2020
Cultivating Resilient Food Systems in Times of Crisis
Rise Up! Summer School is a free 3-month political education and leadership development program for community members, which offers an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the problems in our food system, while being part of the change we want to see.
Across the world, we are facing a confluence of crises. The COVID-19 outbreak is magnifying racial and economic inequality. Industrial food production is accelerating climate change and increasing global food insecurity. These crises incite political instability and mass human displacement at an unprecedented scale, and now the pandemic is exposing the vulnerability of our globalized food system to collapse. Together, we will delve into why the movement for Food Sovereignty is needed now more than ever, to cultivate resilient food systems and justice for all!
JUNE: Past | Laying Groundwork & Foundations
Link to June resources
Topics: Food Sovereignty, Food Justice, Agroecology, Seed Sovereignty, Decolonization, Racist & genocidal roots of US food system
Highlighted CAGJ Campaign: Solidarity with Farmworkers
JULY: Present | Current State of the Food System
Link to July resources
Topics: Corporate control of the food system, Agribusiness impact on climate crisis, Food workers’ rights and food security in a pandemic, Philanthro-capitalism
Highlighted CAGJ Campaign: Solidarity with the African Food Sovereignty Movement
AUGUST: Future | Paths Forward
Link to August resources
Topics: Just Transition, Climate Justice, Movement-Building
Highlighted CAGJ Campaign: Solidarity with NW tribes in opposition to GE Salmon
2018
Rise Up! Summer School
JUNE: African Food Sovereignty
Readings & Materials:
- Infographic on Agroecology vs. Industrial Agriculture from the Chistensen Fund
- A New Green Revolution for Africa? from GRAIN (7-p PDF – download by clicking link)
- Seeds of Neo-Colonialism: Why the GMO promoters get it so wrong about Africa Statement by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (3-p)
- Spiritual & Cultural Value of Seed in South Africa from African Centre for Biodiversity (6.5min video)
Additional Materials in preparation for Gates Field Trip:
- AGRA Watch brochure – an overview of AGRA Watch (attached in email/handed out)
- Video of the panel Who Profits from Philanthropy? Featuring CAGJ/AGRA Watch, Social Justice Fund NW, Resource Generation, and Thousand Currents. Read the report-back of the community event here.
- Resources on Philanthrocapitalism & Social Justice Giving
- Putting Agriculture First without Farmers and Land? Reflections on Tanzania’s Road to Green Revolution, a blog by Youjin Chung who researched AGRA during her time in Tanzania.
- Philanthrocapitalism: The Gates Foundation’s African programmes are not charity, an article by AGRA Watch member Phil Bereano.
- Gated Development: Is the Gates Foundation always a force for good? (56-page PDF)
- How does the Gates Foundation spend its money to feed the world? 2014 Report by GRAIN (link is to summary of report; full report is downloadable from that page)
- Agroecology: the Bold Future of Farming in Africa 2017 Report from the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (88-page PDF with photos). Definitely worth perusing!
JULY: Farmworker Solidarity
Readings and Materials:
- Towards a “Peoples” Agroecology by Blaine Snipstal, WhyHunger Blog Series (3-p)
- A New Farm Worker Union Is Born by David Bacon, American Prospect (6-p)
- Sarbanand: A “Dirty Dozen” Corporation contesting being fined in District Court for working a farmworker to death in Whatcom County by Edgar Franks, Community to Community (1-p)
- Close to Slavery: Guestworker Programs in the United States (2013 edition), from Southern Poverty Law Center (Link is a PDF download. Parts 1, 2, 4, 9, and 11 suggested – totals 20-pp. Entire report recommended!)
Other recommended articles if you have time:
- Block the Expansion of H2A: Say No to H2C! From Community to Community (2-p)
- Why These Farm Workers Went On Strike—and Why It Matters by David Bacon, The Nation (4-p)
- ‘You Came Here to Suffer’ by David Bacon, The Progressive (8-p)
AUGUST: Native Resistance to GE Salmon
Readings and Materials:
Video:
- Valerie Segrest on Food Sovereignty, Ted Talk (13 min video)
Readings:
- Indigenous Food, Land and Heritage Primer by Dawn Morrison (1-p)
- “Decolonizing together: Moving beyond a politics of solidarity toward a practice of decolonization,” by Harsha Walia, Briarpatch Magazine (4-p PDF, also at briarpatchmagazine.com)
- Native Fishing Rights, the environment, and threats to salmon recovery: In the Pacific Northwest, Native Fishing Rights Take on a Role as Environmental Protector, By Felicity Barringer (1-p)
- Understanding Tribal Treaty Rights in Western Washington from Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (4-p PDF)
- Kyle Powys Whyte: Food Sovereignty, Justice and Indigenous Peoples: An Essay on Settler Colonialism and Collective Continuance (21-p PDF)
Check out in preparation for field trip:
- Swinomish Indigenous Health Indicators, developed in the community and leading the way for many communities working to develop their own
- Swinomish Climate Change Initiative
Other recommended materials:
Articles:
- Decolonizing Pipeline Resistance: An Interview with Freda Huson by Lee Veeraraghavan (4-p PDF)
- As We Have Always Done, Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Introduction and excerpt of chapter 1, 17-p total)
- Food Sovereignty is Tribal Sovereignty by Brit Reed, Evergreen State College MA student (2-p)
- The “Fish-in” Protests at Franks Landing (History, 13-p)
Films/Videos:
- As Long as the Rivers Run directed by Carol Burns and co-produced by Hank Adams. The film that documents the Fish Wars of the late 1960s to early 1970s. Norma Frank is arrested on the banks of Nisqually River for exercising her treaty fishing rights. (1 hour film)
- Catalyst Project’s Indigenous Resistance Panel featuring Corrina Gould (9 min video)
- “Pre-Colonial Socialism and the Effects of Genocide” by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz (first 17 min of video recommended)
Books:
- Indians of the Pacific Northwest, by Vine Deloria. Foreword by Billy Frank Jr. (139 pages)
Highlighted CAGJ Campaign: GE Salmon
- Salmon People: The Risks of Genetically Engineered Fish for the Pacific Northwest, co-produced by CAGJ, Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project, and New Canoe Media (3.5min video)
- Salmon People: A backgrounder to Northwest Tribal Opposition to GE Salmon (4-p, also PDF attached)