 Welcome, everyone. It is truly an honor to be a part of an organization hosting everybody from all corners of the world traveling here. Thank you for bringing yourselves. Thank you for the people who made it possible for you to be here today. My name is Graham, you named Srufinacht. I am a small farmer and also work at an organization called Rural Vermont. And I'm here introducing this event tonight instead of my co-worker and colleague, Molly Wills, who had an exposure. And I just want to send a lot of gratitude to Molly for her work in organizing this event. Really quickly, Rural Vermont has been a longtime member of the National Family Farm Coalition. Through the National Family Farm Coalition, a member of La Via Campesina. Rural Vermont members are members of La Via Campesina. We are so excited to have been members of this organization and to have you all here. This is the beginning, I think, for us of a long-going trust building process and relationship growing process and an opportunity of us all to meet one another and continue to grow these relationships over time. Excuse my reliance on my notes. This encounter is called each one, teach one. We're here to learn, grow relationships, to grow our trust. We're here to celebrate the opportunity for the creation of an agroecology school based on models of agroecology schools and other parts of the world in Central and South America. And this is a process which has begun, but it's a process which is ongoing. It's a co-creative process that everyone here is invited to be a part of. And with that, I would like to pass on the opening, the rest of this opening, before I introduce the panel, to Tom Beck. Tom. Tom is our neighbor here in Cabot. Tom is an elder and spiritual leader in the Nelhegan Band of Abenaki. And we'll welcome Tom to share something with us to help introduce this event here tonight. Thank you, Tom. One of the people that live on this land, there's various names we go by. People live in the pines, depends on where you live. But the way I came here today was, Henry Harris showed up on my porch and said, well, you come talk to these people and welcome them to this land. So it's not really my land to welcome anybody to, but I'm going to try to teach you some words. So first off, we have this song called the Kanu Song. The Kanu Song, I'll just sing the first part of it. And it's a la bhaktu esku di mati ji, esku di mati ji. Maui means there's these funny-looking Kanus coming across the water. And these people that are coming are our relatives. And we're going to have them invading all the manui omis. It's a party. It's a gathering. It's a powwow, if you will. It's whatever you want to call it. So long before people even came, we were singing this song. So look past that first part, where we didn't play good together. You know, look at the beginning. Look how we used to live. Give up this idea that there's no words in our language for white. If you can say Mauiomi, then maybe you can say omu. Or one or the other various things to say, I'm human. Now this interaction that we had, well, it could have went better, it could have went worse. You know, it depends on your perspective. But it is what it is. This word here means our land. If you can pronounce that, then you can say our land. And while I'm up here, and everybody's looking at me, I can't even remember what that word is. And usually I'm the heckler. What is it? I know it starts with an N. Go ahead, say it. Andakina. Thank you. Wow. He's teaching me Indian. Andakina means our land. So I'm supposed to treat this land like it's yours. And you're supposed to teach this land like it's mine, because it's ours. Can everybody hear me without this thing? Oh, good. The other face of it, that picks you up. I do what you want. Do what I want? The gold dot points at you. Oh, OK. So how can anybody welcome anybody to what is already yours, or mine? The song that's been sung proves it. The words in our culture and everything prove it. But if you'd like a formality, welcome. Treat it like it's mine. I'll treat it like it's yours. That's what the word means. Excellent soil here. You can plant whatever you want. Henry has this vision. Several people here have visions of opening it up to people. Not everybody has this advantage. I mean, my girlfriend and I hacked our garden out of this really wonderful soil. That's clay and other stuff. We have raised beds as well. We went. So seeds that come from this area, you're welcome to have them. Nobody's. You will hear this in your time that only Indians grow this, or whatever they say. Well, I apologize to them. I don't have anything to say about that, except they're young. So we put up with young people sometimes. And sometimes we tell them where to go and what to do. They're wonderful opinions. Mostly I do dabble in the seeds a little bit. But mostly what I do for the people is I gather medicine. And I hand it out. The bear oil works. It's not filth. It's not rancid. If you, the OSHA root, you burn one end of it, or either in your nose. If you're in a tight spot and you're concerned about COVID, just say, empty viral medicine. It's been around for a long time. Very, very useful. Be a root or OSHA, I guess, is the same thing. That's all I really have to say. Welcome. Hope you enjoy this land. I wish someone told me about this gold thing before. All right, so now I'm going to introduce this evening's panel. I'm going to step back so they can come in here. This panel is called Building Movements, International Perspectives on Food Sovereignty. And at the end of the panelists' talking, we'll have an opportunity for dialogue, for conversation. And with that, I will begin to introduce panelists. Pesos Vasquez is an educator, food sovereignty organizer, and the national coordinator of the Organizacion Boricua de Agricultura Ecológica in Puerto Rico. Is a farmer, educator, and La Via Campesina youth member leader with the National Farmers Union in Canada. Organizer