[03/09/2006] Civil Society Confronts State Officials at the ICARRD Conference - FMST Reports

Civil Society Confronts State Officials at the ICARRD Conference
Author: FMST's Isabella Kenfield

Today was the last day of the parallel forum, and tomorrow the official ICARRD conference will end as well. In the last two days there appears to have been an opening up of dialogue between representatives of the two meetings. I was not permitted to enter the official conference for the first two days, even though I had received a cofirmation from FAO in January. This, I think, was due to the massive protests the official conference began to anticipate as the conference drew near.

However, yesterday I asked to change my pass so that I could enter the official conference room to see the events of today, which included dialogue and debate between civil society and state representatives. Surprisingly, they granted my request. This morning there was a debate focused on Brazil between representatives of INCRA, the national agrarian reform governmental body, professors, the MST, and a rural workers' union. One representative of INCRA, Celso Lisboa, is the superintendant for the state of Parana. Lisboa stressed the importance of agroecology in sustainable agrarian reform, and the potential of organic agriculture in creating viable markets for settled families. He presented about partnerships between INCRA and the MST in Parana, including various MST schools, and the Latin American School for Agroecology, which is based in Parana and partly funded by the Venezuelan government, INCRA, and the MST. I was reminded that, while the MST grows frustrated with the Brazilian government for its unwillingness to implement agrarian reform, within some parts of the government there is a real effort to create progressive partnerships and promote a true agrarian reform. As I'm American, it is refershing and exciting to see these partnerships, as they really don't exist in the U.S.

This afternoon there was a major meeting between some representatives of state and the Via Campesina. This was a dialogue about agrarian reform between civil society and states. Miguel Rosetto, the Minister for Rural Development in Brazil, and other state represenatives from China, Nigeria, the EU, Mexico, etc., were sitting at the same table as the Via Campesina representative from Honduras, a peasant farmer from Mexico, and an artesanal fisherman from Chile. The man from Honduras gave a strong presentation for the case of an agrarian reform based on food security and sovereignty, instead of economic efficiency and productivity. While sitting in the chair next to Rosetto, he requested that the state representatives oppose the terminator seed biotechnology of multinational corporations in tomorrow's final declaration. He denonuced the agricultural policies of the U.S. and EU, and reminded listeners that "the sovereignty of the people resides in the people itself, not in the governments." He continued, "If we do not change the policies, the only thing we can expect is death." To this he was met with raucous applause from the audience. I was sitting with some old friends from South Africa, who are now with the Landless Peoples' Movement, and they began to chant "Amandla! Amandla! Amandla!"

Later this afternoon, the Parallel Forum closed with a mistica and all of the people from the parallel forum marched into the room where Rosetto was having another meeting to deliver the written requests and policies that have been formulated during the week. Rosetto's meeting was interrupted by the chanting and applause from all of the social movements and other sectors of civil society that have participated in the parallel forum.

As one state represenative stated, the official conference was the result of protest and pressure from the rural poor. It seems that civil society has presented its case, which was the goal of the parallel forum. Now it is time to see how the states will react.