Search Results for right to food

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“Peasant” is not a bad word … but what does it mean?!

January 29, 2015 ARC

Written By:  Derek Freitas, Food Chains Campaign Coordinator for Eco Ruralis   General Context The word “peasant” is used in all sorts of ways to mean different things by many groups of people across the world. It is indeed very hard to define. This is particularly problematic due to the fact that the majority of decision-makers related to establishing agricultural policy at the national, EU and global levels don’t have an accepted reference point for understanding one another in a basic sense. Often, the only time when self-ascribed “peasants” feel that they are accurately portrayed is when they explain what that word means to them. But, again, even they disagree based on cultural, historical, geographical and individual differences.   Global Context The international peasant movement, La Via Campesina, calls for an International Convention on the Rights of Peasants and states the following in Article I of its own “Declaration on the Rights of Peasants – Women and Men”: “A peasant is a man or woman of the land, who has a direct and special relationship […]

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21st Century Agriculture in Majorca: Challenges and Alternatives

December 8, 2014 ARC

Travelling in Spain means passing through a diversity of cultures and different realities, but even so there is something fairly common to all: the impoverishment of citizens and their food sovereignty in favor of consumerism and mass tourism. Majorca is a clear example, where the territory’s economy is based on sun and beach tourism, which means tripling or quadrupling the resources in summer to cater for the temporary “immigrant” population. Even though all territories should be able to ensure their own food sovereignty and aim for more self-management, in the case of islands the necessity is even greater. The island of Majorca is completely dependent on the import of food and other primary and secondary resources. The need to enhance farmland, and promote what could be called ‘short-haul consumption’, local trade and the relationship between the farmer and the consumer is increasingly important. For this reason, within the European project “Making the CAP work for Society and the Environment”, Friends of the Earth Spain has analyzed the current agricultural situation in different territories of Majorca. […]