Global Movements for Food Justice - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 720

Aterdecadesofprotestsandparticipationininternationalforums,LVChasrecently
secured a further victory for its vision of peasant identity and food sovereignty. In
September2012,theUnitedNationsHumanRightsCounciladoptedaresolutiontopre-
pareadratdeclaration“ontherightsofpeasantsandotherpeopleworkinginrural
areas”(UNHRC2012).helanguageusedbythecouncilparallelsLVC's Declaration
of Peasant Rights—Men and Women (La Vía Campesina 2009). he deinitions and
compromisescreatedintheyearstocomeovertheUN'spossibledeclarationwillshed
furtherlightontheefectivenessofLVC'sstrategy,andthemeritsoftheirparticulardef-
inition of peasant identity.
Defensible Values
As previously established, defensible values may be thought of as normative (i.e., moral
andethical)defensiblevalues,andasthepracticalvalueof defensible lifespaces/defen-
sibility (i.e., being able to define and defend normative values through socioeconomic
autonomyandwell-functioningcommunalandpoliticalspaces).Bothtypesofdefensi-
blevaluescanbeseenemergingfromLVC'sinternalandexternaldiscoursethroughout
itsevolution(e.g.,Desmarais2007,67-69,72-73).Andwhiletheterm food sovereignty
directly signals a relationship to the “autonomy” elements of defensibility, it is clear from
theirrhetoricthatLVCalsointendsforthetermtoencompassadiscretesetofmoral
and ethical values.
he Declaration of the Rights of Peasants—Women and Men , for example, directly
revealsthecentralityofbothtypesofdefensiblevalues.Itspreambleincludesstate-
mentsofhow“hepoliciesofneoliberalismworsentheviolationsofPeasants'Rights”
and The struggle of the Peasants to uphold and protect their Rights.” The Declaration
proper begins with the statement “Women peasants and men peasants have equal
rights,”givinggenderequalityprimacyofplaceateronlytheirdeinitionofthepeasant
identity itself. (This is also evident in that the declaration is “ of the Rights of Peasants—
Women and Men .”)Itgoesontorecapitulatebasichumanrightsoutlinedunderinter-
national convention and law, rights related to conservation and biodiversity, and rights
that can be classified as allowing the maintenance of defensible agricultural lifespaces
(e.g., rights to seeds and traditional knowledge, the means of agricultural production,
andtoactivelyparticipateinfoodsystempolicydesignandimplementation).Forour
purposes, these groups of rights might be restated as the right to self-determination of
a peasant lifestyle and identity; the right of peasants to have rights ; and the fundamen-
tal importance of gender equality .LVCseestheseaskeytothe defensibility of sustain-
able,secure,andautonomouslifespaces.Takentogether,thesevaluesrepresentLVC's
demand for food sovereignty.
Incastingitsdemandsasfoodsovereignty,LVCseekschangesinsocialinstitutions,at
alllevels: foodsovereigntyimpliesparticipatorycitizenshipseekingtoovercomedifer-
ences in class, culture, and roles within the peasant movement and within the societies
they are part of.