Channeling the Forces of Reproduction: The Popular and Peasant Feminisms of La Via Campesina
Channel: Common Ecologies
Date: 2022-06-28

Recording of session 4 of the "Channeling the Forces of Reproduction" course of the Common Ecologies School, with Yolanda Areas of La Via Campesina in Nicaragua. Translation into English by Maggie Schmitt of Zenobia Traducciónes.

In this session we hear about the Popular and Peasant Feminisms of La Via Campesina. We speak about the global struggle to put women at the forefront of agroecological change, the kinds of processes this has implied within La Via Campesina, and how emerging horizons of ecology, earthcare, and ecofeminism need to look to and ally with peasant farmers for transformation. This is not just a matter of who feeds the world – we’ll hear about peasant’s and women’s key role in global food production – but also of how we must transform landscapes, territories, and soils in a just and sustainable way to face climate crisis. Hint: this is not done by separating nature from agriculture, but by struggling over land and property, to transform our mode of production.

Yolanda del Carmen Areas Blas is national coordinator of the Movimiento de Mujeres del Campo de la Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo ATC-Nicaragua, and is part the women’s cluster of CLOC-La Via Campesina, with more than 20 years experience working with women peasants in Nicaragua.