The openMovements series invites leading social scientists to share their research results and perspectives on contemporary social struggles.
The openMovements series invites leading social scientists to share their research results and perspectives on contemporary social struggles.
Karnataka State Farmers’Association. Victoria and Albert Museum. Flickr. Some rights reserved.When the idea of food sovereignty emerged twenty years ago, from the mobilisation of campesinos in Costa Rica and from the protest marches of small farmers in the Indian state of Karnataka, it had one important lesson to teach us: policies in the areas of food and agriculture should not be taken hostage to the exigencies of international trade. This idea was central to the establishment in 1993 of the Via Campesina, which was soon to grow into the largest transnational social movement in existence, now spanning 164 local and national organizations in more than 70 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, and representing an estimated 200 million farmers.
