We did it! CAGJ just hosted a national gathering of food sovereignty activists and celebrated the Food Sovereignty Prize, despite predictions of the storm of the century. Read the full report-back below!

Giving that Promotes Justice

CAGJ's annual Fair Trade for the Holidays Fundraiser

Every year CAGJ offers you the opportunity to purchase gifts with meaning: While helping CAGJ to fundraise, you are also supporting local artists, fishermen and farmers, as well as the small-scale farmers in Africa, who benefit from the Fair Trade movement. Order online, and pick up at CAGJ’s Holiday Party on SAT Dec 17, or at our office!

New! Narrow Bridge Beeswax Candles of Resistance

Local Urban Bee Co. Honey – from Marra Farm! & Loki Fish Co. Smoked Salmon

Nikki McClure Calendar, CAGJ Food Justice Poster and T-shirt

Equal Exchange Chocolate Bars

CAGJ's Book & Zine: Our Food, Our Right: Recipes for Food Justice

CAGJ HAPPENINGS

THURS NOV 10, 9am - 12 Noon
Protest Opening of Mercer Island New Seasons Store

New Seasons Market is a Portland-based private equity-backed chain that is trying to expanding into Seattle’s “natural foods” market. They have a history of unsafe food handling practices, union busting, and workplace safety violations. Let’s tell New Seasons their anti-union practices aren’t welcome! Worker rights advocates and food justice advocates - including CAGJ - have been waging a public fight since January to keep New Seasons out of the transit-oriented development project next to the Capitol Hill Light Rail Station. Help us send a clear message to New Seasons on Nov. 10! Location: 2755 77th Ave SE, Mercer Island. To learn more about how you can get involved, contact Joe Solorio at UFCW 21.

FRI NOV 18, 5:30 - 7:30pm
Celebrate Historic Union Election with Familias Unidas por la Justicia

Location: WA State Labor Council, 321 16th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98144

FREE Reception; Donations accepted for future FUJ organizing support!

Please RSVP and help us publicize! Join us to celebrate the recent vote for independent farmworker union, Familias Unidas por la Justicia, supported throughout their struggle by Community to Community Development. Representatives of both FUJ and C2C will share their perspectives on this victory, and the struggle to come. Organized by Community Alliance for Global Justice, UFCW 21 and WA State Labor Council.

MON NOV 21, 6:30 - 8:30pm
Monthly Food Justice Project Meeting

New volunteer orientation at 6pm! Please RSVP.

All are welcome! Come find out how to help us organize against the TPP and GE Salmon, for farmworker and food worker rights! FJP’s monthly meetings are held the third Monday of every month, however we will not meet in December due to our busy holidays schedules! Meetings are held at CAGJ’s Office in the ID, 606 Maynard Ave. S. Rm 102, Seattle. For more info, email Food Justice Project Co-Chair, Ross.

SUN NOV 27, 6-9PM
Live Music Fundraiser! Help CAGJ attend the UN Conference on Biological Diversity in Mexico

In December, CAGJ staff Heather Day and Simone Adler, and AGRA Watch members Phil Bereano and Johanna Lundahl will head to Mexico as a delegation for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. We are grateful to Swift Foundation for providing part of the funding, and we need your support for our members to attend! Join us for a FUNdraiser with live music by CAGJ's own Heather Day and Ross Kirshenbaum, and special guest, Animals of Grace (with SLEE organizer extraordinaire, Erika Lundahl)! At the Conference, we are proud to host a side event with ENSSER and Third World Network called “Biodiversity Under Threat: The Gates Foundation, Philanthrocapitalism, and the Capture of African Agricultural Biodiversity”, featuring speakers from the African Center for Biodiversity and Kenya Food Rights Alliance (read more here). Please come out and dance with us on Nov 27, and help our members attend this important convergence in Mexico! PLEASE RSVP for location details!

CAGJ NEWS & UPDATES

Report-back on 2016 Food Sovereignty Prize Ceremony and Encounter: Our Seeds of International Solidarity

In October, representatives of over 20 organizations gathered in Seattle and Bellingham for several days of dialogue, action, and celebration of the growing food sovereignty movement. The Encounter, co-hosted by Community Alliance for Global Justice and Community to Community Development, was a national gathering of the US Food Sovereignty Alliance (USFSA). On October 15, we honored Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa and Farmworkers Association of Florida as recipients of the 8th Annual Food Sovereignty Prize, awarded by the USFSA. Read the full report of the Encounter.

Gates Foundation Action with Chair of AFSA

During the Encounter we held an action at the Gates Foundation with all members of the Encounter, including Bern Guri, Chair of Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, who spoke. Through our action we aimed to raise issue with the Foundation’s deep ties to the World Food Prize, which includes significant financial contributions to half of the 2016 winners and nearly $1.5 million in funding since 2009 (read our press release). Check out the great interview of Guri by Humanosphere ("Ghanian activist leads fight to protect small family farms in Africa"), who covered the action as well.

Food Sovereignty Prize Award Ceremony

The main event of the Food Sovereignty Prize Award Ceremony was cancelled at Town Hall due to the threat of wind storms and power outages, and relocated to the home of CAGJ’s Director Heather Day, where the show went on in a more intimate setting, and was livestreamed on Facebook. The ceremony opened with storytelling from Roger Fernandes, a member of the Lower Elwha Band of the S’Klallam Indians, sharing about the connection of food to our ancestors, our people, and those yet to come. After a keynote by John Peck, representing La Via Campesina, the 2016 recipients were awarded, both giving enthusiastic and powerful remarks: Elvira Carvajal on behalf of Farmworker Association of Florida, and Bern Guri on behalf of Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa. The evening concluded with a lively reception, music, and celebration. Watch the full video of the Ceremony on YouTube! See more photos of the week’s action and award ceremony on Facebook, and read South Seattle Emerald’s account.