and educator with the National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations in Mexico. Thank you. Ayla. Thank you. I'm going to stand up so I can see some of your faces. Hi, everyone. My name's Ayla. I live and farm up north of here on the land of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe people, what's known nowadays as Kingston, Ontario. I'm a member of the National Farmers Union in Canada, which I just want to clarify has no affiliation with the National Farmers Union in the United States. There's been confusion on that front before. I have been farming in that region for almost 10 years now, working on various different agroecology projects. And I'm currently working on developing an urban community farm and agroecological training center in Kingston. And I've been involved with the Farmers Union and La Via Campesina for most of that time. Close to 10 years now, I think, that I've been quite involved with the Via Campesina youth. So they've asked me to just talk a little bit today about background on what is La Via Campesina, a bit of the history, where it's coming from, where it's going. And I'm going to introduce a little bit of the concepts of food sovereignty and agroecology as Via Campesina understands them, or as Via Campesina has developed them, rather. And then I'm going to pass it on to Jesus and Monica to talk a little bit more about some concrete examples of the work that they are doing in their countries and on the land that they're on in the struggle for food sovereignty, and also why this work of internationalism and building solidarity across artificial borders is so important. So Via Campesina, for those who might not be familiar, is the global peasant movement. It's a movement of peasants, farmers, indigenous people, pastoralists, fisherfolk, all sorts of food producers. It was started formally in 1993. But prior to that, there was sort of an acceleration through the 70s and 80s of bilateral exchanges between farmer and peasant organizations in the global north and the global south. Sorry, I talk really fast. I have to remember the interpreters. So there was a much longer process of building those relationships between organizations that led to a conference in Mons, Belgium in 1993 where Via Campesina was officially founded. This was very recently after the World Trade Organization's adoption of the agreement on agriculture. So the context around that time was that there was a really rapidly increasing control and consolidation of policy that controlled agricultural policies at the domestic level at the international level. And so these types of policies from the World Trade Organization were really undermining domestic control over agricultural policies in the name of globalizing, promoting free trade and globalization and whatnot. So there was a recognition amongst all of these farmer and peasant organizations that there was a need to organize at the international level to resist that and to declare that peasants and small farmers are the ones that are feeding the world and that we need to defend our rights and work collectively at the international level to advocate, to stop those processes and to stop the advance of global capital that was really advancing very quickly through these global international institutions. So since the 1990s, we have grown substantially via Camposina is now composed of 182 organizations in 81 countries. It's divided into regions. There are 10 regions throughout the world. North America is one of them. So in North America, we have 10 member organizations, two in Canada, one in Mexico, and 10 minus three, seven in the United States. One of those organizations is the National Family Farm Coalition. So those of you who are involved with rural Vermont as a member of the National Family Farm Coalition, you are already members of La Via Camposina. Via Camposina is generally recognized as the largest organized social movement in the world, representing, I think, 800 million peasants. And OK, so I'll go quickly into the concepts of food sovereignty and agriculture because the concept of food sovereignty was one of the really early organizing principles of La Via Camposina. And as this international exchange and work and relationship building started to be formed, there was a rapid realization that there needed to be some unifying language to consolidate what it is that all of these different groups were talking about and fighting for. We sometimes refer to that as a banner of struggle, the idea of a set of principles that can unify a widely diverse group of people and organizations. So food sovereignty evolved from the conversations at the time were really focused on food security. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the concept of food sovereignty in general. But just the difference between food security is that food security is really pitched as this idea of people just need enough to eat. And that was often used as a justification, especially by those international organizations and governments that were trying to promote the interests of capital and transnational agribusiness to justify those policies that we need to produce more food and we need to feed the world and blah, blah, blah. So Via Camposina's response to that was to develop the concept of food sovereignty that was very strongly rooted in the right of peoples to control and define their own food systems. Food sovereignty, like agroecology, is very much a set of principles, not a set of prescriptive practices. So this is important because we have to recognize that there needs to be adaptation to the local context. With agroecology in particular, I think that there's often a lot of confusion that agroecology is a set of technologies or it's a set of production practices. And that's not entirely true. Actually, I'll just back up a second to explain how those concepts were developed. So food sovereignty and agroecology were both developed by Via Camposina