A G8 = PIU 'HUNGER AND POVERTY' Comunicato stampa- La Vía Campesina
(Treviso, 21 aprile 2009)
La prima riunione del G8 agricolo che terminata ieri a Cison di Valmarino ha prodotto una dichiarazione che non solo ammette i propri fallimenti del passato ma che prevede anche un futuro pieno di contaddizioni. Il G8 non potrà mai eliminare la fame nel mondo prendendo decisioni a porte chiuse, in assenza degli attori principali del dibattito mondiale sull’agricoltura, i milioni di contadini e famiglie di agricoltori, uomini e donne, che alimentano il mondo.
L’affermazione del G8 che "i contadini devono essere i principali protagonisti" suona particolarmente vuota quando la meeting this weekend was explicitly planned to restrict access to farmers' organizations and reduce their visibility. The G8 has made the meeting in a secluded castle in the mountains and the Italian Minister of Agriculture has refused to meet representatives of civil society organizations, Italian and international calling to express their opinions.
The final text produced by the G8 is extremely contradictory. It recognizes the role of producers of food and the crisis in rural areas but does not propose a real strategy that could overcome the crisis. The statement, on the one hand says to put "Agriculture and Rural Development. At the center of crescita economica rinforzando il ruolo dell’agricoltura familiare e dei piccoli agricoltori ed il loro accesso alla terra" e, dall’altra parte parla di "raggiungere una conclusione equilibrata, globale e ambiziosa del Ciclo di Doha", due politiche che sono fra loro incompatibili: l’OMC ha mostrato ripetutamente che produce effetti catastrofici sull’agricoltura contadina perché liberalizza i mercati agricoli e privatizza le risorse naturali.
La dichiarazione, inoltre, appoggia la creazione dell’Alleanza Mondiale per l’Agricoltura e l’Alimentazione, riconoscendo, allo stesso tempo, il ruolo centrale della FAO, due posizioni che non possono stare assieme.
Le istituzioni esistenti dell’ONU will remain at the core of the solution to the current crisis, not the World Bank and the IMF World represented by the Alliance.
Despite contradictory nature of the declaration, the G8 has admitted at least something that was absolutely obvious to the rest of the world for many years, the world has totally failed in its attempts to reduce by half the number of hungry people on earth by 2015, in correspondence with the goals of the millennium. It is precisely the policies of the G8, imposed on Southern countries to bear responsibility.
Any real policy to focus on farmers and farming and sustainable agriculture would reject the agenda of free trade and the Global Alliance and would allow states to protect the rights of their people working and eating. The peasants and farmers, who represent about half the population of the world, are the first to be affected by hunger and malnutrition.
Representatives of the international movement of farmers of Via Campesina gathered in Treviso this weekend to raise awareness of their alternatives. Their demands are simple: to enable people and countries to define and protect their agricultural systems, without causing harm to others. Transform the agro-exporting model of the north and south in a more sustainable local production-based, family-based agriculture. Speaking at the seminar organized Italian Platform for Food Sovereignty, Ibrahim Coulibaly, president of CNOP (Comité Nacional de Organizaciones Campesinas) in Mali said very clearly: "Africa can feed itself, are not necessary agricultural policies imposed by an illegitimate group of rich countries. ! the role of the G8 is not to decide on International Agricultural Policy "
