CAGJ Monthly E-Newsletter | FEBRUARY 9, 2022
HEADLINES | CAGJ HAPPENINGS | TAKE ACTION | CAGJ NEWS & ANALYSIS | COMMUNITY CALENDAR | Get Involved! Upcoming CAGJ Meetings
Join Heather Day at the Launch of a New Book Edited by Vandana Shiva: Philanthrocapitalism and the Erosion of Democracy
Join YES! and Synergetic Press for the launch of a new book edited by Vandana Shiva: Philanthrocapitalism and the Erosion of Democracy. AGRA Watch contributed our research which exposes how the Gates Foundation uses the cover of an institution of higher education – Cornell University – to spread its propaganda favoring industrial agriculture, GMOs and the global food marketplace.
Global capitalists wield philanthropy to monopolize and privatize land use, food production, and the public health sector. Join a conversation with Vandana Shiva and CAGJ’s Director, Heather Day, to learn about this dangerous trend—and how global citizens are fighting back.
The conversation will be moderated by Breanna Draxler, senior editor at YES! Media.
This event is FREE and will take place via Zoom. Get your FREE ticket here.
Please help publicize: Share the Facebook event.
Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned environmental thinker, activist, feminist, philosopher of science, writer, and science policy advocate, and the editor of Philanthrocapitalism and the Erosion of Democracy. She is the founder of Navdanya Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in India and president of Navdanya International.
Heather Day is co-founder and executive director of Community Alliance for Global Justice, a Seattle-based, grassroots nonprofit whose AGRA Watch campaign contributed an article to the book. Previously, Day was an organizer with the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES). She holds a B.A. in political economy from The Evergreen State College and a M.A. in geography from the University of Washington.
CAGJ HAPPENINGS
TUES February 15, 6:30 – 8:00 PM PST
Monthly Food Justice Project Meeting
Orientation for new Members at 6pm: RSVP
Please register to receive the ZOOM link.
Rise Up Summer School organizing has begun -come give input on the theme and curriculum this year! We hope to do more in-person field trips this summer, while keeping it accessible to folks around hte country. Let us know if you’re interested in joining the Organizing Collective (email [email protected]), and you can participate by attending monthly FJP meetings.
Following Maine’s example, organizers led by Northwest Harvest are seeking to enshrine the Right to Food in Washington’s constitution. We will hear an update on this campaign led by Northwest Harvest, and we are excited to support the great work of our Solidarity Campaign partners across the food chain – Got Green,
Familias Unidas por la Justicia Farmworker Union, Community to Community, UFCW 21, Indigenous fish protectors fighting GE salmon, and WA Fair Trade Coalition.
As always, new volunteers are invited to our orientation via ZOOM at 6pm: Please email us to let us know you’re attending the orientation. All are welcome! For more info, email the Food Justice Project.
Seed privatization threatens farmers in Africa
Watch Rich Appetites, Short Film #2 “Seeds” to learn more
We are very excited to announce the release of the second episode of our short film series, “Rich Appetites: How Big Philanthropy is Shaping the Future of Food in Africa”. The new short film is entitled “Seeds” – Watch now, on the film website and Vimeo!
“Seeds” exposes the Gates Foundation’s role in promoting laws that commercialize seeds in Africa and beyond, allowing corporations to commodify, control, and profit from the fundamental building blocks of agriculture–posing a serious threat to farmers and farmer-led seed systems in the process. AGRA Watch provides an annotated script with links to sources available for each film (see episode 2 script here), and is producing a study guide for the series as well. You are also invited to review the full interview (excerpted in the film and available here) with Bern Guri of CIKOD, on Ghana’s Plant Varieties Protection Law.
TAKE ACTION
Call to Action: Urge Hard Rock Cafe, Landry’s and McCormick and Schmick’s Seafood and Steaks to boycott GE Salmon
Join the NGO Sign-on Letter to #BlockCorporateSalmon
In March 2021, Samuel & Sons, a Philadelphia-based seafood distributor and supplier for Hard Rock Cafe, Landry’s, and McCormick and Schmick’s announced that it would sell GE salmon to its clients. Friends of the Earth is circulating a sign-on letter for organizations to urge those restaurants to join the boycott. Add your organization’s support for these restaurants to cut ties with this frankenfish! Deadline to sign on has been extended until Saturday, Feb 5. Sign-on to the letter here.
Please take action for hospital workers
Update on WA Safe + Healthy from UFCW21
As you know, hospital workers are being pushed to the brink all over the country and world by Covid. Our solidarity campaign partner and grocery worker union UFCW 21 also represents healthcare workers, and they are mobilizing and asking for our support. Please follow this link https://act.seiu.org/a/wa-safe-healthy to quickly and easily send an email to the legislators who represent you on this issue!
Valentines for Global Vaccine Justice
Call to Action from Trade Justice Education Fund
Please use this form to submit a Valentine’s card or letter about someone you’ve lost, haven’t been able to visit or want to thank for their help during the COVID pandemic. You can either write or paste a letter directly into the “Text for Letter” box, or upload a picture/PDF of your letter. Some templates are at the bottom of this page.
Your letter will be added to an arrangement of other valentines posted in community displays in one of a handful of cities across the U.S. this Valentine’s Day in order to honor our loved ones, call for global vaccine & treatment equity and let people know they are not alone in these hard times.
