The Union Farmer Quarterly/Spring 2001

Resisting the Tyranny, Building Alternatives

Just as these problems transcend Canada's borders, so too do farmer and citizen opposition and the possible roads to solutions. Day Two of the Agriculture Forum began with a panel on this broad topic which held the entire audience spellbound. As the minutes sped by, Shannon, usually a formidable timekeeper, simply abandoned the idea of interrupting the three panelists as they shared their stories of courage, creativity and determination.

Vilson Santin of Brazil's Landless Movement (Movimento Sem Terra or MST) denounced the Cardoso government for criminalizing and persecuting this movement of 100,000 peasant families instead of introducing true land reform. In a country where 12 million peasants have no land, 1% of landowners hold 43% of the land, and only 14% of the arable land is used. "Brazil is a country rich in resources," Vilson told us, "but our corrupt elites make our people suffer, bound in serfdom to the multinational companies." Yet the MST is fighting not only for land, but for an agricultural policy which integrates ecological organized campesinos, who produce most of the country's staple food products.

"The previous two speakers are a hard act to follow," panelist Renwick Rose acknowledged as he took the microphone. But the eloquent St. Vincent farmer, representing the Association of Caribbean Farmers' Organizations, WINFA, proceeded to do just that. "We are in a battle for the minds of our people," he said. "We have to be able to relate the poverty people experience to the phenomenon of globalization and the FTAA." Renwick stressed the ongoing need for a clear and realistic assessment of what is actually feasible with the resources we can call on as we advance our alterrnative process. We put our goals at risk, he said, if we neglect the nuts and bolts of strategy and organization, which must always be based on the real situation, on the strengths of the peoples,

production, respects cultural diversity, and has food sovereignty as its top priority. Vilson's passionate plea for these values moved many of us to tears.

Blanca Chancoso of CONAIE, the Ecuadorian Indigenous Federation, was equally rivetting with her blow-by-blow description of her people's long struggle for recognition, human rights, land and political power. She told of their resistance to dollarization and to the International Monetary Fund's "restructuring" measures, which have further impoverished Ecuador's poor. The indigenous uprisings of the past two years have demonstrated the potential power of and on unity and dialogue.

The rest of the Forum's small group and plenary discussions were devoted to that strategizing process. One of the major proposals that emerged was the call for a hemisphere-wide referendum on the FTAA - a call which was also taken up by many other participants in the People's Summit.

The final inspirational speaker was French peasant activist Jose Bove of the Confederation Paysanne, which is also affiliated with Via Campesina. Bove was invited to the Summit by the Council of Canadians, and initially our government put out an all-points warning to immigration officials not to let him into the country. The Council, with massive public support, managed to get the order reversed and Bové asked his Via Campesina colleagues in the NFU what we would like him to do at our Forum. It wasn't hard to find him a spot.

Bove is best known for partially dismantling the construction site of a McDonald's restaurant in his part of France in August 1999, to highlight the role of American multi-nationals in globalization and the overall commodification of food, in particular the WTO attempt to force Europeans to accept hormone beef from the US. But Bove's whole history of collectivism and peasant activism is at least as fascinating. And his call for non-violent action by farmers and rural people around the world is indeed an inspiration.

The Agriculture Forum had a clear position within the political mix that made up the People's Summit. Unlike some of the more reformist elements in that mix, the farmers, farm workers, rural organizers and others who took part in our Forum were unwilling to settle for bland affirmations or mild-mannered requests to sit at the FTAA table and nibble on crumbs from the poisoned neo-liberal pie. Two draft documents along the latter lines, which appeared at the last minute for our "comments", were categorically denounced and rejected.

The militancy of our Forum's consensus is evident in our final statement, produced - first in Spanish, then in the other languages - from a marathon meeting that began as soon as the Forum officially ended. A group of representatives from South, Central and North America and the Caribbean quickly grabbed some left-overs from lunch and worked on into the evening, trashing the reformist texts and developing our own brief summary of our analysis and our demands.

Our statement speaks for itself:

"Any trade agreement must be based on national sovereignty and must guarantee the food security of the people, because food is a basic and fundamental human right. Food must be safe, accessible, and provide a fair and adequate return to primary producers. Farming, livestock production, fishing, and agro-forestry must be practiced in accordance with public policies which protect and respect the rights of the men and women of the land, including farmers, farm workers, and indigenous people. Such policies must also protect and respect their use of natural resources (air, water, soil), conservation of biodiversity, knowledge of genetic resources, the right to land, and respect for collective and communal forms of property.

The agricultural policies put into practice by the governments of the Western Hemisphere must encourage and ensure the existence of indigenous people, family farmers, and other people who labour on the land. These policies must limit the export and import of significant quantities of food which destroy our local economies and put at risk our health and our environment. Consequently, governments should promote organic agriculture and prohibit the use of transgenic products. In addition, given the profound inequalities among our people, we should seek equitable development rather than promoting 'free trade' which is unequal by nature. The governments of the Western Hemisphere must recognize that the current policies of the World Trade Organization and regional trade agreements, such as NAFTA, have served to concentrate power and wealth in the hands of a few transnational corporations and have deepened the poverty and dependence of our peoples.

We will not tolerate injustice and destruction caused by such policies. Our struggle has a long history, and we are determined."