Agroecology Radio Hour
Talking all things agroecology
Agroecology Radio Hour
Episode 2 - Morgan Ody from LVC and Update on the Australian Abattoir Campaign
This episode takes us on a deep dive into the global context of the food sovereignty movement, from the formation of La Via Campesina, LVC, the need for international solidarity, and how AFSA fits into that global puzzle. Our guest today is Morgan Ody, a small scale farmer in Brittany France. She's a member of the Peasants Confederation, which is a French peasant organization, and the general coordinator of La Via Campesina, the global Peasant Movement.
We also catch up with AFSA's focal point for farmers, Tammi Jonas, for an update on the national abattoir campaign.
Become a member of AFSA: https://afsa.org.au/join-us/
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Links:
AFSA: https://afsa.org.au/
La Via Campesina: https://viacampesina.org/en/
so what peasants is it's you cannot say it's below 10 hectares. No, that's not possible, but it's really about working with with the nature, uh, and, um, with the animals, with everything. And the collective part of it is also very important. You can never be a peasant alone. It's about, uh, collective creation and never something individualistic, uh, and that's the reason why most of the peasant's rights are collective rights and, and not so much individual rights, because, yeah, it's about doing this together.
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Welcome to the Australian Agroecology Radio Hour, your monthly podcast that explores the issues of food sovereignty in the Australian landscape. I'm your host, Lucy Ridge, speaking to you from the unseated lands of the Nawal and Nare Peoples. Today's episode takes us on a deep dive into the global context of the food sovereignty movement, from the formation of Lavere Campesina, LVC, the need for international solidarity, and how Aafsa fits into that global puzzle. Our guest today is Morgan Odi, a small scale farmer in Brittany France. She's a member of the Peasants Confederation, which is a French peasant organization, and the general coordinator of Lavere Capina, the global Peasant Movement.
So welcome Morgan Odi. Uh, you've been the general coordinator for several years now at La Via Campesina. I wondered, can you give us a brief introduction to what LVC is and the factors that led to its creation and where it's heading now? Hello. Um, so indeed, uh, I'm, I'm a farmer myself and I am the general coordinator for La Via Campesina at the international level. La Via Campesina is the global peasant movement. Uh, La Via Campesina gathers, um, peasants organizations, organization of small scale farmers, of farm workers, of rural women, rural youth all over the world. Uh, so there are 180 organizations which are members of the Via Campesina. And all in all, um, uh, we gather around 200 million, uh, people all around the world. And, uh, we are organized in, uh, 10 regions. Um, so from, uh, from Southeast Asia to, uh, to Africa, to Europe, to Northern America, um, uh, and uh, also in the, in the Middle East and, and often Africa. So really, uh, we have members organization all over the world. And, uh, LA Campesina has been created, uh, in the early nineties. very much against the economic globalization. It was very much against the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the policies that they were imposing on rural areas. Uh, to push the production towards export oriented production instead of supporting small scale farmers who were producing the food. And so there was this idea in the 90s that in order to achieve food security, you needed to produce food as cheap as possible. And for that, you needed to get the comparative advantages to produce the food where it was the cheapest and to push the agricultural prices really, really down. But what what we said in the in the 90s is that it would never it would never work because actually hunger is a question of poverty. It's because we are poor that we are hungry and already in the 90s and still today, the poorest people in the world are the rural workers. They are the farm workers. They are the peasants. And for these reasons, if you if you if you turn out if you push the peasants to be even more poor by turning down the actual prices, you don't solve the issue. You make it worse. And this is what happened. Actually, the level of hunger in the world is not decreasing. It's increasing again. And it's because of the poverty because of the wars and because of the climate crisis. So economic globalization makes this worse. doesn't make it any better. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Um, and so as well as the beginnings of L'Ouvier Campesina, I wondered if you could share how you came to this movement and what your, um, what your background is. So I grew up on a, on a small dairy farm, uh, in the West of, uh, of France. And, uh, and my father was already in the, in the peasant union in, uh, in France. So it's really part of my personality. History and then I went to study. I had a first job, but I was always interested in to internationalism. I traveled to Indonesia. I spent a year in Indonesia and I met the people who were part of the Indonesian peasant movement, which is a really a very interesting, uh, movement. And so after a while, I thought, okay, this is where I should, uh, what I should do. So I decided to become myself, uh, a small scale farmer. So I produce vegetables. I have a farm of 1. 