Read Capire’s interview with La Via Campesina activist from the Dominican Republic on building popular peasant feminism.
“We want women to feel that they are also part of the country’s productive process, and that they should be and become visible for who they are: protectors of land, production, seeds, and natural resources in a productive environment. We are the ones who participate the most in this process.” These are some of the words the Dominican peasant Elsa Sánchez shared with Capire during an interview at the 3rd Continental Assembly of ALBA Movements. Elsa Sánchez lives in the Dominican Republic, is a member of the women’s committee of the National Peasant Platform [Articulación Nacional Campesina] and the Federation of Southern Coffee Growers [Federacion de Caficultores del Sur—FEDECARES], which is a member of La Vía Campesina. Elsa has been a militant for many years in peasant organizations, especially with women and youth, and this is why she is also a member of the continental women’s platform of the Latin American Coordination of Rural Organizations [Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Organizaciones del Campo—CLOC-Vía Campesina].
In 2022, La Vía Campesina celebrates 30 years of intense collective struggles for land and food sovereignty, sowing hope and solidarity. In this interview, Elsa spoke about building popular peasant feminism in her country and about how necessary it is to make women’s primary role visible as they build food sovereignty on a daily basis in the region. She also talked about the situation of the struggles for legalizing abortion on three grounds (causales), because abortion is currently illegal with no exceptions in the Dominican Republic.
Read the full transcript of the interview here.
