17 April marks the International Day of Peasant Struggles. It commemorates the massacre of 19 landless workers in Eldorado Dos Carajás, Brazil, in 1996. Like every year, La Via Campesina calls to action, this time under the slogan “Land, water and territories for life”, and calls to mobilise for “a comprehensive land reform and ambitious public policies to stop land…
Feminism is a social and political movement without borders that brings a critical and transformative look at all aspects of the organisation of our lives. Feminism strives for a radical transformation of the system. In each territory, it takes the shape, demands and wishes of the women and communities that are present there, and then through solidarity and internationalism, those…
In order for me to write poetry that isn’t political I must listen to the birds and in order to hear the birds the warplanes must be silent. Marwan Makhoul This 10 December is undoubtedly marked by the endless human and collective rights violations against the people in Gaza and the West Bank, where there is an ongoing genocide and…
“I feel that the Continental School, and maybe other schools that have been carried out across the continent, are going to empower women, especially peasant women, who do a lot.” This was a reflection by Susan Owiti about the initiatives conducted by peasant women who have, in 2024, held for the first time a coordinated series of Continental Schools of…
Amid bombings, war crimes, mass killings of civilians, most of whom are women and children, missing persons, famine and the devastation of entire cities, environmental justice seems like a minor issue. But it is not. The link between the environmental destruction of a territory and that of its original people is inseparable. Chemical residues in the soil, water and air,…
Dismantling and resisting patriarchy is essential to Food Sovereignty, forest management and democracy and in the struggle against oppressive economic systems and political institutions. Below are interviews with three people leading the charge toward a more just, equitable, and feminist world that centers gender justice. How do patriarchy and other oppressions stand in the struggle for democracy and forests and…
Energy transition is one of the key ways to tackle climate change. The current energy system, based on fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas, is a major emitter of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. These gases are responsible for global warming. But the problems of the current energy system lie not only in the type of energy and…
June 30th marks the full circle of the first year under Philippine president Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr., son of previously deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. The Philippines is both a globally critical hotspot of biodiversity and natural resources, and a historic beacon of democracy and people power in Asia. But the environmental and human rights situation has deteriorated over the…
Asia is drowning in plastic, with national production and imports from the global north having devastating environmental and public health impacts. According to a report by Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific, most South and East Asian countries lack proper waste management strategies, regulations and facilities to deal with the plastic waste crisis. Often, communities are forced to resort to…
The Philippines has 421 principal rivers spread across 119 proclaimed watersheds. Aside from providing water to drink for 110 million Filipinos, these are also the source of irrigation for almost a million hectares of agricultural lands across the nation, and a significant source of electricity, comprising 10% of the current power mix. But the Philippine government’s emphasis on big dam…