3 hectare. I sell to a local market and, um, and to an association of consumers. And for me, it was very natural to be part of the peasant union because I see the fact to be a small scale farmer, to produce food as a way to change the world, which is accessible for me. But at the same time, I know that it's not enough. I mean, I know just by producing organic vegetables, I will not change the world. So I need to do that. But at the same time, I need to be part of a global movement, which has the capacity to make a difference in terms of Uh, uh, of challenging the World Trade Organization in, in terms of, uh, pushing for our grant reforms all over the world in terms of, uh, pushing for ecology in terms of, uh, of, uh, getting a UN declaration for peasant rights. This kinds of thing we can achieve only if we have big movements all over the world. So that's the reason why I'm trying to do the best and to do, to do both. And I think that, uh, it's also the reason why so many young people are joining, uh, the, the peasants organizations because, uh, it's. It's very concrete. Uh, you know, daily life. We are doing good things. That makes sense. But also we are part of a big movement that can make big change happen. Yeah. And it's so interesting that you, you've spoken about people all over the world and young people and the importance of women in rural areas and the work that they do. Um, so La Via Campesina is a really diverse movement. Why is diversity so important in movement building, do you think? Yeah, we say it's a unity in, uh, in diversity. Well, first, because the world is diverse. I mean, uh, between, uh, between, uh, peasants, uh, in, uh, in France, uh, pastoralist people in, uh, in, uh, in Mali, indigenous people in, uh, in Peru, and, uh, uh, and, uh, small scale farmers in, uh, in India, we are very diverse. But at the same time, there are so many things unifying us. everybody needs to eat. The principle for how we grow food all over the world are the same. We need water, we need air, we need, uh, we need land. So I think that it's really, uh, uh, uh, giving a very nice image of, uh, of the fact that, uh, as humans all over the world, we are all equals. Yeah. But at the same time, this can encompass a huge diversity. Of cultures, of a way of singing, of a way of cooking food, and that is beautiful. And we want to keep That, uh, great diversity, which is making the world beautiful. Absolutely. Um, we wanted to ask you a little bit about the use of the word peasant. Because in the international space, um, the word peasant is, is used quite widely. And, you know, indeed, La Vie Campesina is the Way of the Peasant. And you spoke earlier about the Peasants Union in France. But there's been a little bit of pushback, we found, in Australia. Um, with people being a bit hesitant to call themselves peasants or, or not really understanding why, why it was important to do that. so Morgan, I wondered if you could give us a definition of peasant, please. Uh, a peasant is, uh, someone who take care of the land and, uh, works, uh, with the land, with the water, with the animal to produce what, uh, what the family, the community needs to, to make a living. So this is. food, but also very often, uh, some material for accommodation or for all the needs that, uh, that we have. So it's about working with the nature to produce, uh, what we need to, for the livelihood, I think. Yeah. And it's really, it's about, um, on a small scale rather than, you know, broad acre, um, commodity farming, right? It's, it's very diverse. I mean, uh, if you are in a very deserted area, it can be, it can be about, uh, well, pastoralist people, they travel through huge areas to feed the animals. Uh, and, uh, and I mean, you know, the places with a quarter of hectare of, uh, rice fields, for example, you can already produce. A lot. Uh, so what peasants is it's you cannot say it's below 10 hectares. No, that's not possible, but it's really about working with with the nature, uh, and, um, with the animals, with everything. And the collective part of it is also very important. You can never be a peasant alone. You always in, in order to be a peasant and to, and to produce the food and the other thing that, uh, That you need, you always need to work with, uh, with the others, with your neighbors and, uh, and the community, but also with animals, but also with your land, with your, so it's, um, it's about, uh, collective creation and never something individualistic, uh, and that's the reason why most of the peasant's rights are collective rights and, and not so much individual rights, because, yeah, it's about doing this together. And for this, in, in all peasant societies, communities, the values, uh, around helping each other, solidarity are, are very important. I wondered if you had some thoughts about why it's important for farmers to self identify as peasants and why that specific language is important. Well, it's political to call ourself peasants, and I can talk about my own organization. So my organization, my organization is called Peasant Confederation. So we use the term peasant, and it was political to decide to do so. Uh, in the 80s, uh, when they created the organization, the normal term was also farmer or in French, agriculteur. And even the administration was pushing for another terminology, which was around agricultural exploitation. So, which is, Like