Nikhil Aziz's blog
Presente! International Day of Peasants' Struggle
By Nikhil Aziz
April 17th, 2013

On this International Day of Peasants’ Struggle, we recognize the courage, tenacity and absolute necessity of grassroots struggles across the world for rights to land, life and dignity.
And we recognize that all-too-often peasants continue to face threats, repression and even death. In fact, that is why this day was first commemorated, following the murder of 19 peasant land rights activists in Brazil in 1996.
Zainab's Struggle to Save the Indus and her People

Vaikuntha's Vision -- Bangsa Mandringa for all Savaaras (and all Adivasis)

Bhoodevi's Journey for Manchi Jeevitham

Bhoodevi (second from left) is a young Savaara woman from Srikakulam district (county) in Andhra Pradesh (AP) state in India. Her name means Earth Goddess or Mother Earth. The Savaaras are an Adivasi (ɑːdɪˈvɑːsi/ literally, earliest inhabitants) indigenous group that straddle the forests and hills in the border regions of modern day AP and Odisha states in east-central India. In Srikakulam they along with the Jataapus form the core of the indigenous population.
Grassroots International Condemns Violence in Palestine/Israel

Once again, the steady violence that passes for “normal” in Palestine and Israel has escalated to alarming proportions. After months of rocket exchanges between militants in Gaza and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the situation rapidly deteriorated in the past 24 hours. Grassroots International joins the growing chorus of voices calling for an end to violence from both sides, a return to negotiations for a just and lasting peace, and enforcement of international human rights and humanitarian law as outlined by the Geneva Conventions.
Korean Women Peasant’s Association Awarded the Food Sovereignty Prize

Last Wednesday, October 10th, in New York City, I had the privilege of witnessing the US Food Sovereignty Alliance award the fourth annual Food Sovereignty Prize to the Korean Women Peasant’s Association (KWPA).
Seeing REDD

Like most other market-based solutions, REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), and its more recent avatar REDD +, are fundamentally about profit – not forests, not people, and not global warming or the climate.
Famine in the Horn of Africa -- Back to the Future

Nearly 30 years ago the world was shocked by images of famine and hunger in the Horn of Africa. Those images inspired a tremendous outpouring of generosity among ordinary people everywhere, and spurred a generation of activists working to end hunger. We learnt a lot from that experience, but not enough -- especially in the halls of power, whether those be in Washington, various European and African capitals or in places like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The same man-made policies inflicted on Ethioipa and other countries then, have been inflicted on Somalia and its neighbors now. As economist Amartya Sen has shown, many, if not almost all, famines are man-made.





