Curso VII Lectura 2. New Rural Social Movements

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34 New Rural Social Movements and Agroecology Eduardo Sevilla Guzmán and Joan Martinez-Alier

There are new movements emerging in the world in defence of agricultural policies favourable to traditional agroecological methods. The agroecological antagonism to neo-liberal globalization is described here mainly with reference to networks in Latin America (because of our own direct knowledge and participation in them), but it is a worldwide worldwide phenomenon, phenomenon, as shown by movements in India also described here. These movements have been born out of local resistance to seed multinationals, multinationals, the degradation degradation of ecosystems and the threats to livelihoods because of agricultural modernization. They also oppose subsidized exports of agricultural surpluses. These movements are based on ancient knowledge of farming systems and also on the innovations of low input agriculture. The main actors are not neo-rural postmodern organic farmers (as they might exist in the United States and Europe) but spokesmen for large rural populations, sometimes peasants, sometimes landless landless labourers (as the MST in Brazil). Such movements are interpreted in this chapter in the wider context of a world movement of dissidence formed by a network of networks. networks. By By ‘agroecology ‘agroecology’’ we refer here to a collective practice of agriculture which explicitly considers not only economic and sociall aspects socia aspects (income, (income, emplo employment yment)) but also also environmental and ecological aspects (pollution, soill conse soi conserv rvati ation, on, cy cycle cless of nut nutrie rients nts,, ene energy rgy flow). Therefore there is a link between agroecology as a practice and the science of agroecology (Altieri, 1987; Gliessman, 1998). Agroecology in our view promotes the endogenous potential of agriculture, relying on traditional traditional peasant knowledge, though being also open open to inno innovati vations ons that help sustainability (Sevilla Guzmán and Woodgat oodgate, e, 1997).

THE RISE IN LATIN AMERICA OF THE RURAL ARTICULATION OF DISSIDENCE AGAINST NEO-LIBERAL GLOBALIZA GLOBALIZATION TION The usual explanation for the disappearance of the active agricultural population in the process of economic economic develop development ment is that, that, as agriculagricultural productivity productivity increases, increases, produc production tion cannot cannot increase pari increase pari passu because of a low demand for agricultur agric ultural al produce as a whole. Therefore, Therefore, the active agricultural population decreases not only in relative relative but also in absolute terms, and indeed this has been the path of development – in Britain even before the First World War, War, in Spain since the the 1960s, not yet in India. India. Now, Now, howe however ver,, agricultural productivity is not well calculated: nothing is deducted from the value of production on account of chemical pollution and genetic erosion, erosi on, and the inputs inputs are valued valued too cheaply cheaply because becau se fossil energy energy is too cheap, and because because unsustainable use is made of soils and some fertilizers. What the ecologically correct prices should be is unknown; the important point is that the ecological critique of the economics of agriculture opens up a large space for neoNarodnik Narodn ik argume argument, nt, a space space that that is being being increasingly taken up around the world. Issues such as biodive biodiversity rsity conservation, conservation, threats from pesticides and energy saving are transformed into local arguments for improvements in the conditions of life and for cultural survival of peasants. Such arguments have become widespread in new networks such as the Via Campesina (the Peasant Way), Way), which has instituted tut ed an internat internationa ionall Peasant’ Peasant’ss Day, Day, the 17th April, the anniversary anniversary of the massacre of


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19 members of the Movement of the Landless (MST) in 1996 1996 in El Dorad Dorado, o, Parà Parà,, Brazi Brazil. l. The conver convergence gence of those those that, at the beginbeginning of the 1980s, were called ‘revolutionary ‘revolutionary peasant unions’, unions’, took place place in Managua in December December 1981 during the ‘Continental Conference of Agrarian Reform and Peasant Movements’. There an interaction was initiated which would lead to the birth of the Continental Peasants Movement in Latin America. The different Latin American organizations (with a small European representation) thus became aware of the similarities in both their means of struggle and their ideological evolution. Such is the case of the Andalucian SOC – Sindicato de Obreros del Campo 1 (land labourers union) – and and the Brazilian MST, legalized in 1984, but at work in an embryonic state in Rio Grande do Sul since 1978 (cf. Navarro, 1996; De Medeiros, Medeiros, 1999; Mançano Mançano Fernández, Fernández, 2000; Wizniewsky Wizniewsky,, 2001). This process of convergence between indigenous and peasant organizations became more consolidated on the South American continent through the formal organization of the Latin American Congress of Peasant Organizations (CLOC) in 1994 in Peru. We would point out here that there was an interaction between the MST (as a proto-organization) and other groups in the first half of the 1980s, which became more intense in the 1990s. These first interactions involved productive experiments of an agroecological nature (Sevilla Guzmán, Guzmá n, 1999) and and the creat creation ion of the first first European committees in support of the Mexican Neo-Zapatism and the MST and then those that developed around the SOC. Probably the next step in this process of confluence of independent peasant organizations took place place on 14/15 Novemb November er 1984, with the Latin American Conference of Independent Peasantt Organizatio Peasan Organizations, ns, orga organized nized in Mexico Mexico by the Coordinadora Nacional Plan de Ayala. Here the Peasant Peasant Confederation Confederation of Peru, the National National Federation of Peasant Organizations of Ecuador, the Independent Peasant Movement of the Dominican Republic, Republic, the National Confederati Confederation on of Peasant Workers Workers Union of France, the Union of Rural Workers and the recently founded MST of Brazil exchanged experiences. The MST started in the south of Brazil and has spread to the whole country. It has withstood violent armed repression in Paranà, Parà and other states. state s. Its tactics tactics consist in occupati occupation, on, settl settleement and immediate cultivation of large properties. Some of the MST leaders also belong to the Worker orkers’ s’ party party,, though the the MST is more more to the the left. Other spaces of confluence in the dissidence process include the international exchange events

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convoked by the MST of Brazil in 1985 and by the FENOCI of Ecuador in 1986. In Ecuador in 1987 the First Andean Exchange Workshop of Peasant Indigenous Organizations was held. In Central Centr al Ameri America, ca, in 1987, 1987, the COCENTRA COCENTRA was created creat ed and, and, in 1989, 1989, ASOCODE ASOCODE.. In Octobe Octoberr of that same year indigenous and peasant organizations of the Andean region and the MST of Brazil named their continental campaign ‘500 years of indig in digeno enous, us, bla black ck and and popula popularr resist resistanc ance’ e’ in Bogota, Colombia. Three Three continental conferences conferences were held, held, as well as several several meetings meetings coordicoordinated by different Latin Latin American American countries, with the assistance of European rural (or so-called peasant) organizations.

