WED Dec. 6, 7:30PM: CAGJ/AGRA Watch at Town Hall Seattle

A conversation with Tim Schwab about his new book: The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire. Register now, or get your tickets at the door.

End of 2023 Appeal from Heather Day, CAGJ ED

Help strengthen the web - Save CAGJ!

This end of year appeal is different from all of the other letters I’ve written before, and that is because the future of CAGJ is uncertain. I am writing to ask you to help save CAGJ.

Attaining financial stability is challenging right now, as CAGJ is facing a shortfall in our budget. One of the primary funders of AGRA Watch has shifted its priorities as it spends down. While we honor its priorities, this leaves a significant gap that is challenging to fill. Most foundations aren’t willing to take the risk of funding an organization dedicated to critiquing philanthropy and the Gates Foundation, which has a lot of influence. And while we have been successful in developing joint projects and funding applications with our African partners, as with our Rich Appetites film series, we need operating support and internal capacity to keep our programs and partnerships running.

We need to raise an additional $75k to bridge the gap, to increase organizing capacity and to stabilize our finances. CAGJ’s Steering Committee aims to hire additional staff, as well as provide a salary increase for me, in order to be able to continue our work and get on more sustainable footing. You can help out today by becoming a Monthly Sustainer today (or increasing your monthly gift), or by making a one-time gift!

At the same time that we are facing budget shortfalls, the need for our organizing is growing. We are currently applying for grants to fund our revamped community education and leadership development program, “Food Fight! A Summer Crash Course in Grassroots Organizing for Food and Climate Justice.” AGRA Watch is being called upon by our African partners to help find new strategies for tackling the unaccountable power of the Gates Foundation.

Your donations make a big difference in CAGJ’s ability to keep engaging in local and global webs of solidarity! Thank you for considering a generous gift to CAGJ this holiday season; I am so grateful to everyone for your support.

Heather Day, Executive Director

Help strengthen the web - Save CAGJ!
All gifts are tax-deductible

Monthly Sustainers give by automatic deduction once per month, and help us concentrate more energy on organizing. Give $5, $20, $75 or $150 per month!
One-time donations will help us reach our goal of raising $25,000 by December 31.
Do you work for a company that provides matching funds? Let us know how we can connect!
Can’t donate, but want to become a Member or renew? Just fill out our online Membership form - Thank you!

CAGJ/AGRA Watch at Town Hall Seattle with Tim Schwab

The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire

TOMORROW WED 12/6 @ 7:30PM; Doors open at 6:30

In his new book The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire, investigative journalist Tim Schwab finds that Bill Gates brings the same monopoly ethos he exercised at Microsoft to his philanthropic career at the Gates Foundation. Schwab argues that while Gates may be well-meaning as a philanthropist, he is helping people the only way he knows how: by taking control, often in ways that hurt the very people he aims to help. The Gates Foundation presents a stunning display of undemocratic power by a tech billionaire that is more oligarchy than charity----and that must be challenged.

Join Tim Schwab in discussion with researchers, writers and activists who have been holding the Gates Foundation accountable for two decades!

Ashley Fent, AGRA Watch researcher
Jesse Hagopian, Public educator and a leader of the movement to resist standardized testing
Steve Gloyd, Physician and faculty, UW Department of Global Health
Daniel Maingi, Kenyan scientist & Practitioner Fellow, The Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society

Get your sliding-scale tickets here, or at the door. Sliding scale starting at $5, FREE for youth 22 and under.

Help publicize! Please share the Facebook event. Produced by Town Hall Seattle with Community Alliance for Global Justice & AGRA Watch.

Virtual 2023 Food Sovereignty Prize Ceremony

THUR Dec. 14, 3:30-4:30PM PST

Register now

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2023 Food Sovereignty Prize, given annually by the US Food Sovereignty Alliance (USFSA)! We are thrilled to share that Black Dirt Farm Collective (Brandywine, Maryland) and Mouvman Peyizan Papay (Papaye Peasant Movement; Haiti) have been recognized for their outstanding dedication to advancing food sovereignty and justice. Learn more about these two deserving organizations. On December 14, join us to hear their stories and to celebrate their efforts to realize food sovereignty! Free registration here.

Malik Yakini's concluding remarks, SLEE 2023 Keynote

"This has just all become too complex!"

A warm and wide THANK YOU to everyone for being part of our 17th Annual Strengthening Local Economies Everywhere Dinner which took place October 14. What a gift it was to hear from our keynote speaker Malik Yakini, who came all the way from Detroit! Malik concluded with a very humorous short essay, which begins:

This has just all become too complex!

