Radio Mundo Real

To mark the world women’s day on March 8th, the women from the grassroots movement La Via Campesina are carrying out demonstrations to expose the effects of agribusiness on the lives of peasant women.

There were strong demonstrations in Brazil, the country where the “Fight Against Agribusiness and Violence: for Agrarian Reform and Food Sovereignty” took place.

There, the women criticized the model imposed by the food transnational corporations for failing to respect the social rights of the people and for not improving their living conditions.

“We defend alternatives like agroecology, co-op peasant farming, the production of healthy food. The Agrarian Reform continues to be a democratizing and important measure to implement these proposals”, said Marina dos Santos, member of the national coordination of the Rural Landless Workers Movement of Brazil – which is part of La Via Campesina – in a communique issued by the organization.

The demonstrations of peasant women included mobilizations in Sao Paulo, Rio do Janeiro, Parana, Ceara, Paraiba, Alagoas, Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, Tocantins, Mato Grosso and Rio Grande do Sul.

In the demonstrations the low percentage of women who have benefited by the rural public policies was exposed, as well as the fact that there are four million landless families in Brazil.