Food Sovereignty Social Movements

Datos de hambre

Food as a Commodity, Human Right or Common Good? Implications for Hunger Eradication

JOSE LUIS VIVERO POL PhD Candidate in Food Governance

Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium

FOOD SOVEREIGNTY

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

JOSE LUIS VIVERO POL PhD Research Fellow in Food Governance

Module “Social Food Movements”Master Food, Law & FinanceMarch 2017 – Turin

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What is FOOD SOVEREIGNTY?

#2. WORK IN PROGRESS, weak academic/UN support

#4. Alternative to the industrial oil-dependant

food system

#1. RECENT CONCEPT (1996) quickly evolving, formulated by Vía Campesina

#3. Common paradigm of CIVIL SOCIETY CIVIL & some STATESBolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Rep Dom

Foto: Alessandra Ferrandes

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EVOLUTIONFrom an anti-establishment and combative position to a viable alternative to tackle current flaws of the post-industrial food system, plus hunger, climate change and energy

IDEOLOGICAL & propositive: the ONLY option B

Foto: Ian Mackenzie

Foto: FAO

Producers and Consumers shall regain control of the national food systems. Producing and comsuming food is a cultural issue

No to TNC control over

our food (Henry

Kissinger)

Foto: Jose Luis Vivero

Foto: Dedalus1947

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“FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY exists when…” Technocrats, technicians, official statements,

consensusTwin track approach (production & acces to food)

No questioning “food is a commodity” or “Balance of Power”:

ACCESS IS THE MAIN ISSUE - NO GUILTIESTHE MARKET IS BEST ALLOCATION MECHANISM

OFICIAL DEFINITION

World Food Summits

1996 & 2002Foto: FAO

ACCESS IS MAIN ISSUE NONE IS GUILTY

THE MARKET IS BEST ALLOCATION MECHANISM

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Food Sovereignt

y#8 positive

breakthroughs…EVIDENCE-BASED…

#1. FOOD is CULTURE

When produce & eat them

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Food is not a COMMODITY such as screws (ergo OUT of

WTO)

But NOT a COMMONS either? Water yes, seeds & land disputed

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The Economic Understanding of commons: Still prevailing in this movement

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#3. Family Farmers & Eaters KEY ACTORS in food systems

(not retailers, middle-men & corporations)

Foto

: Lia

nne

Milt

on

Foto: Mariano

Bonora

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#4. To revalue «RURALITY» & FAMILY

FARMING as modern and not just URBAN & INDUSTRIAL

Foto: BrazmidiaFoto: Luca5

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#5. The NATIONAL MARKET is more important than EXPORTI MARKET

(cash crops) (WDR 2008, BM) – Cultivating 4 Eating

Foto: Megan Morgavan

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#6. HUNGER & RIGHT TO FOOD & PEASANTS´ RIGHTS

recurrent in the political agenda

Foto: UNICEF

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#7. NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY re-affirmed vs

deregularised markets & non-accountable transnationals

Foto: Jose Luis Vivero

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#8. RENDER VISIBLE local CULTURES, indígenous groups, rural women & agro-

biodiversity

Fotos: Jose Luis Vivero

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#8 Elements that require further analysis & nuances

Nuanced key claims

…that may be difficult to pose within the food

sovereignty movement

Foto: Yuri Lima

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#1. Against Cash crops, exports &

neoliberal markets

Market, yes but…

Priority to national market

To cultivate for human

consumption

Strong Regulatory State that gives

primacy to people´s rights over profit

Binding Food Treaty

Foto: dflorian 1980

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#2. Against dumping

Same rules to all, not

hypocrisie

Dumping is part of state sovereignty (supporting

farmers)

Countries that can/are willing

to support their food producers

(Brazil, China, India)

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#3. Against GMOs &

Transgenics

Biotecnology is a tool for

modernization…

a. Patents/IP rights In few corporative

hands

b. Public research didn´t do its job

MORE A POLITICAL ISSUE OF CONTROL THAN A MORAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL

Foto: Edd.ie

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#4. Against biofuels

Generalizations R good for

communication but bad for

analysis

Differentiated Impacts

FOURFOLD CRISIS at same

time: Food, Energy, Environment, Democracy

Foto: Argonne National Laboratory

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#5. Against Transnational Food

Corporations

Foto: Matt G

iesbrech

They occupy niches left by Governments

They invest big money in innovative

technologies, lobby &

commercials

Big Corporations

just seek profit maximization &

not society well-being

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#6. Against Industrial

agriculture

This type (modified perhaps) will

remain with us many years

It helps producing affordable food to all (but subsidised, not nutritious, not

local, not sustainable)

Transition to better models is

COMPULSORY (less polluting,

resource-demanding, oil-

dependent)

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#7. Against State sovereignty

& in favour of people´s rights

Democracies do not represent us

Re-invent more participative

ones ¿Internet?

« Peoples » in polítics is a

fuzzy concept (boundaries)

Nation-State system still

valid, it might change though

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#8. Against rural exodus &

international migration

Migrating is not bad per se

Urbanization is unstoppable

historical trend

Enhance rural livelihoods to keep

people in rural areas

Traveling is antidote to

nationalisms & nurtures

cosmopolitanism

Foto: Dalvaou