Food First's blog

Do corporations have too much power over what we eat?

admin — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:32:57 -0400

Yvette Cabrera and Agnes Bridge Walton

Food Sovereignty in Action at the Gill Tract in Albany, California USA

admin — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:34:59 -0400

Report by Food First intern, Vishrut Arya. April 24, 2012

This past Sunday, April 22, Earth Day, about two hundred farmers, families, and activists gathered for a potluck at Ohlone Park in Berkeley to celebrate the Earth and food sovereignty.

The idea of Food sovereignty, promoted by the international small farmer movement, La Via Campesina is that communities have the right to control their own equitable and sustainable food systems, including access to land, fresh water, and seed.

The Fight for Real Food in Korea

admin — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:25:12 -0400

By Anders Riel Muller
First published in Korean Quarterly, Winter 2012

My first time eating Korean-style food in Seoul was a disappointing experience. I went to a well-known barbecue place in the Hongdae neighborhood that many of my adoptee friends recommended. There was nothing wrong with the meat (Canadian not American as the waitress stressed), but there were only a couple panchan (side dishes) that were not very exciting. Perhaps, I thought, I had been spoiled during my other two visits to Korea, visiting my family and touring the East coast and Jeju Island.

Solidarity is difficult work

admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 14:44:25 -0400

Review by Tanya Kerssen, who was leading a Food First Food Sovereignty Tour in Bolivia when she wrote this blog review.

New film raises important questions for NGOs, researchers and activists.

Bolivian peasants resist cultural imperialism by naming March 12th "National Day of Coca Chewing"

admin — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 19:59:27 -0400

By Tanya Kerssen reporting from Bolivia as she leads a Food First Food Sovereignty Tour. March 12, 2012

The True Face of Climate Change (in Bolivia)

admin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:24:10 -0500

March 9, 2012
Reported by Food First consultant, Tanya Kerssen, who is leading a Food Sovereignty Tour to Bolivia starting March 10, 2012

Nearly 15,000 families are affected by flooding in the Bolivian departments of Oruro and La Paz caused by intense rains. 340 families in Chipaya have lost 100% of their potato and quinoa crops and are sharing 12 canoes to get around the area and recover what they can. Because of the loss of forage, sheep are dying from eating their own wool.

The Bolivian government has declared a national emergency.

Trader Joe’s agrees to improve wages for tomato pickers

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:55:09 -0500

By Michelle Rostampour

Durban Climate Talk Debacle: Big polluters sidestep as family farmers push for real commitments

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:52:31 -0500

By Michelle Rostampour

Racism rears its ugly head in the deep South… again

admin — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:50:17 -0500

by Navina Khanna with contributions from Joann Lo.

This summer, I traveled over 3000 miles with 20 young adults on Food and Freedom Rides that sought to shed light on our food system, and how injustice in the system—from farm to processing center to table—impacts us all. The rides commemorated the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Freedom Rides, when Black and White students sat together on Greyhound buses to challenge racial segregation in the Jim Crow South.

The Road to Progress or the Road to Ruin? - Debating Development in Bolivia

kerssen — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:10:03 -0400

By Tanya Kerssen

Food First’s recent food sovereignty delegation to Bolivia occurred at a historic juncture in the struggle for indigenous rights in Bolivia. On August 15, over 500 indigenous people departed the lowland tropical city of Trinidad on a 300+ mile march to the highland capital La Paz in protest of a proposed highway construction through the “TIPNIS” indigenous territory and ecological reserve. The government of Evo Morales, with a number of union supporters, claims the highway is the road to progress. Indigenous peoples argue it is an infringement on their territorial rights and the road to ecological ruin. Since the march began, the conflict has gripped Bolivian society and sparked global debates over the meaning of development.

Liberalizing the Economy May Crush the Culture of One Small Island

admin — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:30:52 -0400

By Anders Riel Muller, South Korea Food Sovereignty Tour leader
August/September 2011 Conducive Magazine

Reply to Nina Fedoroff's promotion of Genetically Modified Foods

admin — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 20:31:52 -0400

Dear Editors, New York Times

Coalition of Immokalee Workers California Truth Tour aimed at getting Trader Joe’s to sign for one penny more per pound of tomatoes.

admin — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:13:52 -0400

By Amelia Moore

On Thursday 14th July, Lucas Benitez from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) stopped by the Food First office to talk to the interns and staff about their campaign for better working conditions and labor rights for the tomato pickers of Immokalee, Florida. The visit formed part of the CIW’s week-long California Truth Tour that targeted Trader Joe’s with protests and community get-togethers.

Voices of Non-violent Resistance: Rural Community Radio in Honduras

kerssen — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:21:58 -0400

By Caitlin Payne Roberts

I'm writing from the community radio station La Voz de Zacate Grande, located in Puerto Grande, a town on the island of Zacate Grande in the Gulf of Fonseca on the Pacific coast of Honduras. The communities that have lived here for generations have been engaged in a land struggle against the richest man in Honduras, Miguel Facussé, for at least 20 years.

Emergent Assets' African AgriLand Fund: Banking on the apocalypse

rjonasse — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:15:57 -0400

In his book "Capitalism in Crisis: An obsolete system" Samir Amin decries the financialization of everything, and the rise of neoliberal globalization. In an interview with Pambazuka, he said that "it has now come to a point where continuing the accumulation of capital is deepening and continuing the destruction of the natural basis for the reproduction of civilisation. And therefore ... we ought to move and start moving beyond capitalism."