in a very democratic way. Food sovereignty in the late 90s and agroecology really began to be formalized at the International Forum for Agroecology, which was held in Mali in 2015. So a couple of us here were at that forum, but that brought together hundreds of delegates of all of the member organizations from across the world to come together to talk about what do we actually mean when we use the word agroecology? Because obviously there's been a lot of work done in the academic sphere trying to define what it means, but for us as a social movement, what does it mean to us? And this convergence in Mali resulted in a declaration that laid out a set of principles or pillars of agroecology. I'm gonna summarize them really quickly. But again, I just wanna emphasize that the idea of pillars or principles is really important because it provides some guiding ideas while not prescribing how it actually gets done in the local context and the need to respect the local ecology, the local culture is really, really important. So what agroecology means in Vermont is going to be different than what agroecology means in Puerto Rico or in Mexico or in Canada or in Africa or Europe or anywhere else. So one of the first pillar of agroecology as laid out in this declaration is that agroecology is a way of life. It's not a set of technologies or production practices, but that those production practices should be based generally on ecological principles. So again, obviously that's adapted to the local context. Generally speaking, this reliance on ecological principles does mean that there's a reduction of externally purchased inputs. So that's a broad principle. The defense of territories is a central pillar of agroecology, obviously in order to develop agroecology and to move towards food sovereignty, people need to have control over territories and the resources required for food production. Agroecology requires diverse knowledge and diverse ways of knowing. And the way that we develop our ways of knowing is by dialogue amongst them. So these types of exchanges where we're bringing together people from various different groups, different geographies, different cultures, and having an opportunity to exchange about the way that we organize our food systems is really crucial for all of us to be able to develop those further. In Portuguese, there's a term called Diálogo de Ciberas, which means like dialogue of ways of knowing. And that's always been a really crucial tenant of the way that La Via Compasina organizes and the way that we gather together. Another pillar of agroecology is the rejection of the commodification of life, a recognition that life is sacred and that we must defend it as such. Solidarity and collective self-action. And the concept that we need to generate self-governance by communities or regenerate self-governance by communities, I should say. Agroecology promotes the direct and fair distribution, distribution chains rooted in solidarity between consumers and producers. And really fundamentally, I think that this is probably the most important pillar that's laid out in this Via Compasina declaration is that agroecology is political. It explicitly requires the transformation of the structures of power in society and that the leadership of youth and women is absolutely central to that transformation. I'm going to leave it there in the interest of time and pass it on to which one of you wants to go first. Is this? Okay. If you want to explain it, we'll go. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. La experiencia de locacido nuestro proceso organizativo para construir una base dentro de lo que es el marco que Eila mencionó de la Via Campesina a nivel internacional. Primero que todo quería aprovechar la ocasión para agradecer a World Vermont que han sido la organización anfitriona que nos han tratado sumamente bien y que nos sentimos sumamente a gusto en estar en esta tierra y compartir con ustedes a que sí que no duden en si tienen una pregunta o nos seguimos viendo durante los próximos días a detenernos y seguir la conversación. Algunos de nosotros venimos de muy lejos para eso. Entonces, para situarnos en contexto, quería mencionar dos fechas importantes. Boriquén Puerto Rico pues estuvo habitada por sus pueblos originarios que eran los indígenas que son los taïnos. En el año 1493 nosotros fuimos colonizados por España. Y en el año 1898, o sea, 400 y pico de años después, fuimos invadidos por Estados Unidos. Decimos invadidos porque los puertorriqueños y las puertorriqueñas no los invitamos. Y desde esa fecha, pues nosotros vivimos en una relación colonial con lo que es Estados Unidos, ¿no? Y para nosotros es sumamente importante establecer este tipo de vínculo con personas que viven en territorio, ¿verdad?, de Estados Unidos, de acuerdo al nombre que le ponen a la nación. Para seguir trabajando juntos. Y entonces, pues habiendo dicho eso, pues un poco para definir un poco el desafío principal que nosotros identificamos en nuestra organización después de un análisis colectivo de mucho tiempo, es que, verdad, reconocemos que Puerto Rico es una colonia que depende de los recursos de otros países. Y, basado en un modelo económico que extrae de la madre tierra como si no hubieran límites y explota toda forma de vida. Todo eso pasando en la era del cambio climático. Identificando eso como un desafío, un problema, pues nosotros trabajamos, ¿no? Y para hablarles un poquito del trabajo que nosotros hacemos, yo vengo de una organización que se llama la Organización Boricua, haciéndole honor al nombre indígena de nuestra nación, que es Boriquén. Y es una organización que ya lleva 33 años organizando en Puerto Rico, promoviendo y practicando la agroecología desde antes que utilizáramos esos términos. Básicamente haciendo agricultura como lo hacían nuestros ancestros. Y tenemos una membresía diversa a través del archipiélago. Puerto Rico es un grupo de islas, no es solamente una isla, tenemos a Vieques