Stop Free Trade Agreements!
Family Farmers and Allies Converge on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to Mark La Via Campesina's International Day of Peasant Struggle
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- Published on Wednesday, 17 April 2013 20:54
Press release of Family Farm Defenders
Call Upon the U.S. Congress to Reject the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), Demand the U.S. Dept of Justice (DoJ) Take Anti-Trust Action Against Corrupt Food Giants, and Reassert the Right of Food Sovereignty For ALL!
Fri. April 19th
12:00 Noon Protest & Leaflet, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, 141 W. Jackson
Fri. April 19th
5:30 pm Potluck & Forum, Jane Adams Hull House Museum, 800 S. Halsted
To mark Via Campesina’s International Day of Peasant Struggle, family farmers and their allies will once again converge on the doorstep of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) – 141 W. Jackson – at Noon on Fri. April 19th to expose the rampant price fixing by commodity speculators that is behind the ongoing global food crisis. Last year on May 23rd thousands of angry citizens turned up inside and outside the CME annual shareholders meeting to demand greater social responsibility from Chicago's most lucrative corporation, which posted $1.9 billion in profits in 2011 while receiving millions in local, state, and federal tax cuts.
India, Farmer's and Trade Unions Protest against the EU India FTA
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- Published on Tuesday, 05 March 2013 10:53
Bhartiya Kisan Union Farmers at protest against EU India FTA in Feb 2012
Farmers and trade unions of India have been protesting against the undemocratic EU India free trade agreement. Over the last couple of months, the alliance of organizations called the Anti FTA front has written 872 letters to important officials, organizations and political parties including the Prime Minister and the Members of Parliament about this unfair trade deal. “There are serious impacts on food security, livelihood security of millions of farmers and small retailers and we haven't even been informed or consulted about the EU India FTA,” said Rakesh Tikait of Bhartiya Kisan Union a member of La Via Campesina. In fact no impact studies have been made available even to the Indian parliament or state governments, let alone the ordinary people of India whose lives are at stake. Ironically, the Indian government has left no stone unturned to show its urgency and deep commitment to European business making media statements about its plans to swiftly conclude the EU India FTA by March this year.
Understanding Free Trade through the KORUS FTA and the Necessity of Regional Economic Cooperation
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- Published on Thursday, 06 September 2012 13:43
Under the guise of trade liberalization, the state becomes the advance guard for transnational corporations (TNCs) concluding FTAs that further increase the profits of TNCs by exploiting people’s lives. Yet, TNCs are still not satisfied. They now want to transform existing free trade agreements into a more comprehensive and stronger form that would further limit the ability of social movements to demand government policies that improve and safeguard the well-being of farmers, workers, and consumers...
South Korea, conclusions from regional strategic meeting against FTAs
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- Published on Monday, 30 July 2012 20:19
Sharing each country’s situation on FTA/TPP & Results of 2nd Strategy Meeting on FTA/TPP
Australia: Mr. Harvey Purse from AFTINET
Where we are in Australia in the moment?
60 unions, community groups, church groups are fighting for fair trade based on principles of human rights, labor rights, and environmental sustainability. We are raising awareness of this agreement in Australia slow building opposition against the TPP. When Australia negotiated with US there was 35% opposition, now there is 65% opposition. The goal is to achieve the same with the TPP. We have started campaigning with young people such as holding a concert with variety of artists. There was also a book written: No Ordinary Deal: Unmasking the TPP. The book was written by people from Australia, New Zealand, US, and a few of the Latin American countries that were involved. We are also creating a series of pamphlets to update every few months around worker’s rights and health in order to raise awareness in Australia and cut through all groups in Australia. We have managed some victories. We got the Catholic and United church to support us. We also have support from the National Unions for construction, mining, forestry and manufacturing and social services. We have gotten the current government (Worker’s government) to oppose any changes that impact people’s access to cheap medicine and to oppose the ISD. We have gotten them to protect worker’s rights from being impacted by free trade agreements or TPP and to agree that the environment must be protected. We are worried that we may lose next year’s election to a far more conservative administration. We are all working together and keep on educating.
