Wednesday 13 April, 18-20 CET
Food in Times of Crisis
Wednesday 13 April
ABF-huset, Sveavägen 41, Stockholm (Venue Hjärtat, Ground floor)
18-19 CET: In English
19-20 CET: In Swedish
To address the food issue, Stockholm+50 Peoples Forum organizes a pre-June session on the 13 of April at 18:00 Stockholm time, CEST summer time. (17:00 London time and 16:00 UTC). The hybrid meeting will be in two parts, the first in English on Food Sovereignty and the world order, the second in Swedish stating that without farmers there is no civil contingency. It is held in conjuction with the International farmers struggle Day 17 April.
How can we make sure that people get food – especially in times of crisis? The current global food system depends heavily on fossil fuels, fertilizers and a handful of crops, much of which comes from Russia and Ukraine. The Russian war against Ukraine and the subsequent Western sanctions against Russia have already caused a spike in food prices and many warn that this is just the beginning of a serious global food crisis. The UN already reports substantial cuts in their food programs for starving people, eg in Yemen and the Horn of Africa. This, together with the climate crisis, has sparked an interest also in the West for food both in terms of how to be prepared for a crisis and for the risks of globalization of the food market, agriculture industry and supply chains.
Food has been an issue addressed strongly by peoples movement both in terms of the need to protect the right and possibility of each nation to sustain their own population with their basic needs called food sovereignty and as essential for civil contingency in case of crisis or war. Internationally the food sovereignty movement was born at a meeting in Mali 2007. It has been followed by many regional and national networks promoting cooperation for strengthening agroecology and ways of raising the level of more resilient food self-sufficiency. It has been promoted by the international peasant organization Via Campesina and other peoples movement like Friends of the Earth. When the corona crisis hit the world food sovereignty became an important issue for very many international movements.
Food Sovereignty and the world order
18-18.50 CET (in English): Introduction by the speakers and a dialogue with the audience at ABF and via Zoom.
Pat Mooney
ETC Group, Right Livelihood Awardee and International Expert Panel on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food)
Maximilian Isendahl
Farmer and forest owner, NOrdBruk/Via Campesina Sweden
