Bulletin Issue 195 – October 2013

October 16 is World Food Sovereignty Day. At its last international conference in Indonesia, this past June, La Via Campesina placed heavy emphasis on food sovereignty as a “global alternative”, not only for peasant farmers but for society as a whole. This emphasis is well deserved, because the threats to food sovereignty are many.

Sumatra Copper Ltd. Sumatra Copper Ltd., a London based mining company, has concessions in forest areas in Indonesia for mining, operating them jointly with the Newcrest Group. One of these concessions, about 300,000 hectares, is located in Sumatra, in the border triangle of the provinces of Bengkulu-Jambi- and South Sumatra. The companies that operate inside the areas are Indonesian affiliates of the two companies, for which Sumatra Copper requests permissions from the respective heads of district or governor.

  Introduction / Background

During the first week of October, indigenous peoples staged protests throughout the country, including the capital, Brasilia, against the attempt of sectors of the National Congress, particularly a group of legislators with ties to mining and agribusiness companies, to modify the Brazilian Constitution with regard to indigenous rights. Their aim is to obstruct and diminish the rights of indigenous peoples to the territories they have traditionally occupied, which would seriously endanger the ability of these peoples to guarantee their physical and cultural survival, as well as their food sovereignty. For more information, see:http://mobilizacaonacionalindigena.wordpress.com/

There are publications, statements and other sources of information on the subject of food sovereignty available from organizations like: - Friends of the Earth International (seehttp://www.foei.org/en/resources/publications/food-sovereignty) - Food First (seehttp://www.foodfirst.org/en/Agroecology,+Food+Sovereignty+and+the+New+Green+Revolution) - La Via Campesina (see http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/food-sovereignty-and-trade-mainmenu-38)

This video, produced by WRM in 2012, documents the struggle – described in the article on Brazil in this bulletin – waged by communities in the municipalities of Antonina and Guaraqueçaba, in the state of Paraná, against a REDD project. The video not only shows the impacts of the REDD project, but also the struggle of the community of Rio Pequeno to recover their territory, through collective food production and the implementation of an agro-forestry system.