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 CAGJ Monthly E-Newsletter | NOVEMBER 2, 2022
 

NOVEMBER E-News
Join us THURS NOV 17th for our AGRA Watch Action!
 
CAGJ ACTIVIST PROFILE
Ashley Fent
 
CAGJ HAPPENINGS
11/10 WFTC Trivia Night
11/15 CAGJ Monthly Organizing Meeting
12/6 Farmworker Solidarity Collective
 
TAKE ACTION
VOTE
11/17 Join AGRA Watch Action
Support Farmworkers' Demands in WA
Say NO! to GMO Salmon
 
CAGJ NEWS &
ANALYSIS
Watch the Food Sovereignty Prize
What's Wrong with the Africa Food Prize?
FUJ Farm Visit Recap
FUJ Tour, AGRA Watch Action
 
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
Local events

 

Get Involved! Upcoming CAGJ Meetings:

Monthly Organizing Meeting:
3rd Tues/month, 6:30 - 8:30; for more info email us.
 
AGRA Watch:

time varies, for more info email us


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THURS NOV 17, 4:30-6:30pm PT
Shining a Light on False Climate Solutions: AGRA Watch Action
An outdoor film screening and light projection at the Gates Foundation
Register (not required) HERE.

As climate change negotiations wrap up in Egypt, join us for an outdoor film screening and light show to highlight the Gates Foundation’s false climate solutions in agriculture, and promote sustainable grassroots alternatives! Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation are key promoters of tech-based false solutions, from digital agriculture to biotechnology to carbon markets, and these initiatives often prop up corporations and fail to make meaningful change. We will be screening Rich Appetites, our short films co-produced by AGRA Watch and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, that shine a light on the real, grassroots, agroecological answers to the urgency of the climate crisis, as well as doing a light projection on the exterior of the Foundation itself. Location: Gates Foundation, 500 5th Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109. Stop by for part or all of the event—warm beverages will be served!


CAGJ Activist Profile

This month we are launching a new section of our monthly E-News, to introduce CAGJ staff, volunteers and interns to our members. Each activist will reply to these questions: What led you to working with CAGJ? What does food sovereignty mean to you? Where do you see CAGJ in 5-10 years? Can you tell us one favorite aspect of your work with CAGJ? What is one growing edge you think CAGJ can work on? One response is highlighted here, and you can read more on our website.


Our first three profiles will feature CAGJ’s staff, starting this month with AGRA Watch Research Coordinator Ashley Fent. CAGJ has been privileged to work again with Ashley since July 2021, and we wish her well as she soon starts maternity leave! In her profile Ashley states, “To me the most important aspect of food sovereignty is that it is a collective right to define food and agricultural systems. It implies that we as communities have to come together to develop, protect, and advance more decentralized food and agricultural systems that serve people…” Read Ashley’s full profile HERE.


CAGJ HAPPENINGS

 
THURS NOV 10, 6:30 - 8PM PST via Zoom
WA Fair Trade Coalition Trivia Night
Keynote: Cherika Carter, WA State Labor Council

Join CAGJ's team for WA Fair Trade Coalition's second annual Fair Trade Trivia Night! Come and bring your friends to compete for an opportunity to be crowned Fair Trade Trivia Champions, complete with gift certificates, Fair Trade swag, and other exciting prizes! You will also get the opportunity to hear from Cherika Carter, the newly elected Washington State Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer, on the importance of trade issues in the labor movement. Come participate in a variety of other Happy Hour activities to let loose and celebrate the end of election season. We thank you for your continued support, and we hope you can come celebrate all the work we’ve accomplished together! Please reach out to [email protected] if your organization would like to purchase a table or half-table. To join CAGJ's team or for more info, RSVP here!

TUES NOV 15, 6:30 - 8PM PST via Zoom
CAGJ Monthly Organizing Meeting & Rich Appetites Film Screening
Orientation for new Members at 6pm: RSVP
Please register to receive the ZOOM link.

As the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) is taking place in November, our meeting will be dedicated to learning about how agroecology offers real climate solutions. We will watch "Agrecology", the 5th and final film in our Rich Appetites series, and will invite one of the featured practicioners to join us in conversation!

Join us on the third Tuesday of each month for CAGJ’s Monthly Organizing Meeting (MOM)! MOMs are taking the place of Food Justice Project meetings, in order to create space for folks to learn about all of CAGJ’s organizing - Food Justice, AGRA Watch and Trade Justice - in one place!

As always, new folks 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 [email protected].

TUES DEC 6, 6-7PM PST via Zoom
CAGJ’s Farmworker Solidarity Collective Meeting
Please register to receive the Zoom link.

Join us for our final meeting of the year, when we will set intentions and plan for our 2023 organizing. In November we are working on solidifying some of the calls to action from farmworker union Familias Unidas por la Justicia's Farmworker Solidarity Tour. If you are unfamiliar with the tour, find some additional information here, and see calls to action here.

CAGJ's Farmworker Solidarity Collective was born out of our collaboration with Community to Community Development and Familias Unidas por la Justicia Farmworker Union. It meets monthly to discuss ways to mobilize support for our farmworker partners in WA state. Anyone who is committed to creating better conditions for farmworkers is welcome to join, and collective members are encouraged to be active participants in shaping this process.  Reach out to [email protected] with questions!


TAKE ACTION

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!
The mid-term & local elections are critical!
 
