CAGJ Monthly E-Newsletter | OCTOBER 4, 2023
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CAGJ Monthly E-Newsletter | OCTOBER 4, 2023
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October E-News
SLEE is October 14th!
CAGJ HAPPENINGS
TAKE ACTION
CAGJ NEWS &
ANALYSIS
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
Social Media
Blogs CAGJ's blog Listservs |
SLEE is less than 2 weeks away! Buy your sliding scale tickets today!
SAT October 14, 5-9:30PM CAGJ's 17th Annual SLEE! Dinner - Strengthening Local Economies, Everywhere!
Location: St Demetrios Church, 2100 Boyer Ave E, Seattle, WA 98112 Volunteer at SLEE and get in for FREE Keynote: Malik Kenyatta Yakini, “Black Food Sovereignty, Local to Global" Malik has an intense interest in contributing to the development of an international Black Food Sovereignty movement that embraces Black communities in the Americas, the Caribbean and Africa. In his keynote he will share how he has led visionary Food Justice work in Detroit while also cultivating relationships beyond borders for transformational change. Tickets: Purchase on CAGJ’s website CAGJ HAPPENINGS Featuring Block Corporate Salmon
Thanks to generous funding from National Family Farm Coalition (of which we are a proud member), CAGJ Director Heather Day and Organizer noël lum recently attended Farm Aid 2023 in Noblesville, Indiana! Since 1985, Farm Aid has been held annually as a benefit concert to financially support family farms across the country. Over the long weekend, we were able to strengthen relationships amongst our delegation of over 40 farmers, fishers, and food advocates affiliated with NFFC and NAMA (North American Marine Alliance). On the day of the concert, BlockCorporateSalmon held a bustling exhibit at Farm Aid’s HOMEGROWN Village. Attendees screen-printed “Protect Wild Salmon” designs by Morgan Brown (Tsimshian/Ukrainian), and the exhibit was decorated with salmon art created at CAGJ’s Art & Activism workshop this past spring! Read more at our blog! In order to focus our energy on our annual SLEE gala and our year-end organizing, we will not be holding Monthly Organizing Meetings for the remainder of 2023. Be sure to check our website and keep up with the newsletter for the latest information about our work! TAKE ACTION Two action alerts from National Family Farm Coalition & RAFI!
Who do you want to control U.S. farmland - the local family farmers who feed us and give back to their local communities, or corporate investors seeking to extract profits? Unfortunately, farmers looking to purchase farmland face steep competition, and young and beginning farmers name land access as their top challenge. High land prices tip the scales in favor of corporate buyers, who have millions or even billions of dollars in capital and can easily outbid independent producers. Corporations often use methods that prey on farmers in financial crisis, encouraging rural landowners to give up their land in exchange for quick cash. It’s time to stop this trend. TAKE ACTION
RAFI Action Alert: Fair Access to Credit for Farmers
Access to credit is an essential tool for farmers to access land, yearly operating funds, and the ability to grow and strengthen their businesses—and the Farm Service Agency is an essential agricultural lender, the place farmers can go when other lenders deny them loans. All farmers deserve fair treatment at the Farm Service Agency, but unfortunately this has not always happened: we have seen a lot of bad treatment and injustice in the course of our financial casework with farmers. Farmers encounter obstacles and delay as they seek loans, and often have to put up their homes as collateral in order to have their loans approved. The Fair Credit for Farmers Act (S. 2668) will improve access and accountability in the FSA loan application and appeals process. It seeks a fundamental shift in the dynamic between farmers and FSA, to a relationship where farmers have protections and can be co-equal partners with FSA staff in seeking farm success. TAKE ACTION
CAGJ NEWS & ANALYSIS The New Colonialist Food Economy: How Bill Gates and agribusiness giants are throttling small farmers in Africa and the Global South
September 18, 2023 - Alexander Zaitchik, The Nation
This past summer, the global trade regime finalized details for a revolution in African agriculture. Under a pending draft protocol on intellectual property rights, the trade bodies sponsoring the African Continental Free Trade Area seek to lock all 54 African nations into a proprietary and punitive model of food cultivation, one that aims to supplant farmer traditions and practices that have endured on the continent for millennia. Read more.
