La Via Campesina Taiwan, China Feature (4) Hsinchu Field Notes - Sharing the Experience of Indonesia's Land Reoccupation Movement
Editor's note: This article is part of the "La Via Campesina 2012 Taiwan Visit Feature" series. For the related itinerary and other articles in the series, please see the links at the end of this article.
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La Via Campesina's schedule today (5/26) began at around nine in the morning. In the morning, the group visited the organic rice production and marketing group in Ruanqiao, Zhudong; the irrigation facilities and intake of the Zhudong Canal; and the Puyu Project expropriation area. After lunch at Puyu, in the afternoon they visited the rice paddies in Sanchongpu, Zhudong that have been designated as part of the expropriation area, the aqueduct bridge of the Zhudong Canal, and the Erchongpu spring. At about four o'clock, they arrived at Erchongpu, at the home of Chairman Liu of the Alliance for the Defense of Rural Villages, and held an informal roundtable forum with local residents.
The evening program began after dinner, opening with a guzheng performance by children. Next, Haesook explained the history and mission of La Via Campesina, and Yakub, a representative of SPI (Serikat Petani Indonesia), shared the experiences and strategies of Indonesian peasant organizations' struggles.
At the evening public talk, in addition to the local Erchongpu and Sanchongpu self-rescue associations, representatives from the Dapu, Puyu, and Guanyin anti-expropriation self-rescue associations also attended. What impressed me most was that the concerns of the attendees remained focused on land struggles.
The problem of land grabbing is global. La Via Campesina stressed the need to expand the power of resistance and solidarity, saying: "Globalize the Struggle! Globalize Hope!" The photo shows representatives of La Via Campesina presenting a flag to farmers and shouting in Chinese and Indonesian, "Long live the farmers." Sixth from the right is Haesook, a staff member of the La Via Campesina secretariat and the Korean representative.
- 2012/5/26-30The global grassroots peasant organization "La Via Campesina"(La Via Campesina) is visiting Taiwan, and everyone is invited to come participate and exchange ideas
For the itinerary and exchange forum, please see the link - 2011 International PeasantConference Against Land Grabbing conclusions and report, download the full English text
Series articles:
- La Via Campesina Taiwan Visit Feature (2) A Record of Land Grabbing in Africa and Europe
- La Via Campesina Taiwan Visit Feature (1) A Record of Land Grabbing in Asia and Latin America
La Via Campesina Taiwan Visit Feature (3) The Myth of Land Grabbing