Building A New Trade Framework
Today marks the International Day of Action Against the WTO and Free Trade Agreements, recognized annually by La Via Campesina and allies. On this day in 2003, Korean farmer and peasant activist Lee Kyung Hae took his life at the WTO Ministerial Conference in protest of the negative impacts of free trade, wearing a sign that read "WTO Kills Farmers."
LVC and its members predicted the devastating consequences of globalized, deregulated free-trade long ago. It has led to the intensifying concentration of power to multi-national corporations at the expense of small-scale farmers, local markets, and the planet.
We assert that there IS a better way! There IS a way forward to a new global economic model that serves people and planet, not the profits of a handful of companies. With La Via Campesina, NFFC has committed to the development of a new trade framework that will replace the dominant, yet disastrous, model of free-market global capitalism. This new framework will be rooted in food sovereignty, agroecology, and human rights.
We can only achieve this new framework with the understanding that farmers in the US & Canada must stand united with farmers around the globe to build power against shared challenges. To that end, NFFC has released a joint statement with other members of the North American region, reaffirming our commitment to this effort.
The message is simple: we want food sovereignty, not free trade!
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