Marc Edelman introduces us to Vía Campesina in his article about peasant movements. A broad coalition of peasant and small farmer groups from around the globe in both industrialized and poorer countries, Vía Campesina grew out of a growing anger and concern over the neoliberal trade policies of the 1980s. As Edelman states it is a diverse and heterogeneous organization with groups holding many different opinions over strategy though generally united in opposition to the neoliberalization of agriculture. Working on many campaigns they have two key issues, getting the WTO out of agriculture and food sovereignty. They aim to shift the global framework of agriculture as commodity to agriculture as a human rights issue.
Edelman’s summary of Vía Campesina is important to a discussion of agriculture, in seeing what is possible. Since its inception Vía Campesina has entered the public conversation, mobilizing communities and meeting with various NGOs and institutions. They show how globalization can be powerful positive force as disparate organizations are able to unite and have a voice.
While a criticism of the organization from this article might be a lack of detailed solutions to technical issues of classification I would argue this is missing the point. While they perhaps do not have answers to all problems a major roadblock to sustainability and food sovereignty is the standard framework under which we operate. The organization forces people to think about these structures in new ways, including stepping away from a focus on measurements and classification.
- Edelman, Marc “Bringing the Moral Economy back in . . . to the Study of 21st-Century Transnational Peasant Movements” from American Anthropologist, Volume 107, Issue 3, pages 331-345, September 2005