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Campesino Leaders in Residence
Family farmers stand up for food sovereignty and fair trade
September 7 –18, 2007
NYC + NY State + NJ + VT
As communities around the world – from the Bronx to Bogota – struggle to feed themselves, farmers are also facing desperate times. Both of these crises are due in part to US agricultural trade policies. Some farmers have been driven to suicide (more than 100,000 in India), and others have migrated to cities or other countries in search of work. But now, farmers and consumers alike are responding by building national and international movements to fight for food sovereignty: the right of all peoples to define their own food and agricultural policies. In essence, food sovereignty means good food for all and fairness for those who produce it.
Family farmer leaders will visit the East Coast in September 2007 to:
· participate in university and community events;
· meet and dialogue with farmers, students and community activists;
· build ties to US community and political leaders and activists concerned with trade, globalization, and immigration.
Mr. Braulio Alvarez – Venezuela
Mr. Braulio Alvarez is the national coordinator of Venezuela's largest campesino farmer group, CANEZ, and a member of the Venezuelan National Assembly. Born into a farming family in the state of Yaracuy, Venezuela, Álvarez has worked tirelessly throughout his life to organize peasants in the struggle for land, livelihood, and dignity. He is a leader of the Latin American coordination of campesino groups (CLOC) affiliated with the Via Campesina global peasant movement.
Mr. Juan Tiney - Guatemala
Mr. Juan Tiney is the General coordinator of CONIC, the National Peasant and Indigenous Coordinating Organization (Coordinadora Nacional Indigena y Campesina). CONIC has 80,000 members in Guatemala, 95% of them indigenous. CONIC focuses on land rights and the right to development and improved access to services.
.Ms. Pilar Jurado—Colombia
Ms. Pilar Jurado represents Colombia’s National Association of 
Campesino Farmers (ANUC-UR), an organization dedicated to defending the rights of campesinos in Colombia and internationally. It seeks to transform the structures of domination, exploitation, and exclusion and to promote a dignified life for all. ANUC-UR is fighting for agrarian reform—to return displaced campesinos to their land—and for food sovereignty—which reaffirms the viability of the campesino economy and the dignity of the people, and which maintains the rights of families, communities, and local markets to conserve their own seeds.
Related Readings:
RESOLUCIÓN Nº 01 DE LA III ASAMBLEA NACIONAL 2007
Mr. Milton Fornaziere – Brazil
Mr. Milton Fornaziere is a national leader of the Landless Workers Movement (MST). The MST works for agricultural reform in Brazil and has helped over 350,000 families occupy and produce on idle land.
Mr. Diogenes Lucio – Ecuador
Mr. Diogenes Lucio is a representative of FENOCIN, the National Federation of Peasant, Indigenous, and Black Organizations, a leading grassroots organization. FENOCIN was founded in the early 1960s out of the social movements for land reform and indigenous rights. The group represents 1300 organizations, who themselves represent over 200,000 families in 18 provinces.
