Eating for Better Food!

The Community Alliance for Global Justice (CAGJ) is hosting its fourth annual Strengthening Local Economies, Everywhere! (SLEE) dinner on August 7, 2010. SLEE connects local and global struggles for social, economic and environmental justice, and it provides an opportunity to build our local economy while supporting other communities around the world to do the same. All of the food will be locally sourced or fair trade, prepared by local chefs, and enjoyed by over 400 local advocates, farmers, food workers and allied organizations.

Ben Burkett will be the keynote speaker. A fourth generation Mississippi farmer, Burkett is a leader in the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, President of the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives, and President of the National Family Farm Coalition. He also represents North America on the Food Sovereignty Commission of La Via Campesina, an international movement of peasant farmers mobilizing for food sovereignty. His keynote at SLEE, “Globalize Hope! Globalize Struggle! Connecting US and African Farmers for Food Sovereignty,” will examine the problematic agricultural development strategies of the Gates Foundation and its project, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

In a recent article written for Food First, Burkett warns that “Business as usual will not solve our global hunger crisis.” He echoes the criticisms of activists and farmers around the world, who argue that expensive genetically modified seeds, pesticides and chemical-intensive practices will not help the hungry, but will instead increase farmer debt, enrich agribusiness titans like Monsanto and Syngenta, degrade the environment, and dispossess small farmers. Farmers are organizing across borders for sustainable, democratic alternatives to the so-called “green revolution” and promoting food sovereignty–as spelled out in the Declaration of Nyeleni, “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.” Food sovereignty prioritizes local and national economies along principles of self-determination and communal ownership of productive resources.

Since 2008, AGRA Watch, a project of CAGJ, has challenged the Gates Foundation’s participation in AGRA and has proposed agro-ecological alternatives practiced by African farmers. Over the past few years, AGRA Watch has built local, national and international partnerships with other organizations working for food sovereignty and farmer’s rights in Africa and against corporate-driven approaches to hunger, climate change and international development. You can learn more about AGRA Watch by checking its website (www.seattleglobaljustice.org/agra-watch), connecting at local and national people’s forums like the US Social Forum (where CAGJ had a contingent), participating in monthly film nights the first Saturday of the month, and, of course, attending the SLEE dinner in August. –Janae Choquette. For more information, on the SLEE dinner, visit http://www.seattleglobaljustice.org/slee-dinner/.

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By MikeMc on August 18th, 2010 at 8:50 am

Video of an interview with Ben Burkett, the keynote speaker of the CAGJ event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m90lQlo7fck