‘Our struggle is for humanity’: a conversation with Morgan Ody, general coordinator of La Via Campesina International, on land, politics, peasant life and a vision for hope in our changing world

ABSTRACT

A new generation of activists and peasant leaders have taken up the banner of food sovereignty amid an even more challenging and violent situation for rural people around the world. In this interview Morgan Ody, the new General Coordinator of La Via Campesina International, discusses her vision for rural movements. Originally from a small dairy farm, Ody is a second-generation militant in Confédéracion Paysanne. Ody speaks about land reform, climate politics, the perils and potential of state policies, rising populism, and the power of the peasantry: in short, about where the movement has been and where we are headed.

KEYWORDS:

• social movements
• food sovereignty
• land reform
• populism
• La Via Campesina

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 See the Mons Declaration of La Via Campesina, 1993: https://viacampesina.org/en/mons-declaration/.

2 For more detail on the French land legislation and its challenges, see Ody, Morgan. ‘Land Grabbing, “Artificialisation” and Concentration in France: Causes, Consequences and Challenges’. In Franco J. and Borras, S. 2013. Land concentration, land grabbing and people’s struggles in Europe. Transnational Institute (TNI) for European Coordination Via Campesina and Hands off the Land network. Available at: https://www.tni.org/files/download/02._france.pdf. [AQ2]

3 The ZAD, an occupation of farmland and wetlands in Western France which successfully prevented the construction of an international airport, is the longest lasting political struggle in post-war French history. For more on the ZAD, see The Zad and NoTAV: Territorial Struggles and the Making of a New Political Intelligence by the Mauvaise Troupe Collective, translated by Kristin Ross. Verso Press. 2018. [AQ3]

4 For an example or a successful urban land occupation in the United States, see Roman-Alcalá (2015).

5 A small farmer from the Basque Country, Paul Nicholson is one of the founding organic intellectuals of La Via Campesina. See his interview with Saturnino Borras in this issue. Remarks referenced here were made at the Yale University Program in Agrarian Studies conference, Food Sovereignty: A Critical Dialogue. September 14–15, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8apjmw9MQM.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Morgan Ody

Morgan Ody is a vegetable producer from Bretagne, France, a a member of the European Coordination Via Campesina and General Coordinator of La Via Campesina International.

Annie Shattuck

Annie Shattuck is an Assistant Professor in Geography at Indiana University in the United States. Her work spans food politics, agroecology, rural health, agrarian change, and social movements. She is the co-editor of The Politics of Food Sovereignty: Concept, Practice, and Social Movements.