This is a CTP of initiative: La Via Campesina/MNCI (Argentina)
From September 11 to 14, 2010, the First National Congress of the National Indigenous Peasant Movement (MNCI) was held under the motto "We are land to feed the people". The meeting was the result of a construction of more than 10 years of organized expression and struggle of the indigenous peasant organizations of Argentina, and counted with the participation of than 1500 delegates from 10 provinces.
"The first national congress of the organization aimed to install the debate on agrarian reform and food sovereignty on the political agenda of the country, and thus demonstrate that the rural production in Argentina is much more than soy and the agriculture for export. The congress had three days of debates, where we agreed ways to strengthen an agricultural model opposed to agribusiness, based on the production of healthy food to feed the local population. The congress ratified the strong opposition to the hegemonic system of the economy, the savage capitalism, the concentration of land and wealth in few hands, the alienation of the land.”
An urgent comprehensive agrarian reform was demanded, based on the recognition of the pre-existence of indigenous peoples, the right to land of indigenous peasants, production with food sovereignty, preservation of the environment, sustainability of our natural wealth, Biodiversity, agroecology, fair price marketing and respect for cultural identity.
"We vindicated the diversity of origins and experiences, but the same way of life: working the land with our hands, harvesting for family production, understanding the land as the most precious good for being part of our history and destiny of our children and grandchildren.”
The big political crisis generated by the lockout of the big agricultural associations in 2008, opened a space of opportunity for the peasant movement in Argentina. The MNCI emerged in 2003 to give a national framework to various struggles that had hitherto been taking place at the provincial level, such as the emblematic case of the Peasant Movement of Santiago del Estero (MOCASE, in its spanish initials) initiated in 1990. Thus, the MNCI proposed since its origins articulate a movement of national scope to be able to influence at the political level. In this sense, the realization of the first national congress was a key step in the framework of this strategy. One of the main objectives of the congress was to give visibility to the demands and proposals of the peasant movement.
In addition, the Congress was considered as part of the actions that Via Campesina was carrying out internationally:
"Our Congress was laying the foundations of our Fifth International Conference of La Via Campesina: defeating transnationals, fighting the WTO, campaign against violence against women in the rural world. In addition, it was to be part of the process of the Fifth CLOC congress that was held in Quito-Ecuador in October 2010."
For the MNCI referents, the Congress was an instance of synthesis in the articulation of different organizations throughout the country:
"The results were very good, even better than we expected. We saw that the Congress was the synthesis of a process of 7 years of construction, was that: a celebration. Participating colleagues from several peasant organizations nearby, with which we have also been developing activities parallel to the Congress. We believe that it was fundamental to build and promote common points, to account for a new proposal of productive and organizational models."
The realization of the congress in Buenos Aires and its conclusion with a mobilization through the streets of the city was a strategic action in a process of broader co-production:
"We know that today, only 7% of the population is rural. So it does not make sense to talk about agrarian reform or food sovereignty without involving the population of the cities, not to mention the migrations that have multiplied in recent years. Such a reform should consider returning to the countryside. The mobilization had as its main objective the possibility of giving greater visibility to the Congress. At the same time, it tried to expand an instance of dialogue with other organizations and with the rest of society. We have invited all who share our struggle to join in."
The first congress of the MNCI came at a turning point in the history of peasant movements in Argentina. Faced with the advance of commercial agriculture based on the use of transgenic and agrochemicals, several peasant and indigenous movements emerged in the middle of the 1990s, that staged protests in different provinces.In 2003, the MNCI emerged with the aim of articulating these organizations in a single national movement. The creation of the MNCI coincided with the beginning of the government of Néstor Kirchner who initiated a policy of dialogue with social movements.
In 2008, there was a profound political crisis that confronted the national government of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner with the associations that represent the large agricultural producers. The conflict was triggered because the national government implemented a new system of taxes on agricultural exports. This crisis generated a great public debate where the model of agricultural production was discussed and its economic, political and social effects.
The MNCI has been part of the creation of the Latin American Coordinator of rural Organizations (CLOC, in its spanish initials). This Latin American network was organizing its V Congress in October 2010 in the city of Quito in Ecuador. The first MNCI congress was incorporated as a stage of the CLOC congress. Likewise, the congress had as direct anchoring the participation of MNCI referents at the V International Conference of Vía Campesina in Mozambique in 2008.
The realization of the Congress in 2010 was understood as a response to a context in which the media, the national public opinion and many of the national's political referents exclusively associated agricultural production with agribusiness.
"The Liaison Committee (an alliance that brings together associations of producers of commercial agriculture and promoted the lockout of 2008) is the main strategic ally of transnational corporations and then forms part of our enemies; With them there is no point of dialogue. Its proposal is the mitigation of the peasant and indigenous way. Sometimes they do it in a concrete and violent way, sometimes by the media and universities, that made us invisible. The agricultural model that raises, and that is the one imposed by the transnational corporations, has the unique objective of profit. Life comes later and so, everything that has to be sacrificed is sacrificed. The main obstacle to this project is the peasant alternative.
The Congress sought to make this alternative visible, to show that food production and rural life are not limited to large producers of transgenic crops. That most of the food we consume in Argentina comes from producers of family farming that are exploited by large commercialization chains. We seek to question the installed idea that the only way to achieve development and eliminate poverty in the country is with industrial agriculture."
The closure mobilization was posed as a way to make visible the new threats caused by the financial crisis of 2008:
"The street is the place where we feel most comfortable, and that's why we decided to end the congress there, holding our main slogans, like 'We are land to feed the people' that we are interested in sharing. In addition, the idea was to read the main conclusions of these days in the congress. We wanted to point out to society that we were at a stage where financial capital, which was going through a crisis, sought to take refuge in natural assets, buying land, betting on mining, and so on. We warned that this process is going to continue and would deepen the dispute over the territory. That is why we sought to consolidate, expand and deepen our alliances, both rural and urban, understanding that this process also has repercussions in cities."
The representatives of the MNCI recognize that the first congress of the MNCI was the result of many years of work. The realization of a national congress with the participation of a large number of peasant organizations was a necessary step towards the consolidation of a national movement to channel the claims and proposals of the peasants and indigenous people of the country.
Likewise, the congress was anticipated by the realization of similar events at an international level such as Vía Campesina and CLOC with the participation of MNCI delegates.
In this CTP, the most significant learnings that can be identified are related to the capacity accumulated by the MNCI to read the scenario and to propose strategic actions. The organization of the congress and the mobilization that took place for its closure were the product of this accumulated learning by the organization.
The members of the MNCI recognize that in order to consolidate their proposals for agrarian reform and food sovereignty, they also need to engage the urban population. For this reason, it was proposed to carry out a mobilization through the streets of Buenos Aires to make their claims visible and to show the rest of society that the problems suffered by the peasants affect them all. In this sense, we sought to emphasize the quality of the food consumed and the danger posed by the use of agrochemicals in industrial agriculture.
On the other hand, in the congress different work spaces were organized in which information and knowledge were exchanged, which allowed for new learning among the participants of the congress.
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