y Culebra, al sureste, que son islas habitadas también. Y, entonces, pues, tenemos una membresía diversa, intergeneracional y organizada en regiones. Y la organización se funda a base de lo que nosotros llamamos el apoyo mutuo. Un grupo de personas identificaron más o menos este problema que yo les mencioné y decidieron visitarse. Yo voy a tu casa, tú vienes a mi casa, yo te ayudo, tú me ayudas. Y muchos de ellos tenían acceso a tierra, ya sea a fincas que tenían el título o fincas rescatadas que puede ser aquí, le llaman ocupadas. Tierra que no es de ellos, pero ellos la rescataron. Y ahí empezaron intercambios de semillas, aprendizaje sobre cómo formar nuestras propias herramientas, cómo diversificar los cultivos, preparados, sostenibles, etc. Y se fue invitando siempre a la comunidad. Por lo tanto, desde el 1989 se iba de finca en finca, de comunidad en comunidad, haciendo estas brigadas. Llevamos a las 6 de la mañana a un grupo de personas con herramientas agrícolas y decimos, vamos a sembrar allí lo que podamos hoy. Y eso generaba no solamente una educación de que venimos a hablar con el micrófono, sino que mientras trabajamos, estamos aprendiendo. Y eso es lo que fundó nuestra organización y al día de hoy es lo que hacemos todos los meses. Nosotros todos los meses tenemos que hacer una brigada. Hacemos muchas otras cosas, pero tenemos que vernos en una finca. Siempre nos estamos moviendo intencionalmente. La organización no tiene un espacio fijo. Son las tierras de nuestros miembros. Y para nosotros, eso es lo más importante, tener una familia, una base. Eso es un poquito de lo que es nuestra organización. Y, verdad, y entonces estoy viendo aquí mis notas. Al tener el tema colonial en Puerto Rico, ese trabajo que nosotros hacemos, le llamamos que estamos construyendo soberanía. A pesar de que Puerto Rico legalmente es una colonia, lo que decide el gobierno de Estados Unidos, el Congreso de Estados Unidos y el presidente afecta a Puerto Rico. Y nosotros no tenemos ninguna voz en ese sistema. Tenemos una persona que está allí, pero escuchan, no puede dar un voto. Y a muchos de nosotros no nos interesa estar en ese sistema. Entonces, para nosotros, el trabajo con la tierra, el trabajo a medida de, ah, OK, eso lo tengo que preguntar yo. I should ask this? OK. OK, so, OK, en español. OK, so we want to ask if there's anyone that don't understand Spanish because we have limited equipment for translation, for interpretation. And we want to make sure that we're understanding each other. So if there's anyone that is not understanding Spanish, I can talk in English. And if I get stuck, people can help me out. ¿Qué? ¿Eso era Nils? Sí, también. OK. OK. Entonces, pues, ese trabajo que nosotros hacemos, pues, decimos que estamos viviendo la soberanía, porque consideramos las tierras en las que trabajamos territorio libre. Nosotros estamos viviendo de la comida que producimos, apoyándonos entre la comunidad y no dependiendo, que es lo que nos tratan de hacer a Puerto Rico, que siempre está dependiendo de recursos externos. Entonces, en ese sentido, nuestra meta es lograr una escala mayor, seguir regándonos y regándonos por todos lados y entendemos que una vez tengamos control de una condición material como la tierra o más acceso a ella, pues, la transición a lo que es la liberación nacional es mucho más fácil que dando un discurso político como lo han hecho algunos partidos por muchas décadas. Eso fue lo que han hecho nuestros fundadores, son nuestros sabios, son las personas mayores a los que nosotros debemos todo y que muchos de ellos siguen con nosotros. Y entonces, pues, continuo mencionando dos o tres puntos más, que es, nosotros tratamos de mantener un pie dentro y un pie afuera. Tratamos de atender nuestras propias necesidades mediante nuestro propio esfuerzo, pero tampoco nos queremos aislar demasiado. Y buscamos siempre retar al gobierno. O sea, el gobierno debe de hacer lo que se supone que haga. Y siempre abogamos por políticas públicas que beneficien a la gente. Por lo tanto, sí siempre estamos en la finca trabajando entre nosotros y apoyando, pero siempre estamos en la calle. También acciones directas, movilizaciones. Hemos tenido muchos logros de esa manera. Y es un frente que nuestra organización nunca abandonado, ya que ha estado compuesto mayormente por organizadores, campesinos, trabajadores agricultores, pero también por activistas que llevan toda la vida dando esa pelea por la liberación nacional. Entonces, quería terminar con un poco el énfasis en construir un movimiento, en tener base, en conocernos todos. A nosotros nos ha traído mucha cosecha, mucha resultados positivas. Y voy a mencionar uno, nosotros al estar en el Caribe, en el mismo trópico, somos muy vulnerables al cambio climático, especialmente a las tormentas y a los huracanes. Y en el año 2017, nosotros tuvimos dos huracanes muy fuertes, Huracán Irma y Huracán María. Huracán Irma llegó en septiembre, dos semanas después vino Huracán María, categoría cinco de los dos huracanes, y María entró el tamaño del huracán, si lo ves desde un satélite, era más grande que nuestras islas. O sea, cuando estuvo encima, nosotros no nos veíamos en el mapa. Y eso trajo que murieran más de 3,000 personas, no hubo electricidad por aproximadamente de 9 meses a un año. El ejército norteamericano vino a Puerto Rico a ayudar y estaban dando doritos y galletas orios a la familia para ayudarlos. No teníamos acceso a agua por mucho tiempo, no teníamos acceso al teléfono, a la comunicación. Entonces fue un momento de suma necesidad y el beneficio de haber construido movimiento para que se pudiera seguir haciendo el trabajo. A pesar de que no teníamos comunicación, nosotros sabemos dónde vivimos todo. Nosotros sabemos quiénes son las personas que tienen 70, 80 años, que tenemos que ir allí para picar los árboles que se habían caído y abrirles el camino. Sabemos quiénes son jóvenes y les gusta hacer trabajo, tienen más tiempo. Y sin tener acceso a