Faced with global crises, we build food sovereignty to ensure a future for humanity.
This October 16, 2023, we, the peasants of the world, once again call to commemorate the International Day of Action for Peoples’ Food Sovereignty against Transnational Corporations. On this day, the global movement for Food Sovereignty denounces the control of food systems in the hands of agribusiness transnationals, a global corporate network that is intensifying the hunger of millions of people in the world, as well as the massification of malnutrition as a chronic disease of the new generations.
It is unacceptable that more and more people in the world are going hungry and that food insecurity is intensifying, affecting one third of the world’s population. The global crises and the great migratory displacements that affect millions of people and their peoples are concentrated in a scenario of climate and environmental crisis that affects the whole of humanity.
We are experiencing an unprecedented food crisis. Our agricultural production, seeds, land, and territories are being monopolized; our peasant rights to income and a dignified life, to protest, and to the autonomy of our peoples are being violated. We are facing an unprecedented food crisis intertwined with the climate crisis, wars, corruption, media control, institutional racism, and neo-fascism. At the same time, we, the peasants, continue to be criminalized, displaced, and see our livelihoods and subsistence taken away.
We mobilize in the face of global crises
This year, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is hosting the World Food Forum from October 16-20, and we are concerned that large corporations continue to capture this space for their own interests.
For this reason, together with our allies, on October 16, we will mobilize once again to denounce the false solutions that corporate power, in complicity with many governments, is promoting and imposing to apparently solve these crises. Once more, we say no to agribusiness! No more false solutions! Without Food Sovereignty, we will not be able to ensure a future for humanity!
This year, we also celebrate 27 years of our organized struggle for Food Sovereignty, a struggle that has now diversified and taken shape from the local level to form a powerful global movement. We will carry all the experiences and reflections from this journey to our 8th International Conference, to be held in December in Bogota, Colombia. During the conference, we will dedicate an important moment to discuss our progress and the lessons learned over these nearly three decades of mobilizations.
We face the enormous challenge of advancing the implementation of UNDROP, building an alternative global trade framework that puts an end to the voracity of Free Trade Agreements and the WTO, and consolidating an effective binding treaty against transnational corporations to protect the collective and individual labor agreements of rural workers. Additionally, we aim to safeguard the territorial, environmental, community, production, and basic services rights of communities in areas affected by transnationals. Furthermore, we must continue to promote Peasant Agroecology and Popular Peasant Feminism as crucial political tools within our movement for our peoples.
We are peasants, women, youth, rural diversities, indigenous peoples, fisherfolk, migrants, rural workers, and a diverse group of individuals who want Food Sovereignty to be recognized as a fundamental right, ensuring peace and social justice for our communities.
Join our actions happening all over the world:
- Organize with your neighborhood, community, or local organization to showcase the immense value and legacy of the struggle for Food Sovereignty.
- Arrange events and participate in agroecological fairs where the work of local peasants is celebrated, and their challenges are discussed.
- Additionally, join our virtual action this #16Oct23 by capturing and sending a photo of your action along with our slogan, “Facing global crises, we build Food Sovereignty to secure a future for humanity.” Tag us on social media or send your photos and/or videos to communications@viacampesina.org
- Personalize the official poster and adapt it to your local language. Download and share our communication kit, videos, and publications during this day of mobilizations.