The administration of Pres. Benigno Aquino III seriously puts into doubt the respect for human rights of the farmers in the country. Aquino III is heir to the vast Hacienda Luisita Incorporated landholdings where, in 2004, 14 farmer leaders were massacred in front of its gates for protesting a bogus land distribution scheme that virtually […]
Cultural rice festival a resounding success
Hong Kong (Dec 17) — Rice farmers from across Asia who came to protest the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) 6th Ministerial conference also came to celebrate the culture of rice.
Today, the week-long ‘Save Our Rice Festival’ was declared a resounding success amidst the failure of the WTO talks to further […]
Coalition of Agricultural Workers International Vow to Fight for Those Most Oppressed by the WTO
Hong Kong (Dec 16) — Sri Utami, a domestic helper in Hong Kong, hails from a family of sugarcane workers in East Java, Indonesia. By taking care of other people’s families, she sends money home to enable her little brother to […]
Hong Kong (Dec 16) — Irene Fernandez has become quite accustomed to the cold weather these days. Joining intrepid delegates at the Peoples Camp on Food Sovereignty as temperatures dipped to a chilly 12 degrees in Victoria Park, she is glad to be in Hong Kong after the long flight from Sweden.
In response to the […]
Immediately after the launch of the Coalition of Agriculture Workers International (CAWI) at the Peoples Camp on Food Sovereignty on December 16, women agricultural workers joined the ‘Women’s March Against the WTO’ to the Hong Kong Convention Center (HKCC). The march was organised by the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD). Speaking […]
Kerala Activist Challenges Industrial Pollution Exacerbated by Intensive Globalisation and WTO neo-liberal Policies
By Ilang Ilang Quijano, PAN AP
Shri Purushan Eloor hails from the Indian state of Kerala’s Eloor Edayar area, one of the world’s “toxic hotspots.” An embattled activist, he has at last come to join people from other nations in the call to junk […]
Groups stage march and mass “die-ins” against MC6 in downtown Hong Kong
By Ilang Ilang Quijano and Jennifer Mourin
Hong Kong (Dec 15) — Mass deaths! Plunder and massive destruction of natural resources! Destruction of the agriculture of developing countries! Exacerbating landlessness! Causing dislocation, hunger, and poverty! Trampling on workers’ and women’s rights! Undermining social justice! Jeopardising […]
Peoples Camp Joins Peoples Action Week Against the WTO
By Jennifer Mourin
Hong Kong (Dec 13) – People from all over the world united by one common purpose, gathered on the football pitches of Victoria Park in Hong Kong to herald the opening of the Peoples Action Week (PAW) in protest of the official opening of the […]
They came from all over Asia to take part in the Peoples Camp on Food Sovereignty and Rice Festival, and have been proudly asserting the “culture” in “agriculture” during their time in Hong Kong. Lighting up the days in Victoria Park with their music, songs, chants, dances and performances, three groups in particular have captured […]
Hong Kong (Dec 17) — Asian farmers today described the World Trade Organisation’s Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) as one of the worst agreements crafted by conniving world leaders this century.
In workshop entitled “TRIPS: Defending Farmers’ Rights Against Patents on Life”, farmers shared their experiences and the impact of seed patenting on their lives. They […]