THE ZAPATISTA MOVEMENT AS ONE O NE CREA CREATOR TOR OF THE ANTAGONISTIC RURAL DISCOURSE The key key social actor actor,, along with with the MST, MST, in the configuration of antagonistic rural praxis and discourse was the Neo-Zapatista Movement of Chiapas. Mexican peasant agriculture was and is under increasing threat because of food imports from the United United States, States, which increased increased under under the NAFTA free trade treaty between the US, Canada and Mexico. Eco-Zapatism was overdue in Mexico. In the early 1990s, Guillermo Bonfil Bonfil had published his deeply moving account of vanishing indigenous Mexico (Bonfil Batalla, 1998). It has now become general knowledge in Mexico that indigenous cultures and biodiversity go together together (Toledo, (Toledo, 1996, 2000). Biodiv Biodiversit ersity y is valuable even when it has no market. The Chiapas rebellion came into the open against the NAFTA on the day it became operative (1 January 1994), helping to make indigenous peasantry a political subject. Neo-Zapati Neo-Z apatism sm came to signify signify, in 1994, a reaction against the attacks on Mexican peasant agriculture and a real incentive towards the convergence and coordination of the movements that question economic globalization and neoliberalism at world level, level, as well as the progressive consolidation of a new antagonistic discourse. In fact, the Zapatista Zapatista movement movement made possible possible the introduction of socio-cultural diversity into the worldwide anti-neo-liberal movement’s discourse (when this was in its gestation period); that is to say,, the enormo say enormous us divers diversity ity of subje subjects, cts, terr territoitories,, resou ries resources, rces, trad traditio itions ns and and reali realitie tiess that that the world was made up of at the end of the twentieth century.


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In an attempt to come up with a synthesis, the characteristics of Neo-Zapatism, Neo-Zapatism, an age-old age-old and at the same time new social movement, are the following: 1

2

3

4

The acc accept eptanc ancee of a hist histori orical cal cont continu inuanc ancee between its processes of collective social action and those developed by those ethnic groups which through multiple processes throughout 500 years have put up resistance to colonization and oppression generated by the expansion of the European socio-cultural identity. The att attrib ributio ution n to econ economic omic glob globaliz alizatio ation n and and neo-liberalism neo-libera lism in present times, times, of the historical oppression suffered by the indigenous communities. Specifically the foreseeable impact of the NAFTA on the indigenous communitie muni tiess of Chiapas, Chiapas, whic which h added to their their resistance to the eviction of their communities and to the subordination to the interests of the timber companies and landowners. Thiss strugg Thi struggle le agai against nst excl exclusi usion on does does not not end end with their confrontation with the modernizing socio-economic system. They are also fighting for the recognition of the Native Indians in the Mexican constitution. The diversity of the ethnic groups which make up their movement has led them to defend the recognition of differences: differences: ‘W ‘Wee want a world where all worlds fit in’. They The y demand demand a democr democrac acy y unadul unadulter terate ated d by external ext ernal or internal internal mismanagemen mismanagement, t, corru corrupption and distortion of the true participation of people. To To this effect, they are Mexican patriots who oppose the ‘foreign domination of North American imperialism’. imperialism’. Moreover, Moreover, they aim to make a true democratic change to the political organization so that ‘those that are in charge also have to obey’.

From the depths depths of the Lacandona Lacandona forest, forest, the EZLN and Subcomandante Marcos developed an ‘informati ‘info rmational onal strategy’ strategy’ to fulfil the establishestablishmentt of an ‘autonomou men ‘autonomouss communica communication tion’’ to reach public opinion and to generate a process of confluence with all the groups that are excluded from the modernizing socio-economic system. With Wi th this, they not not only develo developed ped a way of defending themselves with the spoken word (‘W (‘Wee only take up arms to to make a statement’), statement’), but they have also aimed to generate networks of dissidence to the socio-economic and cultural oppression which they suffer. This was how the Zapatista movement, through throu gh its ‘auto ‘autonomous nomous communicat communication’ ion’ made conta co ntact ct wit with h the, the, th then en in incip cipien ient, t, eco econom nomic ic

anti-globaliza anti-globa lization tion social social movement movements, s, holdi holding ng debates which took place in the context of the campaign campa ign of ‘50 years years are enough’, enough’, again against st the half-century of existence of global financial institutions tutio ns (the Intern Internation ational al Monetary Monetary Fund, Fund, the World Bank). Demonstrations took place in different places places throughout throughout the world, culmi culminatin nating g in the alternative forum ‘The Other Voices of the Planet’ Planet’ which develo developed ped in Madrid Madrid in the autumn of 1994. Continuing with its dynamics of resistance and informational struggle, the EZLN called cal led,, in Spa Spain in in the sum summer mer of 1997 1997,, the Second Intergalactic Conference against Neoliberalism and for Humanity, Humanity, by means of an itinerant celebration throughout various towns and cities that had as its driving force local Zapatista committees. In Andalucia the militant members of the SOC played a central role in the organizational infrastructure of the congress, especially in the closing acts which which took place in El Indiano, a large farm which was acquired after many years of struggle involving occupations and imprisonments. This was one of the agroecological experiences that the cooperatives of the SOC carried out as a ‘place for reflection and sociopolitical and productive productive practice practice’’ (Sev (Sevilla illa Guzmán, Guzmán, 1999; Guzmán Casado Casado et al., al., 2000).

THE IMP IMPACT ACT OF O F THE FT FTAA AA The biggest and most most devastating devastating impact impact that, in the short term, the economic globalization process is having on peasant and family-run agriculture is caused by the policies of the freeing of international agricul agricultural tural trade trade (Rosset, (Rosset, 1999) coupled coupled with the subsidies to exports in the United States (and the EU). In this this sense, the NAFTA NAFTA must be contemplated within a global strategy that intends to configurate a ‘Free Trade Area in America’ (FTAA). It intended to deregulate the market, services and investments throughout througho ut both American continents in such a way that the multinationals had the right to use natural resources indiscriminately. Dorval Brunelle (2001) illustrated the repercussions of this deregulation with a Mexican example: examp le: ‘The Mexican Mexican governmen governmentt had to pay 16.7 million dollars to the Californian firm Metalclad Metalc lad Corp., becaus becausee a Mexic Mexican an municipality municipality would not authorize the installation of a hazardous waste dump against which the local population had been mobilized.’ mobilized.’ The approval of the FT FTAA AA meant the gradual elimination of any type of tariff. Therefore, There fore, produc products ts coming coming from the the United United States and Canada had free access and were exempt from custom and non-custom restrictions.