extractivism. And what we say at that moment is that we are not an extractivist industry. We are something else, which which has to do with taking care of the land, taking care of the territories, taking care of our neighbors, of the animals, and that what peasants are about. So for us, that was a political move to decide to call ourselves peasants and a peasant union. And in the beginning, it was not so easy. But with the years, Now in the media, even the Minister of Agriculture will say, Oh, yeah, the president thinks this or thinks that. So, finally, it comes into the general language, and language is always political. And I think that we should fight for language. We should fight for our words. Um, because there is a will to turn everything into technicality, uh, into something very, very cold, and that does not take into account, uh, the the relation of care, the love that we have for each other, and yeah, that makes just as if this does not exist. But this is the key. I mean, uh, the, the, the fertility, it's not only about physics. It's also about, yeah, about the kind of relation which, uh, Which is about energy and which we understand very little, uh, about. And I think that as peasants, just like as a, uh, as indigenous people, I think we do understand that it's not only about physics, that there is life and life is about something more than physics. Yeah. Uh, so yeah, for us, it was important. We know that in, in English speaking countries in the UK or in Ireland, they have the same kind of, uh, questions also because it relates to old time peasantry. Yes. But this is also something which. Which, um, we believe is beautiful this year in Europe. We are commemorating 500 years after the German peasant war, which took place in the 15 25. And that was one of the main, um, people's uprising in Europe at the moment when they were creating capitalism at the moment when Europe just started to colonize the Americas. And in front of that, European peasants did a huge uprising. This is very little known, but it's about our history. And if you look at their demands at that moment, because also it was the beginning of, um, of the industry of, uh, printing. So some peasants started to be able to write and read. And so we have, we have their demands written. And this is a kind of first. Human rights declaration and what they are calling for. They are calling for freedom. They are calling for equality. So I think as the compassina, we are still rooted in this movements, demanding equality, demanding freedom, uh, demanding, uh, the access to the comments, all those, all those values, uh, we're still the same and we are still fighting for the same. So for this reason as well, I find it very inspiring to call ourselves peasants, just like Peasants were calling themselves peasants 500 years ago. Wow. Oh, that's so interesting. I think that's a, that's a part of European history that, um, yeah, you're right, isn't very well known. So it's so important to be able to root ourselves in that history and, and, and take inspiration from them, I guess. Yeah. Wow. Um, you mentioned earlier, uh, the United Nations declarations on the, sorry, I'm going to start that again. You mentioned earlier the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in your, uh, rural areas, which we call UNDROP. Um, and this was a really important declaration, um, that Livia Campesina had a lot to do with. So I wondered if you could talk us through a little bit about how, how you made that happen as an organization. So it really started, uh, with the Indonesian, uh, peasant organization, uh, because they were facing huge human rights violations, very much linked to agrarian conflicts. So big companies would arrive on the territories, they, they would, uh, push away the, the peasants to, to take the land and killing people or burning the houses of people. Uh, and so after the dictatorship of, uh, of Suharto, the, the peasant movement really At a at a at a blooming, uh, time and peasants could go back on their land, claim their land again. But there were still many conflicts. And so for the for the organization in Indonesia, it was really important to say that as peasants, we are human beings. We have human rights. Uh, and so they say that there are, um, it's just like, uh, the, the woman's right. We are part of the humanity. So it's part of human rights, but because we face specific discriminations, we do need a UN declaration to recognize, to recognize, uh, our rights because we are facing specific discrimination. So this is the same for peasants. Actually, all the rights which are in the, in the Peasants Rights Declaration are human rights. They are also recognized in, in the, in the Universal Human Rights, uh, uh, declarations. But we need a specific declaration to make it clear that us peasants The right to land, the right to water, the right to political participation, the right to move from one place to another, the right to live in a, in a safe, uh, territory, or like in a, in a territory which is not intoxicated with, uh, toxic products, all of these are human rights and should be implemented. And so, they convinced La Via Campesina movement to go for it, and then we started a very long work in Geneva in the UN, uh, Human Rights, uh, Council. To find a countries that would support that and Bolivia played a key role on Bolivia really supported the that process towards the U. N. Declaration for the rights