#16 October 2025/ Call to Action from La Via Campesina
People’s Food Sovereignty Action Day Against Multinational Corporations
Let’s Unite, Let’s Grow Solidarity, Let’s Harvest Food Sovereignty.
Systemic Transformation Now and Forever!
(Bagnolet, 24 October 2025) 16 October: International Day of Action for People’s Food Sovereignty and Against Multinational Corporations
At this time of profound systemic crisis for humanity, we at La Via Campesina firmly believe that the values of food sovereignty are essential for the change we need, bringing together peasants, rural communities, small-scale farmers, indigenous peoples, pastoralists, migrant workers, women, youth and diverse rural identities.
Therefore, we call upon the world to strengthen our solidarity for food sovereignty and to intensify our collective struggle, because true transformation can only be achieved together.
Enough of this hypocrisy! Let us end hunger!
Starvation, which affects millions of people, can never be normalised; it is, quite simply, a violation of human rights and a crime.
Most starvation is man-made, and its consequences are undeniably clear. As clearly demonstrated by the recent wars and conflicts in the Arab region and Sub-Saharan Africa, those responsible are obvious.
In 2024, more than 638 million people, equivalent to over 8% of the world’s population, faced hunger. According to the report ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World-2025’ (FAO report), the main causes of this crisis are inflation and economic instability. Other data confirm that conflicts are the primary cause of acute food insecurity for approximately 140 million people in around 20 countries and regions.
Conflicts, wars and genocides are fundamental factors that exacerbate the global food crisis. Famine is currently ravaging Sudan, the Gaza Strip, South Sudan, Haiti, Mali, Libya and many other countries and regions. Armed conflicts around the world in recent years have revealed a disturbing truth: hunger is no longer just a by-product of war, it is increasingly becoming a form of tyranny and weapon.
One of the most striking and urgent examples of this is the ongoing blockade in Palestine, particularly in the Gaza Strip. Since October 2023, more than 2.3 million people in Gaza have been living under a complete blockade that systematically denies them access to food, clean water, fuel and humanitarian aid. When it comes to the use of food as a weapon, Gaza is not an isolated example. Similar tactics have been employed in Yemen, Ethiopia, Sudan and elsewhere to break civilian resistance and exert control over the population. Women and children are the primary victims of this starvation strategy and the use of food as a weapon of war.
While Africa still faces the highest rates of malnutrition and food insecurity, many countries in Latin America and Asia are following a similar trajectory. As the environmental crisis deepens, these problems, communities in countries such as Turkey, Chile, Ecuador, Panama and Brazil are facing violent evictions. In Cuba, the criminal blockade imposed by the US government is seriously affecting the national food system and further deepening food insecurity.
The continuous rise in the prices of healthy foods and basic necessities threatens the livelihoods of millions of people, even in self-sufficient countries. As the farmers/peasants who feed our communities, we demand strong and clear public policies and budgets that will support local food systems, strengthen our means of production, and guarantee fair prices.
Our global campaigns demand peace, fair land distribution, and an end to genocide and war. We demand justice that will bring lasting peace to our lands and guarantee food sovereignty and food security. The perpetrators of these crimes must be held accountable. Enough of the complicity of governments, enough of the hypocrisy of governments!
Food Sovereignty for Systemic Change
Food Sovereignty strengthens local and national economies by empowering peasants, Indigenous Peoples and working communities. It promotes social justice, dignity and equality. La Via Campesina declared in September that a new global trade framework is not only necessary but also urgent.
We call on governments and international institutions to abandon the failed models of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and adopt an alternative trade framework based on Food Sovereignty. This new approach must fully respect and implement the individual and collective rights enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (commonly referred to as the ‘Declaration on Peasants’ Rights’), (UNDROP), the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and other international human rights documents.
We will continue our global mobilisations and communicate our demands for systemic change to multilateral institutions, rejecting false solutions. We will demand real Climate Justice by participating in the Peoples’ Summit at COP30 in Belém do Pará, Brazil, in December. We will be present at the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD+20) in Colombia in 2026 and will continue to press for Comprehensive and Popular Agrarian Reform. We will continue to support those fighting to defend their land and common commons at the local level.
Peasant agroecology is at the heart of our struggle. This approach, rooted in ancestral knowledge, offers a path to reconnect humanity with the land and the cycles of life. We defend agroecology in both rural and urban areas through genuine, grassroots action and call for action.
We do not want agricultural commodities hidden under a green guise; real transformation is transformation built from the bottom up.
Systemic transformation now and forever!
After more than 30 years of peasant struggle, our movement, along with other social movements, faces great challenges. In September, at the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum in Sri Lanka, we came together with other movements to call for unity and systemic change for food sovereignty. We stand in solidarity to offer our peoples a clear and determined vision for defending life and transforming our crisis-ridden system.
Translated by: Elif Kılıç
Source: https://www.ciftcisen.org/2025/09/29/la-via-campesinadan-eylem-cagrisi/