Communication of decisions to create village land commissions ( COFOV ) to six villages in the rural commune of Yélékébougou

As part of the land tenure program run by the Union des Associations et des Coordinations d'Association pour le Développement et la Défense des Droits des Démunis (UACDDDD) in collaboration with the Coordination Nationale des Organisations Paysannes (CNOP), the UACDDDD, with the support of the Yélékébougou commune authorities, has solemnly issued decisions to set up village land commissions (COFOV) in six villages in the rural commune of Yélékébougou.

Link for more information:

https://fb.watch/m441YUGmo0/?mibextid=Nif5oz : Communication des décisions de création des commissions foncières villageoises ( COFOV ) à six villages de la commune rurale de Yélékébougou


IN THE FIGHT FOR THEIR TERRITORY: THE QUILOMBOLA YOUTH OF BOA HORA 3| MARMORA RESIST!

The latest data from the Brazilian Public Security Yearbook, produced by the Brazilian Public Security Forum, indicate that Brazil recorded 47,508 intentional violent deaths in 2022, with a rate of 23.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Regarding the ethnic-racial profile of the victims, 76.5% of the dead were black (Afro-descendants).

The document also shows that 83% of those killed by the police in 2022 in Brazil were black (Afro-descendants) and 76% were between 12 and 29 years old (young people). The black population (of African descent) is also the main victim of police interventions, corresponding to 83.1%.

“Here in the Boa Hora 3|Marmorana quilombo, we don't have policing…
https://quilomboresiste.org/en-us/2023/07/26/in-the-fight-for-their-territory-the-quilombola-youth-of-boa-hora-3-marmora-resist/

Website https://quilomboresiste.org/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/quilomboresiste2023/

Twitter https://twitter.com/QuilomboResiste


In Brazil, a quilombo refers to the community formed by runaway slaves in remote areas. The term refers to the same reality as the palenques of the Hispanic world. The origins of the Brazilian people are closely linked to the slave trade.

OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MADAGASCAR CONCERNING THE ILLEGAL LONG LEASE ON SAKATIA ISLAND

The Collectif pour la défense des terres malgaches (TANY) and the Centre de Recherches et d'Appui pour les Alternatives de Développement - Océan Indien (CRAAD-OI) address the President of the Republic of Madagascar regarding the illegal long lease on Sakatia Island.

You will find this open letter below in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Please note that the English, Spanish and Portuguese versions were not produced by the Tany collective and the CRAAD-OI research center. A translation has been made by the Forum des Luttes secretariat. Only the French version is binding on the two collectives behind this statement.

Open letter in French :




Press conference - Africa's largest civil society organizations and grassroots movements launch an appeal for agroecology

On June 17, in the run-up to the fifth AU-EU Ministerial Conference on Agriculture on June 30, 2023, Africa's largest social movements and civil society organizations will hold a virtual press conference to call for a transition of African food systems away from corporate control and towards agroecology.

Read their press release in English and French:



Press release from Soulèvements de la Terre

Call to Earth Uprisings - What grows back everywhere cannot be dissolved

On June 21, at a cabinet meeting, the government set in motion the procedure for dissolving Les Soulèvements de la Terre.After throwing its mutilating grenades in our faces, it claims that we no longer have the right to exist together, nor to organize. He now claims to be dissolving an uprising by any means necessary - even arresting activists in their homes, as was the case on June 20.

From the sinister offices of Place Beauvau, this dissolution was intended to be the final straw. It was intended to be the end of a story. And yet the rumors spreading across the country, where hopes are still budding, tell a different story. Contagious whispers and countless outbursts of solidarity remind us that the worst attacks sometimes produce unexpected reversals.

What if this dissolution was in fact a ministerial call to join a major resistance movement? A network already boasting 110,000 declared members, 180 local committees and just as many people involved in public life, collectives and trade unions. A movement supposedly forbidden but collectively unstoppable, targeted by the authorities but rooted in the territories, present in workplaces and schools, barns and back rooms, right up to the very heart of administrations. The government claimed to make us disappear, but in reality we're becoming more and more visible by the day.

More than a thousand people have already declared their intention to attack this decree, and anyone wishing to join this historic legal action can fill in this form.

Faced with this persistent threat, we're offering you a great game. A game that could not be more serious, a game that constitutes a network of resistance. Together, in the days and weeks ahead, we're going to keep the Soulèvements de la Terre appearing in 1,000 ways in the public space: in front of bistros and social centers, during coffee breaks, through open meetings, international antennas, inscriptions on walls, pennants and parties, disarmament and nose-thumbing. In spite of the dissolution, Soulèvements will re-emerge at the drop of a hat on building sites or in the heart of an industrial site, overflowing streets crowded with clamors against the market order, taking root in pirate gardens, people's houses or communal farms. It's up to you and us to find out.

What grows back everywhere cannot be dissolved

These events are starting this evening, with support rallies being organized in more than 100 towns across France at 7 p.m. in front of prefectures.

We, Soulèvements participants everywhere, call on you to join the more than 180 local committees that have been formed in recent months, the hundreds of territorial resistances and local struggles, and the existing union sections that have publicly claimed their membership of the movement. The word of Les Soulèvements de la Terre belongs to them, and it belongs to you.

Together, we will continue to support our wounded. We will continue to fight on the ground everywhere and converge in even greater numbers. 

Two upcoming deadlines have already been set for this summer, two essential times for action to share water in the middle of summer and a historic drought: 

We're going to go beyond these few immediate landmarks to forge the partnerships needed to put a real stop to the advance of bitumen, the drying up of soils, the poisoning of water and the dissolution of ties.

