NOW is the time to concretely connect our local, national and global struggles for food sovereignty! CAGJ came out of the 1999 WTO uprising. Today we must take action to guarantee another victory over corporate control of our global economy.
Today, April 17, is La Via Campesina International Day of Peasant Struggle & today and tomorrow are National Days of Action to Stop Fast-Track! Fast-Track was introduced in both houses of Congress yesterday. Fast Track would allow the TPP and other trade agreements to skirt ordinary Congressional review, amendment and debate procedures — a rubber-stamping of “NAFTA on Steroids” pacts that destroy local food systems, jobs and drive down wages, among other dangerous environmental, public health and economic impacts. We’ve stopped Fast Track legislation before and we can do so again!
Learn more: Read and share the letter to Congress: “Fast Track is the Wrong Track for U.S. Food & Farms” signed by CAGJ and over 110 other organizations!
HOW CAN YOU MOBILIZE IN SEATTLE?
1. If you haven’t yet this week, please email Congress now.
2. Join us SAT April 18, 10AM for the “Stop Fast Track Canvass” in Seattle!
No experience necessary! We will be pressuring Representative Smith to vote NO on Fast-Track! LOCATION: Meet at El Centro de la Raza, Rm 105, 2524 16th Ave S, Seattle, WA. Contacts: Dianne Gross, 206-295-1127 OR Gillian Locascio.
Click here for a list of Canvassing Actions all over WA state!
3. Call your Senator and Representative today: call any time, day or night. It’s SO IMPORTANT that they hear from you now! Sample message: “I’m calling to urge my representative to vote no on Fast-Track”. Find your representatives here.
WA Senator Murray: Toll Free: (866) 481-9186
WA Senator Cantwell: (202) 224-3441
Rep McDermott: (202) 225-3106
La Via Campesina International Day of Peasant Struggle honors those who have died fighting for a fair food system. Their message to us today: Today thousands of women and men farmers of the international peasant movement La Via Campesina mobilize worldwide against Transnational Corporations (TNCs) and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) which affect peasant and small-scale agriculture and national food sovereignty. Since April 17, 1996[1] La Via Campesina celebrates this day as a global day of action with allies and friends. Free Trade Agreements promote TNCs and a capitalist industrialised mode of production heavily reliant on agrochemicals. These have increased the displacement, expulsion, and disappearance of peasants. Free Trade Agreements put profit over all other rights and concerns. Currently, the most significant FTAs in history are being negotiated by the European Union, the United States, and Canada. These agreements, if finalised, will liberalize trade and investment markets in favour of transnational companies (see tv.viacampesina.org/April-17th).