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Likewise the FTAA would mean unrestricted access to bidding and contracts for public sector supply. Local companies were left in the hands of the multinational market to carry out activities linked to water and energy provision in the urban economies of Latin American countries. The third requirement of this amplification of trade centred on the patents over life and intellectual property, leaving in the hands of the multinational corporations the provision provision of seeds, as well as the technological packets linked to the agriculture that industrialize industr ialized d farming, introdu introduced ced throughout the Latin America American n area, require requires. s. Thus an antagonism towards the FTAA emerged and it is still mounting. It appeared in the form of antagonism towards the FTAA from the American trade union movement and the social movements crystallizing in the appearance of a Continental Social Alliance (CSA). In fact, fact, this process began in the ministerial meeting in Denver in 1995. The trade union movement of the 35 countries of the Amer America icas, s, inc includ luding ing Cuba, Cuba, wit with h the support support of the Pan-American Regional Employment Organization Organiza tion (PREO) – the continental wing of the International Confederation of Free Unions – organized a parallel conference to express their mistrust of the FTAA. The following year, year, the American Union Movement assembled in the Colombian city of Cartagena to elaborate a document reflecting on this subject and to put pressure on government representatives. The process continued that same year in Brazil. During the meeting of the presidents of the member countries of Mercosur, where ‘both the first first centr central al trade trade union union of the the USA, the AFL–CIO and the ORIT sent representatives to offer support to their South American counterparts who had reached an agreement to celebrate an international day of struggle for the workers of Mercosur’. Mercos ur’. However However,, it was in Belo Horizonte Horizonte in 1987 that the first convergence between the American trade union movement and the civic organizations against free trade occurred. These have since worked together on an alternative project to the FTAA, FTAA, The decision decision was taken taken to create create a Continental Social Alliance (CSA) which would face up to the FTAA, FTAA, elabo elaborating rating,, in a participati participative ve way,, concrete and viable alternatives. way In 1998, the five five existing existing national national coalitions coalitions against free trade 2 called for the first Summit of the American People. This took place in Santiago de Chile from the 14th to the 17th of April, parallel to the ‘second ‘second summit’ of the leaders of the the ‘American States’. Environmental and feminist associations as well as several associations of alternative American social movements responded respo nded to that call. There a programmatic document was produced of great relevance to the configuration

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of alternatives to global neo-liberalism, ‘Alternatives for America: towards an agreement between the people of the continent’. In this document it was established that: Trade and investments should not be an end in themselves but a means capable of guiding us towards a fair and long-lasting development. It is fundamental that citizens exercise their rights in the formulation and evaluation of the social and economic policies of the continent. The central objectives of such policies should be the promotion of of economic sovereignty sovereignty,, the collective collective well-being and the reduction of inequalities on all levels.

The fact that the Latin American Congress of Peasant Organizations (CLOC) was involved with this this dynamic, dynamic, repre representin senting g of the Peasant Peasant Movement of Latin America and the Caribbean, is relevant to our line of argument. Antagonism towards globalization in the American continent should be analysed in the much wider context of global dissidence. Here the Movement against Maastricht and Economic Globalization (MAM) and the confluence against the Multi-lateral Investment Agreement (MIA) developed parallel and confluent dynamics. In effect, eff ect, from 1990 1990 to 1995 1995 multiple multiple European European social movements joined forces by incorporating in to their ideas and debates calls for a struggle against the rapidly developing ‘Europe of Capi Ca pita tal’ l’.. He Henc nce, e, fe femi mini nist st,, ec ecol olog ogic ical al,, pa paci cifi fist st and Third World groups and all the collectives committed to the fight against poverty, poverty, with ethical and solidarity solidarity ideals, ideals, joine joined d together, together, consol consolidatidating the MAM. MAM. On the other other hand, hand, the confluconfluence against the MIA acquired special relevance in Ca Cana nada da,, Fra Franc nce, e, th thee Uni Unite ted d Sta State tes, s, ce cent ntra rall Scandinavian countries and several countries from the periphery periphery such as Malaysia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Philippines, India and Brazil. Friends of the Earth and Le Monde Diplomatique conducted vigorous campaigns against the MIA. The joining together of these two fronts of economic anti-globalization began to interfere with the plans of global neoliberalism. This forced a delay in the signing of the MIA, at the hea heart rt of of the the OECD, OECD, in Par Paris is in in October 1998, through the configuration configuration of Global Action of the People.

THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE ANTAGONIST NETWORK AGAINST NEO-LIBERAL GLOBALIZA GLOBALIZATION: TION: GLOBAL ACTION OF THE PEOPLE Since the First Intergalactic Conference against Neo-libera Neo-l iberalism lism and for for Humanity Humanity, which took took


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place in the Lacandona forest in the summer of 1996, and the the Second Intergalactic Conference, which took place in Spain, the processes of confluence have have quickened, quickened, leading to the creation of Global Action of the People (AGP) against free trade. This group was the first coordinator, on a world level, against economic globalization and neo-liberalism. neo-liberalism. In Geneva, at the beginning of 1998, the very first first meeting of the the AGP was attended by some three hundred activists from all over the world. There were representatives from the Southern periphery, periphery, of the indigenous people that inhabit the most recondite places on the planet, planet, that suffer a threat to their habitats and territories as a result of the unstoppable expansion of globalization globalization (the Maoris Maoris of New Zealand, the CONAIE CON AIE of Ecuador, Ecuador, the Mayan indians, indians, the Ogonis Ogonis of Nigeria …); also the peasant movements of those places on the planet where there still exist important contingents of population living in the traditional rural world (Nepal,, India …), as well as new (Nepal new peasant peasant movements movements that are fighting for access to community ownership of land (MST of Brazil). There were also representatives of those metropolitan movements fighting against the consequences of the so-called plans structural adjustment of the [International Monetary Fund] and the [World Bank] that urban populations are suffering (eg. the teachers’ teachers’ move movement ment in Buenos Buenos Aires, Aires, or the movemovements from the slums of Mexico City). Also represented were the new new workers’ workers’ organizations (many of them clandestine due to repression) of the maquila industries in Central American countries, and even organizations representing people with specific problems as such is the case with certain Afro-American communities in Caribbean countries. (Fernandez Durán and Sevilla Guzmán Guz mán,, 199 1999: 9: 365 365))