teléfono, nosotros nos organizamos para ir a la finca y vamos a ir juntando más gente. Y estuvimos todo el tiempo haciendo ese trabajo y llevándolo al tema internacional de la Via Campesina. Cuando nosotros estamos muy ocupados en la finca reconstruyendo, organizamos una brigada a nivel internacional y vinieron compañeros y compañeras de la Via Campesina. Algunos de ellos están aquí y de otros movimientos donde nos relacionamos. Y dijeron, dígannos cuando podemos ir y nosotros vamos a estar ahí. No hay electricidad, no a las mismas condiciones que nosotros, solamente con una mochila, un backpack, herramientas y materiales que ya nosotros hayamos conseguido. Y estuvimos por muchas semanas yendo de finca a finca reconstruyendo las casas de los campesinos y la infraestructura agrícola. Y eso para nosotros fue todo en ese momento, porque estábamos en suma necesidad, estábamos mucha gente desesperanzada, pero saber que estábamos tres días en una finca y cuando nos íbamos ya la casa estaba por lo menos de pie, pues era como estaba viendo con tus ojos el resultado de eso. Y para nosotros, pues el tema de estar en la Via Campesina, relacionarnos aquí con ustedes hoy, es una señal de que no estamos tan solos como nos creemos. Y reconociendo que hay otra gente pasando esos desafíos y que estas relaciones humanas tienen que seguir para nosotros verdaderamente vivir como nos merecemos y como ya muchos están verdad todos los días tratando de vivir. Y entonces en esa medida pues era un poco de los que le quería compartir. Creemos que el sistema agroalimentario debe de estar en manos de la gente y no de un puñado de corporaciones. Y el abuelo de uno de nuestros fundadores que se llama Juan Rosario, su abuelo decía que decía si es necesario tiene que ser posible y con esa idea un poco los dejo ahí a ver si seguimos. Todos, soy Mónica Castillo de Unorca. Yo pertenezco a una pequeña comunidad en el centro del país del Estado de Puebla. Se llaman Salmisa Jalpan y pues bueno les voy a compartir un poquito de cómo está estructurada mi organización que es la Unión Nacional de Organizaciones regionales campesinas y autónomas. Y un poquito de trabajo que estamos realizando de base esencialmente pues en el Estado de Puebla y pues a nivel nacional. Y pues bueno la Unorca es una organización de representación indígena y campesina de amplia participación de lucha y de movilidad de trabajo de propuesta está integrada por pequeños productores, jornaleros avescindados, mujeres, jóvenes trabajadores agrícolas y pues bueno tiene representación actualmente en 20 estados a nivel nacional en los que pues el trabajo se diversifica de diferentes formas es en el área campesina hay cafetaleros hay apicultores y pues bueno por mencionar algunos. Actualmente en Puebla yo me encuentro trabajando con sociedades de producción rural son pequeños grupos de 30 personas aproximadamente cosas de trabajo agrícola y pues bueno estamos enfatizados directamente con el tema del agua estamos trabajando ampliamente en el tema del derecho del agua la distribución justa la protección de este suministro y tenemos en este momento particularmente estamos pasando por una situación de sequía hay una fuerte veda a nivel estatal que está de cierta manera bloqueando la posibilidad de tener nuevas concesiones para los futuros productores no solamente que ya conforman estas sociedades sino principalmente para los jóvenes que están empezando a trabajar y a producir en la tierra y pues bueno a nivel nacional estamos trabajando con algunos huertos de traspatio estamos trabajando inicialmente con 20 gallinas aproximadamente algunos tres productos de hortalizas esencialmente y pues bueno todavía seguimos construyendo este trabajo pero bueno esencialmente es el trabajo que tenemos ya articulado en este momento y pues bueno para nosotros como Norca es bien importante y es un orgullo también ser parte de la vía campesina ya que solamente por mencionar un aspecto de la historia el concepto de sobreanilimentaria nace en la Trinidad Tlaxcala en la segunda conferencia internacional de la vía campesina en 1996 y pues bueno orgullosamente en ese entonces la Norca fue partícipe o anfitriona de realizar este evento y este ah ya se me puso un poquito nerviosa este fue este proceso global es fruto de las construcciones internas del movimiento campesino y pues bueno solamente por mencionar algunos aspectos que estamos pasando en este momento es actualmente que el gobierno federal ha adoptado este concepto de sobreanilimentaria pero pues la realidad es que la Norca no ha sido partícipe de estas mesas de diálogo para poder implementar una política pública que vincula directamente este proceso de sobreanilimentaria y agroecología entonces pues bueno ha sido un poco difícil trascender en estas pláticas seguimos construyendo y trabajando en mesas de diálogo y debate que nos permitan pues repito establecer esta política pública a pesar de que se habla mucho de este concepto repito en la realidad a los campesinos se les ha cerrado la puerta para poder construir esta política directamente a nivel nacional también se habla mucho sobre la apertura de los derechos campesinos los derechos campesinos que fueron adoptados por la UNU una lucha muy importante de la vida campesina también y este pues bueno estamos trabajando también en esta parte también mencionar que recientemente tuvimos nuestro encuentro de la articulación de jóvenes en México en donde Molly estuvo partícipe representando orgullosamente a Roberto Armón estamos trabajando nuevamente para poder y crear nuevos enlazos de comunicación y participación con los jóvenes para fortalecer la formación de nuestros procesos de agroecología y soberanía alimentaria y pues bueno creo que a grandes rasgos eso es lo que puedo decir en este momento quiero reiterar que agradecemos muchísimo este espacio con todos ustedes por la oportunidad de tener un ratito de conversación compartir todos nuestros conocimientos los temas que tenemos pendientes y pues