of peasants and other people working in real area. And then we found we found all the allied countries on the way, most of them being countries from the global South who understand very well what means the specific discriminations against against peasants. And so, uh, after a very long process of 18 years, there was a vote in the U. N. General Assembly, and, uh, it was positive. Most of the countries agreed, uh, to, uh, to have this, uh, this hundred and something that is important to be said is that even in countries like Australia, which did not vote in favor. Yeah, I was going to say actually human. Yeah. So actually, it's not because Australia Yeah. did not vote in favor of UNDROP, but the UNDROP cannot be implemented in Australia. On the contrary, the UNDROP has been voted by the majority of the, uh, UN General Assembly. So, um, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's for everywhere. Yeah. In countries that voted in favor, but also in countries that voted, uh, against. And we see some moves, like, for example, in Europe, most of the countries, uh, abstained, um, but, uh, in 2023, we had a new vote to create, uh, a new working group to work on the implementation of, uh, peasants rights all over the world. And then we saw some countries like Spain or Germany or Belgium, which had abstained in 2008. Now, as I voted, uh, in, uh, in 2018, sorry, 2018, and, uh, and five years later, they voted in, in favor. So we also see that, uh, it's like the UN Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous People. It takes some time for countries to accept that it's there and that they should work with it. So let's hope that it's going to be the same with Australia as well. Yes. Yes. We very much hope so. Absolutely. Um, so I wondered what, what are some of the biggest learnings that you've had from working with Livia Campesina and, and, and from your work and how do you think that we might be able to apply that in an Australian context? For me, the biggest learning, it's about this very simple, basic principle that, uh, every human beings are equal. And, uh, I think we all know this, but I mean, it's not so clear and it's not so much told in our everyday life. Yeah. And, uh, I, I had, uh, I had the privilege to go to Haiti, um, two years ago. And in Haiti, really, Every day, everybody says this sentence, which says, Tout le monde c'est moi. Every person is a person. Wow. And really, you hear that several times a day. And I found that fantastic. Yeah. That for children, for everybody, for all of us, yeah, every person is a person. That is the basic knowledge that we should all have. And I think that this is what we are defending as La Vie Composée now. Uh, you know, it's not only about food sovereignty, agroecology, uh, it's, it's, it's about. It's about every person is a person. And even if we are poor, marginalized, uh, if we are a woman, uh, if we are gay, if we, uh, are black, if we're all human, we are all just the same. We can be, we are all, we are all as stupid as, as each other. I would say as smart and as stupid. Yeah. And, and that is an important lesson because that is. That has been the claim for social movements in the whole history. The claim for equality, the claim to refuse that some people just because they are white or because they are rich or because they are men, they pretend to have the right to dominate and to oppress other people. No, we refuse that. And so I think that it's very strong that a movement of, uh, of peasants, uh, and we are most of the time among the poorest people in the, in the population. We unite all over the world for For this value of every person is a person and we do have human rights. Uh, and we do not want to be oppressed. We we want to to be considered as as equal in the in the societies, and it's not only a big principle. I mean, you know, everyday life we are fighting for peasant feminism, for example, to stop the oppression of men against women. So it it materialized in very concrete struggles in the compass. You know, we have created an articulation of diversities. To ensure that, uh, people who are, uh, LGBTQI in the rural area in particular, that, uh, that they stop facing, uh, massive violence, uh, just because they are gay or trans, because we consider that every human person is, is, is a human being and that everybody should be respected. So I think that this principle, linked with very concrete, uh, actions, uh, it's very powerful. Yeah, absolutely. And so necessary at the moment in a world where, um, so often every person is not treated like a person. Yeah, exactly. I mean, this is what the far right is about, but also the right wing. This is all what it's about for a very long time actually. And that's what we learn when we, when we learn about the peasants, the history of peasant struggle in the world of indigenous people's struggles in the world. It's always about equality, always about refusing that some people. Just because they come from Europe, or because they are white, or because they are men, or because they are rich, they feel the right to oppress other, other people. And we are, and we are right now in a, in a moment where I think over the last 50 years, um, there was some progress. I mean, the, the, the fact that in 48, um, uh, the Universal, uh, Declaration of Human Rights was voted in the UN. It's, it's important. And we should not deny the importance of such things. Because I mean, before