A compilation of several solidarity statements that were issued and motions that were made at the VII International Conference of La Via Campesina, which took place between 16-24 July in Basque Country.
1. SOLIDARITY WITH THE KOREAN PEOPLE AND PEASANT MOVEMENTS IN OPPOSITION TO U.S. MILITARIZATION AND THE TERMINAL HIGH ALTITUDE AREA DEFENSE (THAAD)
La Via Campesina expresses its firm solidarity with the Korean People and their peasant organizations to denounce U.S. militarization of the Korean Peninsula and the threat it poses to all of humanity! Click to read the complete statement
2. NUCLEAR ENERGY RUINS PEASANT FAMILY FARMING: STOP HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION AND WITHDRAW FROM NUCLEAR ENERGY
La Via Campesina stands with the peasant farmers of Japan – the victims of irreversible rights violations as a result of nuclear power and the nuclear fuel accident of Fukushima. We demand a radical shift toward renewable energy and full compensation for all victims of environmental distasters! Click to the read the full text of the resolution
3. SOLIDARITY WITH THE BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTION IN A CONTEXT OF ESCALATING U.S.-BACKED VIOLENCE, ECONOMIC AGGRESSION, AND CORPORATE MEDIA MANIPULATION
La Via Campesina fully supports the Venezuelan people and peasant movements in their struggle against U.S. interventionism and corporate media-backed opposition violence. We stand with the country’s popular social movements in their defense of the Bolivarian Revolution! Click to read the complete statement (available in Spanish only)
4. DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE CUBAN PEOPLE AGAINST THE ECONOMIC BLOCKADE IMPOSED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT FOR OVER 55 YEARS
La Via Campesina denounces the criminal blockade imposed on the Cuban people by the U.S. Government. The decades-old blockade violates the rights of the Cuban people, including the right to economic development. We stand in solidarity with Cuba’s commitment to provide essential quality of life services including healthy foods, health and education to all its people! Click to read the complete statement (available in Spanish only)
5. CALL FOR SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO
La Via Campesina stands in solidarity with the people of Puerto Rico in rejection of the colonial “Fiscal Control Board” that acts as a dictatorial government over the island and its people, in favor of U.S. interests. The people of Puerto Rico have the right to decide their own present and future – without U.S. meddling!
6. FREEDOM FOR ANDRÉS BÓDALO AND ABSOLUTION FOR ALL WHO HAVE BEEN CRIMINALIZED IN THE STRUGGLE FOR LAND
La Via Campesina calls for the inmediate release of our comrade Andres Bodalo and for an end to the criminalization of activists engaged in the struggle for land and dignified living conditions for the landless of Andalucia. We stand firm with our member organization SOC-SAT in its just demand for an end to repression in Andalucia, across all of Europe, and throughout the world. Click to read the complete statement (available in Spanish only)
7. DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE BRAZILIAN PEOPLE
La Via Campesina condemns the increasing repression being imposed on the Brazilian people by a de-facto government that has killed 65 comrades since coming to power in 2016. We stand firm with all who defend the right to live in peace with justice, without criminalization and repression, including the 5,000 quilombola or afro-descendent communities and the 100 fisherfolk families of Buritizeiro forced out of their territories by State Authorities! Click to read the statements
8. CALL FOR SUPPORT OF THE PARAGUAYAN PEOPLE, THEIR PEASANT MOVEMENTS, AND POLITICAL PRISONERS
La Via Campesina reaffirms its solidarity with the six campesino leaders and political prisoners of Paraguay and with the movements who are jointly struggling for their freedom. We also call for an end to criminalization of Paraguay’s many social movements, including the “IALA GUARANI” school which seeks to educate and organize peasant and indigenous youth! Click to read the complete statement (available in Spanish only)
9. DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF HONDURAS AND THE FAMILY OF BERTA CACERES
La Via Campesina stands in solidarity with the Honduran people and denounces the increasingly-grave violation of the rights of peasants, indigenas, garifunas and other rural people in the country. With 17 recognized political prisoners, over 100 muredered leaders, and 6,000 activists currently facing legal persecution (1,700 of them women), La Via Campesina calls for an inmediate end to the repression, demands justice for Berta Caceres, and reiterates our permanent solidarity with her family.Click to read the complete statement (available in Spanish only)
10. DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF GUATEMALA
La Via Campesina also denounces the ongoing violation of the human rights of indigenous peoples in Guatemala, specifically as it relates to the pillage of their natural resources by private energy firms seeking to force forward mega projects. We stand in solidarity with the LVC’s member organizations in Guatemala, organized in their resistance to these rights violations!
