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Peasants from poor countries shout ‘Fight for land against land grabbing, landlordism, state terrorism, imperialism’

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Peasants from poor countries shout ‘Fight for land against land grabbing, landlordism, state terrorism, imperialism’

“Landlords, land grabbers, corrupt governments and imperialism – we must all fight and defeat them. The landlords say they will never give up their lands, but what is stronger than their greed is the righteousness of our struggle for land and our humanity.”
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — Activist from India Malem Ninsthoujia is indignant. It is the day after the Supreme Court issued its decision scrapping the Stock Distribution Option (SDO) scheme in Hacienda Luisita and he echoes the anger of farmers from Central Luzon and everywhere else in the country in saying that the High Court’s verdict is deceptive.

“The farmworkers of Hacienda Luisita demand that they be given control and ownership over the land so long denied them by a fake agrarian reform program. The Philippines’ justice system leaves much to be desired when it comes to upholding the rights of farmers,” he said.

Then he directly addressed the audience comprised of farmers, peasant leaders and agrarian rights advocates.
“Fellow farmers, comrades, always hold your head high! We are the tillers of the earth, we are the ones who feed humanity. We must never forget that in our work and in our struggle for genuine agrarian reform all over the world there is dignity!”

Peasant leaders and agrarian reform advocates from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Argentina, Kenya, Cambodia, Senegal, Cameroon, Burundi joined their Filipinos counterparts in the first “International Speak Out Against Global Land grabbing” held in Quezon City. In a lively protest and program in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) offices, the internationalists expressed strong solidarity with Filipino farmers and the rest of the Filipino people in pressing for immediate reforms.


In a lively protest and program in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) offices, the internationalists express strong solidarity with Filipino farmers and the rest of the Filipino people in pressing for immediate reforms (Photo by Ina Alleco R. Silverio / bulatlat.com)
Land is life, fight for land rights

The rally and Shout Out activity were also parts of two international activities, the International Festival for Peoples’ Rights and Struggles and the 4th Assembly of the International League of Peoples’ Struggles.

Nepalese activist Balram Banskota of the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) said farmers in his own country have learned through the years to be more aggressive in pressing for their democratic rights. He said that the radical political upheavals in Nepal have served to strengthen the farmers’ movement in the country.

“We work every day, we sleep without having eaten. As we suffer the landlords remain lazy but rich because we pay them with our life’s blood. The political upheavals in Nepal, however, have wrought changes: we are now committed to the fight for genuine agrarian reform and it is the landlords who now fear landlessness and poverty. In the ongoing construction of our developing society, farmers are making sure that we incorporate in the new constitution the life and death issues of lad reform and food security. I am certain that this, too is in the agenda of farmers in the Philippines as they demand their rights in the streets and in the halls of parliament,” he said..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/07/07/peasants-from-poor-countries-shout-fight-for-land-against-land-grabbing-landlordism-state-terrorism-imperialism/

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