Global Movements for Food Justice - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 722

LVC,initsconceptionoffoodsovereignty,isperhapsmostclearonwhoorwhatwill
not serve as guarantor. Food sovereignty is founded in a rejection of the sovereignty
of supposed free markets ,andtheconcomitantcollusionofstates(i.e.,empire).9 his
collusionwithinempirerepresentsaformoftop-downcontrolthatLVCseesastak-
ingautonomyawayfrompeasantsandcivilsocietymoregenerally.Yettherights-based
ideas underlying food sovereignty, like all rights, depend crucially on a social agent (e.g.,
thestate)toprotectthem.histensionisresolved,inpart,byrealizingthatfoodsover-
eignty opposes governance decisions made without a participatory democratic process
andnotnecessarilytoallcentralizedactionbythestate.10 But beyond a call for partici-
patorygovernance,LVCusesrights-basedrhetoricasa“platformforstrategicaction”—
aconceptualbaseformobilizationandidentity-building(Patel2007,89).Inspecifying
who the guarantors of rights should not beratherthanwhotheyare,LVCarguesfora
“sustainable and widespread process of democracy that can provide political direction
totheappropriatelevelofgovernmentrequiredtoseeimplementation[offoodrights]
throughtocompletion”(Patel2007,91).11
hethirdnormativelydefensiblevaluecentraltoLVCisgenderequality.Womenstill
experience significant repression and discrimination around the world, including (per-
hapsespecially)inagriculturalsystems(DwyerandBruce1988;Patel2007;Agarwal,
thisvolume).Whilegenderequalityhasnotalwaysenjoyeditsfundamentalstatusin
LVC'sagenda—andthedegreetowhichLVCiscurrentlylivinguptoitsnominally
foundationalimportanceisdebated—therightsofwomenhasbeenrepeatedlyairmed
asanongoingcoreissue(Desmarais2007;Martínez-TorresandRosset2010).hepro-
cess that brought it to the fore has in fact been key in cementing deliberative processes as
a healthy practice within the movement: gender equality became one of its central iden-
tifying platforms only as a result of work by women and allies within the participatory
structuresofLVC.Nevertheless,someconstituentgroupsandallieshaveconsistently
voiced concern that gender issues are not high enough on the agenda, and that represen-
tation(especiallyatthenational,ratherthaninternational,level)continuestobeaprob-
lem.Althoughtherehasnotbeenasystematicstudyofwomen'spowerwithinLVCas
comparedtoothermovementsororganizations,onepossibleresolutiontothisseeming
contradiction(theprominenceofgenderonLVC'sagenda,yetitspersistentappearance
asaleadingconcernbyinternalandexternalactors)maybethatLVChasaccomplished
significant, and possibly unique, progress on the issue, but that the distance to gender
parityisfarenoughthatalevelofdissatisfactionisalsoreasonable.Lackingfurtherevi-
dence, however, this remains conjecture.
hiscontradictionnotwithstanding,theprocessthatsawagroupwithinLVCrais-
inggendertobeacentralissuerepresentsperhapsakeyelementofLVC,andsetsit
apartfrommanypredecessormovements.LVCisabletoreformulateandaddressissues
andinternalcontradictionsmorereadilythanagroupofitssizeanddiversitymight
beexpectedto.hisperhapsrelectsanovel,dynamicstructurethatembracesadap-
tive management alongside deep democracy. The decisions at the international level,
in its secretariat, nominally come from the wishes agreed upon democratically by
each national and regional representative. Although they admit continuing difficulties