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“A Beautiful Picture of Chaos”: La Vía Campesina and the Convergence of Food Sovereignty and Climate Justice

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“A Beautiful Picture of Chaos”: La Vía Campesina and the Convergence of Food Sovereignty and Climate Justice “A Beautiful Picture of Chaos”: La Vía Campesina and the Convergence of Food Sovereignty and Climate Justice by Bryan Dale A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Geography and Collaborative Program in Environmental Studies ~~~ Department of Geography and Program in Planning and the School of the Environment University of Toronto This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.5/ca Copyright 2013 Dale, Bryan (2013) “A Beautiful Picture of Chaos”: La Vía Campesina and the Convergence of Food Sovereignty and Climate Justice. Thesis for the degree of Master of Arts in Geography and Collaborative Program in Environmental Studies. Department of Geography and Program in Planning and the School of the Environment, University of Toronto. Abstract La Vía Campesina is an international network of peasant farmers that, since 1996, has promoted the concept of food sovereignty. More recently, this collection of over 160 groups worldwide has been connecting this concept with climate justice issues. Drawing on interviews conducted during the 2012 People’s Summit that took place in Rio de Janeiro, and an analysis of the network’s documents, I consider its work in relation to its member organizations and a broader movement tackling the systemic issues that are driving a range of social, economic and ecological crises. I contend that, while many of Vía Campesina’s proposals will require the establishment of intricate processes and systems depending on the geographic, political and cultural context in question, the network is demonstrating that its radical critiques, proposals and decision-making processes may help contribute to a larger counter-hegemonic narrative as a force to counteract global capitalism. ii Acknowledgements It is almost impossible to put into words how thankful I am to the people who have helped me develop and complete this project over the last two years. The Department of Geography is full of staff, faculty and students who have provided me with administrative, intellectual and emotional support. My sincere appreciation goes out to my supervisors, Scott Prudham and Kundan Kumar, who have provided me with thoughtful critiques, practical guidance, and endless encouragement. Similarly, my committee members, Ryan Isakson and Sarah Wakefield were kind enough to engage with my work in a meaningful way and supplied me with crucial feedback to help me in the final stages of my writing. Of course, while I take full responsibility for any remaining shortcomings in this thesis, thanks to all four of you for your contributions. I am also thankful for the brilliant course instructors I had throughout the Master’s program—both in the Department of Geography and at the School of the Environment— and also for my friends in the University of Toronto Political Ecology/Economy Working Group. Amy Buitenhuis, Katia Snukal, Beth Denaburg and Joel Fridman, you have been unbelievably awesome study partners and I cannot express how fun you have made my MA experience while also helping me to keep on track. Adelante! Thanks also to those people outside of the university whose support and encouragement have been essential to me since I returned to school: Kim and Indie McFadden, Mom, Dad and Adrian, Curtis Maloley and Nicole Aylwin, and Raúl Burbano and Denize Mello—my friends who made my time in Rio de Janeiro so rich. Finally, I must express my sincere gratitude to the research participants who generously shared their time and thoughtful comments with me… and to the many farmers whom I have never met but who grew the food and drink that sustained me while I carried out my research and wrote this thesis. I started my Master’s degree interested in climate change and social justice and I am incredibly thankful that this led me to understand the integral role that food systems play in the fight for system change. iii Table of Contents Abbreviations and Acronyms ................................................................................................... v List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ vi 1. Introduction 1.1 A convergence of crises .................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Food and climate: ‘The forgotten link’ ........................................................................... 6 1.3 The movement for climate justice ................................................................................ 14 1.4 “Globalize the Struggle! Globalize the Hope!” ........................................................... 18 2. Social Movements and the Politics of Nature 2.1 The political ecology of the climate and food crises .................................................... 24 2.2 “Viva la lucha!”: Movement from below ..................................................................... 31 2.3 Assessing ‘system change’ ............................................................................................. 37 2.4 The culture of social transformation ............................................................................ 40 3. The People’s Summit and People’s Organizing 3.1 Activist research: solidarity and reflexivity ................................................................. 44 3.2 Notes on methods ......................................................................................................... 47 3.3 Notes on scope .............................................................................................................. 51 3.4 Alliances and connective conversations ....................................................................... 53 3.5 Diagnosing climate injustice ......................................................................................... 60 4. Peasant Farmers Cooling the Earth 4.1 Decisions for 200 million .............................................................................................. 65 4.2 Production: “Climate justice is in our hands” .............................................................. 70 4.3 Consumption: “Fair distribution of necessary goods” ................................................. 74 4.4 Trade: “Our planet is not for sale!” ............................................................................. 77 4.5 La Vía Campesina and System Change ....................................................................... 81 5. Thousands of Solutions to Climate Change 5.1 Solidarity and struggle ................................................................................................. 86 5.2 Radicalism as ‘the only way to save the planet’ ........................................................... 89 5.3 Agrarian citizenship ...................................................................................................... 93 5.4 Towards militant globalism .......................................................................................... 96 5.5 Counter-hegemony and system change ..................................................................... 100 6. Conclusion 6.1 Re-imagining the end of the world ............................................................................ 106 6.2 The labour of system change ...................................................................................... 109 6.3 An idea whose time has arrived ................................................................................. 113 References ............................................................................................................................. 116 iv Abbreviations and Acronyms AoA Agreement on Agriculture CLOC Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Organizaciones del Campo COP Conference of Parties (to the UNFCC; as opposed to the COP to the UN Convention on Biodiversity) CSO Civil Society Organization FAO Food and Agriculture Organization (of the United Nations) GHG Greenhouse Gas GM(O) Genetically Modified (Organism) ICC International Coordinating Committee (of La Vía Campesina) IFAP International Federation of Agricultural Producers IMF International Monetary Fund IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change MST Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (Landless Rural Workers Movement) NFU National Farmers Union (Canada) NGO Non-Governmental Organization REDD Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries REDD+ ‘“REDD+” goes beyond deforestation and forest degradation, and includes the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks’ (UN-REDD Programme 2009). Rio+20 The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (that took place in Rio de Janeiro in June, 2012) UNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNFCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change WTO World Trade Organization v List of Tables 1-1 Countries and regions represented by La Vía Campesina’s member organizations ........................................................................................................... 7 1-2 La Vía Campesina’s international conferences and rotating operational secretariat ................................................................................................................ 9 2-1 Friedmann and McMichael’s concept of ‘food regimes’ .................................... 28 3-1 Interviews
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