Press Release: La Via Campesina is determined to build an alternative framework for global trade in agriculture – written by the peasants, for the people
September 8, 2023 - La Via Campesina
La Via Campesina commemorates the International Day of Action Against the WTO and Free Trade agreements and announces that the endeavor to construct an alternative trade framework based on food sovereignty and solidarity among peoples, will commence in 2023 during the 8th International Conference in Bogota, scheduled for this December. This year coincides with the 20-year anniversary of the tragic passing of Lee Kyung Hae, who sacrificed his life outside the Ministerial meeting site in Cancun, Mexico. Read more.
September 10, 2023 - Elena Seeley, Food Tank
This year, the international peasant movement La Via Campesina is celebrating its growth with the official launch of its 10th region. “If people don’t control the food, they don’t control the power,” Morgan Ody, General Coordinator for La Via Campesina tells Food Tank. Listen to the full conversation with Morgan Ody on “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg” HERE to hear about creating opportunities for youth in agriculture, reclaiming term peasant, and why La Via Campesina’s fight to democratize food systems is so critical. Read more.
September 11, 2023 - The Stand
Following the news release of a pending divestiture deal between Kroger, Albertson’s, and C&S Wholesale Grocers, UFCW locals across the country met with UFCW International to discuss the potential impact to grocery store workers. (In Washington state, Kroger operates as Fred Meyer and QFC, and Albertsons also operates as Safeway.) UFCW Local 367 continues to oppose this megamerger and will continue to monitor the situation. A Virtual Town Hall has been scheduled for Oct. 26 at 6pm to update the membership and greater community and discuss next steps in fighting the merger. Read more.
MON Oct 9
Indigenous Peoples Day
Join us for Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2023 at Daybreak Star, hosted by Daybreak Star Radio! The evening will include bingo, dinner, and a jam session. We encourage you to wear traditional regalia and bring a drum, rattle, flute, etc. for the jam session! More info.
THURS Oct 26, 10:30AM-12PM
Burden of Proof: Celebrate Filipino American History Month In the 1970's, workers' of color in Seattle formed the only workers' led law office called Labor Employment and Law Office (LELO). Using the 1964 civil rights law, LELO, led by Filipino, Native Alaskan and women workers, filed three companion lawsuits, claiming discrimination in employment, mess halls and bunk houses. Two of the cases were won by the workers resulting in the two largest monetary judgements won by migrant workers during that time. Wards Cove v. Atonio went all the way up to the Supreme Court and went through the court system for almost 30 years. Hear from the workers and architects of these cases and the curriculum that is now being developed so that we can all learn from history. In person at Seattle Central & virtual: For more info, contact [email protected]
FRI Oct 27, 6AM PT
Fightback against Free Trade and Neoliberal Globalization: The Continuity of the Peoples Struggle The webinar will gather the early fighters against Neoliberal Globalization together with the new sets of activists continuing the struggle against plunder and exploitation. Activists from Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, who formed the People Campaign Against Imperialist Globalization (PCAIG) in the 90’s, will meet-up with the new set of activists, members of the No to APEC Coalition, who are continuing the fight against Neoliberal Globalization. Strategies and tactics of resistance, then and now, will be shared during the webinar. Register here.
Oct 25 - 27
47th Annual Provender Alliance Educational Conference Join us in October at our annual educational and networking conference! The Provender conference is known for helping businesses create well-rounded and long-term staff. Come learn about many aspects of the natural food industry at the conference, including leadership skills, increasing your knowledge base of how brokers, manufacturers, and others in our industry work together, and providing a space for staff from all levels of your organization to network with the people who are growing, manufacturing/crafting, and selling the food we eat. Learn more and register.
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