agradecer a los anfitrones ampliamente por este espacio muchísimas gracias y bienvenido we had a youth encounter for the Via Campesina North America in Mexico back in February and that was where a lot of this dialogue about this weekend actually began to accelerate Molly had approached the Via Campesina Molly has been participating in the Via Campesina Youth Articulation as a representative of rural Vermont and we in North America had been talking quite a lot about the need for agroecological training how do we scale out agroecology how do we provide not only the technical training but the political training that is a necessary component and there has been a lot of work being done over the past couple of years there's been a project called the People's Agroecology Process that has been organizing a series of encounters and building relationships and networks of different organizations and we have been learning about the People's Agroecology Process was really born out of the fact that a number of the youth organizers in North America had had the opportunity to visit other places in the world like Brazil and Cuba where their agroecology formation processes are really strong and learning from those methodologies and then bringing them back to North America adapting them to the very different context that we have here of course but a lot of the methodologies the way that we organize the encounters and the way that this encounter has been organized is really rooted in what we have learned from our comrades in other places and so you'll notice on the agenda that there are a lot of sessions that are very collaborative the focus of this encounter is on relationship building relationship building and like real friendship building being the precursor to solidarity and that long term resilience and so you'll see on Sunday we have on the agenda a work brigade for example and that's following the inspiration of our comrades in Puerto Rico and elsewhere so I'll leave it there for now but maybe if there are any questions or if any comments from the participants here we'd love to open it up for a broader discussion No? I can't really see anything Antonio So last year I think was the UN food system summit and obviously that was more a corporate position about how to organize the food system and it's contrary to what La Via Campesina is proposing in which way these schools because obviously this movement in terms of the agroecology movement can help to prevent the takeover of the food system It's a hard question it's a hard question softball so that's a very hard question I think that the most important thing here like I mentioned we were talking about the relationship building and obviously we are much stronger if we're acting together part of the inspiration for this process of building an agroecology school here in Vermont is the concept of building actually a network of schools throughout and that you know I think that there's already a lot of agroecological training projects happening all over the place probably a lot of you are involved in them but there's very limited connection between them and in North America especially in Canada and the United States at least the context that I can speak to we really suffer from this like individualist culture and we have a really hard time collaborating sometimes and talking to each other I think that that's just the first step is actually just building the networks so that we have the contacts in place so that when situations arise that we need to organize to resist something we have those networks in place and relationships in place already see all that there's a question back there you can stand even I saw someone like you would you like to join the conversation about everybody's welcome I'm curious maybe they want to comment on like how to how people see adapting this like gorgeous inspiring Latin American agroecology model to the context of the US which is like hyper-individualism and like super socially fragmented garbage I would invite colleagues from the region of life that are from the US to answer that question Antonio or Pequita Jordan or other people Isidoro maybe while somebody from the US is joining us up here maybe one thing that I wanted to mention is that we were talking about that ready and and put it into this that are here you're making a tour here in New York in the US and I think and I think you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you new Nope I And I can share some information about what's happening in Quebec. I'm part of UNIOR FESAN, which is FESAN's organization in Quebec. And before that, we try to build a school of agriculture named Sankofesa. And we provide formation, and we try to talk about politics around food sovereignty. But we were forced to shut down because of the pandemic. It was not possible for us to continue our operations with the lockdown. And also, there was that, like, there was a lot of challenges for us. Like, we gather our members to give formation, and we give them tools to be able to share their knowledge. But at some point, when some of our members started to get people in their formations, they wanted to do by themselves. So there was a lack of understanding of the importance of movement. And there's also that phenomenon in Quebec. Probably you have the same in the United States and then in the rest of Canada. That's that there's some star farmers, like super, like, you know. So those people, well, they offer ethical formation, and they talk the same language, but without the political view. So there's a lot of competition for formation. So we were, like, in Quebec, what happened is that we closed some of the paysons because we were not able to compete with those people, with those super star farmers. And right now we are focusing only on political formation. And we are in obligation to avoid talking about technical, agroecological formation. But political formation is something that's, it's not, like, it's