Mass Peasant and Indigenous Movements Show Their Strength at the WSF

  
Mass movements of peasants, farmers and indigenous peoples have played an important role in the current edition of the World Social Forum. Representatives of more established NGOs have been impressed with the groups' focus and sophistication. Combined with their recent political successes, their organized presence at the WSF is an indication of how much these mass movements have evolved in a very short time.

Organizations such as V�a Campesina had large delegations that included US components. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, for example, was part of the US V�a Campesina Contingent and was treated royally by the local hosts, Brazil's Movimento Sem Terra (MST). These groups, along with the Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Organizaciones del Campo (CLOC), participated in the World Peasant Assembly, one of many events leading up to the WSF. Three hundred and fifty delegates from every continent debated trade and development issues. Working with them was Peter Rosset of the US NGO Food First, who is well known for his scolding of the US Trade Representative during the presentation of the Quito Civil Society Document at the October 2002 Trade Ministerial. Indigenous movements were much in evidence in the assembly as well. One of the most important initiatives of these meetings has been to design an official strategy to defend peasants' access to seeds as part of the broader question of genetically modified grains.

At many strategy meetings on the WTO and other trade matters, their sophistication and serious approach to issues allowed leaders of peasant organizations to play an important role in the proceedings. In fact, the work being done for the upcoming WTO meetings in Canc�n depends heavily on the local coordination of the CLOC affiliates in Mexico. The newfound power and presence of such groups was reflected in many of the meetings at the WSF. Clearly, movements that represent rural and landless peasants and indigenous peoples are preparing themselves to be part of the development of overall strategies that recognize their objectives for food security, agrarian reform and the defense of local agricultural production.