This is a CTP of initiative: La Via Campesina/RMRU (Uruguay)
This CTP refers to the process of incorporation of the RMRU to the international network Vía Campesina. The network had begun to participate in different activities with organizations from other countries of Latin America since 2005 and joining different initiatives. Above all, she had participated in political training meetings promoted by the chilean National Association of Rural and Indigenous Women (ANAMURI).
Based on this link with peasant organizations in Latin America, the RMRU joined activities developed by Vía Campesina and in October 2008 they were notified of their formal incorporation into the international network:
"The experience of participating in the international network allowed us to consolidate a new agenda of problems and issues to be addressed by the RMRU and extend the activities of the network on a regional and global scale".
The referents of the organization point out that, based on their link with Vía Campesina, they incorporated new problems that the RMRU had not worked before, such as the struggle for land tenure, the alienation of land and the use of transgenic seeds and pesticides.
Some of the referents of the network identify that the incorporation of the RMRU in Via Campesina radicalized their discourse and their work agenda. They also recognize that their effective incorporation into the international network strengthened the position of the RMRU and international recognition allowed them to better position themselves in their negotiations and claims with the national government in Uruguay.
The participation in Vía Campesina strengthened the network of relations with other organizations and movements based on the incorporation of a new agenda of topics to be developed by the network.
The incorporation of the RMRU into the international network generated a co-production process in which, as the Uruguayan organization deepened its international ties, its discourse and its agenda of problems radicalized. A key concept that incorporated the RMRU in the framework of this CTP was that of "Food Sovereignty":
"When we think about the issue of Food Sovereignty, we understand that it should be considered a basic right and in the process of its assurance, it is necessary to contemplate concrete measures. We stand in front of it from the conception of food sovereignty used by CLOC - Vía Campesina, the organization of which we are part, understanding that food sovereignty is the right of the peoples, of their countries or unions of states to define their agrarian policy and Dumping measures against third countries. So we conceive that this struggle must: recognize the rights of rural women and their leading role in agricultural production and food; To evaluate the place of rural women as producers and guardians of native seeds. In the understanding that women are guardians because we are defenders, fighters and transmitters of these knowledge that preserve biodiversity; Ensuring access to the territory: our identity, our natural heritage and our agricultural cultures and forms of production; To ensure that women have the right to choose what to eat, we and our families, as well as the inhabitants of our country, as well as to enable women farmers to maintain their viability and diversity in their different forms of production."
Within the framework of this change of agenda brought about by its incorporation into Vía Campesina, the RMRU started new cooperative relations with other organizations in Uruguay. This is why the criticism of the use of transgenics was a new issue incorporated in the network work agenda in which they worked with other organizations such as the Friends of the Earth Network (REDES, in its spanish initials) and the National Commission for the Defense of Water and Life (CNDAV, in its spanish initials).
The incorporation of the RMRU as a formal member of Vía Campesina was the result of a process of linking the network with other Latin American organizations. Also, this process was related to important social and political changes experienced in the region with the consolidation of progressive governments in different countries of South America. In this way, a strong critique of neoliberalism was put at the center of the public debate. In this sense, Uruguayan social movements began to identify as part of a wider collective space. A relevant fact of these years was the 2005 Summit of the Americas held in Mar del Plata (Argentina) in which the leaders of the countries of South America (Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Lula Da Silva of Brazil, Néstor Kirchner Of Argentina and Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay) prevented progress in a Free Trade Agreement at the continental level (FTAA). During that meeting, a parallel summit was held, known as the Peoples' Summit, in which the problems experienced by peasant populations in the region were raised, and how the FTAA could affect their lives. In parallel, the RMRU was invited to participate in a School of political training for women farmers in the Southern Cone where these proposals were deepened. Within the framework of this school, the Network related to other organizations in neighboring countries such as MST Brazil, CONAMURI of Paraguay, ANAMURI of Chile and MOCASE of Argentina. Through these relationships was that the RMRU agreed to the possibility of being incorporated into Via Campesina. Done that took place in the World Conference of the organization in the city of Maputo (Mozambique).
The incorporation of the RMRU to the international network Vía Campesina was crossed by two levels of contestation: one internal and one external.
At internal level, it generated an intense debate within the organization that put its own identity in crisis. From its beginnings, the members of the RMRU shared two conditions in common: being women and living in rural areas. This definition allowed the network to have a broad integration that included rural workers, artisans, housewives and also women living in villages. In this way, the organization had adapted to the particular socio-cultural characteristics of Uruguay where the identity in terms of "peasants" was not extended. Almost no one in Uruguay was self-defined as a peasant.
The invitation to be a part of Vía Campesina, generated a great controversy because many of the participants of the RMRU considered that they were not peasants, reason why that international network did not represent them and it involved them in problems and preoccupations that they were strange to them.
Finally, after a deep internal debate, the position in favor of the incorporation of the RMRU to the Via Campesina was imposed. The argument was that the concept of peasants was broad and therefore included them as inhabitants of rural areas.
At the external level, the incorporation of the RMRU into Via Campesina generated a new agenda of problems and more conflictive actions. This generated that the network will begin to assume more critical positions against the government and the socio-economic situation of the rural sector in Uruguay.
The references of the RMRU acknowledge that the events associated with this CTP were unexpected: "We did not understand the Via Campesina, nor meant to receive the membership, nor that meant to broaden our horizons, I think we could never imagine all that..."
However, joining the Via Campesina was another step on a platform that was already developed in the RMRU from its participation in other activities and international networks. Even participation in the political school for peasant women in the southern cone of South America has been a key experience in redirecting the network's agenda.
In this way, it can be seen how the incorporation into the Vía Campesina was a key step (unexpected but inevitable) in a road that is sold and moved to the RMRU had taken from a series of decisions taken many years before from that CTP.
The referents of the RMRU remark that this CTP was marked by the great learning that was generated. On the one hand, it is recognized that, based on the relationships established with other organizations in other countries, the women who make up the RMRU have incorporated new knowledge about the problems facing the rural world today.
The problem was associated with the development of transgenics crops and their negative effects on the environment and rural life. They also developed new skills in gender issues and new challenges for rural women.
However, the main learning generated in the process of international linkage of the RMRU was related to the incorporation of new capacities and tools to be able to defend their interests and gain greater influence with their actions.
Stay informed. Subscribe for project updates by e-mail.
