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Rural Struggle and Food Sovereignty
Por indymedia argentina (translation: mark) -
Saturday, Apr. 17, 2004 at 7:00 PM
Saturday 17th of April
Today is the International Day of Rural Struggle.
It was declared after the massacre perpetuated against 19 peasants of the Landless Peasant Movement (MST of Brazil April 17, 1996, during the second International Conference of the Rural Way (Conferencia Internacional de la Vía Campesina) in Tlaxcala, Mexico.
The concept of food sovereignty was developed by Rural Way (Via Campesina) during the World Food Summit in 1996, and offers an alternative to neoliberal politics. Neoliberal politics destroy food sovereignty, prioritizing international trade and not getting food to the people. They have not contributed at all to the eradication of hunger in the world. On the contrary, they have increased the dependence of the people on agricultural imports, and have reinforced industrialization of agriculture, endangering the environmental and cultural diversity of the planet, cultivation diversity and our health. They have forced millions of peasants to abandon their traditional agricultural practices and have created a rural exodus.
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