A Growing Culture
A Growing Culture is a non-profit working to unite and grow the food sovereignty movement. They publish Offshoot, a newsletter about the future of food – including what a just food system looks like, whether individual or collective mobilisation is more effective, and how critique and hope are balanced.
Colonisation Never Ended
Seed patenting laws are a global threat, but people are fighting back. For over 10,000 years, seeds have been the bedrock of human civilisation. From the moment our ancestors traded their nomadic hunter-gatherer ways for a life rooted in place, communities have freely collected, cultivated, saved, exchanged, and sown seeds as acts of sustenance and…
He Who Feeds You, Controls You
Thomas Sankara. Photo by Yendifa, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons In 1984, a young African president stood before his people and asked: “Where is imperialism? Look at your plates when you eat. The imported grains of rice, corn, and millet – that is imperialism.” He knew that no flag, no anthem, and no constitution…
Globalising Hope – the Courageous Journey of La Via Campesina
Collective work cannot succeed in homogeneity —the foundations for a better world lie in the power of plurality; of thought, of cultures, of perspectives. La Via Campesina, the world’s largest peasant and social movement, with over 200 million members across the globe, has demonstrated for the past 30 years that unity is key to advancing…
Revitalizing Indigenous Ecosystems
Oaxaca, one of the most biodiverse and culturally rich states in Mexico has, over the last two decades, rapidly exploded into a booming tourist destination. Visitors find themselves lost in the beauty of its diverse cultures, artisan crafts, vibrant cuisine, and its most famous beverage – mezcal. Tequila and mezcal have witnessed a remarkable surge…
Unpacking the Word “Peasant”
Today is the International Day of Peasant Struggle. We dedicate this article to the many agrarian movements we work with and are inspired by, in their fight for food sovereignty around the world. * * * When we refer to “the global food system”, we tend to picture an elaborate and complex supply chain that…
The Cuban Paradox
Landing in Cuba is like approaching a vibrant emerald in the middle of the sea. Fields full of shades of green are scattered throughout the island’s territory in orderly plots; various grids of all sizes, some with small groups of cattle. Among these farms, several vacant lots stand out, demarcated despite not having much vegetation…
Hin Lad Nai: A Successful Model of Indigenous Resistance
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of spending a couple of days with an Indigenous hillside tribe here in Thailand called Hin Lad Nai, and I wanted to share some of that story with you today. It’s the story of a small community who, when faced with a multitude of challenges to their…
Taking pensions out of financial markets
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Labor unions and social movements in Brazil have been fighting a pitched battle to stop their far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, from pursuing his drive to privatize many of the country’s most important public assets. But last year they suffered a major defeat when Bolsanaro’s government sold off the nation’s largest public water utility to a…
What if food were treated as a human right?
It can be difficult to imagine a world – or even a city – without hunger. It seems so endemic to the world we live in that it can appear intractable. But there are examples around the world of places that have reorganized themselves to eradicate food insecurity completely, whether it be within one community…
Can small-scale farmers feed the world?
One of the things I wondered about a lot during my first months of work in the food system was productivity. Growing up in a Minority World country, practically all of my food came from large-scale, industrial farms. As a result, I – like many others – believed for a long time that industrial agriculture…