harder to gather people around that team. So it's like, we have to question ourselves about our strategies. And it's really challenging. And like, your question will resonate a lot with our situation in Quebec. And, yeah, so it doesn't answer the question, but it just brings some more information to continue discussion about that. Because I'm really interested to hear more about what you think can be a good idea to gather and to mobilize people to have, to change the mind of individualism and to think about food sovereignty as a movement, yeah, people movement. It's spot on when he says that that's a question for this group to answer. But one strategy that I have been finding effective in our work in Canada is to, I mean, really just look at what are the people in our communities actually need. Like, what, we have this set of principles of the system that we're trying to move towards. In our context, we work with a lot of larger scale conventional farmers in Canada, in our organization. And sometimes the language of like, you know, talking about small scale, diversified agriculture, or whatever, or like peasantry, or, you know, they just don't, they just don't identify with that. But if you pull out the principles of like, a ton of community autonomy and reducing reliance on externally purchased inputs, for example, that's one of the pillars that they really identify with because they are struggled. That's that's an issue that they are concretely struggling with right now. So I think that that's the work of every organization and community is to identify where are those, where are those political points that the people that you're trying to organize will actually identify personally with and become engaged with. Antonio? Yes, I'm going to agree with what you're saying because obviously I think one of the main problems in the United States is that division that exists between the long-term producers and the small-term producers. But I think one of the things that affected the United Nations, COVID, in terms of not being able to continue school, I think in the United States it also opened up an opportunity, a window of opportunity in terms of the fact that farmers realized that growing, growing, growing, or the issue of agricultural consolidation, as it opened up the eyes of many people, not only of the producers, but also of consumers who saw their empty expenses. So I think there's a certain possibility, well, at least I'm optimistic that there's an opportunity to change a little the food policies of the United States. Obviously the most difficult part of politics is also true because there is no good concept of community, of individualism, it's consumerism, but in large-scale it's difficult to form a community in a political way. But I think there are opportunities. For example, the training or the speech with different actors depending on their size or their experience, could help. If there are more questions or comments, it doesn't have to be a question, it could be that they share something they want to share. We're going to spend time doing tomorrow is answering this question. So we're calling this the each one, teach one encounter. And that's because we're here to learn from each other and we're here to think about these hard questions and the unique challenges that people are facing here and how we can lean into this powerful and inspirational international framework to make it relevant for communities that are here. So thank you all for being here and being part of co-creating this process and digging into these questions. And we're going to mess up and we're not going to get it right the first time and we're going to keep trying and we're going to keep changing and adapting it until it is what people here need. And that's a process that happens together. And so thank you all. And think about these things. When you look at the stars tonight and you feel the wind in your tents, think about being here together on this land and think about how we can grow and create together and how we can learn. Henry. Where are you, Henry? Here. Yes, one last question. Good evening, good evening. I'm D'Alessio and the pronouns are A-bye. My pronouns are A-bye. Especially in the cano. Where are the black and indigenous people? Who can be here, depending on the community of where you're coming from, to talk more about the pronouns that are from them and what they're carrying, and also for the people in the seats here. I think a lot of indigenous people are missing and we have a lot of capital and workers in the agriculture sector. Do you want us to answer? I'll just briefly stand up. My name is Tammy Harris. I'm with SACON, which is Southeast African American Farmers Organic Network. We are one of the organizers of this event. I, because I'm giving a presentation on Sunday, I chose not to speak on the panel tonight. But there are others, and I'm just letting you know, as far as black, as far as indigenous folks, they're coming in as well. But yeah, so there is, we are here. I just, and there's another colleague. He was actually going to be on the panel tonight to speak for us. So I don't know, I'm not sure what happened, but we are here. So, yeah. Whoo! And I definitely share everything that you just did in terms of, yes, we were a major part of, you know, of agriculture and this whole, the land, stewarding the land, everything. So I'll have more of my presentation on Sunday, but yes, I appreciate you uplifting that, and we are here in present. Thank you. Yes, also for, well, we know that you are here, the fellow citizens of Justicia Migrante, the Campesina Association of Florida, is also part of the Food Chain Workers Alliance. So, we agree with you, because obviously a lot of agricultural work is done by the people of color, and not only in agriculture, which is mainly industrial agriculture, but also in the kitchen, in the transformation of the food, etc., etc. So obviously it is a movement that does not end, it