March 29 is the DAY OF THE LANDLESS. It marks the founding anniversary of the Asian Peasant Coalition and the launching of the No Land, No Life! campaign. One hundred twenty-seven organizations composed of 20 global and regional groups and networks and 109 national and local organizations from 25 countries in Asia and the Pacific, Africa, Latin America, North America and Europe are issuing the following statement to commemorate this important date in the struggle of rural communities around the world for land and resources.
Rural communities around the world are rising against landlessness. In Philippines, Brazil, Indonesia, and many other countries, farmers are reclaiming their lands from local landlords and foreign TNCs. Hundreds of communities facing eviction are holding their ground against the advance of landgrabbers.
“Biofortification is a business strategy, not a solution to global malnutrition. It is not that staple foods in developing nations are deficient of nutrients; rather, TNCs have kept the income of rural peoples too low through price cartels and monopoly control of food production and distribution,” Mallari said.
Women play an indispensable role as leaders and trailblazers in our collective struggle for land and life. The rural women, particularly, have continued to resist gender discrimination along with the exploitation of feudal landlords and corporations toward achieving our universal right to safe, nutritious, affordable, and culturally-appropriate food. Breaking the boundaries of patriarchal standards is part and parcel of our fight for food sovereignty, for freedom from all kinds of oppression is one of its key principles.
Download SPEAK OUT Issue 2 – January 2019 here.
In spite of the repeated calls by civil society organisations over the years of the war, the suffering in Yemen has grown. We hereby renew the call to the international community to halt the starvation of the Yemeni people.