Ten years of Nyéléni – Much to celebrate !
Illustration by Francisco Daniel, MST de Brasil, facebook.com/fcodam/
A decade ago, the movements of peasants, fisherfolk, shepherds, women, migrants, workers, young people, and indigenous peoples sowed a crucial seed in the defence of Food Sovereignty and the right to food – the Nyéléni Newsletter. During this ten year germination period, we have shared challenges, experiences, reflections, and acts of unity. In recent times, the COVID-19 pandemic has reaffirmed the fundamental role of those who feed communities in a healthy, fair, and sustainable manner.
Alarmingly, we have also witnessed how extractive capitalism, authoritarianism and agribusinesses have taken over land and territories with total impunity, causing lives to be put at risk while governments continue to enact policies, regulations, and laws that favour corporations and industrial food systems.
Despite this, there is still plenty to celebrate. This newsletter is a unique instrument of solidarity, exchange, training, and communication for the organisations that are advocating an end to the Industrial Food System and its replacement with Food Sovereignty. Today we applaud legislation promoting Food Sovereignty, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, the mass expansion of Agroecology in practice and training through hundreds of schools, as well as the constant fight to keep peasant seeds in the hands of small-scale food producers.
So, in this edition we celebrate, cherishing our collective memories and reaping the fruits of our labour, because we are the voice of hope, and we will sing loudly!
The Nyéléni newsletter Editorial Board
on behalf of the International Food Sovereignty movement (in alphabetic order):
Erik Hazard, Food First
Margaret Nakato Lubyayi, WFF
Martín Drago, Friends of the Earth International
Million Belay Ali, AFSA
Nadine Nembhard, WFFP
Ramón Vera Herrera, GRAIN
Shalmali Guttal, Focus on the Global South
Sofia Monsalve, FIAN
Viviana Rojas Flores, La Via Campesina
The Secretariat of the IPC for food sovereignty
