La Vía Campesina

Globalization and the Power of Peasants

by Annette Aurélie Desmarais  

In 1993, 46 farm leaders from various countries met in Mons, Belgium, determined to develop a strategy to challenge the devastation caused to their communities by a neoliberal international economic agenda. Over the next decade they and millions of peasants and small-scale farmers around the world used La Vía Campesina to forge a powerful and radical force of opposition. Where did they find the capacity and strength to challenge multinational agribusiness corporations and international institutions whose power and influence increasingly dictate national government policy? This book accompanies La Vía Campesina in a struggle to keep people on the land, producing food and culture, and building viable communities.

About the book

In 1993, 46 farm leaders from various countries met in Mons, Belgium, determined to develop a strategy to challenge the devastation caused to their communities by a neoliberal international economic agenda. Over the next decade they and millions of peasants and small-scale farmers around the world used La Vía Campesina to forge a powerful and radical force of opposition. Where did they find the capacity and strength to challenge multinational agribusiness corporations and international institutions whose power and influence increasingly dictate national government policy? This book accompanies La Vía Campesina in a struggle to keep people on the land, producing food and culture, and building viable communities.

Activism & Social Movements Food Politics International Politics

Author

Annette Aurélie Desmarais

Annette Aurélie Desmarais is the Canada Research Chair in Human Rights, Social Justice and Food Sovereignty at the University of Manitoba. She is the author of_ La Vía Campesina: Globalization and the Power of Peasants_. Prior to obtaining her doctorate in geography, Annette was a small-scale grain farmer in Saskatchewan. She then also worked with the National Farmers Union in the Global Agriculture Project and provided technical support to La Vía Campesina for over a decade.

Contents

  • Introduction:  Where Have All the Peasants Gone—Long Time Passing”
  • Modernization and Globalization—The Enclosure of Agriculture
  • Peasants and Farmers Going Global
  • “The WTO… Will Meet Somewhere, Sometime. And We Will Be There!”
  • A Fine Balance: Local Realities and Global Actions
  • Co-operation, Collaboration and Community
  • Reflections on the Meanings of the La Vía Campesina

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