What is the relation between movements for food sovereignty and the global movement for a culture of peace?

Here is an excerpt from my blog of June 1, 2015, Food Sovereignty is Culture of Peace.

Peasant movements for food sovereignty are an important part of the global movement for a culture of peace, for several reasons.

First, they are the first line of defense against the advances of the culture of war. As
we said in the document that we sent from UNESCO to the UN to define the culture of peace, it
“represents a major change in the concept of economic growth which, in the past, could be
considered as benefitting from military supremacy and structural violence and achieved at the
expense of the vanquished and the weak.” (2) What better way to describe the advances of a few
transnational corporations, supported by so-called “free-trade treaties” who are attempting to
monopolize the seeds that farmers use throughout the world and to impose monoculture
agriculture based on their seeds and their pesticides?

The transnational corporations are supported by the military power of nation states
around the world, not only by the great powers, but also by the governments of the small
countries. An example is Guatemala, where despite pressure from a strong peasant movement to
support a Rural Integral Development law, the law is blocked by a coalition of right-wing parties.

Second, the peasant movements are organized not only locally, and to an increasing extent, on a global scale.
Look at the map of protests on April 17, the International Day of Peasant Struggle against Transnational Companies and Free Trade Agreements. There are actions on every
continent.

The peasant movements are based ultimately on the wisdom and experience of their ancestors as
described in the blog from this February, “Listen to the indigenous people.” (5) This is clearly stated in the declaration of the 6th Congress of the Latin American Coordination of Countryside Organizations: “We emerged from the heart itself of the 500-year process of indigenous, peasant, black and popular resistance.” (6)

The peasant struggle ultimately concerns all of us. As we concluded in the February blog, we
need to “organize local cooperatives and local food production instead of importation and agrobusiness . . . In this way we can protect ourselves against the crash of the American empire and the global economy that it manages.”

Finally, we can say that the peasant movement for sustainable agriculture is not only part of the global movement for a culture of peace, but perhaps its most critical component because it will enable us to survive after the crash and during the period when it may be possible to make a transition from the culture of war to a culture of peace. For this reason it is especially important

– – –

This theme refers to the following CPNN articles:

Report of the 2025 Nyéléni Global Forum on Food Sovereignty and Global Solidarity

Greenpeace: Here are the REAL culprits of the agricultural crisis in France

La Via Campesina calls on States to exit the WTO and to create a new framework based on food sovereignty

Indian farmers call off lengthy protest after govt assurances

VIEW Reactions to India’s decision to repeal farm laws

Several Social Movements are boycotting the UN Food Systems Summit, will hold counter mobilizations in July

Pope urges inclusive and sustainable food systems

India: Activist Disha Ravi, 22, Arrested Over Toolkit, Faces Conspiracy Charge

Irate farmers storm Delhi on tractors as tear gas deployed and internet cut off in scramble to defend Indian capital

Environmental and Farmers Organizations in Italy Stop Government Attempt to Give Green Light to GMOs and NBTs