European farmer protests persist, drawing global attention. While marking the International Day of Peasant Struggles, Korean farmers held a cross-continental dialogue titled ‘Why are European Farmers Protesting?’ to study the context of this protest that resonates with the lived realities of Korean peasants.
Europe today has around 9 million farms, down from 15 million in 2003, and the average age of farmers is 57 years old. They struggle to access seeds, land, water and the market. Public policies prioritise market interests and corporate profits over human rights and feeding the population.
The signatories express discontent with the IMF’s dismissive attitude towards civil society concerns, urging for transparent and participatory decision-making processes concerning reforms, particularly in debt restructuring. They are demanding a reduction in the country’s debt burden through a fair and transparent process, including the identification and cancellation of odious debt.
La Via Campesina Brazil has publicly expressed its total rejection of the European Union – Mercosur Agreement. This Agreement represents a setback for Brazil and the Mercosur countries in terms of socio-economic development, as well as a frontal attack on their sovereignty.
ECVC farmers will mobilise for a third time in Brussels on the 26 March demanding an adequate response to our key demands centred on fair incomes and fair prices for farmers and farm workers.
CETA threatens small and medium-scale livestock farms in Italy; the risks of further economic (and therefore decision-making) reinforcement of a single industrial group on the entire dairy sector; unfair competition among imported products, especially cereals; the impact on Italian products still certified “free from GMOs,” which may be contaminated by seeds and reproductive materials imported from Canada.
ANAMURI strongly opposes the character of Free Trade Agreements which, following WTO rules, endanger the Food Sovereignty of the world’s peoples, undermining the autonomy and self-sufficiency of national and local economies with adverse effects on the living conditions and wages of all workers, including migrants and especially women who daily struggle for the right to food.
Since the 1980s, various regulations that ensured fair prices for European farmers have been dismantled. The EU put all its faith in free trade agreements, which placed all the world’s farmers in competition with each other, encouraging them to produce at the lowest possible price at the cost of their own incomes and growing debt.
Reportedly, on the 26th February, farmers staged protests against the World Trade Organization at over 400 district centers across India. They handed over petitions to the officials of the State urging the Indian government to protect domestic support programs and food stockholding programs at the 13th Ministerial Meeting of the WTO in Abu Dhabi.
Members of La Via Campesina in Asia have joined a host of other civil society organizations and social movements to call out the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which is meeting in Abu Dhabi from 26-29 February 2024. The way forward for the South is a path outside of the WTO. An alternative is now more urgent than ever,.
