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| Nandini and Raja Reega from South India accept a gift from the Indonesian hosts at the Women’s Assembly Mistica |
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| Sanjay, Balram and Pramesh from ANPFA in the seat of honor as we rode to the village field trip! |
The South Asian delegation at the VIth Global Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia was over thirty members strong. Representing North/South India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, the participants attended the Youth Assembly, Women’s Assembly, and International Assembly, taking on a role in producing the three documents you find below. These documents are the outcome of hundreds of wo/man-hours and thoughtful contemplation on the future of the Via Campesina movement for the next four years.
Declarations
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| The Venue and Assembly Hall |
Women of Via Campesina International Manifesto
Declaration of the 3rd International Youth Assembly of the Via Campesina
From The Jakarta Call —
“We are building new relationships between human beings and nature based on solidarity, cooperation and complementarity. At the heart of our struggle is an ethic of life. La Vía Campesina is committed to giving visibility to all of the local struggles around the world, ensuring that these are understood from international perspectives and integrated into a global movement for food sovereignty, social change and self-determination for the peoples of the world. We call on our organisations, allies, friends, and all those committed to a better future to reject the ‘green economy’ and build food sovereignty….”
From the Women’s Manifesto — “Our biggest step towards ending injustice in the world is taken by breaking the poverty cycle and granting the rightful place that we peasants have to provide and guarantee sufficient and balanced food for the peoples, recognizing the central role of women in food production…”
And, From the Youth Declaration, the commitments put forward for the future in full —
We demand that states and governments recognise, comply with and regulate food sovereignty in the constitutions of all countries as a basic human right. We also demand that the organisations and authorities that are involved and have responsibility take the following action:
- Put food sovereignty into practice by implementing holistic agrarian reform, and broad-based agroecological reform in the area of fishing and silviculture, to ensure equal access to natural goods for young people, particularly young women.
- End land grabbing and conversion in the name of development following the “Green Economy” model of agricultural food production, and production of bio fuels and monocultures that are structural causes of climate change and the energy crisis.
- Protect and promote traditional seeds and the knowledge and wisdom of our peasant communities.
- Promote a model that favours people, led by peasants and in accordance with the agroecological and indigenous model.
- Ensure market access for poor and marginalised people and a fair price for their products, keeping the WTO out of agriculture.
- Ensure that young people have access to a secure future, both in rural and urban areas, also promoting sustainable job opportunities for young people to reduce migration to urban areas.
- Stop criminalisation of protest, repression of social movements, murder and extermination of young peasants, while respecting human rights and those who defend them. They must also condemn militarisation, which is worsening living conditions for the poor in our regions, and establish an education system that supports young people who want to be peasants.
- Dedicate a greater proportion of the budget to agricultural sectors to support young people in production, and education and access to technology in rural areas.
- Provide a space for representation of young people in leadership and create a suitable environment to empower and support them, so they can show that young people can bring about change in agriculture.
In addition to these demands, we also make the following commitments:
- We will create solidarity between regions that put alternative models into practice in opposition to the neoliberal model, in accordance with the principles of complementarity and cooperation to overcome social inequality.
- We will set up an accessible political group for young people and practical people’s education on peasant and ecological agriculture.
- We will promote communication between young people from different organisations and creation and strengthening of people’s alternative communication networks that will be political, creative and transformative.
- We will strengthen the coordination of young people’s activities at a regional and global level.
- Political participation and training for young people in organisations and genuine prominence.
- We will coordinate political, social and cultural alliances and relations between young people from rural and urban areas around the world for social change and transformation.
- We will create and strengthen spaces for political and technical training in the area of agroecological production and local markets with social justice.
- We will show solidarity with all peoples who are involved in resistance and struggles for their right to life and their freedom anywhere in the world.Photo Albums
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| Tamil Translation Central |
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| Asma, Patka, and Bisawnath from Bangladesh with Pablo from UK in background |