July 2007		Food Sovereignty E-Newsletter	Volume 2 Issue 7
Farm Workers and Immigration The plight of farm workers in the United States dates back centuries, from which time people from abroad, be they Chinese, Filipino, or Latin American have supported agricultural production with cheap labor. The infamous Bracero Program, initiated when World War II created an even higher demand for farm labor, institutionalized the slave like conditions farm workers face daily. America is in the midst of a turmoil created by decades of negative or inept attempts to address legislative, institutional, and systemic problems with immigration. The common discourse on the issue, inflamed by recent debate on Capitoll Hill, remains extremely polarized. Rhetorical sound bites circulated by both pro and anti immigrant camps often distract from the substantive issues. Notably, neither legislators nor the American people know what to do with a problem which has become nothing less than a humanitarian crisis in this country. The millions of farm workers in the United States helping to produce the food which feeds our communities are themselves food insecure, and unprotected by any workers’ rights. In addition, they are subject to state oppression and violence in the form of military operatives on the border, detention centers, and raids. Finally, farm workers, brought here by guest worker programs, and pushed here by economic hardship abroad, are yet another vehicle for agribusiness to keep costs and crop prices low. Migrant rights are of crucial importance to building a just agricultural system for all who work the land, be they farmers or farm workers. Demonstrations and actions from Rockstock, Germany at the G-8 Summit to Atlanta at the US Social Forum indicate the power and momentum behind this movement. We seek to achieve food sovereignty through everyday actions to reclaim control of our food system. Join us in working towards a fair food system that ensures health, justice, and dignity for all. Please share this resource to empower others to celebrate food sovereignty with every forkful! Click here to subscribe to the Food Sovereignty E-Newsletter.
What’s on the Table in this Issue: Farm Workers and Immigration Migrant Workers: America’s New Plantation Workers Dispatch from the Border: by Carlos Marentes Anti G-8 June 4: the Right to Movement Take Action Legislation Impacting Food Sovereignty: Immigration Reform 2007 Farm Bill Justice for Santiago Rafael Cruz Resources: Food Sovereignty Publications LA VIA CAMPESINA Globalization and the Power of Peasants By Annette Desmarais NAFTA and Immigration Issue Paper By Carlos Marentes Migrations Thematic Working Group Backgrounder Upcoming Food Sovereignty Events July 15-16 Food Sovereignty and Agrofuels Mexico City, Mexico July 29-August 7 Food First Reality Tour: Immigrants and the Struggle for Food Sovereignty Share your food sovereignty events! E-mail Jessica Tune In KJZZ 91.5 Arizona News Defying Death on the Border 7 Basic Principles of Food Sovereignty 1. Food: A Basic Human Right 2. Agrarian Reform 3. Protecting Natural Resources 4. Fair Trade 5. Ending Global Hunger 6. Peace 7. Democratic Control For More Information on Food Sovereignty La Via Campesina Border Agricultural Workers Project Farmworkers’ Association of Florida National Family Farm Coalition Family Farm Defenders Grassroots International Food & Water Watch Food First Nyeleni2007 Official Site What You Can Do Donate $5 to $10 per month to directly improve our food system! You can fund projects like sending dairy farmers to DC to defend the integrity of the definition of milk. Click here to make your contribution!	Migrant Workers: America’s New Plantation Workers Food First Backgrounder by Christine Ahn with Melissa Moore & Nick Parker In June 2003, Artimo and his brother, Mario, crammed into the back seat of a car driven by immigrant smugglers known as coyotes. They were on their way to Washington to pick apples and cherries. Throughout their journey across the mountainous terrain from Tijuana to San Diego, they were forced to crouch down to avoid being seen. When sirens began to wail, the driver sped up, lost control, and collided into another car. Although Artimo suffered three broken ribs and other injuries, he was the only one to survive. Thousands of migrants risk death and incarceration daily by crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. READ ON…