I long ago gave up eating meat and fish for health reasons. I later developed a sensitivity for the environmental impact of corporate meat production and overfishing. I gave up eating white bread and white rice after reading Elijah Muhammad’s “How to Eat to Live” in 1975. I stopped eating mucus producing dairy products and eggs a few years later.

But now, this is the biggest step of all! To give up eating altogether! Here’s why.

Read the full essay here. Watch and share his keynote, “Black Food Sovereignty: Local to Global!”

TAKE ACTION

Tell Rep. DelBene to Stop Siding with Big Tech Lobbyists on “Digital Trade”

Sign the letter

The Biden administration recently announced that it is not supporting Trump-era “digital trade” proposals at the WTO designed to help Big Tech undermine personal privacy, worker rights and AI accountability.

Unfortunately, not all people are celebrating this important victory. U.S. Representative Suzan DelBene (D-WA) has decided to join Big Tech lobbyists and Congressional Republicans in slamming the Biden administration for taking this pro-worker, pro-consumer and pro-civil rights action. Please urge Rep. DelBene to stop attacking Biden administration officials for standing up against Big Tech’s harmful “digital trade” agenda.

CAGJ NEWS & ANALYSIS

"Harvesting hypocrisy: The global food fight and Africa's forgotten farmers" A rebuttal to George Monbiot

November 7, 2023 - Million Belay, The Nation

In this compelling article, Million Belay, the General Coordinator of Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), offers a persuasive rebuttal to George Monbiot’s recent essay titled “The Cruel Fantasies of Well-Fed People.” Million passionately champions the cause of Agroecology, presenting it as the pathway to the future and a forward-looking, science-based approach to revolutionize the agri-food system in Africa. Million’s argument underscores the importance of recognizing that agricultural strategies must be tailored to the specific contexts they aim to serve. While the ongoing debate between British authors on the future of global food production is captivating, Million emphasizes that it is crucial to consider the unique circumstances of Africa. He makes a compelling point that the current discourse, which leans towards a production-focused approach to solving hunger, often overlooks the fundamental issue. Hunger, Million argues, is not solely a matter of increasing production. Instead, it is intricately linked to distribution disparities, poverty, and exclusion. Read more.

STATEMENT OF ALLIANCE FOR FOOD SOVEREIGNTY IN AFRICA AT COP 28 Climate Talks

November 27, 2023 - Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa

This statement is delivered on behalf of 37 African Networks and organizations representing up to 200 million Africans, including, small-scale farmers, pastoralists, fisherfolks, indigenous peoples, women networks, youth groups, agroecological entrepreneurs, environmentalists, Civil Society Organizations and consumer groups: PUT PEOPLE, NATURE, AND LIVELIHOODS AT THE FOREFRONT OF CLIMATE ACTION. Read the full statement.

Walanthropy

November 2, 2023 - Civil Eats

Civil Eats are proud to launch their latest investigative series: Walanthropy: Walmart and the Waltons Wield Unprecedented Influence Over Food, Policy, and the Planet. In this ongoing investigative series, Civil Eats will take a detailed look at Walmart and its founding family’s influence over the American food system, over the producers and policymakers who shape it, and how its would-be critics are also its bedfellows.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

SAT & SUN Dec 9-10, 10AM - 2PM

Winter Market at Rainier Beach Urban Farm & Wetlands

Come stock up on local winter produce like apples, potatoes and winter squash! We’ll also have your favorite local honey, jams, and pantry goods. This year we’re excited to showcase goods made by Tilth Alliance staff that have been sewn, crocheted, crafted and more! Our Maritime Northwest Garden Guide and other books, gardening tools, and other gift items will also be available. More info.

THUR Dec 14, 7PM

Screening + Q&A: COVENANT OF THE SALMON PEOPLE

Produced in collaboration with the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) Tribe, Covenant of the Salmon People is a 60-minute film exploring how the Nimiipuu people’s relationship to salmon has shaped them. As the oldest documented civilization in North America, the Nimiipuu date back over 16,000 years to a creation story that is an agreement to protect salmon and speak on their behalf. The covenant with salmon is woven into Nimiipuu culture, history, and now their modern-day species restoration work. Kayeloni Scott, Producer of the film, will join us for Q&A and discussion after the screening. More info and Zoom link.

TUES Dec 19, 6 - 9PM

Kwanzaa Celebration with GRuB's Growing Home Collective

Join us for a Kwanzaa celebration! We deepen into Black Ancestral and community wisdom with Kwanzaa, an African-American and Pan-African holiday created by Dr. Maulana Karenga. This traditionally week long celebration is based on age old African cultural and harvest traditions. It is a non religious holiday that strengthens our unity as a Black community with a variety of backgrounds, acknowledges our roots and culture, our Black genius, champions, and contributors, and gives us guiding principles to support each other and thrive in our self-determination. Email [email protected] to RSVP! More info.

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