The global food crisis has motivated diverse groups in the US – including progressive labor, faith, indigenous, community food, farm, environmental, and trade justice groups – to join forces in response. In late spring of 2008, a number of groups representing different areas of the food system came together to form the U.S. Working Group on the Food Crisis. The Working Group’s goal has been to bring attention to the underlying causes of the crisis and to promote transformative solutions to fix our broken food system.
Through a year of activities and dialogues with diverse partners, the Working Group identified the need for an inclusive and unifying campaign to end the ongoing food crisis, which has become a daily reality for millions of Americans and a billion people worldwide. Such a campaign would help counter the well-funded propaganda of the corporate agrifoods industry and further the shared goal of a just and sustainable food system. On August 31 and September 1, 2009, the Working Group joined together with dozens of grassroots social movement leaders, community of color leaders, and NGOs to find common ground on which to collaborate towards building a campaign.
With diverse representatives of over 50 organizations and social movements, the meeting was a success. The group arrived a unifying theme and specific strategies for the next year, building upon grassroots strengths and existing food justice movement work, while seizing the unique political moment in Washington and internationally. The proposed theme of the campaign, ending poverty by rebuilding local food economies, focuses on the poverty and injustice that the dominant food system creates -- and on the potential for communities, regions, and nations to build just and prosperous food economies from the ground up.
Through breakout sessions aimed at building a broad and coordinated set of strategies for the campaign, two primary focus areas emerged. Participants identified corporate control of the food system to be primary cause of damage to people, communities and the environment. Accordingly, anti-trust (anti-monopoly) efforts were deemed to be critically important. Taking advantage of the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s listening sessions on anti-trust beginning in early 2010, the campaign will bring stories, research and analysis from the grassroots to the government. Those hurt by the anti-competitive structure of the corporate food system will raise their voices in the sessions and organize creative street actions to highlight the current injustices of the food system and the positive alternatives that deserve support. Washington DC-based groups will reinforce the call for anti-trust legislation.
A second important focus area is to strengthen local food systems work with peer-to-peer training and support. Participants agreed to use the U.S. Social Forum which will bring together as many as 20,000 people in Detroit, Michigan on June 22-26, 2010, as an important venue for convergence and organizing for food systems change. This will potentially involve building a delegation of urban and rural farmers, farmworkers, food workers, and other food system leaders who are creating the solutions to the food crisis, as well as organizing a series of workshops and activities focused on the campaign.
Next steps include a series of meetings in fall of 2009 to bring new participants into the process and to continue dialogue and planning to move forward the campaign. Anyone interested in learning more and getting involved is encouraged to contact Tristan Quinn-Thibodeau (Tristan(at)whyhunger.org).