The major difference between La Via Compesina and the CIW is the scale of their work. La Via Compesina is an international effort, while the CIW is limited to mostly the East Coast and advocating in America. According to La Via Compesina's website, "La Via Campesina is the international movement which brings together millions of p
easants, small and medium-size farmers, landless people, women farmers, indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers from around the world. It defends small-scale sustainable agriculture as a way to promote social justice and dignity. It strongly opposes corporate driven agriculture and transnational companies that are destroying people and nature." While the CIW claims, "the CIW is a community-based organization of mainly Latino, Mayan Indian and Haitian immigrants working in low-wage jobs throughout the state of Florida...we fight for, among other things: a fair wage for the work we do, more respect on the part of our bosses and the industries where we work, better and cheaper housing, stronger laws and stronger enforcement against those who would violate workers' rights, the right to organize on our jobs without fear of retaliation, and an end to involuntary servitude in the fields." Though their missions are different they fight for a lot of the same things. The focus for the CIW is to bring awareness to the issues in Florida's agribusiness and to receive decent wages for the work they do. On the other hand, La Via Compesina is resisting big companies taking over small-scale farming because of the importance it has historically and still does hold in all countries. The CIW knows that people are disconnected from the production of their food so they go after the part of the food system that we see, the business. They have gone after McDonalds, Taco Bell and Burger King, some of the major fast food chains, to work with them. This was very smart because if th
ey didn't join in the efforts it would dramatically effect their business because people expect them to hold our best interests of value and if they don't it makes them look very bad to the public. They claimed that to their knowledge the injustices that were proposed were not happening showing their disconnect from production as well, but the facts don't lie. The CIW was able to get them on board and also attempted to confront supermarkets as well, yet only Whole Foods has gotten on board. They continue to fight for the justice they deserve and have made their problems national problems, visible to many that would never see it otherwise. They still face many obstacles. Since there is such a disconnect between production of food in America a lot of people still do not know about what is happening to these people living in our very own country. Also, their efforts are limited to the funds they can raise through their site and various other ways. In addition, the bosses of the workers make it very hard for them to unionize, and many that would probably love to join the movement don't have a ton of time after long days of working or are worried they will lose their jobs that they depend heavily on. Also, they Latino people are seen in America effects the attitudes of those seeing these people struggle and being either indifferent or not caring, though not everyone is like this. Silvia Giagnoni states in Fields of Resistance, "Low-income Latino immigrants, who make up most of today's farm working population, are all too often demonized in public discourses. Labels like "illegal aliens" or "illegal immigrants" have the effect of dehumanizing real people who might not have citizen rights yet, but surely deserve to be respected as human beings and recognized, if anything, for their economic contribution to the wealth of the nation. They are often mistreated and robbed, and, increasingly, victims of hate crimes and racial profiling." La Via Compesina takes a slightly different approach and at a much larger scale. T
hough they do protests and do a lot to spread their messages to the masses, they are working to secure the future for small scale agriculture by advocating straight to the government to change the system and prevent the dangers of the path we are currently on. They work to bring awareness to the dangers of Free Trade Agreements (especially in Asia and other countries like it), and bring up other various issues that effect all of the 200 million peasant farmers among 70 countries. Though there are also struggles that these groups also face. For instance, multinational companies are very powerful and have a way of spinning things to discredit others, to silence them and dispose of workers to find new ones that will not complain, so it makes their fight very difficult. Though they do a great job and have many powerful resources.
easants, small and medium-size farmers, landless people, women farmers, indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers from around the world. It defends small-scale sustainable agriculture as a way to promote social justice and dignity. It strongly opposes corporate driven agriculture and transnational companies that are destroying people and nature." While the CIW claims, "the CIW is a community-based organization of mainly Latino, Mayan Indian and Haitian immigrants working in low-wage jobs throughout the state of Florida...we fight for, among other things: a fair wage for the work we do, more respect on the part of our bosses and the industries where we work, better and cheaper housing, stronger laws and stronger enforcement against those who would violate workers' rights, the right to organize on our jobs without fear of retaliation, and an end to involuntary servitude in the fields." Though their missions are different they fight for a lot of the same things. The focus for the CIW is to bring awareness to the issues in Florida's agribusiness and to receive decent wages for the work they do. On the other hand, La Via Compesina is resisting big companies taking over small-scale farming because of the importance it has historically and still does hold in all countries. The CIW knows that people are disconnected from the production of their food so they go after the part of the food system that we see, the business. They have gone after McDonalds, Taco Bell and Burger King, some of the major fast food chains, to work with them. This was very smart because if th
ey didn't join in the efforts it would dramatically effect their business because people expect them to hold our best interests of value and if they don't it makes them look very bad to the public. They claimed that to their knowledge the injustices that were proposed were not happening showing their disconnect from production as well, but the facts don't lie. The CIW was able to get them on board and also attempted to confront supermarkets as well, yet only Whole Foods has gotten on board. They continue to fight for the justice they deserve and have made their problems national problems, visible to many that would never see it otherwise. They still face many obstacles. Since there is such a disconnect between production of food in America a lot of people still do not know about what is happening to these people living in our very own country. Also, their efforts are limited to the funds they can raise through their site and various other ways. In addition, the bosses of the workers make it very hard for them to unionize, and many that would probably love to join the movement don't have a ton of time after long days of working or are worried they will lose their jobs that they depend heavily on. Also, they Latino people are seen in America effects the attitudes of those seeing these people struggle and being either indifferent or not caring, though not everyone is like this. Silvia Giagnoni states in Fields of Resistance, "Low-income Latino immigrants, who make up most of today's farm working population, are all too often demonized in public discourses. Labels like "illegal aliens" or "illegal immigrants" have the effect of dehumanizing real people who might not have citizen rights yet, but surely deserve to be respected as human beings and recognized, if anything, for their economic contribution to the wealth of the nation. They are often mistreated and robbed, and, increasingly, victims of hate crimes and racial profiling." La Via Compesina takes a slightly different approach and at a much larger scale. T
hough they do protests and do a lot to spread their messages to the masses, they are working to secure the future for small scale agriculture by advocating straight to the government to change the system and prevent the dangers of the path we are currently on. They work to bring awareness to the dangers of Free Trade Agreements (especially in Asia and other countries like it), and bring up other various issues that effect all of the 200 million peasant farmers among 70 countries. Though there are also struggles that these groups also face. For instance, multinational companies are very powerful and have a way of spinning things to discredit others, to silence them and dispose of workers to find new ones that will not complain, so it makes their fight very difficult. Though they do a great job and have many powerful resources.Short overview of the issues and work of L Via Compesina
Documentary made about the Immokalee Workers
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