Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
MST(heLandlessRuralWorkers'Movement),andtheMexicanZapatistaresistance,
to
panchayat
reformsinIndia,habitatconservationplanningandneighborhoodgover-
nancecouncilsintheUnitedStates,andparticipatorybudgetinginBrazil,alternative
democraticformsexistandarebeingrecognizedbothwithinscholarlyandciviccircles
(FungandWright2003).
BeyondLVC'scommitmenttolocalandnationalconstituentautonomy,ithasinno-
vated or revived useful democratic “technologies,” including collective and rotating
leadership(Martínez-TorresandRosset2010),andthecreationandmaintenanceof
cultural, spiritual, and collegial ties, especially the ceremony of the
mística
(Issa2007;
Martínez-TorresandRosset2010).Further,inordertoaddressconcernsthatthegroup
hadtoo“LatinAmerican”afocus,theinternationalsecretariatwasmovedtoIndonesia,
withtheIndonesianHenrySaraighelectedasGeneralCoordinator.16 Personal conver-
sationswithLVCmembersduringtheCOP15summitinCopenhageninDecember
2009indicatedthatthesecretariatwouldnextbemovingtoAfricainordertostrengthen
LVC'srootsandpresencethere,butthisdoesnotappeartohavebeenconirmedinpub-
lic documentation.
Defending Defensible Lifespaces
Autonomy, sovereignty, and a participatory democracy have been explored as impor-
tantcomponentsofdefendingadefensiblelifespace—LVCmaintainsthatextending
sovereignty and autonomy to consumers and small-scale food producers would go far
toward providing such a lifespace to the global peasantry. But aside from the broad
politicalstructures,thereareseveralfurther,speciicwaysthatLVCadvocatesfordefen-
sibility—inthiscase,intheformoflivelihoodsecurity.Someoftheseapproachesare
brielyoutlinedhere.
AgroecologyandagroecologicalmethodsarekeycomponentsofLVC'sidealsand
conceptual platform, and they are closely tied to normative values as well as defensi-
bility. In particular, agroecology's focus on regenerative, self-maintaining ecological
processesdecreasespeasants'relianceonoutsideinputsandincreasestheirautonomy.
Research has also found that small-scale farming and agroecology can increase a com-
munity'sinternalsocialconnectionsandfarming'scontributiontothelocaleconomy
(Goldschmidt1978;Lockeretz1989;Lysonet al.2001).Normatively,manyagroecolo-
gists value and support the preservation of the cultural and spiritual values of agricul-
ture(Pretty2002)andseektoimprovethepercentageofthe“fooddollar”capturedby
farmersratherthanintermediaries,foodsystemmonopolies,andmonopsonies(Jafee
2007;Holt-Giménezet al.2009).hebiodiversityunderlyingagroecologicalmethods
may also serve to buffer against climatic shocks like drought and hurricanes, which are
likelytoincreaseinfrequencywithcontinuingglobalclimatechange(Holt-Giménez
2002;Philpottet al.2008),andtobuferfarmfamiliesfrompriceandproductionluc-
tuationsandotherunplannedexigencies(DiFalcoandPerrings2003;Méndezet al.
2010).Furtherdiscussionofagroecology'srangeofbiodiversity-andknowledge-based
Search WWH ::
Custom Search