Farmers, people living with HIV and small traders protest against the EU India Free Trade Agreement
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- Published on Tuesday, 14 February 2012 12:13
10 Feb, New Delhi: Indian farmers joined people with HIV and small traders to protest against the EU-India Free Trade agreement, which will impact all three sectors by ending livelihoods and cutting access to cheap medicines. EU is calling for a speedy resolution of this agreement, while the Indian government has not undertaken any democratic consultations or impact assessments and the text is still kept secret from the people.
Small and medium farmers are against free trade in agriculture which encourage dumping of cheaply produced food products and put local food producers out of business while cutting the ability of nations to feed themselves by increasing reliance on imports. They instead support food sovereignty which is the ability of nations to feed their people through local production by small farmers, local resources, local agro-ecological methods and traditional knowledge of farmers. They oppose the corporate take over of the food system that cares more about profit than people or nature. This FTA is precisely a corporate take over of the food system, where agribusiness in both EU and India will benefit while pushing small farmers and milk producers out of business in both the regions.
Fee Trade Agreements Kill People!
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- Published on Wednesday, 19 October 2011 16:37
La Via Campesina South East and East Asia position paper
We, representatives of peasants, workers, consumers, urban and rural poor, social movements and civil society organizations are gathering in Chiba and Tokyo, Japan from 12 to 15 October 2011. La Via Campesina South East and East Asia region with FTA Watch (Thailand), Shokkenren (Japan) and Task Force against Korea-US FTA (Republic of Korea) organize a strategic meeting to discuss Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This is to express our alarm on the implementation and pursuing of the agreements across Asia. Currently there are dozens of FTAs between countries and/or regions and they have been threatening peoples’ livelihood in the region.
At present, the world is still experiencing food, energy, financial and environmental crises. Corporations and capitals who cause these crises are trying to fill their already-full pocket by pushing FTAs and TPP. Only 1 percent of the world’s population are practicing and reaping benefits from free trade. This attempt will exacerbate the current crises and sacrifice the people, especially the poor.
Farmers of La Via Campesina mobilize in Madrid to against EU's neoliberal trade agenda!
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- Published on Monday, 17 May 2010 15:59
Representatives of La Via Campesina from Europe and Latin America joined the demonstrations today in Madrid demanding that the more than 60 heads of state from Europe and Latin America abandon the negotiations to sign free-trade agreements between their countries and regions and the EU.
The only beneficiaries such agreements are the same transnational corporations and international financial investors which have caused the current economic, social, environmental and political crisis.
The ideology of infinite growth based on neoliberal trade conditions managed by international speculative funds and banking systems is dead. It is not in the interests of the people of Europe or Latin America to sign the agreements imposed by the European Commission.
Read more: Farmers of La Via Campesina mobilize in Madrid...
India: Mangalore's Port blocked for hours, "No to destructive Imports!!"
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- Published on Thursday, 26 November 2009 04:06
Warning to the government against the corporatization of the Land and the Sea: Blockade!
On 23/11/2009 the South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movement (SICCFM) organized a mass rally and blocked the new Mangalore port in Karnataka against the corporatization of land and sea, and the destructive cheap imports of food and crops because of WTO and FTAs. All the gates of the New Mangalore Port were completely blocked by the protesters and the functioning of the port was stopped for hours.
Read more: India: Mangalore's Port blocked for hours, "No...
Social movements reject the Free Trade Agreement EU-Central America
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- Published on Thursday, 09 April 2009 18:52
Common press release European Coordination Via Campesina and La Via Campesina Central America (8th of April 2009)
With Nicaragua leaving the negotiation table, the 7th round of negotiations between the EU and Central America has been suspended. With this, the aggressive policies of he EU have been brought to a halt for the time being.
Food sovereignty and free-trade agreements
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- Published on Monday, 28 January 2008 22:21
From 11th to 13th January 2008, 21 delegates and members of Via Campesina, from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Peru, South Korea, Norway, France, Haiti, Mali, Italy, the United States, Mozambique, Turkey, the Basque Country and Nepal, met in Dijon for a strategic seminar on the theme “Food Sovereignty and Free-Trade Agreements” convened and organised by the Via Campesina’s Food Sovereignty work committee.