11. DEMAND FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINAIN POLITCAL PRISONERS KHITAM SAAFIN AND KHALID JARRAR
La Via Campesina stands in in solidarity with the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC ) and da Samidoun – the Solidarity Network of Palestinian Prisoners of International Action – to demand the immediate release of Khitam Saafin, President of the UPWC, coordinator of the World March of Women, and member of the Palestinian Legislative Council Khalida Jarrar. Freedom for all political prisoners! Freedom for Palestine! Click to read the complete statement (in Spanish only)
12. FROM PALESTINE TO NORTH AMERICA: A CALL FOR A WORLD WITHOUT WALLS
La Via Campesina adds its voice to the international campaign for a world without expulsion, exclusion, oppression, discrimination and exploitation, calling on all peace-loving people to mobilize on November 9th as part of a Global Day of Action for a World without Walls. We stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine, the US/Mexico border, and all other divided lands and territories and reiterate the right of all people to self-determination! Click to read the complete statement
13. NORTH AMERICA REGION CALL TO DEMAND TO TAKE AGRICULTURE OUT OF NAFTA
La Via Campesina adds its voice to demands that food and agriculture be removed from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), standing with organized farmworker and peasant movements across the region struggling for Food Sovereignty!
14. DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA ORGANIZED AGAINST LAND GRABBING BY EUROPEAN TRANSNATIONALS
LVC’s 7th International Conference denounces ongoing land grabs in Africa caused by European transnational corporations (TNCs) such as SOCFIN and Bolloré. We commemorate the resistance of the “l’Alliance Internationale des Riverains des plantations Socfin-Bolloré” and demand an inmediate end to all European investments that violate the right to Food Sovereignty, land, and territory… Click to the read the complete statement (in French only)
15. LVC STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE KAYELITSHA LAND OCCUPPIERS IN SOUTH AFRICA
La Via Campesina expresses its solidarity with the comrades from Kayelitsha and other informal settlements throughout South Africa and honours the lives of Philela Gilwa and Mthando Ras Zuma, local youth activists murdered in recent months in their struggle for human dignity and basic living conditions for their families, communities, and their struggle. No more respression and criminalization! AMANDLA! Click to read the complete statement
16. DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY FOR THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF NOTRE-DAME-DES-LANDES
La Via Campesina reiterates our firm support and solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Notre-Dame-des-Landes who have succesfully resisted the airport project in western France. Unity between peasants, other rural residents, and allied movements has halted the project – demonstrating the importance of collective action and the possibility of new forms of life, housing and agriculture in solidarity. We remain vigilant and will act in defense of its peoples and lands if, once again, the French government insists on this disastrous project. Click to the read the complete statement (in French only)
17. CALL FOR SUPPORT AGAINST LAND DISPOSSESSION OF GEORGIAN FARMERS BY RUSSIAN MILITARY EXERCISES
La Via Campesina stands in support of all peasants who have lost their farmland on the
border between Georgia and South Ossetia as a result of systematic violations of peasants’ rights caused by the presence of Russian Armed Forces pushing further and further into rural areas along the border!
18. CALL FOR SUPPORT OF THE VICTIMS OF WAR, FLOODING AND MIGRATION
La Via Campesina affirms its support and solidarity with the victims of the climate crisis around the world. Specifically in rural West Africa – where dramatic rainfall at the beginning of winter left many severely affected – we stand firm with all people as they struggle against corporate agribusiness, wars over resources, and the tragic loss of life linked to forced migration. Click to read the complete statement (in French only)
19. MESSAGE OF SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT TO PEOPLE WHO ARE FORCED AND/OR CHOOSING TO LEAVE THEIR HOMES TO COME TO EUROPE AND TO ALL EUROPEANS MIGRATING WITHIN EUROPE
La Via Campesina stands firm against the rising xenophboia in Europe. We support the right of people from around the world to migrate to Europe, and the right for Europeans to migrate within Europe. We stand in support with all those that are being persecuted, attacked, criminalised and forcefully deported at our borders and in countries across the European continent! Click to read the complete statement
20. DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE RIGHTS OF MIGRANTS AROUND THE WORLD
La Via Campesina denounces the humanitarian tragedy suffered by millions of people around the world forced into migration by imperialism, patriarchy, neocolonialism, transnational corporations and their puppet governments. Migration is an act of resistance against corporate agribusiness and global capital. It is a human right and La Via Campesina stands in solidarity with all who organize in defense of their rights! Click to read the complete statement
21. MOTION TO THANK ALL PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENTS WHO SUPPORT OUR WORK AT THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
La Via Campesina also wants to thank all those people, organizations, and national governments who have supported our sttruggle to achieve a UN Declaration on the Righs of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. We continue to struggle for this important instrument, and together we will win!!!
Cover Image: Umut Vedat/La Via Campesina
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