Talk: Peoples’ Food Summit [] Center for Global Justice

On September 23 the UN Food Systems Summit will be held as part of the Decade of Action to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Apparently, it stands as a broad invitation to all countries and sectors. This Establishment summit has been criticized by Vía Campesina as well as other grassroots organizations. It ignores the processes and instances built for decades with the participation of peasant and indigenous movements as well as the UN declaration on the rights of peasants. Bottom line, there is an incompatibility between the search for sustainability and life care, sustaining a diverse and complex nature notion, and a search for capital accumulation, including the digital data as capital, in a quest to homogenize and reduce nature. The appropriation of the patented genetically modified seeds corresponds with the digital algorithms which include them along with chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

Consequently, an alternative global gathering called the People’s Food Summit is planned. Ercilia Sahores, a founding member and Latin America Director of Regeneration International, and Precious Phirri from Zimbabwe will report on the People’s Food Summit. It will gather the broadest number of rural peoples, people’s organizations, CSOs, and advocates. It will draw up a Declaration for a radical transformation of the current food regimes towards just, equitable, healthy and sustainable food systems. The Summit will also develop a People’s Action Plan – its major outcome – to realize their goal.

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