Our food is being used as a weapon, and we are living in a political moment that demands coordinated action.
Currently, we are seeing how political borders are being used to attack workers and families. Whether it’s the more than 500,000 people who were cut from the food stamp program over the last 3 years, the fact that four of the six largest agribusiness corporations have merged, or that farmers across the country are losing their lands while food chain workers are working under exploitative and dangerous conditions, and often fear deportation.
We must continue to dream of a better world and work to build a new food system. We need a system that respects communities and human rights and nourishes rather than ravages the land. That system is based on food sovereignty, the human right to food, and the rights of Mother Earth.
On October 12 – 15, 2018, grassroots organizations, activists, faith-based community, scholars, union members, farmers and fisherfolk, and other food chain workers from around the US and the world will converge on Bellingham, WA, for the IV National Assembly of the US Food Sovereignty Alliance (USFSA). The Assembly will provide a space to learn about food sovereignty, share struggles and collective wins, and build solidarity.
The USFSA has a goal of bringing together as many people as possible in a World Social Forum style gathering that will encompass a range of panels, political education, arts and other cultural exchanges to pave the way for stronger political action in the United States. The space will be an opportunity for mutual learning. Please stay tuned for information on how to submit a proposal for a panel, registration, and more. Together, we’ll deepen relationships across sectors and geographies to build a path for community liberation and reclaim our food system.
The Assembly will also include the 2018 Food Sovereignty Prize awards ceremony honoring movements in the US and internationally. Lauded as an alternative to the World Food Prize, the Food Sovereignty Prize champions real solutions to hunger and is recognized by social movements, activists and community-based organizations around the world.
Please save the date and sign up (or follow us on Facebook or Twitter) to get the latest updates on the organizing and registration process. If you are interested in participating in the planning of the Assembly, please email info (at) usfoodsovereigntyalliance (dot) org.
World Food Day and the Day of Action is October 16, which takes place during the Food Week of Action, October 9-17.
People and groups across the U.S. and worldwide are taking back their food systems – fighting for their land and waterways, reclaiming vacant lots, teaching others how to grow food, and developing local distribution systems – while simultaneously creating jobs, providing healthy food, protecting Mother Earth, building rural-urban connections, campaigning for just policies, and revitalizing their communities.
Contacts:
Saulo Araujo, WhyHunger – (617) 735-5899
Stephen Bartlett, Agricultural Missions – (502) 415-1080
Lisa Griffith, National Family Farm Coalition – (773) 319-5838
Carol Schachet, Grassroots International – (617) 524-1400 or (617) 628-3455
She was a courageous voice in defense of Lenca communities and the struggle for the rights of people and of Mother Earth. During her 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize Award ceremony, Berta shared these words:
“In our worldview, we are beings who come from the Earth, from the water, and from corn. The Lenca people are ancestral guardians of the rivers, in turn protected by the spirits of young girls, who teach us that giving our lives in various ways for the protection of the rivers is giving our lives for the well-being of humanity and of this planet… Let us wake up! We’re out of time. WE must shake our conscience free of the rapacious capitalism, racism and patriarchy that will only assure our own self-destruction.
“Our Mother Earth – militarized, fenced-in, poisoned, a place where basic rights are systematically violated – demands that we take action.”
The murder of Berta Cáceres is a direct result of the ill-advised US policies for Latin America. It is past time for the US government to recognize that the financial and political support it has provided to the 2009 military coup and to the current Honduran government only fuels abuses by military personnel and the role of death squads against journalists, students and organizers, especially those at the forefront of defending land, territory, and natural resources. Berta had warned that DESA was once again invading Lenca territories, this time accompanied by private and public armed forces, including the military police called “Tigres” – trained and financed by the United States. Furthermore, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is directly supporting the Agua Zarca project through the USAID MERCADO program.
Besides Berta, other leaders from trade unions and peasant, Indigenous and Afro-descendent organizations are frequent targets of death threats.Currently, the Honduran authorities are holding one member of COPINH and an international ally Gustavo Castro as part of the criminal investigation in a clear attempt to criminalize the victims of Berta’s assassination. We ask friends and allies to participate in local actions to demand a prompt and full independent investigation into the killing of Berta Cáceres, by the Inter American Human Rights Commission. We call on everyone determined to uphold human rights to immediately contact their congressional representatives, advise them that the US support to Honduras and to the Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam project is destroying democratic rule in Honduras and killing innocent people, and demand an immediate end to such support.
Finally, we support the rightful demands of COPINH and of all Indigenous communities to protect and defend their lands and to prevent unwanted megaprojects in their territory, starting with the Agua Zarca dam project on the sacred Gualcarque River.
Next Monday, March 14 is International Day of Action Against Dams and for Rivers, Water, and Life. Around the country and around the world, organizations will be taking action in tribute to the powerful work Berta Cáceres led to protect the Gualcarque River, and in solidarity with the ongoing work of COPINH and of other movements in defense of water rights around the world. We dedicate ourselves to these struggles.