Join CAGJ Leadership: Seeking Treasurer!

CAGJ’s longtime Treasurer is stepping down – thank you Emma for your years of service to CAGJ! Please help us find the right person for this vital volunteer role in CAGJ! The Treasurer supports our book-keeper to ensure accurate accounting, supports our annual budgeting process, and assists with quarterly and annual taxes. A full job description can be found here, and contact Heather if you are interested! Thank you!

TAKE ACTION

WA Voters: Vote NO on I-732! Vote YES on I-433!
CAGJ stands with over 60 racial justice organizations in Front and Centered to demand justice for communities of color, workers, and those hit hardest by climate change. Carbon policy without equitable green investments will fail, so we ask you to VOTE NO ON 1-732. #DontBeNeutral. Read more analysis of why I-732 is a false solution.

And we stand with Raise Up WA to ensure every worker can earn paid sick and safe leave and raise the minimum wage, so we ask you to VOTE #YesOn1433!

Four Actions to STOP the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership)

1. Check out CAGJ’s letter to the WA Congressional delegation, urging them to vote no on the TPP. We are sending it as a poster this week to all of them!

2. Thank Rep Denny Heck (10^th district) for coming out against the TPP! Call his DC office: 202-225-9740. THANK YOU WA Fair Trade Coalition for your tireless, creative and effective organizing that helped lead to this great victory! Read WFTC’s press release.

3. Show your love for WA Fair Trade Coalition, and come to our annual breakfast Fundraiser on TUES Dec 6 - details below.

4. Take the Lame Duck Pledge of Action to Stop the TPP - Opposition to Trans-Pacific Partnership is growing, but Corporate lobbyists are hell bent on forcing a vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) during the “lame duck” session of Congress immediately after the election – when politicians’ accountability to constituents is at its absolute lowest. If passed, this back room deal would pit workers around the world against each other for the lowest standards, undermine environmental and public health regulations, threaten access to traditional seeds, and undermine local sustainable food systems for decades to come.

That is where we come in. Let's show Congress that the public is ready to fight back against any attempts to push the TPP through after elections. Take the Lame Duck Pledge of Action! Say NO to any undemocratic attempt to sneak through Congress the biggest Free Trade deal ever negotiated. Want actual pledge cards to get signed around your community? Email Gillian with your address, how many you need, and when you need them by.

WED Nov 9, 7:30PM (Doors open at 6:30)

Chuck Collins: A One-Percenter for the Ninety-Nine

Location: Downstairs at Town Hall, $5.

These days, financial inequality seems to be growing in America. The wealthy wield power and advantage, wittingly or not, to keep the system operating in their favor, while retreating into enclaves that separate them from the poor and working class. Resentment toward these exclusive circles is growing. It is time to think differently, says longtime inequality expert and activist Chuck Collins. Born into wealth, Collins gave away his inheritance at age 26 and has spent the last three decades mobilizing against inequality. He uses his perspective from both sides of the divide to deliver a new narrative. Collins shares stories that explore the roots of advantage, show how taxpayers subsidize the wealthy, and reveal how charity, used incorrectly, can actually reinforce extreme inequality. He offers a variety of national and local solutions designed to challenge inequality, respond to climate change and offer a fresh take on one of our most intransigent problems. More info.

WED Nov 9, 6:30-8:30 PM

Revolutionary Medicine: Public Health in Cuba

Presentation and discussion with Enrique Beldarrain Chaple, MD, Chief, Research Department, Cuban National Information Center of Medical Sciences and Professor, Public Health and History of Medicine, National School of Public Health, Cuba. Location: Home of Cindy Domingo and Garry Owens. Please RSVP for address and so hosts can accommodate you with food and refreshments.

NOV 11-13

Tilth Conference

Location: Wenatchee Convention Center, 121 N Wenatchee Ave, Wenatchee, WA 98801.Every year, the Tilth Conference brings together hundreds of farmers, producers, researchers and food system professionals to network and learn. This is a great way to meet others in your field, enjoy locally sourced meals and participate in fun evening events around Wenatchee.http://www.seattletilth.org/special_events/Conference

SUN NOV 20, 5:30 pm

Meaningful Movies: Sustainable Ballard Presents “No Impact Man”.

Location: Royal Drummer Cafe, 6420 24th Ave NW Seattle, WA 98107. What does it really take to live eco-effectively? For one year, Colin Beavan swore off plastic and toxins, turned off his electricity, went organic, became a bicycle nut, and tried to save the planet from environmental catastrophe while dragging his young daughter and his Prada-wearing wife along for the ride. Together they attempted to make zero impact on the environment while living right in the heart of Manhattan, and this is the sensational, funny, and consciousness-raising story of how they did it. Following the film we will be joined by Cecile Andrews, author of Living Room Revolution and Less Is More, Slow Is Beautiful, Circle of Simplicity. We invite you to arrive early to enjoy Happy Hour pricing of 25% off all items on Royal Drummer’s regular menu.

TUES Dec 6, 8AM

What We Want: Washington Fair Trade Coalition Fundraiser

Please join CAGJ at the Washington Fair Trade Coalition fundraiser breakfast! The theme this year will be “What we want" in a new approach to globalization. Congress will be in the Lame Duck session, and we should have a good idea at the breakfast whether we are mobilizing to stop TPP in the House and Senate, or turning toward 2017, looking for a new approach to how we manage globalization! Hosted by IAM District Lodge 751: 9125 15th Place South, Seattle WA. Tickets ($50 Individual /$400 table). Proceeds to benefit the Washington Fair Trade Coalition’s 501(c)(3) Education Fund. RSVP to Gillian Locascio.