The dissident groups from countries of the centre of the system were also diversely represented: In Geneva Geneva the French French unemployed movement, as well as certain organizations on the European network against unemplo unemployment, yment, precariou precariousness sness and social exclusion, attended. North American organizations that work with the homeless, also Food Not Bombs. New organizations in defence of part-time workers or those threatened by privatization processes. The squatter movement and the self-managed social centres from different European countries. In fact the meeting in Genev Genevaa was organised thanks to the active participation of the squatter movement of the city. Some direct action organizations nizat ions from the ecological ecological environm environment, ent, among amongst st which the movement Reclaim the Street from Great Britain stood out. As well as the different groups and networks that attempt to unveil the consequences that the Maastricht treaty had on the population of the European Union countries. (1999: 366)

Why is it that such diverse social groups join forces to fight against free trade? This question

can only be answered in the context of the debates that the different groups have carried out in order to identify the nature of globalization, subject to the command of the profit logic of multinational companies. The transnational joining of states, states, in the form of their their internationa internationall institutions institu tions – fundamen fundamentally tally the the IMF, IMF, World Bank and World World Trade Trade Organiza Organization, tion, is coactively imposing economic policies that openly impact negatively on both human work and natural resources. The large multinational corporations have been studied since the early 1990s by different social collectives and networks that havee witnessed how hav how pacifist, pacifist, femin feminist ist and ecological claims have been seemingly incorporated into sales campaigns as slogans. s logans. At the same time these very same transnationals use the workforce from the periphery through the relationships they maintain with their production lines and affiliated suppliers. They exploit precariousness and child labour labour,, impose a total total absence absence of social social benefits benef its and a union prohibition, prohibition, among amongst st other human rights rights transgressi transgressions, ons, as well as paying paying wages so low that workers are unable to feed their families. In a similar similar way, way, the dissidence against economic globalization came to the conclusion that neo-liberal politics mean a growing degradation of natural natural resources, resources, rev reveali ealing ng the commercia commercial, l, financial and speculative mechanisms which pull down thousands of hectares of forest, forest, transforming this land for the growth of crop or tree plantations, forcing forc ing indigeno indigenous us groups, groups, whos whosee livelih livelihood ood depended depend ed on the forest, to move. The The uprooting uprooting of mangroves around the Tropics to the benefit of shrimp exports became an international scandal. Also, attention started to be drawn drawn to the human and environmental damage caused by the obligation to pay external debts (emphasized by the Jubilee 2000 campaigns).

THE EMERGENCE OF AGROECOLOGY FROM THE ANTAGONISM PROCESSES TOWARDS NEO-LIBERALISM AND GLOBALIZATION In the past few decades there have been various productive experiences that show the emergence of a new management model of natural resources, based on local knowledge and its merging with modern technologi technologies. es. Many of these these recreate, recreate, in some aspects, histori historical cal forms of socio-economic socio-economic organization linked to socio-cultural identity.


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Conventional agricultural science would not hesitate in labelling such experiences as a new paradigm of anti-modern rural development. Such experiences are dispersed world-wide (Pretty, 1995). They are born from processes of resistance in the interstices of agricultural modernization and they offer a list of productive pro ductive and social strategies. There are two social spaces where such ‘productive dissidence’ dissidence’ towards agricultural agricultural modernization can be found, according to Vict Victor or Manuel Toledo. They are ‘focal points of civilizatory resistance’. The first, which he refers to as ‘postmodern’, moder n’, is made up of ‘a polychrom polychromee range of social and countercultural movements’. The second social space is located on certain ‘islands of pre-modernity or pre-industriality’, those enclaves of the planet where western civilization did not or still has not managed to impose its values, practices, practi ces, corpor corporations ations and modern actions. actions. They are predominantl predo minantly, y, althoug although h not exclusively exclusively,, rural, in countrie tr iess such such as India, India, Ch China ina,, Eg Egyp ypt, t, In Indo done nesi sia, a, Pe Peru ru or Mexico, Mexi co, where the presence presence of various various indigeno indigenous us populations popul ations (made up of peasants, fish fishermen, ermen, sheph shepherds erds and craftsmen) confirm the presence of civilizatory models different to those originated in Europe. These do not constitute immaculate archaisms, but contemporary syntheses or forms of resistance born from the encounters that have taken place in the last few centuries between the expansive force of western civilization and the ever present forces of the ‘peoples without history’. (Toled (T oledo, o, 200 2000: 0: 53)

THE EXPERIENCE OF INDIA Elements in the movement for agroecology in the south are the collective defence of agrobiodiversity biodiv ersity,, food security and the in situ conservation or co-evolution of plant genetic resources. Thus in Mexico, Mexico, beyond the the neo-Zapatism neo-Zapatism born in Chiapas, Chiapas, a wider wider movement movement has risen risen since 2002 called ‘En Defensa Defensa del Maíz’, against maize imports impo rts from from the United United States States.. In India, India, as Kothari puts it (1998: 51), a single species of rice (Oryza sativa) sativa) collected from the wild some time in the distant distant past, has diversified diversified into into approximately 50,000 varieties as a result of a combination of evolutionary/habitat influences and the innovative skills of farmers. This contribution to genetic diversity is a fact that the modern seed industry convenientl conveniently y sidesteps, and that the consumers of industrialized countries have ignored until recently. Mexican peasants never thought of patenting or instituting other types of intellectual property rights on the varieties of maize that have been used by the commercial seed industry.