In solidarity,
US Food Sovereignty Alliance, United States
American Federation of Government Employees (AFL-CIO), Local 3354, United States
Climate Justice Alliance, United States
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, United States
Food Chain Workers Alliance, United States
National Family Farm Coalition, United States
Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, United States
Rural Coalition, United States
World Forum of Fisher People, Global
Action Aid, United States
Agricultural Missions, United States
American Jewish World Service, United States
Campaign for Food Justice, United States
Centro de Estudios en Ecología Política, Colombia
CIP –Americas Program, United States
Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, United States
Committee on U.S.-Latin American Relations, United States
Community Alliance for Global Justice, United States
Community to Community, United States
Cooperation Operation, United States
Family Farm Defenders, United States
Farmworker Association of Florida, United States
Food First, United States
Global Greengrants Fund, United States
Grassroots International, United States
Groundswell International, United States
Growing Food and Justice Initiative, United States
Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy, United States
Indigenous Environmental Network, United States
Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy, United States
Institute for Social Ecology, United States
International Development Exchange, United States
Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary, United States
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, United States
Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment, United States
Movement Generation Justice and Ecology Project, United States
National Family Farm Coalition, United States
Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala, United States
New Roots, United States
North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers Land Loss Prevention Project, United States
Oakland Institute, United States
Other Worlds, United States
Partners for the Land & Agricultural Needs of Traditional Peoples, United States
People’s Climate Movement-NY, United States
Pesticide Action Network – North America, United States
Rede Social de Justi ça e Direitos Humanos, Brazil
Rural Community Workers Alliance, United States
Small Planet Institute, United States
Soil Generation, United States
Soul Fire Farm, United States
Southwest Organizing Project, United States
Southwest Workers Union, United States
St. Louis Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America, United States
Surplus People’s Project, South Africa
Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville, United States
Urgent Action Fund, United States
WhyHunger, United States
Quotes :
“For decades, Berta Caceres gave everything she had to the causes of true democracy; indigenous power; protection of the earth, the forests, the rivers; rights of women and LGBT individuals; and an end of tyranny by the US government, transnational capital, and Honduran oligarchy. Berta advanced these agendas not only in Honduras, but globally – most recently even in an audience with the Pope. Now, the one thing she did not freely give has been taken from her: her very life. But she is not gone; she lives on in all of us who continue to believe in and work for a just, humane, and ecologically safe world.” – Beverly Bell, Other Worlds
“The assassination of Berta Caceres is a tremendous loss to us, and to all communities who seek justice and dignity. And her murder is an indictment on an insatiable and immoral system – supported by US policies since the 2009 coup – that grabs ancestral lands from indigenous communities, poisons and privatizes waterways and seeks profit above all else. She stood courageously in the face of mounting threats, knowing the dangers, and with love in her heart, organized to protect the lands and waters of the Lenca people. We mourn with and call on the international community to take action, to bring justice for Berta and to work to continue her legacy.” – Chung-Wha Hong, Grassroots International
¨A Honduran friend who recognizes his Lenca ancestry called me today and declared: They have killed Lempira again. They killed the person carrying the banner of Indigenous Dignity the Highest, Berta Caceres. Lempira was the Lenca leader killed by the Spanish at the time of conquest. I agree: On March 3, 2016 Lempira Was Killed Again. I mourn for our collective loss and the loss of a beautiful, inspirational sister of supreme struggle.¨ – Stephen Bartlett, Agricultural Missions
“Berta was a tenacious leader. She worked tirelessly to bring indigenous and peasant families into international alliances to contain the greed of international capital for local resources. Above all, Berta was a dear friend and a sister in the struggle for many people in Central America and beyond. The loss of Berta Caceres is now our mística, the energy that will unify us and will sustain our struggle for a more just society.” – Saulo Araujo, WhyHunger
”At Grassroots Global Justice Alliance we are saddened and enraged by the murder of our compañera Berta. She stood up fiercely against her government and trans-national corporations, but always grounded in her love for people and the land. We will continue to live up to the example that she set to fight for land, for life, for dignity, and for happiness! The US government is as much responsible for her death as the people who invaded her home. We will not forget the fights Berta has been engaged in, Let’s channel her strength and her courage to continue her legacy.” – Cindy Wiesner on behalf of Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
“We are deeply saddened by the death of this courageous leader. Her assassination is another horrific example of the violence against environmental activists and the criminalization of people, particularly women and indigenous peoples, around the world who are fighting to protect basic rights to water, land, forests, and life. May Berta’s blood bring strength and determination to her immediate family, comrades, and all of us.” – Terry Odendahl and Nnimmo Bassey, Global Greengrants Fund
“The terrible news of the assassination of Berta Cáceres, internationally recognized human rights defender and Lenca indigenous leader, leaves us shocked and saddened, but determined to continue the fight she so boldly led. She was an inspirational example of how the defense of land and territory, and indigenous and women’s rights, can and must be taken up together. We join the call for an independent investigation and immediate suspension of US security aid that has fomented the militarization and post-coup abandonment of human rights in Honduras.” – Laura Carlsen, CIP Americas Program
Organizations across the US mobilize against privatizing land and water, work for democratic control of our food system
PLYMOUTH, MA – The United States Food Sovereignty Alliance (USFSA), an alliance of 37 organizations working for the right to food for all communities, is coordinating the Month of Community Power to Reclaim the Commons this October, which spotlights local communities’ resistance to the privatization of food, water, land, oceans, and the greater Commons.1 An estimated 20 actions are expected to take place across the United States, led by communities fighting for the rights to produce their own food and for the rights of food producers. The USFSA’s member organizations and allies believe that land and water are common resources that should benefit the people, especially to provide food for those most in need — not exploited for private profit or corporate gain.