does not start or end in the field, but it is everything that is the food system. Yes, and I would say that, at least, the way the table was coordinated was to give a small sample, and as it was mentioned, there were a few compas that could not be here. And I invite you here, there is an international delegation involved in the VIA, and another one that also supports, which would be good to identify, as they say their names, and where they come from, so that we know who they are here, because that representation is there, right? Rosita, do you want to sit down briefly? Yes. Well, good night to all of you. I am Rosa, I come from Chile, and... Excuse me, I have... And... Well, the reason I am here is precisely to be able to learn as well, to exchange knowledge, because our YALA in Chile already has several years, and the work that we have been doing for all these years has given us the reason, this last time, because in our organization, Anamuri, which is the National Association of indigenous rural women, and Afro-descendant, because this is what our organization is called, the work that has been doing on food sovereignty and has tried to put it on the table, not true, in the state that we talk about food sovereignty and not food security, it has not cost much, and also the preservation of our seeds, we have been threatened for a long time for the privatization of our native seeds, and we know what they mean, and that is why, well, after a few days so that we can talk, in this space, I think that here, many partners and partners have the doubt of how to organize ourselves, I don't know if this, how to move forward, but what I can say is that, at the beginning it has cost us, but it is very proud of us, that in Chile we are living a very important process, which is the new constitution that we have achieved, that is a work that we have been doing for many years, and Amuri, as an organization, has always been in the struggle, we are peasant women that we are throughout all of Chile, organized, and we have come out on the street many times, because, let's say, just like here, as we were talking about, fighting for the rights of the workers, and workers who are migrants, because there is also a lot of abuse of part of the business, but there are issues that we have now managed to put on the table, the convention is over, and we have managed to as an organization to put the issue of food sovereignty, not food security, and we are working with the authorities of Chile, and also the issue of seeds, and the issue, let's say, of the labor rights of the workers and workers, so I ask you not to fall, I thank the invitation of the Via Campesina, and of all this organization that has an international level. I think that every time we are more than what we are organizing, I think that the political work that I said yesterday is a work that we can't leave that work because the this school has to be always with the political education because otherwise it is empty, that is very important, it has to be technical knowledge, ancestral knowledge, because we can leave all the wisdom that our ancestors have made a whole path, but you have to rescue and but very hand in hand with the political work because we have that I somehow got involved with our work, with our struggle because the governments listen to us because we and we are not wrong, that is, we have talked for many years about what was coming with the climate change, it comes, it is said, that an umbrella comes, and the solution is food sovereignty, there is no other then that is what we I think that our main flag of struggle and that of that we cannot leave and I think that will also be great our organization and I repeat I thank you very much Campesina, the support and that union of all the people because that is what we are looking for I am very happy to be here I thank the invitation to the amphitheater to the people here from Belmont who have not received so well and these events should also be more content and because this because one takes the strength each one here I know that it will come out much more strengthened than what we and that is what we later we are going to transmit to certain the different countries where we come and especially for the people who are here working for their organization those who are the organizers thank you also very much that was it's amazing that you're here at all but to hear these words and to remember the work that y'all do back home and that you're supporting us to do is blowing my mind out here in the yard so so just quickly this is on some housekeeping and hospitality stuff welcome we're going to do some printmaking in the barn an amazing artist that works as part of the La Via Galaxy Nimsotka has pulled some screens as of Willis our dear old friend breakfast we're going to be pulling their screens in the barn and having a bonfire across the street there's a lot more pizza to eat I think four of you know who you are and are going to help clean up the kitchen for an amazing Nuestra Mesa squad from Brooklyn who are here that is the beating heart of this camp you can see where the brains might be at but the heart, the beating the blood into our bodies is coming across the Nuestra Mesa anyway the food's good right y'all and also thanks so much NOFA for your contribution to our full bellies tonight and there's way too many people to thank so I'm not going to get started with that but please join us across the street and help yourself with some bug dope and some pizza and a fire and we'll be printmaking in the barn and if you need anything to help make your stay more comfortable there's a number that you can come hit up and those people are raising their hands right about now and yeah we love you thank you so flattered and and wondered that you're here thanks please big thank you to our tireless interpreters and you'll have to forgive my horrible Spanish accent but they often say it's an interpretation not a revolution