Many of you will receive our end of year letter in the mail this week. If not, here is what you missed! Thank you for donating generously to CAGJ during this giving season, to help us continue to build the global food sovereignty movement!
Dear CAGJ friends,
In our 20th year, CAGJ is growing — thanks to your support! We invite you to celebrate our 20th Anniversary with us this Fall in two ways (via Zoom):
- TUES NOV 30, 6PM: On the 22nd anniversary of the Battle in Seattle, join us to watch the spell-binding and inspiring documentary, This is What Democracy Looks Like, and to share your WTO & CAGJ stories! Register here: bit.ly/3c9SMFd
- SAT DEC 18, 7PM: Holiday Party & Open Mic, back by popular demand! Register here: tinyurl.com/holidayscagj2021
Over the past year, we have accomplished so much, seeding solidarity with social movements near and far. As a membership-based organization, we depend on donors and supporters like you to do this work, and we hope that you will help us continue building movements for food sovereignty by donating at tinyurl.com/FundCAGJ, and encouraging your friends and family to follow our work.
CAGJ is #SeedingSolidarity to Build a Strong Food Sovereignty Movement
The Food Justice Project organized the 3rd Rise Up! Summer School, our political education and leadership development program. We collaborated with our Solidarity Campaign partners to amplify their organizing for farmworker and food chain workers’ rights, and to block genetically engineered salmon in solidarity with Northwest tribes. We worked hard over the past year to publish both digital and print versions of our 3rd publication, Our Food, Our Right: Recipes for a New Normal, featuring art, stories, and recipes from over 30 contributors – now available to purchase just in time for the holidays! Check out cagj.org/cagjstore/
CAGJ is #SeedingSolidarity with our African Partners
We are currently busy preparing to travel to Nairobi, Kenya, where we will participate in the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) annual member assembly. We will also see Kenyan partners including G-BIACK — Grow BioIntensive Agriculture Centre of Kenya — who visited Seattle in 2020, and whom Heather last stayed with in 2010!
Over the past year, AGRA Watch co-founded a new collaborative group of organizations that worked with AFSA to strategize in advance of the United Nations Food Systems Summit, where Gates and AGRA played leading roles pushing undemocratic agendas. We also partnered with A Growing Culture for the first time, co-producing social media posts on White Saviorism and Digitalization of Agriculture, funded by Gates and other large donors. This collaboration allowed us to reach new followers and audiences on Instagram. AGRA Watch also organized three webinars this year, with a total of over 1000 registrants.
And we launched a 5-part film series, Rich Appetites: How Big Philanthropy is Shaping the Future of Food in Africa, which examines problems with the Gates Foundation-funded industrial agricultural model being pushed onto African farmers. The series (to be completed by next Spring) will demonstrate the dangers of philanthrocapitalism while also amplifying agroecology and food sovereignty, as practiced by our partner organizations in Africa. You can watch the first episode at richappetitesfilm.com!
All this would not have been possible without the stellar leadership of our AGRA Watch Research Consultant, Ashley Fent, who we hired on a short-term contract over the summer. Our capacity got another boost this month, as we hired Tejaswi Dantuluri to assist with research for the film series!
CAGJ is #SeedingSolidarity to Fight for Vaccine Justice & a TRIPS Waiver
We forged new relationships with the Coalition of Seattle Indian-Americans and Socialist Alternative in alliance with the WA Fair Trade Coalition to fight for global access to COVID-19 vaccines by calling for an emergency TRIPS waiver at the World Trade Organization. We organized a rally with Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant’s office to support the Council’s passage of a resolution demanding Biden end the protection of Intellectual Property rights over human lives. We co-organized a candlelight vigil and spoke at a Die-In as the clock keeps ticking, now over a year since the waiver was first proposed, still with no end to vaccine apartheid.
As we move into the winter season, we are excited to be preparing a series of member conversations about the future of CAGJ. We invite you to join us in this next phase of visioning, drawing on the amazing work of our Dream Team who updated our Mission, Vision, and Theory of Change last year.
These have been especially difficult times. We hope that the small seeds of solidarity we and countless others have been planting may bring a brighter spring. Only with your financial support can CAGJ build capacity towards a future where people and the planet flourish. Please become a Sustaining Member today, or make a one-time donation. As an organization critical of philanthrocapitalism, your support helps us maintain autonomy and independence, allowing us to only apply for grants from progressive foundations whose values are aligned with ours.
In community and with appreciation to our members!
Heather Day, Executive Director
Noël Hutton, Organizer
P.S. We hope you will consider becoming a Monthly Sustainer, or increasing your gift if you’re one already! These members give us peace of mind, as we know we can rely on a steady flow of funds to cover our monthly costs. Sign up today to have an amount securely deducted automatically every month, or increase your monthly donation if you are able. Your support is so appreciated!
P.P.S We understand not everyone is in a position to donate – you can still become a Member or renew by filling out our online Membership form: tinyurl.com/joinCAGJ – Thank you!
