Mexico City, 29 November 2006
Compañeras and compañeros:

Oaxaca, Mexico, is currently the target of massive state-led repression, in
an attempt to exterminate the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca
(APPO), which is a legitimate movement composed of social organizations,
peasants, indigenous people, trade unions, neighborhood organizations, and
teachers, which demands the removal of Oaxaca state governor Ulises Ruiz, as
well as a profound political reform and public policies that would favor
sectors of society who have traditionally been excluded.

Oaxaca is one of the poorer states in Mexico, with the highest proportion of

We live in a dominant economic system that for centuries has engaged in
the unlimited exploitation of all ecosystems and their natural resources.
This strategy has generated economic growth and, for some countries, what
has been called "development," and has privileged the
consumption and well-being of a small fraction of humanity. And,
unfortunately, it has excluded the great majority of humanity from access
to minimum conditions for survival... Faced with this dramatic situation,
we feel the need to affirm alternatives that can assure a hopeful future
for life, for humanity, and for the Earth.

Food First was proud to sponsor the US tour of Mangaliso Kubheka, National Organizer of South Africa's Landless Peoples' Movement.  Mangaliso built global bridges between his movement and organizers in the United States.  

Mangaliso  accepted the 2005 Food First International Economic and Human Rights Award on behalf of the global small-scale farmers' network Via Campesina at Food First's 30th Year Anniversary Celebration.

The latest series of communiques from the Zapatistas, explaining why they went on Red Alert, and their plans for the future.

When big agribusinesses decided the small townships spread out between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia were perfect new homes for their factory farms, they thought they could slip in without much bother.

But they forgot Pennsylvania's heritage of democracy and citizen participation.

A new backgrounder "Rights Fight: Local Democracy vs. Factory Farms in Pennsylvania," shows how the small communities targeted by these farms fought back, fending off the threat of polluting factory farms through the fighting spirit of civic participation.