Tunis Declaration – Hammamet | La Via Campesina ArNA

For the International Peasants Movement “La Via Campesina” in the Arab Region and North Africa (ARNA)

October 10, 2022

In an atmosphere that struggles to defend peasants around the world, and within the framework of the international organization La Via Campesina and in the presence of the general coordinator of the movement, the fourth regional conference for the Arab Region and North Africa was held over a period of four days and with the participation of more than 20 female and male participants.

And after reviewing the challenges and dangers facing the region, embodied in the colonial and imperialist policies, namely the Zionist occupation state, which continues its systematic policies in a desperate attempt to uproot the Palestinian people from their land.

And after recalling the conditions of peasants, female workers, and agricultural workers who suffer from poverty, marginalization, and extensive exploitation as a result of the absolute and humiliating dependence on the globalized and brutal capitalist system through the control of multinational and cross-border companies and global monopolistic circles that take over land, water, seeds, and all-natural resources and undermine all initiatives aimed at achieving food sovereignty to the peoples of the region. And after examining what the imperialist war caused in terms of displacement and starvation of thousands of peasants, female workers, and agricultural workers. And after emphasizing the role of women and youth in raising the threshold and contributing to the establishment of mechanisms of steadfastness for the right to food for the peoples of the region.

The Conference declares:

1. The establishment of the Arab Region and North Africa within the framework of the International Peasants Movement “La Via Campesina” as a tool for organizing peasant workers, agricultural workers, marginalized farmers, fishermen, women, and youth, to defend their rights and impose a decent living and social justice for them.
2. Working to continue the vertical and horizontal expansion to include the largest number of militant organizations that believe in the principles of La Via Campesina, pending final approval on the region’s membership during the LVC’s 8^th international Conference to be held in Nicaragua in November 2023.
3. Denouncing imperialist wars everywhere that threaten world peace and starve and desert thousands of peasants, women workers, and agricultural workers.
4. The attendees renewed their attachment to the justice of the Palestinian cause and their involvement in the struggles of the heroic Palestinian people for the liberation of their land from the Zionist occupation and the establishment of an independent and democratic state of Palestine on all Palestinian soil and their opposition to all forms of normalization with the Zionist occupation in the region.
5. Emphasis on continuing the struggle to achieve food sovereignty for the peoples of the region and the struggle for climate justice and ecological agriculture, and against multinational companies and cross-border and continental companies.

The International Peasants Movement “La Via Campesina” in the Arab Region and North Africa – ARNA

Hammamet on October 05, 2022