Columbia University Seminar (#671) on Globalization, Labor and Popular
Struggles is pleased to announce our first 2007-2008 meeting:

DATE:  Monday, September 17, 7:15 p.m. (Dinner at 6:00 p.m.)

TITLE:  "The Global Farmers Movement Against Neoliberal Globalization"

SPEAKERS: 

Diógenes Lucio, FENOCIN (Ecuador)
Juan Tiney, CONIC (Guatemala)
William Kramer, Rutgers University (Moderator)

PLACE:  Faculty House, Columbia University

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 U.S. agricultural trade policies.  Some farmers
have been driven to suicide (more than 100,000 in India), and others have
been forced to migrate 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.  International farmers movements, and the emerging food sovereignty
movement, are, as one observer noted, "the most important source of
democratic transformation in national and international politics."

Come hear from two leaders from the international farmers movement:

(1) Diogenes Lucio a leader from FENOCIN (the National Federation of
Peasant, Indigenous, and Black Organizations), which represents 1,300
organizations, who themselves represent over 200,000 families in 18
provinces of Ecuador.  Mr. Lucio will talk about the relationship between
his organization and Rafael Correa, the newly elected President of Ecuador
who has taken strong steps to move away from neoliberalism in his country
and to build Socialism for the 21st Century

(2) Mr. Juan Tiney, the General Coordinator of CONIC (The National Peasant
and Indigenous Coordinating Organization of Guatemala).  Up until recently
Tiney also headed a Latin-America wide network of campesino farmer
organization (CLOC).

In connection with the September 17th meeting, please reply to Matt Winters
(msw22@columbia.edu) whether you plan to join us for dinner before the
seminar.

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I will attend the dinner on September 17       Yes___  No___
I will attend the seminar on September 17      Yes___  No___

****RSVP by Friday, September 14****

Dinner will be at the Columbia University Faculty House at 6:00 p.m.
Please pay for your dinner (around $22) at the desk in the lobby of Faculty
House when you arrive for dinner.  For those having dinner, we will meet at
6:00 at the table reserved for the seminar on the fourth floor of Faculty
House, which is located on Columbia's East Campus behind the School of
International Affairs and the Law School.  The street address is 400 West
117th Street, but the easiest approach is through the gates on the north
side of 116th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive.

The seminar will be held from 7:15 to 9:00 p.m. in a room to be announced in
Faculty House.  For those not having dinner, please look for a sign in the
lobby and join us at 7:15 p.m.

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Thank you,

David Bensman
Hank Frundt
Seminar Co-Chairs