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Navdanya is participating in the Third World Meeting of Popular Movements, which is being held in Rome from 2 to 5 November 2016. Dr Vandana Shiva intevened in the panel debate about “Territory and Nature”.

Delegates of Popular Movements from all over the world began the discussions for an action plan that is going to be presented to Pope Francis

Delegades of Popular Movements from all over the world began the discussions for an action plan that is going to be presented to Pope Francis. […] During the interventions the organizing committee remarked the principal subjects of the debate; Land, Housing and Work, including panels about Peoples and Democracy; Territory and Nature; and the situation of refugees. All these realities and worries are going to be analyzed, discussed and synthetized in an action plan that is going to be handed to Pope Francis November 5th. Read more: http://movimientospopulares.org/delegades-of-popular-movements-from-all-over-the-world-began-the-discussions-for-an-action-plan-that-is-going-to-be-presented-to-pope-francis/

The debate about “Territory and Nature” insist on taking care of “Common Home”

In the beginning of the second day of the third World Meeting of Popular Movements there was a tribute to remember every person who has given their life for fighting for their rights. There was a special tribute to the activis Berta Cáceres, murdered because of her commitment with the environment in Honduras; she also participated in the first Meeting. After this manifestations started the discussions about “Territory and Nature.  This panel was integrated by Dr. Vandana Shiva, from Navdanya Trust (India); Rosaline Tuyuc, from the Coordinadora Nacional de Viudas (Guatemala); Mónica Crespo from the Federación de Cartoneros y Recicladores (Argentina) y Te Ao Pritchard from the Pacific Panthers Network (Nueva Zelanda). Nohra Padilla, de la Asociación de Recicladores de Bogotá (Colombia) y Ana de Luco de Sure We Can (EEUU) was the coordinator of the debate. Read more: http://movimientospopulares.org/the-debate-about-territory-and-nature-insist-on-taking-care-of-common-home/

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Dr Vandana Shiva’s article on “Il Fatto Quotidiano“: “The real war? It’s the one against Mother Earth” – 3 November 2016

On November 5th the Navdanya International team, together with representatives of groups later converged at Pope Francis audience after participating in the #StopCETA day event. Papa Francisco: “Actúen, sigan abriendo camino y luchando. Les da fuerza, nos da fuerza” La última jornada de trabajo del Encuentro se ha desarrollado en el Vaticano. Esta mañana, los delegados y las delegadas de los movimientos populares participaron en una Eucaristía en la Basílica de San Pedro, presidida por el Cardenal Turkson, y que han contado con las ofrendas realizadas por los movimientos populares, que mostraban sus esfuerzos y sus diversas realidades. Contínua leyendo en: http://seedfreedom.info/es/papa-francisco-actuen-sigan-abriendo-camino-y-luchando-les-da-fuerza-nos-da-fuerza/ El discurso completo de Papa Francisco a los Movimientos Populares – Roma 2016 Discorso di Papa Francesco ai partecipanti al 3° Incontro Mondiale dei Movimenti Popolari Transformative Action proposals assumed by Popular Movements around the World in dialogue with Pope Francis Propuestas de Acción Transformadora que asumimos los Movimientos Populares del Mundo en dialogo con el Papa Francisco – Italiano –

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Dr Vandana Shiva’s speech at the debate about “Territory and Nature” –

It is our right to keep alive our natural and genetic resources for ourselves and the generations to come. Colonialism has made us lose everything, our identity, our system of traditional knowledge – when everything really was in good relation with nature. If we want to re-empower ourselves we have to restart to respect our identity.
Wrapping up the question: “How do we change the world?”. The problem is that we give too much power to institutions of power that already exist. We need to be able to see that context more clearly and name the power that is there. And create our own spaces of power that are countered to institutional power that dehumanises and excludes us . Living politics is something that emerges from our own lives to articulate our own demand on what humanity needs.
If we are talking about people that is not defined by capital but by our work, we – in India – have started to change the vocabulary, we do not call it the informal sector anymore in our movements, we call it the self-organised sector in order to define democracy through work, rather than define ourselves as the margins. Giants like Walmart have taken the livelihood people created through self organisation. The language we use to defend the street workers, the little retailers: we call it retail democracy, where there is real interaction with communities. One part of the democracy question is really to take it back to people, define it around their work and around their land, their resources and their dignity.
Right now we’ve got upside down democracy where every decision has been made globally, behind closed doors by corporations. All the issues related to CETA and TTIP are now exploding. People are starting to recognise “That is not your business”. About the relationship between the state and popular movements we must watch the process of formalizing very closely and what is its democratic content. What are the rules of formalizing? Are they rules of exclusion? Or are they rules of dignity? All the tragedies of all the little activities which had to stop because they have become illegal are related to formalizing in favour of global corporations taking over a sector that was a source of employment for the poor.

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