Related Readings:
Confederación Nacional de Organizaciones
Campesinas Indígenas y Negras del Ecuador
Comité Ejecutivo Nacional 2004-2008
Events
Press Release: Latin American Farmers Tour September 7-17
Saturday September 8, 7:00 p.m., “Globalization, Rural Community, and Migration” with Juan Tiney of Guatemala., Church of St. Paul & St Andrew, 263 West 86th Street, New York, NY
Monday September 10, 5:00 p.m., “Farmers Speak Out: The Global Struggle for Food Sovereignty,” The New School, 55 West 13th Street, NYC, 2nd Floor (register at: www.worldhungeryear.org/farmersspeakout)
WBAI Radio Show 9/10/07 w/ Tiney (Guatemala) and Lucio (Ecuador)
Wednesday September 12, 11 am, “Farmers Movements in Latin America,” Sociology Library, Room A266, Lucy Stone Hall, Rutgers Livingston Campus
Wednesday September 12, 8:00 p.m., “Latin American Farmers Fight for Fair Trade,” - Student Activities Center on George St., Rutgers University
Thursday September 13, 12:15 p.m., “Free Trade and the Rural Crisis,” Rutgers-Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, 33 Livingston Avenue room 253
Thursday September 13, 4:30 p.m., “Agrofuels/Biofuels: Dangers & Opportunities; - Douglass Student Center NJC Lounge + Plaza---Rutgers University
Thursday September 13, 7:00 p.m, “Local Solutions to the Family Farm Crisis”, – McCosh Rm. 28-- Princeton University
Friday September 14, 3:30 pm, “Free Trade and the Rural Crisis”, Billings MLK Lounge , University of Vermont
Monday September 17, noon, 12:20-2:15 p.m., “Latin American Farmers Fight for Fair Trade,” Plant Science 233, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Monday, September 17, “The Global Farmers Movement Against Neoliberal Globalization”, Faculty House, Columbia University
For more information:
William Kramer 732-589-8024 or wkramer at access4less.net
Christina Schiavoni 212-629-9788 christina at worldhungeryear.org
Tejas Kadia 732-245-5461 tejas.kadia at gmail.com
William Camacaro 718-510-5523 cbalbertolovera at gmail.com
A Collaborative Effort Between
The Farmer Solidarity Project
World Hunger Year
The Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of NY
The Rutgers Global Food and Agriculture Coalition
-Honey Brook Organic Farm
- Who Is My Neighbor?, Inc
- Elijah's Promise/Promise Culinary School
- Lazos America Unida/ Marigold Project
Campesino Visit Goals
1. Raise consciousness in the US and build support for farmers struggles and social movements in Latin America and other parts of the world.
2. Raise consciousness among the visitors about farmers issues and food system issues in the Northeast (VT, NY, and NJ) and the US.
3. Educate people about how neoliberal global trade and agriculture policies are displacing family farmers from their land and leading to growing migration, environmental degradation the expansion of urban slums, and increasing inequality, poverty and hunger worldwide.
4. Help local farmers/activists and campesino leaders realize how their struggles are connected and to build a united movement in support of community-based sustainable agriculture. Identify any specific areas for ongoing collaboration ( e.g., campaigns to support, etc.).
5. Facilitate an exchange of techniques and strategies between local farmers and the campesino delegation.
6. Inspire students, farmers and other interested parties in the US to
travel / work with groups in Latin America as part of study tours, alternative study abroad programs, etc
7. Connect visitors with folks at universities (Rutgers, Cornell and University of Vermont) who might be able to provide future technical and financial support, or facilitate student-farmer or farmer-farmer exchanges.
8. Get media coverage to increase public awareness of food sovereignty issues and the importance of fair trade.
9. Offer our audience ways to get involved, and participate in efforts
to change our trade policy and food system. For example, make people conscious of their food choices, and of local cooperatives, CSA's, etc.
Sponsors
- Presbyterian Church Hunger Program
- World Hunger Year
- Small Planet Institute
- Heifer International
- National Family Farm Coalition
- New Jersey Sustainable State Institute
- Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey
- Weston A. Price Foundation
- East New York Farms
- The New School
- Global Food & Agriculture Coalition, Rutgers
- Office of VP Isabel Nazario, Rutgers
- Office of International Programs, Rutgers
- Bloustein School Dean’s Office, Rutgers
- New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Rutgers
- Graduate Student Association, Rutgers
- Department of Latino and Hispanic Caribbean Studies, Rutgers
- Black Student Organization for Planning and Policy, Rutgers
- Rutgers Association of Policy and Planning Students
-Central American and South American Alliance (CASAA), Rutgers
- Student Organic Farm, Rutgers
- ΣΛB Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity Inc
-The Women's Agricultural Network (WAgN), VT
-Department of Plant & Soil Science, UVM
- Students of Peace and Global Justice, UVM
-Alianza Latina, UVM
-New World Agriculture and Ecology Group (NWAEG), Cornell
-Latin American Studies Program, Cornell
-Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Finance Commission, Cornell