The International League of Peoples Struggles (ILPS) hosted the Chairperson of the Board - APN, Razan Zuayter, the head of the People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty as the keynote speaker in a symposium titled “The Global Food Crisis”, to explore and investigate the effects of the crisis in the countries of the South, in particular.

Zuayter indicated that the prices of foods are at the highest level since the year 1990, and that inflation which has influenced the food prices are affecting all of us, whereby the countries of low income, and the communities and families that are most vulnerable will be the most harmed. This includes small food producers from among farmers, agricultural workers and destitute peasants who constitute more than two-thirds of the poor who suffer from abject poverty in the world. She added that she sought in her statement to respond to two questions, namely whether the food crisis is a coincidence or is new? She added that the crisis is not a product of coincidence, mentioning numerous examples from the Arab and western counties, because the underlying reasons are mostly man-made, and it is emphatically not new because these causes,, the last of which is the Corona crisis and the protracted wars in the Arab region, were present prior to the Russia Ukraine war, and hence led to numerous food crises in the past, and these causes will definitely lead to other burgeoning crises in the future in case we fail to remedy them, and this imminent crisis is a mere reminder that food sovereignty must be a priority for our social, economic and political security.

The chairman of the board of directors concluded by offering proposals for adoption to ensure for food sovereignty and food security to be a right enjoyed by all, by means of protecting and promoting the local foods system alongside the right of societies to possess and manage resources such as land, water and seeds, as well as the planting of basic food crops such as grains to improve food security, and to give priority to them over the crops planted for export. Moreover, she alluded to the importance of striving to build food reserves, and investing in the strategies of regional integration for food security, and continuing powerfully through our campaign to end wars, conflicts and occupation. Also, it is necessary to emphasize the cancellation of debts due to international financial institutions and international creditors from among the private financial institutions, while emphasizing the mobilization of farmers and workers organizations, food producers, women and youth organizations, to unify and assume initiative to drive the required economic and social transformation on an urgent basis.

To view the statement in English kindly click on the link