Why do the people who feed us go hungry? – Panel discussion with Balikbayan

Join us for an upcoming discussion on food sovereignty, where we’ll explore a central question: Why do the people who feed us go hungry?

In our panel discussion, we will feature several diaspora organisations: Inquilabi (South Asia), Lestari (Indonesia), and Balik/Bayan (Philippines). Drawing from their research, together, they will bring the particularities of this issue to the table and explore the interconnections of our struggle against the backdrop of the global food system under capitalism.
Each of the organizations shared their recipes to @hetrodekeukentje, resonating with their respective topics and research. We’re also producing zines to compile the materials together, merchandise, as well as a lino making and a live screenprinting session where people can print their chosen fabrics that they bring. The donations from the event will be divided into the three organizations that participated in the program.

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In the Philippines, food sovereignty is inseparable from land and sea, where land grabs, coastal reclamation, and the displacement of farmers and fisherfolk leave our country’s most essential food producers without the resources, rights or protection to feed their communities. From the haciendas of Negros to the sinking shores of Manila Bay, intersecting systems of feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism have turned our islands into one that can no longer feed itself.

In Indonesia, palm oil plantations are still being used to oppressed the peasants for their sovereignty to their land that they till their foods from. Echoing the US-backed genocide from 1965 that shaped today’s socio-political system in the country, the plantations are heightened in a large-scale monocultural production, as militarisation were placed to protect the capitalist corporations resulting in the force removal of locals to be displaced from their own land. Though there are rampant displacement in North-Eastern Sumatra to Central Sulawesi, the local peasants who reside are still fighting for their sovereignty.

In India, the people’s drive for food sovereignty continues to be at loggerheads with imperialism, principally western imperialism. The Green revolution of the 1970s was promoted as the alternative to foreign food aid, yet only deepened the country’s reliance on foreign seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. The nominal independence of India has proven itself to be a sham for its peasant masses, strengthening the same exploitative relations that were established from the British colonial period. Throughout this, the people continue to resist, then and now, against the onslaught of the fascist lackey state.