soy

"Stop the soy violence in Paraguay, solidarity amongst farmers!"

On Tuesday the 11th of May 2006 activists, amongst who the Paraguayan peasant Jorge Galeano, have protested in front of the office of the Zuidelijke Land en Tuinbouw Organisatie (ZLTO, the farmers union of the South of the Netherlands). As the main lobby for the Dutch large scale meat-industry and as the owner of the biggest meat-processor in Europe VION Food Group, the ZLTO is co-responsible for the misery caused by massive imports of animal feed from other parts of the world. For example the deforestation, pollution, land-conflicts, violence and poverty because of the massive expansion of large scale soy production, an important ingredient of animal feed in Europe. Jorge Galeano, Javiera Rulli from the Argentinian organisation Grupo de Reflexión Rural and the rest of the activists use their action to ask solidarity from dutch farmers and farmers unions with their colleagues in Zuid-Amerika.

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Raising support for a peasant family in Paraguay

Here you can find a call to support a harassed and threatened family in Paraguay with their fights against big soy farmers and with their more general struggle against the marching on of soyplantations that mainly produce animal feed for Europe.

Dear Friends,

With this letter we are seeking financial support for Petrona Villasboa from Paraguay, and her family, who are currently living in ever worsening circumstances. Like many thousands of other small farmers in her region, Petrona and her family are suffering the direct consequences of the rapid expansion of industrial soy plantations around her small plot of land.
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International solidarity with 'Silvino Talavera': Visit to Paraguayan embassy in Brussels

Important Update! Now, in december 2006, the court case against the soy producers responsible for Silvino's death is finally over and the convicted farmers will go to jail.

Monday, 30 October 2006 - A group of seven activists and campaigners went to the Paraguayan embassy in Brussels. One of the aims of the support group from the 'Silvino Talavera' campaign was to hand over a petition to ambassador Raul Vera Bogado about the 'Silvino Talavera' case and ask him about the enormous impact on the environment and human rights had by the industrial agricultural-export model that is gaining more hold in Paraguay. Read more...  

Caution: Greenwash!

Swiss peasant activist attacks WWF and FSC on palm-oil and soy certificates.

How large environmental NGOs oil the wheels of the international agri- and forestry business.

Probably there is no child in Switzerland who doesn't know the cuddly panda, the image and logo of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Many even donate part of their pocket money for the conservation of tigers and elephants; for projects meant to protect their natural habitat. Yet hardly anybody is aware that the WWF is organizing ‘round tables’ with those who, fueled by mass consumption in the North, bear the main responsibility for the gigantic network of destruction. Let us therefore take a critical look at the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil and at the Roundtable for Responsible Soy, and also at the timber label FSC – the Forest Stewardship Council. Read more...  

Actions to stop Straathofs mega pigstables

Guerrilla Gardening in the Dutch Betuwe: “Animal industry equals animal suffering, climate disaster, and deforrestation.”

Friday April 17, 2009- 40 activists of the group 'Stop Straathof' made a vegetable garden on the terrain where agro-industrialist Straathof plans to expand one of his many pig farms. The action was a protest against the animal industry and accompanying soy production for animal feed, that causes a lot of suffering in South America. Read more...  

Legal victory: Justice for soy victim Silvino!

The soy farmers responsible for the death of Silvino will go to Jail

Asuncion, 29 November 2006 - The Paraguayan Supreme Court has declared the extraordinary cassation request submitted by Lic. Fabio Daniel Baez Acosta, the defence lawyer of Alfredo Lautenschlager and Herman Schlender, as inadmissible. This means they will have to fulfil the sentence that was confirmed by the Appellation Tribunal of Encarnación and go to jail for two years for causing general risks and homicide. The sentence was confirmed without suspension.

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Fax-action to support the victims of attack on Paraguayan community Tekojoja

Dear friends and other concerned people,

We are asking you to send faxes to governmental institutions in Paraguay to support the peasant farming organisations ASAGRAPA (Asociación de Agricultores del Alto Paraná) and MAP (Movimiento Agrario y Popular). Members of the MAP in the community of Tekojoja are trying to defend themselves from agrochemical spraying on neighbouring soy monoculture crops. MAPs leader Antonio Galeano and other members of the two organisations are facing death threats, accusations and violence since the start of the soy cultivation season this year.
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Thesis: ¨The impact of soy expansion: migration and resistance¨

This thesis is about the impacts of soy expansion in Paraguay. More specific it investigates which factors, caused by the expansion of soy monoculture, lead to the migration of Paraguayan campesinos (peasants) from their rural communities. It also investigates which groups are most affected by soy-expansion and how the groups that stay resist the soy expansion. Campesinos find themselves being pushed out by soy expansion, resulting in migration to other rural communities or urban slums. The only organizations that oppose these developments locally and in the countryside are campesino-organizations. Read more...  

Brazilans oppose Bush Lula Ethanol deal

March 21 2007 - During President Bush’s visit to Brazil thousands of poor, rural members of the international Via Campesina social movement and the Brazilian Movement of the Landless Rural Workers (MST) orchestrated massive, non-violent occupations of multinational agribusiness corporations throughout the country. Nine hundred women occupied the Cevasa ethanol distillery in São Paulo. Read more...  

Rejection of 3th RoundTable on Responsible Soy

Already over 100 organisations and networks signed the statement!

On April 23-24 many companies involved in the large scale production and trade of soy will be meeting in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires. Peasant movements and social and ecological groups have published a statement to expose that those companies are not the right ones to talk about so called 'responsible soy'. They are the core of the problem and not part of the solution. Read more...