MST Informa
March 7, 2003
MST

During the Third World Social Forum held in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul in January of 2003, people from all over the world met to discuss and try to solve the social problems that afflict the world 's population, such as hunger, war, and oppression.

Taking advantage of the discussions on the subject, Via Campesina International, in a conference for more than 15,000 people from all over the world, launched the campaign called "Seeds: The People's Heritage at the Service of Humanity ". The campaign became necessary to fight the manipulation, monopoly, and imposition of genetically modified seeds. It was also necessary to defend the farmers who have been cultivating various species of seeds for centuries.

The use of genetically modified seeds is an attack on the food sovereignty of all nations, because the farmers who cannot produce their own seeds are required to use agricultural additives from the corporations that produce GMOs. Whoever does not have the right to multiply his own seeds can never produce the foods that his community and his people need. Not to have the right to guarantee food sovereignty will cause the population of this country to be permanently dependent and humiliated.

The goal of the world-wide campaign against GMOs is to guarantee food sovereignty for the people, prevent the dissemination of GMOs while the scientific community still has not had the conditions to understand the exact consequences of their consumption, and guarantee and spread the production of safe seeds that are appropriate to the environmental conditions of each region.

The campaign involves activities that should be developed together with society as a whole:

1. To advertise via communication media and posters the dangers of consuming these products and inform about the question of food sovereignty.

2. To carry out demonstrations in front of the local symbols of monopoly such as transnational corporations and fast food restaurants such as McDonalds.

3. To destroy the fields where GMOs are planted as a way of denouncing them to public opinion.

4. To organize petitions to be sent to the World Food Organization, UNESCO, and to the government.

5. To discuss the subject in secondary schools and universities as a way of bringing clarification to the students.

6. Together with the social movements, churches, non-governmental organizations, and artists, to put together activities that can give weight to the campaign.

7. To mobilize congressional support to prevent the advance and control of the corporations that produce GMO seeds.

NEWS BRIEFS

National Meeting of Guitarists in Sao Paulo

On March 16, the National Meeting of Guitarists will take place. The event will feature the presence of guitarists from various regions of the country and will take place in the Pau D'Alho farm, located at kilometer 328 on the Alexandre Balbo Highway (Anel Viario Norte, in front of Motel Miami). The money collected with the sale of food will go to the SepÈ Tiaraju settlement in the Municipality of Serra Azul. Entrance is free. More information: mstsp@mst.org.br

International Women's Day: Struggle, Resistance, and Commitments

From the March 5th to 10th, women farmers from various Brazilian states will set up camp to commemorate International Women's Day. Bahia, Distrito Federal, Parana, Rio Grande do Sul, Mato Grosso, Goias, Pernambuco and ParaÌba are some of the states in which women are demonstrating. Discussions, marches, offices, and cultural activities are being realized around the topic about the condition of women in the rural areas in current agriculture, devastated by the policy of neoliberalism, even the world situation with the immenance of war.

National Campaign of Planting Beans Begins with a Party in Goias

On February 27, The MST carried out a party to mark the official launch of the Campaign for Planting Safrinha Beans in the Che Guevara II camp, in the municipality of Cocalzinho in Goi·as. Besides consumption by the farmers themselves, the beans are also destined for sale through Citizen Action. The profits from the sale of the beans will be invested in various actions of the hunger campaign. The campaign is an initiative of Citizens Action (RJ), SINPAF (Sindicato Nacional dos Trabalhadores de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Agropecu·rio), MST and MPA is a part of the Brazil without Hunger Farming Project.