THURS NOV 17, 4:30-6:30pm PST
Join AGRA Watch Action: Shining a Light on False Climate Solutions -An outdoor film screening and light projection at the Gates Foundation
Register (not required) HERE.
If you’d like to contribute to planning this event, please contact us at [email protected]
 
Support Farmworker Organizing in WA State
Take Action with Familias Unidas por la Justicia

Washington’s Independent Farmworker Union, Familias Unidas por la Justicia, just wrapped up their October tour, Creating the World We Want/Creando el Mundo que Queremos. The tour generated a series of calls to action and we need your help to make them successful. For more details on all of these please visit the tour website: fujsolidaritytour.com

  1. Stop the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. Sign the petition
  2. Tell Gov. Jay Inslee to declare a climate emergency.
  3. Tell Labor and Industry Director Joel Sacks to opt-in to the HEAL act and adopt an environmental justice lens to their rulemaking. 
Say NO! to GMO Salmon
Support Ohio Whistleblower by amplifying his story

The Block Corporate Salmon Campaign, spearheaded by Uprooted and Rising, broke a big story last week. They’ve been working with reporters and a whistleblower to bring attention to the horrible conditions inside an AquaBounty facility manufacturing GMO Salmon. After trying to work with various reporters, they decided to break the story themselves, and are calling on their community to share and amplify their message. 

  1. Sign the petition to boycott GE Salmon!
  2. Check out the report and the published stories here
  3. Use this toolkit if you want to create some social media noise in support of the campaign
  4. Repost, share on Facebook, or retweet their content on your own feed to keep the story circulating. 

CAGJ NEWS & ANALYSIS

 
Watch the 2022 Food Sovereignty Prize Ceremony
Food Sovereignty Ghana & WORC 2022 Honorees
Now in its 14th year, the Food Sovereignty Prize is given annually by the US Food Sovereignty Alliance near World Food Day to a domestic and international organization advancing food sovereignty – the right of all peoples to access healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their food, fishery, and farming systems. It stands in contrast to the corporate-funded World Food Prize, which perpetuates the myth that society can produce its way out of hunger and the climate crisis with biotechnology and synthetic inputs. This year, the Food Sovereignty Prize was awarded to Food Sovereignty Ghana and Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC). Watch the full award ceremony here, including a rich discussion with both winners. 
 
What is Wrong with the Africa Food Prize?
October 18, 2022 - AGRA Watch
As they do every year, the titans of agribusiness shined a spotlight on their favorite tech-based approaches to food production by awarding the World Food Prize in Iowa, in the home of Norman Borlaug, credited as the “father of the green revolution.” When we found out that the 2022 Africa Food Prize recipient, Dr. Eric Yirenkyi Danquah, is a Ghanaian plant geneticist, AGRA Watch staff Ashley Fent did some research to demonstrate the stark difference between this honoree and the 2022 Food Sovereignty Prize winner, Food Sovereignty Ghana. Read more.
 
FUJ Farm Visit Recap

In September, CAGJ had the pleasure of visiting the Cooperativa Tierra y Libertad/Land and Liberation cooperative farm. Founded in 2017 by four members of Washington’s independent farmworker union, Familias Unidas por la Justicia, the farm is an attempt at creating a workplace where the workers themselves have a direct say in the direction of the farm and implementation of projects. The cooperative is structured around principles of environmental and social equity, and employs agroecological management practices. The ultimate goal is for the farm to be able to economically sustain the families of the people who work on it, and to provide an alternative food source for the community that is economically accessible, environmentally responsible and culturally appropriate. Read more about the visit and see photos here. And contact [email protected] if you want to get involved in CAGJ's organizing in solidarity with farmworkers.

 
FUJ Tour & Action at Gates Foundation
This Fall CAGJ worked with farmworker union Familias Unidas por la Justicia and other community organizations based out of Seattle to organize the FUJ Farmworker Solidarity Tour. Over two days in October, we convened a rally, march, dinner, teach-in and AGRA-Watch action in Seattle that highlighted how issues faced by farmworkers are connected to the struggles of other marginalized communities. The events brought attention to the role corporations and foundations play in upholding unjust and harmful practices in our food system. The tour continued to several other cities in WA. Read more about the FUJ tour, and read AGRA Watch Co-Chair Webster Walker's speech.
 

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

Monday, November 7th, 5-7pm PDT
Chocolate & Beer Pairing with Pamela Esquivel & Laura Bechard
Location: Bulldog News, 4208 University Way NE in Seattle
Join leaders from ACOPAGRO and Equal Exchange for a chocolate and beer pairing and a discussion of the importance of Fair Trade in the cocoa industry. ACOPAGRO is one of Peru's leading cocoa farming co-operatives and a leader in the organic Fair Trade movement. Equal Exchange is a long-time partner of CAGJ dedicated to Fair Trade in coffee and cocoa. The chocolate and beer pairing will allow all participants to experience the flavors of various Equal Exchange chocolates with beers from Fremont Brewing. The event is open and free to CAGJ members. For more information, email [email protected]
 
Apply or Nominate by Nov 15:
No-Cost Residency for Young Adults on Whidbey Island
The Wayfinders Program is accepting applications to its 4 month, no-cost residency program until November 15! This is an incredible opportunity for young adults seeking positive change in their communities to engage in a curriculum developed by esteemed educators and innovation leaders across the United States. Learning modules include decision making and conflict resolution, group facilitation, worldview literacy, professional networking, and building resilience. The residency is open to adults aged 21-29 living in the Greater Seattle and Puget Sound Region, and takes place at the Whidbey Institute on Whidbey Island, WA, starting January 6—April 23, 2023. Wayfinders covers costs of teaching, accommodation and food for the duration of the residency. Participants can self-nominate or peers, educators or supporters. More info.

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