PGA Caravan Crosses South America

Submitted by aggy:

Magical Mystery Tour......

The third international gathering of the Peoples Global Action (PGA)
network
has formed a peoples caravan which is crossing the Latin American
continent.
Starting in Cochabamba, Bolivia, the caravan, made up of people from
over 15
countries, has arrived in Ecuador after visiting a number of peasant
communities across Peru.

The third conference of PGA was attended by over 400 delegates from
more than
50 countries. Discussions ranged from North/South solidarity to Plan
Columbia,
indigenous peoples struggles, gender struggles, and many more. In
addition, two
international days of action have been called, the first to coincide
with the
WTO's next
meeting in Doha, Qatar November 9th-13th 2001, and the second to
coincide with
the FTAA meeting in Quito, Ecuador March 2002.

The aim of the caravan is to exchange information regarding our
respective
campaigns and issues and to witness first hand the impacts of
neo-liberal and
military expansion in Latin America. Its not hard to pose as tourists
at the
almost hourly police and army checks we are being subjected to, when
the
contingent comprises of delegates from South Africa, New Zealand,
Germany,
Ecuador, Bolivia, Honduras, USA, Australia, Mexico, Spain, Basque
Country,
India, Nepal and Columbia.

With the imminent expansion of both the Free Trade Area of the Americas
treaty
(FTAA) and Plan Columbia throughout this region it is pertinent to
witness the
devastating effects policies of this kind have already unleashed here.
In
addition to the negative effects of capitalism we are learning about
the
positive elements of widespread and diverse resistance being mounted by
people
across this continent.

Unfortunately after leaving Cochabamba and battling for visas in La Paz
two
Bangladeshi and one Sri Lankan delegate were forced to leave and were
unable to
continue with the caravan. Next stop was Puno, on the border of Bolivia
and
Peru where a bus of delegates was stopped a week earlier en route to
Cochabamba. After the happy reunion we continued north.

A bus load of tired people arrived at Cusco, the Southern
Peruvian town and gateway to the infamous Machu Pichu ruins. We were
warmly
welcomed by the FDCC - the Peruvian Peasants Federation - and put up in
one of
their training centres, a cosy and amusing scene of thirty bunks in one
room!

Some of the more gung-ho among the crew embarked on a late night tour
of local
Inca ruins, pricey, guarded and over run with tourists during the day,
by the
almost-full-moon-light the five hour trek was by all reports quite
magical.

The next morning after a 6am rise we set off on a two hour ascent to
over 3900
metres to visit the peasant communities of Jabomayo. Five years ago
these
communities had to travel miles to get food and relied on pesticides
and
chemicals for limited local production. Now they have organic green
houses,
fields of alfalfa and and increased variety of vegetables. The health
of the
community has increased markedly and techniques of sustainable chemical
free
agriculture are being shared throughout neighboring
communities.

Started in 1994 aided by the Institute for Alternative
Agriculture, the training project, which has already involved over 1500
families, is wide ranging and includes a number of different areas
including
conservation, organic agriculture, agricultural techniques, business
management, leadership skills, civic education and communication
skills. All
training is organised locally through a model of skill sharing. Once
trained,
families pass on the knowledge to others in the community, to other
communities, districts and so on.

The curriculum was developed in consultation with the communities and
comprises
of a blend of traditional inca agricultural models and modern
techniques. The
agricultural practices of the Cusco area are being viewed as a
test-case, if
successful agricultural reform of this kind could be implemented across
the
country.

The IAA is completely independent from the government and emerged from
the
grass roots, largely funded by 'The Fund for Social Development', a
Belgian
NGO. Training is completely free and has two main aims. Firstly
democracy and
organisational training and secondly land management and agricultural
skills.

For these communities the fundamental thread running through all of
this
training is that of food sovereignty. Under former President Fujimori
food
imports were increased from $250M USD to $1.4B USD despite the rich
agricultural industries of Peru. In response to this, and the push
towards big
agro-businesses, small peasant farmers are organising through Peasant
Federations and setting up sustainable local alternatives and thus
becoming
more autonomous.

Furthermore the increased production in the Cusco area since the shift
in
agricultural practice feeds in to a 'Food Aid' program, whereupon after
individual families and local communities are fed, excess production is
used to
feed over 30M people through schools etc.

The forty strong group were invited for breakfast and lunch at the home
of
Theodore and Segundina. This family were one of the first to undertake
the
training and now have organic vegetable gardens and produce organic
dairy
products. It was with much pride that they give us a tour of their
stables,
from which manure is transformed to garden fertisliser by worm farms,
allowing
them to do away with chemical fertilisers.

That evening we had a slumber party of sorts at the IAA back in Cusco,
and were
treated to a late night meeting with Carlos Paredes of the FDCC. He
informed us
about the history of the peasants movement in Peru, an inspiring and
rich
history of stuggle from feudalism to neo-liberalism, which has had a
profound
impact on Peruvian politics. He outlined the idea of participatory
democracy
being practiced in Limatambo and the Act of Committment which they are
developing to influence government
policies. This 'act' is essentially a contract where the FDCC commits
its
members to voting for a particluar candidate based on their commitments
to
instigate favourable policies once in office.

Another early rise, with little sleep for some who chose to party on in
Cusco
and share the celebration with others upon their return at 4am! At 6am
we piled
in to the bus and headed for Limatambo where we were introduced to
their model
of participatory democracy which they have been developing since 1991.

This model allows for the 10,500 (est.)members of the community to set
the
agenda for public works to be undertaken by the council and gives them
full
rights to oversee local council budgets and the councilors themselves.
Alejandro Toledo, the
recently elected President of Peru, who prior to his election signed an
Act of
Committment with the FDCC, is set to visit Limatambo in early October
with a
view to enacting this model of local community autonomy across Peru.

After leaving Cusco we travelled non stop by bus to Lima, a mad
overnight trip
through the awesome mountains of Peru, sometimes reaching over
altitudes of
4500 metres!

Delayed by a stuck bus blocking the road we unfortunately arrived in
Lima only
to catch the final half and hour of the Third Annual Peruvian Peasants
Conference, where Toledo had been the day before. We were treated to
lunch,
shook lots of hands, expressed solidarity and took lots of photos, it
was a
shame we arrived late, but we were greeted warmly nonetheless.

Furter complications ensued when the four russians and other
travelling companions did not arrive in Lima as expected and we were
forced to
leave minus another of our comrades who stayed in Peru to look for
them!

The rest of us continue en route for Quito and Sucumbias,
unfortunately we had to cancel our trip to the Peasant community in
Saragayu as
once again we are running behind schedule.

Much time is spent on the bus, the Australians can be seen
practicing yoga at any opportunity and there are some cosy
relationships being developed. Surprisingly, given the bumpy
roads, lack of showers and the levels of tolerance required to live
with forty
people on a bus for weeks straight, the morale is high. Furthermore the
long
days on the bus are spent with presentations on local struggles from
Plan
Columbia to the Landless Peoples Movement in South Africa, and some
amusing
karaoke sessions to boot!

From here the caravan will travel to Sucumbias far north Ecuador and
then
through Columbia with a view to learning more about Plan Columbia,
arriving in
Bogota around the 12th October.

More in depth reports on the PGA conference, Jabomayo, Limatambo and
different
peasant communities across Latin America are being collated, hopefully
a
caravan reader will be published in Spanish and English in several
months, in
the mean time we plan to put out a few more reports from the road...

More later,
alexk +
the bus kids,
PGA Caravan October 1st 2001.