CAGJ NEWS & ANALYSIS
Let’s Stop Celebrating the Demise of China’s Small-scale Farms
Blog Post by CAGJ Member Ross Doll
February 1, 2022 – China’s small-scale and subsistence household farms across the country are rapidly fading. For thousands of years the foundation of Chinese agriculture and a fixture of China’s vast countryside, they are now being replaced by the large-scale and mechanized operations so common in the Global North. Prominent Western and Chinese media reports have hailed this phenomenon as a necessary step to easing rural poverty, improving food security, and boosting the global economy. Says the New York Times in a recent article, “The world may benefit” — in other words, everyone wins. However, my research in rural China, along with broader work in China studies, suggests a more complicated situation, and along with it the need for a very different response. Continue reading.
AGRA’s Green Revolution Has Failed
By Julius Sigei
January 22, 2022 – Fifteen years later, and a billion dollars in funding, AGRA’s promise to double productivity and incomes for 30 million smallholder farming households by 2020 while reducing food insecurity by 50 per cent has not been fulfilled. Continue reading.
Opinion: New labeling rules won’t make it easier to avoid GMOs
By Dave Dickey
January 19, 2022 – Welcome to 2022 and the shiny new federal labeling rule that will require manufactures to disclose when foods are BIOENGINEERED! Sort of…. The new law essentially replaces a patchwork of state regulations regarding the labeling of genetically modified foods and food products. Unfortunately the law is
sure to create confusion and make it burdensome for some consumers to know if the foods they eat contain GMO ingredients.
Wall Street Journal: Dairy Quotas Would Help Our Family Farms
By Niaz Dorry, National Family Farm Coalition
January 23, 2022 – A recent ruling under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement fails to address the problems confronting dairy farmers in any meaningful way (“U.S. Wins Ruling on Canada Dairy Tariffs,” U.S. News, Jan. 5). On the contrary, it dismisses the positive example of Canada’s dairy supply-management program, which has stabilized the supply of milk, provided protective subsidies to small farmers, ensured most of the dairy production is consumed domestically and offered fairer prices to farmers and consumers. Continue reading.
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
THURSDAY February 3, 4 – 5PM Pacific Time
Dinner Disrupted: What is food security?
What is a food desert? What is food aparthied? How does access or lack of access to fresh and nutritious foods affect a community? Ife Kilimanjaro, Ph.D. and Co-Executive Director of Soul Fire Farm and Melissa Spiesman of Food Rescue US will discuss historical practices that have led to our current food systems and how local communities can help to change the system by working with and for their neighbors. Understanding historical policies and practices is a great step in creating space for a new conversation regarding food security and a healthy future for all. Register here.
SATURDAY February 5, 5 – 11PM Pacific Time
Black Dollar Days King County Reparations Project: Remembering Black Wall Street
Washington Hall, 153 14th Ave, Seattle
An evening remembering the history and tragic loss of Black Wall Street, Tulsa, OK. Performances by NAAM’s African American Cultural Ensemble (ACE), Acts On Stage, and local Seattle area dancers. Guest Speaker: Dr. Phil Armstrong, Director, Greenwood Rising Black Wall St. Center, Tulsa, OK.
Museum artifacts viewing, social & dancing at end of program. Music provided by The Lonnie Williams Band. Hor’dourves will be served. Doors Open: 5p; Program: 6-8p; Artifact Viewing/Social/Dancing: 8-11p. This is a Covid restricted event. Vaccination cards required at the door. Masks required for individuals 2+yrs. Thank you for helping to keep everyone safe! Register here for the in-person event. NOTE: This program may also be viewed online. For more information see “Virtual: Remembering Black Wall Street.” Thank you.
WEDNESDAY February 16 – 17, 9AM – 12:30PM Pacific Time
Indigenous Food Sovereignty and Health Symposium
This conference will orient researchers and public health practitioners to Indigenous food sovereignty, its value in facilitating health in Indigenous communities, and ways to connect food sovereignty initiatives with health data in your communities! Audience: Academic researchers, students, public health practitioners, tribal health date workers, tribal leadership, food and agriculture practitioners, community members, and anyone interested in the Indigenous food sovereignty movement. Register here.
SATURDAY February 19 – 20
Uprooted and Rising 2022 Winter Training
Grounded in the regenerative cycle that models nature’s seasons, we are transitioning from winter to spring. Coming out of rest, which is our time for dreaming, reflection, and moving with gratitude, we welcome new ideas, welcome back new and old faces, and begin to set intentions. As we begin to ramp up our campaigns again for the Spring, we want to call in all new and returning UNR members for a weekend focused on our collective growth. Grounded in the theme of relationships and preparing for action, get ready for a weekend of skill building, storytelling, and community care!
Register here.
See schedule here.
MONDAY February 28, 12PM Pacific Time
Native News Online: Indian Boarding School Discussions – Why Repatriation is Important
The second program of the Indian Boarding School Discussions will focus on repatriation of the children who passed away at Indian boarding schools and healing that needs to take place in tribal communities across Indian Country. Across the United States several Indian boarding schools have cemeteries near the closed facilities, such as Carlisle Industrial Boarding School in Pennsylvania. The graves of deceased Indian children buried at Carlisle fall under the control of the U.S. Army, which has taken the position that the graves of Indian children buried at Carlisle are not subject to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Many Indian law experts disagree with the U.S. Army’s stance. The second portion of the program will examine the effective healing strategies under way in Indian Country to deal with the intergenerational trauma associated with Indian boarding schools. See Facebook event here.
GET INVOLVED!
AGRA Watch
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