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Agricultural biopiracy is a topic which the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been discussing for some twenty years under the the name of Farmers’ Farmers’ Rights. Even some governments say that if a company takes a seed from from a farmer’s field, adds a gene and patents the resulting seed for sale at a profit [or otherwise ‘improves’ the seed by traditional methods of crossing, crossing, and then protects it under the UPOV rules], there is no reason the initial seed should be free. They also say patents ignore the contributions by indigenous peoples, who often are the true discoverers of useful plants and animals, or of farmers who improve plants over the generations. The negotiation run by the Food and Agriculture Organization [on Farmers’ Rights] is weighing whether to compensate traditional farmers for work on improving crops and maintaining different varieties. (Pollack, 1999)

But, then, who wants the the Third World farmers farmers to continue growing and locally freely sharing or selling their their own low-yielding, low-input seeds? From the point of view of international capitalism, repla replacing cing their seeds seeds by commercial commercial seeds would be more conducive to economic growth. Should not traditional seeds be forbidden on grounds of lack of sanitary or yield guarantees? There is then a growing alarm in southern countries which are centres of agricultural biodiversity vers ity,, or close close neighbours neighbours to them, them, becau because se of the disappearance of traditional farming. This new awarene awareness, ss, which goes goes totally totally against the the grain of developm development ent economi economics, cs, is helped helped by the social and cultural distance between the seed companies (often multinationals) and the local peasants and farmers. While conservation of ‘wild’ ‘wild’ biodi biodiversi versity ty in ‘nationa ‘nationall parks’ is seen often as a ‘northern’ idea imposed on the south (as to some extent is really the case), case), the conservation of in situ agricultural biodiversity was for many years left aside by the large wilderness northern organizations. It was pushed instead by specific speci fic NGOs NGOs such as RAFI RAFI and GRAIN, GRAIN, also by southern scientists and by southern groups who developed pro-peasant ideologies. There are deliberate attempts in India by groups and individual farmers to revive agricultural diversity. In the Hemval Ghati of the Garhwal Himalaya, some farmers under the banner of the Beej Bachao Andolan (Save the Seed Movement) have been travelling in the region collecting seeds of a large diversity of crops. Many farmers grow high-input high-yield varieties for the market but also other varieties for their own families. An important issue is to promote not only the survival of many varieties of the main crops (wheat and rice) but also to keep alive other


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food crops that have been not subject to ‘Green Revolutio Rev olution’ n’ seed substitution substitution – like bajra, ramdan ramdanaa and jowar, jowar, and also pulses in general. In the south of the country country,, the somewhat somewhat grandly grandly named named ‘seed satyagraha’ of the Karnataka Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), became well known in the early 1990s.3 Monsanto has used the loopholes in legislation or in effective regulation to introduce transgenic crops outside outside the United United States. Thus, Thus, there is a debate in some parts of India against the introduction ducti on of Bt cotton (that (that is, cotto cotton n seeds into which the bacillus thurigiensis has been genetically engineered to act as an insecticide). In Andhra Prades Pradesh, h, the farme farmers’ rs’ move movement ment APRS uprooted and burned burned two crop sites in 1998, and alerted the state parliament and government to ban further further field field sites, sites, while in Karnata Karnataka ka the leader of the farmers’ farmers’ movement KRRS transparently called on the company to reveal the exact locations of its field tests of transgenic Bt cotton. Monsanto has been more successful elsewhere. There was little opposition in Argentina to transgenic soybeans soybeans (Pengue, (Pengue, 2000). In India, India, on 30 Novembe Novemberr 1999, the first first day of the WTO conference conference in Seattle, Seattle, seve several ral thousand farmers gathered in Bangalore at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the park. They issued a ‘Quit India’ Ind ia’ not notice ice to Mons Monsant anto, o, and the they y warn warned ed the prestigious Indian Institute of Science not to collaborate with Monsanto in research. The company was urged to leave the country or face non-violent direct action against its activities and installations. Agribusiness had already been warned with the destruction of Cargill facilities in one district back in 1993. The KRRS leaders have travelled trav elled around the world, world, being much involved involved in the anti-neo-liberal dissidence against the WTO because the new regulations on international trade bring in their wake the enforcement of property rights on commercial commercial seeds, seeds, which unjustly unjustly do not recognize the original raw material and knowledge, while preventi preventing ng farmers’ farmers’ local gifts gifts or sale of such commercial seeds. In 2001 the KRRS was still trying to prevent the wholesale introduction of transgenic Bt cotton in India. Also in India, Navdanya is a large network of farme fa rmers, rs, en envir vironm onment entali alists sts,, sci scient entist istss and concerned individuals which is working in different parts of the country to collect and store crop varieties, evalua evaluate te and select those with good performance,, and encourage mance encourage their their reuse in the fields fields (Kothari (Ko thari,, 1998: 60–61) 60–61),, certa certainly inly a more parti particicipatory strategy than that of ex situ cold storage. What other name but ‘ecological neo-Narodnism’ can be given to such initiatives? Reality is contradict contr adictory ory,, and movement movementss against Cargill Cargill

and Monsanto are combined in India with movements for subsidized industrial fertilizers. However,, who would have However have thought twenty years years ago that praise for organic agriculture would be expressed not by professional ethnoecologists or agroecologists or by northern neo-rural environmentalists but by real farmers from India in international trade meetings? This is not homespun oriental wisdom combating northern agricultural technology,, it is not identity politics only. technology only. On the contrary,, it must be interpreted as part of an intercontrary international worldwide trend with solid foundations in agroecology agroecology.. Should there be a rush in southern countries to impose intellectual property rights on crop varieties, animal races and medicinal knowledge? In India, Anil Gupta has long confronted this this question with a pioneering large-scale ground-level effort to document the local communities’ knowledge regarding old and innovati innovative ve resource uses in the form of local registers. The objectives are manifold manifold:: the exchang exchangee of ideas ideas between between communitie commu nities, s, the revitaliz revitalization ation of local knowlknowledge systems and the building up of local pride in such systems, and the protection against intellectuall ‘pira tua ‘piracy’ cy’ by outs outside iders rs (Koth (Kothari ari,, 199 1998: 8: 105 105). ). The protection arises because prior registration and publication would stop patenting. As Anil Gupta (1996) has said repeatedly repeatedly,, if somebody is to patent some some properties properties of neem, why not ourselves, selve s, India Indian n farmers and scientists? scientists? The main thrust of his his work, howe however ver,, has been to enhance enhance local pride in the existing processes of conservation and innovati innovation, on, and to stop outside outside advanadvantage being taken gratis from this work.