	Dispatch from the Border: Anti-Immigrant Debate Nested In Capitol Hill While Arrests And Deportations Terrorize Immigrant Communities by Carlos Marentes, Director, Border Agricultural Workers Project While the national debate on immigration reform continues after negotiation on Capitol Hill came to a halt, the US Department of Homeland Security has intensified a campaign to hunt, arrest, and deport undocumented workers and their families. The debate on the so-called “immigration reform” has been mainly controlled by the anti-immigrant legislators and corporate interests. For this reason, most of the proposals now in Congress include both the criminalization of undocumented people and the tightening of the border, as well as a temporary workers program to secure cheap labor for certain industries, especially for industrial agriculture… READ ON…
	Anti-G8, June 2007: the Right to Food Sovereignty, and the Right to Movement In Rockstock, Germany at this year’s G8 Summit, thousands including farmers and farm workers, marched for food sovereignty on June 3 followed by protests for the right to movement on June 4. In a speech addressing the crowd, Ingeborg Tangeraas, Norwegian farmer leader of La Via Campesina asked “How was your day? Did you all get breakfast after your sleep, did you get lunch to give you strength […]? I think you agree with me; agriculture is not only about farmers, but about food for all of us. But 854 million people do not share this luck with us today, but have to go to bed hungry. And 2/3 of these people are farmers and food producers. For some decades now we have been told that free trade would put an end to hunger and poverty. We have been cheated…” READ ON and view photos. Protesters marching from the local immigrant detention center demanded the “Right to Movement: No Borders, No Nation, Stop Deportation!” Indy Media reports: “…At the end of the day, the irony that took place during a demonstration dedicated to migration and the right to movement is obvious: there is no freedom of movement, whether in the streets of Rostock during the G8 summit or under the rules of neoliberal paradise.” READ ON and view photos.
	Legislative Update: Immigration Reform 2007 by Jessica Roe This year’s attempt at legislative reform saw a short revival before failing in the Senate on June 29; brief reflections and response to a bad bill, and the surrounding process. READ ON… 2007 Farm Bill: Reclaim Food Sovereignty! The National Family Farm Coalition endorses the concept of food sovereignty as the basis of what our food system should look like instead of the World Trade Organization’s emphasis on “free trade” that causes farmers around to the world to compete with each other in a race to the bottom. Food sovereignty respects the right of every country and region to establish food and farm policies based on their own needs and traditions, for food security, for conservation of natural resources, for the fair distribution of economic opportunities, and for the right of farmers to serve their local markets at a fair price. Thus food sovereignty is also the right of people to define their own agricultural policy. U.S. trade and agricultural policy have fostered a food system which benefits giant agribusiness but is failing the world’s farmers and citizens. Instead of monoculture crops and concentrated markets controlled by a handful of multinationals, food sovereignty promotes biodiversity and equal access to land and resources. Fair prices and food reserves here will help curtail overproduction and the dumping of cheap commodities onto foreign markets. In the case of Mexico, over 1 million corn farmers have been driven off their land due to the dumping of our cheap corn. Food sovereignty respects both the rights of farmers in Mexico and the United States to make a living from the land and producing food for their communities. STATUS: The House Agriculture Committee will hold their "markup" of the farm bill July 17-19th.  It is expected to be voted on by the full House of Representatives by late July before Congress leaves for their August recess.  The Senate Agriculture Committee is working on their draft legislation yet it is not expected to be either debated in Committee or voted on the floor until after the August recess. Check out the NFFC website for updates and action alerts on our efforts to promote a fair farm and food bill. You can help promote a fair food system by urging your elected representatives to support the Food from Family Farms Act policies. Contact the National Family Farm Coalition at 1-800-639-3276 for more information.
	Resources NEW BOOK!!! LA VIA CAMPESINA: Globalization and the Power of Peasants By Annette Desmarais This is an insider’s look at one of the most important rural social movements of recent times. La Via Campesina has become a powerful and radical opposition to the globalization of a neo-liberal model of agriculture. This book analyzes La Via Campesina’s strategies and actions as peasants and small-scale farmers engage in a desperate struggle not only for survival as producers of food and cultivators of rural culture, but also to keep people on the land and to build viable rural communities everywhere. More information and to order!