We will meet again. You are, we are, the Uprisings of the Earth.

In solidarity with the dissolution measure, various media outlets have pledged to offer space to relay information on the movement's variations across the country in the weeks and months ahead. Here are the first : basta!, Cerveaux Non Disponibles, la Relève et la peste, Contre-attaque, Le Média, Partager c'est sympa, Lundi Matin, Dijoncter.info, Terrestres, ...

These different channels, created in solidarity by supporters or orgas, will host the multiple decentralized voices that today claim to be Earth Uprisings: 

An e-mail address for friends of the movement who are committed to collecting information on how various existing organizations and local struggles intend to implement the movement locally:

lesamiesdessoulevements@cryptomail.ch

A number of organizations and media outlets in Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain and the United States are announcing international support for Les Soulèvements de la Terre in the face of threats of censorship by the French government.

Supporting legal teams will continue to monitor ongoing proceedings antirep-bassines@riseup.net, legal-lutteslocales@riseup.net

Finally, to help us deal with the repression affecting the movement, if you have the means, please support us financially and share this appeal for donations as widely as possible.

Soulèvements de la Terre website

For science, indigenous peoples and local communities have a key role to play in ensuring a healthy, sustainable planet.

In a recent article, several scientists including: Leila V Zanjani, Hugh Govan, Holly C. Jonas, Theodore Karfakis, Daniel M. Mwamidi, Jessica Stewart, Gretchen Walters and Pablo Dominguez, conduct an extensive qualitative literature review (166 studies covering 5 continents, 90% of which are less than 3 years old) on the subject of "living territories".

Here's a summary, and you can find the link to the article below:

"The territories and areas that indigenous peoples and local communities govern, manage and conserve (hereinafter referred to as "living territories") are increasingly recognized by scientists, international agencies, non-governmental organizations and grassroots organizations as essential to the future of a healthy, sustainable planet. Hundreds of thousands of these social-ecological systems exist worldwide, covering millions of square kilometers of land and seascape on five continents, and contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of a significant proportion of the world's biodiversity. Nevertheless, these systems face numerous threats and often have little or no official recognition or support from nation-state governments. In response to this growing need, this study provides the most comprehensive, recent and up-to-date overview of living territories. It argues for a holistic approach to living territories and identifies key opportunities for researchers to foster action- and policy-oriented research in favor of these systems vital to the planet's sustainability."

Reference :

Leila V Zanjani, Hugh Govan, Holly C Jonas, Theodore Karfakis, Daniel M Mwamidi, Jessica Stewart, Gretchen Walters, Pablo Dominguez, Territories of life as key to global environmental sustainability, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 63, 2023, 101298, ISSN 1877-3435


DECLARATION at the end of the 16th Regional Forum of the Coalition for the Protection of African Genetic Heritage

Delegates from national coalitions belonging to the Coalition for the Protection of African Genetic Heritage (COPAGEN), representing various national organizations from nine (9) West African countries, namely the eight (8) WAEMU countries, the Republic of Guinea and members of allied organizations, met from June 14 to 16, 2023, as part of the 16th edition of the COPAGEN Regional Forum, to reflect on the theme: "Biodiversity and climate change: issues, challenges and prospects for sustainable food systems in Africa".

They produced a declaration which you can find below in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

Please note that the English, Spanish and Portuguese versions have not been produced by COPAGEN. A translation has been made by the Forum des Luttes secretariat. Only the French version is binding on the collective behind this declaration.

The declaration in French :


The statement in English :


The declaration in Portuguese :


The declaration in Spanish :


CMAT celebrates 10 years of struggle

On June 14, 15 and 16, the Convergence Malienne contre les Accaparements des Terres celebrates 10 years of fighting alongside rural and peri-urban communities.


FETAEMA - MEETING OF COMMUNITIES IN AGRARIAN AND SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICT IN MARANHÃO

Event organized by the Federation of Rural Workers and Farmers of the State of Maranhão - FETAEMA.

On June 12, 13 and 14, 2023, CESIR/FETAEMA, FETAEMA and affiliated unions are organizing the 1st Meeting of communities in agrarian and socio-environmental conflicts in Maranhao.

The meeting is a plenary session with direct talks by FETAEMA and affiliated unions monitoring territories in agrarian and socio-environmental conflict, with representatives of the federal government (Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming, Ministry of Racial Equality, Ministry of Human Rights and General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic) and the state government (Secretariat of Human Rights and Popular Participation, Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources, Secretariat of Public Security), as well as representatives of the State Council for the Defense of Human Rights, the State Commission for Combating and Preventing Violence in Rural and Urban Areas, among others.

"We are organized and aligned against the violence that threatens and kills rural workers, family farmers and traditional peoples in Maranhão. Once again, FETAEMA and its 215 affiliated unions reaffirm their defense of agrarian reform and access to land for rural communities," said Edimilson Costa, FETAEMA's Agrarian Policy Secretary.

“A permanência das comunidades rurais nos seus territórios significa ter paz no campo, a manutenção dos recursos naturais, a soberania e segurança alimentar, em especial nesse momento em que mais de 33 milhões de brasileiros passam fome. Por isso, a FETAEMA e Sindicatos filiados historicamente lutam pelo direito à terra a partir de uma perspectiva da produção e reprodução da vida”, ressalta o secretário de Meio Ambiente da FETAEMA, Antônio Sorriso.

Let's talk to federal and state governments, as well as public agencies and entities, about what we stand for in the Maranhão countryside."

https://www.instagram.com/p/CtMn8_ipb8D/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==