TOWARDS A LA TOW LATIN TIN AMERICAN AM ERICAN AGROECOLOGICAL MOVEMENT There is no space here (and we lack sufficient knowledge) for a review of other similar movements in countries in Asia and Africa. We shall now very briefly review some Latin American agroecological movements. In South America productive dissidence to agricultural modernization can be found in the south of Brazil, Brazil, in the states of Paraná,, Santa Catarina Paraná Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul and extending through Misiones up to the historical region of Gran Chaco, from the north of Argentina Argentina and Paraguay as far up as the south of Bolivia. In Argent Argentina, ina, probabl probably y the most relev relevant ant agroecological experience that has so far emerged takes place in the province of Misiones. 4 He Here re,, a peasant agroecological movement has brought together a range of productive experiences based


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on the ‘improvement of the traditional, traditional, producti productive ve diversif div ersificat ication, ion, specia specializat lization ion in some sectors sectors and the strengthening of production for family consumption’. Such experiences emphasize the transformation of production and the search for new markets in ferias in ferias francas de Misiones (fairs). With reference to the creation of one of these fairs, fai rs, one of the the org organi anizer zerss said, said, ‘W ‘Wee didn’ didn’tt invent Ferias Francas, we are recreating an ageold experience …’. In this province, 27 fairs take place every week of the the year, in which more than 2,000 farmers take part in order to sell their produce direc directly tly to to customers customers (Carba (Carballo, llo, 2000). Probably the most beneficial beneficial work, work, agroecologically speakin speaking, g, that is carried carried out in Misiones Misiones is that of the Organic Farming Network of Misiones. Experiences with agroecological initiatives can also be found in north Santafesino, 5 and in all of Gran Chaco. In the past few years a network of farmers and NGOs has taken shape, exchanging experiences (some with more than 20 years of experienc experience, e, as is the case case of INCUPO) INCUPO) and coordinating actions generating training courses for technicians and producers in agroecology. In the north of the province of Santa Fe an ‘agroecological week of the Santa Fe province’ has been develo developed. ped. Since Since 1998, in the city of Rosario, there have existed existed ‘urban communitarian ecological food gardens’ gardens’ on villas miseria, miseria, wh whic ich h provide provi de ‘local ‘local health health centres’ centres’ with medicina medicinall plants rescued from Toba knowledge (Martinez Saraso Sar asola, la, 199 1992: 2: 441 441–47 –476). 6). If the agroecological movement is significant in the north of Argentina it is more so in Brazil, especially in the states of Paraná (with the fundamental action of AS-PT AS-PTA), A), Santa Catarina (with the official official support of EP EPAGRI) AGRI) and, above all, all, in Rio Grande do Sul where EMATER (the state organism for agricultural extension) adopted agroecology as its official policy (until 2002), declaring that the state is ‘free of transgenics’. There is in Brazil today the strongest movement in the world for land land reform, reform, the MST MST (the Movement Movem ent of the the Landless), Landless), whose social social origins are in Rio Grande do Sul. In 1999 the MST declared declar ed itself itself against transge transgenic nic crops, crops, and in January 2001 the the MST, MST, togethe togetherr with with Rafael Rafael Alegriaa and other leaders of Via Alegri Via Campesina, Campesina, and with José Bové of the French Confederation Paysanne, Paysan ne, became the media media stars of of the Porto Porto Alegre World Social Forum when they symbolically destroyed some Monsanto experimental fields in the village of Nao-metoques. The context was the prohibition of transgenic soybeans in Rio Grande do Sul by the state government. Even if the valiant attitude of the government and

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judiciary in Rio Grande do Sul against transgenic crops would finally fail because of federal overruling,, it has served ruling served to propel the MST in an an ecological direction. The transgenic issue has sparked off a general discussion on agricultural technology inside the MST. The rural–urban link of the Brazilian experiences of Rio Grande do Sul is especially relevant in Porto Alegre Alegre,, where a few few days a week entire entire streetss fill up with market street market stalls, stalls, where many many cooperatives establish ‘agroecological socialization tio n lin links’ ks’ wit with h con consum sumers ers (Ca (Capor poral, al, 199 1998; 8; Costabeber Costabe ber,, 1998; Caporal Caporal and Costabeber, Costabeber, 2001). However Howe ver,, the Brazilian agroecological agroecological phenomephenomenon is much more widespread, widespread, as hundreds of productive agroecological experiences can be found throughout through out the country country (Canuto, 1997). Similarly Simil arly,, in the states states of Jalisco Jalisco (Morales (Morales Hernández, Herná ndez, 1999) and Michoacan Michoacan (Toledo, (Toledo, 1991) in Mexico, Mexico, there exist exist several several experiences experiences that through social collective action organize their production and marketing to face up to conventionall markets. tiona markets. Likew Likewise, ise, in Chile, Chile, the excell excellent ent work of CET CET (previousl (previously y in Santiago, Santiago, now in Temuco emuco), ), with its ramificatio ramifications ns throughout throughout the country and even throughout the rest of Latin America through CLADES (with its magazine ‘ Agroecology Agroecology and Development ’), ’), pro provid videe good good examples exampl es of agroecol agroecological ogical experi experiences, ences, and which acquire special significance in the Mapuche Mapuc he territory territory.. Also, in Colombia, Colombia, a Red de Custodios de Semillas (seed wardens) exists which is composed of farmers who exchange experienc expe riences, es, reinf reinforcing orcing a recuperation recuperation of local peasant knowledge. Quite a few such alternative management proposals also have a strong indigenous content. In the land land reforms reforms of the past 50 years, years, the highland peasantries of the central Andes fought against the modernization of the haciendas, which sought to get rid of them; they stayed put, and increased their holdings. There are more established communities and more community (pasture) land in the Andes now than 30 or 40 years ago. This bothers the neo-liberals. The peasantry has not yet decreased in numbers, despite migration, but now the birth rate is coming down. Will Quechua and Aymara communities survive as such? Only 40 years ago, integration and acculturation was the destiny traced for them by local modernizers (such as Galo Plaza in Ecuador) and by the US U S political-anthropological establishment. Their resistance today would be helped by improvement in the terms of trade for their production, if subsidized imports of agricultural products from the United States and Europe were stopped, stopped, if they they could get get subsidies subsidies (in (in


