Global Movements

Global movements for human rights are creating a new force for global change exemplified in international networks. WHY International has reported on World Social Forums in Brazil and India, and on the struggles communities are waging for the basic rights to food, water, land, jobs and credit. As the social forums move to a national and regional level, WHY International will use our resources, publications and communication links to promote these efforts. WHY International is also involved with the domestic Community Food Security movement, taking part in coalitions to strengthen local food systems and reform US agricultural and trade policy.

Global Struggles Across Borders

In early September, WHY, in partnership with the Farmer Solidarity Project and the Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of NY, hosted a delegation of family farm leaders from across the Americas. Campesino representatives from Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Iowa, and Venezuela came to the NY/NJ area, starting off in New York City and then heading to rural New York, New Jersey, and Vermont. The campesinos are leaders in the growing grassroots movement for food sovereignty, defined as the right of all people to determine their own food and agriculture policies. In essence, food sovereignty means access to healthy food for all and fairness for those who produce it.

The New York City tour consisted of four days of exchange with local farmers, activists, politicians, and community leaders. In their respective countries, the campesinos work with fellow peasant farmers struggling to regain access to land in order to feed themselves and their communities. On their New York City tour, they visited gardens in the South Bronx reclaimed through community effort from trash-filled lots. Urban farmers there now raise chickens and grow crops from collards to pinto beans next to public housing projects, also with the goal of feeding themselves and their community. In East New York, another of NYC's lowest income areas, the campesinos exchanged marketing ideas, healthy growing techniques, and seeds with community leaders and immigrant farmers.

9/2007 Campesino Visit, NYC

Countless conversations throughout the four days highlighted the similarities in struggles across borders. It was an empowering experience for city farmers to see how their efforts to feed their communities are part of an international movement. The campesinos spoke of the significance of meeting US communities who are fighting the same fight that they are internationally. Ultimately, the same agricultural policies that are driving food insecurity and obesity in NYC communities are driving family farmers off their land throughout the world.

The campesinos were able to bring this message to the broader public through an event, Farmers Speak Out: The Global Struggle for Food Sovereignty, attended by over 200 people in New York City. Following the NYC tour, the campesinos participated in events at four different universities, along with visits to rural community sites, during the rest of their stay. The visit was a valuable opportunity to examine connections across borders and work together for change.

Nyéléni 2007: Forum for Food Sovereignty

On February 23rd-27th,2007 an historic event took place in Mali – a global forum on food sovereignty entitled Nyéléni 2007. This forum brought together more than 500 participants from 80 countries to develop common strategies for achieving food sovereignty from the local to the international level. Nyéléni is an important milestone in the global campaign for food sovereignty. This campaign asks the critical question: Who is control of our seeds, food, land, water, and other basic life-sustaining resources? It seeks to restore control from the World Trade Organization, multinational corporations, and international financial institutions back to individual nations/tribes/peoples, and ultimately, to those who produce the food and those who eat it. The Via Campesina peasant movement is at the forefront of this movement at the global level, and here in the US, the National Family Farm Coalition has been paving the way, along with partners such as Grassroots International, Food First, WHY, and others. WHY had the honor of participating in Nyéléni 2007, and we will continue to advance the strategies that came out of it. For further information, visit www.nyeleni2007.org.

Reports from Mali

Grassroots Journal, February 23 – 27, 2007
Blog featuring on-the-ground reports and reflections from this global gathering, both from the perspective of the North American delegation and the Global South.

World Social Forum

The World Social Forum is an annual gathering that brings together farmers, peace activists, fair trade crusaders, environmentalists, and advocates of indigenous, workers’ and women’s rights, among others.

World Social Forum 2007
The 7th World Social Forum (WSF) was held January 20-25, 2007 in Nairobi, Kenya and hosted almost 150,000 delegates from all over the world. The theme for the 7th edition of the World Social Forum was “People’s Struggles, People’s Alternatives”. World Social Forum 2007 brought the world to Africa as activists, social movements, networks, coalitions and other progressive forces from Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean, North America, Europe and all corners of the African continent converged in Nairobi, Kenya for five days of cultural resistance and celebration.

Reflections on WSF 2007 in Nairobi, Kenya
Self-Help and Making Do or Radical Transformation for Africa? Reflections on the Nairobi WSF, African Agriculture, and Time. By Stephen Bartlett, February, 2007.

World Social Forum 2006
In 2006, the WSF was polycentric, meaning that it was decentralized,and held in different parts of the world. Three cities hosted the WSF 2006: Bamako (Mali – Africa), Caracas (Venezuela, America) and Karachi(Pakistan – Asia).

Reports from the WSF 2006 in Caracas, Venezuela
Christina Schiavoni, International Program Coordinator, represented WHY at the 2006 World Social Forum in Caracas, Venezuela, January 23-29. View her reports on the events and the progress made in Venezuela on the issue of food sovereignty.

WHY International at Terra Madre 2006

On October 26-30, 2006, Peter Mann and Siena Chrisman of WHY International joined over 7,000 farmers, breeders, fishermen, traditional food producers, cooks, academics and activists at Terra Madre, a World Meeting of Food Communities, in Turin, Italy. Hosted by Slow Food, Terra Madre is a forum for all those who produce and prepare food in ways that respect the environment, defend human dignity, and protect the health of consumers. Terra Madre 2006 focused on strengthening food networks; on agro-ecology; and on market access for small-scale producers.

The Slow Food movement, founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986, is an antidote to the global fast food addiction. Slow Food defends food and agricultural biodiversity worldwide, and can help communities recover their culinary riches and artisanal skills. Slow Food promotes food that is "Good, Clean, and Fair": food that tastes good and is culturally appropriate, grown and produced in an environmentally sound way through fair labor practices, and equally available to all.

Learn more: Slow Food USA, Slow Food
Live reports: Terra Madre 2006 Blog

News & Views on Global Movements

Links & Resources on Global Movements