to Parity Webinar Recordings
The Disparity to Parity project was founded by farmers, activists, scholars, organizers, movement leaders, and policy analysts united by a commitment to farmer, worker, land, food and climate justice, racial equity and wellbeing for all; and a belief that social peace comes when we have economic, cultural, racial, and social parity across our food system and society. The project explores issues around agriculture and fairness in the United States, but views these issues in the broader international context of human rights, globalization and social movements that extend beyond national borders. The concept of parity is grounded in fair prices for farmers, but it extends beyond that to issues of environmental, cultural and social justice for producers and their communities. In this webinar: Disparity to Parity to Solidarity, we hear from partners around the world about what the concept of parity means in their context, as well as the international policies and agreements that need to be changed.