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the form of payments payments for Farmer’ Farmer’ss Rights, for instance, instan ce, and subsidie subsidiess for the use use of solar energy), ener gy), and if they they could exercis exercisee organized organized political pressure for this purpose. We We see explicitly for the first time in the Andes and also in Mesoamerica an agroecological pride which provides a foundation for an alternative development or, as Arturo Escoba Escobarr would would put it, it, for an alter alter-native nati ve to developm development. ent. If not this, this, what then? then? Should Andean peasants, with low-yielding low-yielding agriculture, give up farming and livestock livestock raising as the economy economy grows, giv givee up their communities communities and their languages? Should then some of their grandchildren, as the economy grows grows still more, come back in small numbers as subsidized mountain caretakers, caretakers, making music and dancing as Indians for the tourists? In the final analysis, in situ agricultural biodiversity and local food security could be assured as part of a movement which would put a much higher value also on the preservation of cultural diversity. This is what PRATEC PRA TEC in Peru, Peru, foun founded ded by the dissi dissident dent agronomist agron omist Eduardo Eduardo Grill Grillo, o, tried to to do, buil building ding upon the work by agronomists from remote provinces prov inces,, such as Oscar Oscar Blanco Blanco who long long defended cultivated species such as quinua and many tubers (the ‘lost crops of the Incas’) against the onslaught of imported subsidized wheat. PRATEC PRA TEC is romantic and extremist, extremist, but the sub ject it puts on the table is realistic and down-toearth. It is not their fault that it is not considered worth the attention of multilateral banks or even of universities (Apffel-Marglin and PRATEC, 1998). In the University of San Simón de Cochabamba in Bolivia there is an Agricultural Institute (AGRUCO) which is reviving Andean peasantry peasa ntry agroecol agroecology ogy (Delgado, (Delgado, 2002; Tapia Tapia Ponce,, 1999; like Ponce likewise wise Stephan Stephan Rist, 2001 in in the Universit Univ ersity y of Berne: Berne: all of these these published published in AGRUCO, AGR UCO, 2002). Farmers and peasants from the movements and experience experiencess discussed in this chapter, chapter, from in Arg Argent entina ina,, Bra Brazil zil,, Bol Boliv ivia, ia, Mex Mexico ico,, Chi Chile le and and Colombia, Colom bia, met in Decembe Decemberr 1998 in Pereira Pereira,, Colombia Colo mbia,, and establi established shed a declar declaratio ation n of principles princ iples,, as members members of the Agroec Agroecologic ological al Movement of Latin America and the Caribbean (MAELA). In this declaration they expressed their ‘opposition to the neo-liberal model … for its degradation of nature and society’. At the same time time they establishe established, d, as a right of their their local organizations, organizations, the ‘management and control of natural resources … without dependence on external input (agrochemical (agrochemical and transgenic), for the biological reproduction of their cultures’, underlining its ‘support of the promotion, exchange and diffusion of local experiences of

civil resistance and the creation of alternatives in the use and conservation of local varieties’ (MAELA, (MAEL A, 2000) 2000).. They They also also express expressed ed their their ‘solidarity ‘solid arity with with the MST of Brazil, the peasant peasant movements move ments of Bolivia, Bolivia, the Mapuches Mapuches of Chile, the indigenou indigenouss peasants peasants of Chiapas’ Chiapas’,, among amongst st other groups, as an exampl examplee of interna internationa tionall peasantry.

A BRIEF CONCLUSION In this chapter we have reviewed several movements in countries of the south based on an explicit agroecological awareness. These movements are very different from the s mall neo-rural postmodern organic farming movements of the United States and Europe. We are still far from being able to provide a complete taxonomy of such movements in in the south, and in fact nobody seems yet able to provide a whole picture. So, this chapter gives some detailed information on some cases but only a very brief (superficial, and second-hand) view of other cases. However, there are some undoubted developments a new network such as Via Campesina has arisen; many agronomists now write theses and books on agroecology based on peasant knowledge; the deba de bate tess on Farme Farmers’ rs’ Ri Righ ghts ts,, bi biop opir irac acy y, in situ situ coevolution of agricultural biodiversity reach public opinion. The agricultural policies of the United States and the European Union (protectionism against some imports, large export subsidies for many other products undermining world peasant agriculture) are under attack. There is a confluence of views from peasants groups in the south and from some circles in the European Union against such policies. In Europe this is characterized as the Agrarwende again ainst st subsi subsi- Agrarwende,, ag dized exports but in favour of subsidies to farmers based on the multifunctionality of agriculture. In the south, south, subsid subsidies ies to agroecolog agroecological ical peasants peasants would be even more justified on grounds of in situ biodiversity conservation and coevolution, energy ener gy efficiency efficiency,, food security, security, cultu cultural ral conservation. Such a policy of subsidies would require an internation international al agreement, agreement, perha perhaps ps based on a notion of paying back an ecological debt from north to south for so many cases of biopiracy. Under the discussion on agroecology lurks a large question that is still outside the political and economic agenda. Has the march of agriculture in the past 150 years in Western countries been wrong? What is the agronomic advice that sh ould be given given not only in Peru or Mexico, Mexico, but even even more in India, India, in China? China? Should they they preserve preserve


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their peasantries or should they get rid of them in the process of modernization modernization,, dev developm elopment ent and urbanizatio urbani zation? n? Compared Compared to 100 years ago, and because becau se of populati population on growth, growth, the number number of peasants in the world has increased considerably; therefore such questions are indeed relevant. In summa summary ry,, agri agricult cultural ural poli policy cy shoul should d bala ba lanc ncee en envi viro ronm nmen enta tal, l, ec econ onom omic ic,, so soci cial al,, cu culltural values at different geographical and time scales. scale s. In some interpretat interpretations, ions, moder modern n agriculture is characterized by lower energy efficiency, genetic gene tic and and soil soil erosion, erosion, groun ground d and water water pollution. pollut ion. From anothe anotherr point of view view,, in the language lang uage of econo economics mics,, mode modern rn agricult agriculture ure achieves achie ves increased increased produc productivi tivity ty.. Another, Another, nonequivale equi valent, nt, descri description ption of agric agricultur ultural al developdevelopment will emphasize loss of indigenous cultures and knowledge. There is here a clash of scientific perspectives, also a clash of values. values. How to inteintegrate the different points of view? How to decide on an agricultural policy in the presence of such opposite, legitimate points of view? view? The role of the rural social scientist that we have adopted is to study experiences of peasant agroecological movements and extract theoretical principles for two purpose purposes: s: first first,, to help help design design parti participat cipatory ory strategie strat egiess of local developm development, ent, second second,, to intervene in the policy discussions at higher levels on the role of agriculture in today’s world. The worldwide peasant agroecological movement is now an an actor actor in these these debates debates,, as seen very clearly in the World Social Forums of Porto Alegre both in 2001 and 2002. The wider scene is the worldwide movement against neo-liberal globalization in all its aspects (financial, trade, environm env ironment, ent, polit politics), ics), a network network of networ networks, ks, in which agrarian movements are just one actor. Perhaps an unexpected one.

NOTES 1

This This land land lab labou oure rers rs unio union n (SO (SOC) C) was, was, in fact fact,, the the expression in the 1980s of the final stage of a peasant movement led by the land labourers or peasants without land who demonstrated a huge potential and capacity for struggle in Southern Spain for more than 100 years. In the 1980s there was discontent with almost total mechanization of work: coinciding with a grave industrial industrial crisis, this meant that land labourers had little or no opportunities of alternative work. With their wish to look for new alternatives which would surpass the traditional claim to land, the SOC moved moved towards towards new social movements movements in general, and towards the ecological movement in particular. From the interaction of their activism with their productive experience, there emerged a clear approach of ecological management of natural resources resources,, similar to organic organic farming but but

2

3

4

5

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disagreeing with some of its styles of farming. The aspect which they most dislike is the emphasis on healthy eating and the commercial interest which organic farming shows, shows, in contrast contrast to the social social aspects. In its fight for land the SOC had had access to land on several farms. Some of these lands were obtained through continuous occupations and evictions which led to frequent frequent imprisonments imprisonments,, and others others through renting or purchase. There was always union pressure and support from the more progressive sectors of the church and and the university university,, as well as some sociosocioeconomic and cultural institutions. This meant that, in the first half of the 1980s, the SOC was accompanied by different non-peasant groups in their many actions. These ranged from peaceful demonstrations and marches looking for support from the villages and cities on their itineraries to ‘symbolic’ occupations of land or other more problematic temporary take-overs of local government government buildings buildings,, airports airports or even the Andalusian Parliament building. The ISEC of the University of Cordoba has collaborated with SOC since it was founded in 1978. The Alliance Alliance for Responsible Responsible Trade Trade (ART) (ART) of the United States; Common Frontiers of Canada; the Red Mexicana de Acción contra el Libre Cambio (RMALC); the Quebec network for Continental Integration; the Red Chilena por la Iniciativa de los Pueblos (RCHIP, (RCHIP, which is presently called the Alianza Chilena por la Iniciativa de los Pueblos, ALCIR). Cf. the letter letter from from M.D. M.D. Nanjun Nanjundas daswam wamy y, ‘Farme ‘Farmers rs and Dunkel Draft’, Economic Draft’, Economic and Political Weekly Weekly , 26 June 1993, 1993, and the emailed newsletter newsletter of the KRRS. KRRS. Also, Also, Akhil Akhil Gupt Guptaa (1998 (1998), ), esp. esp. last last chap chapter ters, s, for a description of the KRRS up to the mid-1990s. Our know knowledge ledge of this this experienc experiencee is due to to our unforgettable gettable friend friend ‘el coya coya Cametti’, Cametti’, with whom whom we shared an enriching experience in the Maestria del ISEC in la Rábida. In spite spite of the the grav gravee social social situat situation ion,, distur disturban bances ces,, environmental degradation and the progressive depopulation of of North Santafe Santafesino, sino, there exists exists a wide wide nucleus of institutions and independent technicians which, for some years now now, have have made great efforts efforts in the search for an alternative development. Many producers of the region share these ideals and some years ago started to make changes using agroecological practices. There now exists an inter-institutional articulation whose first success was the excellent diagnosis of the Chaco Argentino (1999) which was carried out by the Chaco Argentina Agroforestal Network financed by the Secretary of Natural Resources of the Argentinian central government. Incupo and Fundapaz participated participated in this diagnosis, diagnosis, thus potentiatin potentiating g the constitution of a Santafesina Agroforestal Board. This group developed many experiences in North Santaf Santafesi esino, no, includ including ing:: (a) rotat rotativ ivee pasture pasture trials trials on forested low-lands in Vera, where FundaPaz, FundaPaz, INTA, INTA, MAGIC Vera participated from 1994 to 1997; (b) forestry and pasture management experiences with


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small producers of the Cuña Boscosa Santafesina developed by FundaPaz from 1992 to 2000; (c) development of means of protection against overpasturing of cattle, with the participation participation of CATIE CATIE of Costa Rica; (d) experiences with forestal plantations by means of intercalating the cultivation of local tree species by FundaPaz in 1995 and 1996; (e) recuperation of soil and impoverished natural pastures with producers of the La Cabral area, on the part of PSA, INTA INT A San Cristóbal, with similar experiences in San Manuel – La Sarita, Sarita, on the part of PSA; (f) selective selective thinning out of woodland with the production of ecological charcoal and the management of natural pastureland with rotative pasture in San Cristóbal on the part of INTA San Cristóbal; (g) forestry management experiences with small producers in the Colonia Piloto Villa Guillermina Guillermina area, on the part of the PSA from 1997 to 2000; (h) agroforestry management experiences in the north-east Santafesino on the part of Pastoral Social de Rafaela, Incupo and FundaPaz FundaPaz from 1995 to 2000; (i) cataloguing of the native woodland flora of the the province province of Santa Santa Fe, carried out out by G.D. Marino and J.F. J.F. Pensiero, for the Subsecretary of Culture – the provincial government of Santa Fe; (j) introduction of subtropical pastures in the rainforests of the Chaco, on the part of a team which which was coordinated by G.D. Marino of the university Department of Agricultural Sciences; (k) gathering of floral information of young quebrachales of the Cuña Boscosa Santafesina, FA FACA CA and FundaPaz; (l) cataloguing of flora and bird bird life in the province province of Santa Santa Fe, by members of the aforementioned university department; (m) experience of InCuPo moving from the monocrop cultivation of sugarcane to the productive recuperation of the Tacuarendí area from 1995 to 2000; (n) sustainable management of the ‘coast and islands’ island s’ ecosys ecosystem tem through diversified diversified agroforesta agroforestall production in the Romang area developed by the InCuPo from 1993 to 2000; (o) trials in the harvesting and storing of water water for human consumption, of which the Pastoral Social de Rafaella was in charge from 1996 to 2000. The information gathered from these experiences led to the institutional articulation of the Agroforesta Agrof orestall Board Santafesina, Santafesina, which is committed to working for and combining efforts in the preservation of the natural environm environments ents of the region, region, contributing with ideas and activities for productive and demographic recuperation of an agroecological nature.

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Curso VII Lectura 2. New Rural Social Movements

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