that, uh, with colonialism and all those things, it would never have been possible. So suddenly in 48, uh, the, the countries, the, uh, they, they accept this, uh, this statement. But it's never been implemented. I mean, we, we are still in a situation where, where colonialism, neocolonialism, white supremacism, uh, the fact that, uh, if you are rich, you have access to medical services, and if you are poor, you don't have access to medical services. All these things. It's a it's a daily struggle, and I think that, like in the last decades, there was a lot of hypocrisy. Uh, and, uh, of of, uh, pretendingly, we were all the same, but the reality was still that if the U. S. was deciding something and, uh, and Senegal would not agree. Well, The US would, uh, would continue, uh, and, uh, and, uh, pretendingly, or, uh, to, to kill civilians, uh, was not okay, but, uh, when, when, uh, the US, uh, uh, put bombs in, uh, in Iraq and killed, uh, hundreds of thousands of civilians, well, nobody said nothing, uh, and, uh, so I think that now we are, we are at a moment of, uh, of truth, in a sense, because, because of environmental crisis, because we now, we now all know We have only one earth and that the resources are limited. And so the rich people cannot pretend anymore that if they become richer, the poor people will get some of this wealth. We all know that there is only one cake and we need to share it. So now the only way for the privileged to maintain their privileges or to increase their privileges Is to take resources and wealth out of the poorest people. And this is what we are facing right now. It's very clear now that in order to continue to get richer, the billionaires, the rich people in this world, are ready to do genocide. I mean, what they are doing right now in Palestine, it's about genocide. And it's about what they are ready to do to anyone of us. Who is not accepting, uh, to give up some of our rights, uh, for them to continue to be still richer and richer and richer. That is about that. And I think in Via Campesina, because we are a peasant movement, because we've been experiencing, uh, oppression, domination for centuries and millenniums, we know what it is about. Uh, and we know that in order to, to struggle against this far right, against, against these people that believe that, That, uh, they are the kings and we are nothing. Mm. In front of that. We need to unify and we need internationalism. And that is what is about. Uh, internationalism from the people from below. So together with a trade unions with fisher folk, people with indigenous people, we try to unify to propose, um, a vision of hope. And what we say in love Compass is globalize struggles, globalize hope, because we do believe that if we struggle, uh, we can have a better life. Uh, we can, uh, we can have food for everybody. We can have housing for, uh, for everybody. We can have medical care for, for everybody. But if we don't struggle It's very clear now, the powerful people, the rich people, they will take it all for them and we will have never, nothing left for us. Yeah, absolutely. And I think, um, that idea of globalizing hope is so powerful. In Australia, there's, um, been some statistics about, uh, depression and, um, and suicide rates in people living in, in rural areas and people in farming communities. And I think partly it's isolation. Um, and partly it's because, yeah, if you're not part of a, of a movement, and if you're not part of a community that is, that is doing actively hopeful actions, then, um, then it's very easy to feel hopeless. So I think what Levia Campesina does to, to globalise that hope is so powerful and, and something that often gets missed when we talk about, um, the, yeah, the mental health of farmers in Australia. Yeah. And I think. It's true also in our daily life. I mean, the daily life of peasants or small scale farmers, it can be tough when we are under the rain, it's cold. Right now in Europe, it's cold and it's raining, but at the same time, I mean, to see the birth of a baby cow or to see the small plants growing, it's beautiful. So, it's tough, but it's beautiful. But it's also plenty of, uh, of, uh, sense, plenty of, uh, of, uh, beauty and, uh, and we know that we all work is, uh, is useful. I mean, producing food is what we need, uh, what we need the most. And I do think that, uh, in this moment where we are kind of lost mm-hmm. Uh, all over the world in particular, I would say in Western countries, people are lost. Yeah. Uh. And, uh, and, and we do need to, to have this, uh, these basic things. Okay, I need to do something that makes sense, that is good for, for the others. And we need this kind of basic principles. Every person is a person. Every person is a person. I think that it's, it's, yeah, it's better than big speeches, very intellectual speeches. Yeah. Okay, just, yeah, what the Haitian people say. Every person is a person. And, uh, let's, uh, let's take this as a, as a way to, um, to, to. To guide our lives. Uh, and and I feel that in the movements, the people who are in the movements. Um, even if we face repression, but there is happiness. There is joy in the in this, uh, in the fact that, uh, Uh, we are making a good friends and, uh, we are because it's, it's nice to know that your friends are good people that are struggling for the better and that are courageous, that are, uh, I mean, when I travel very often, I consider that the, the The peasant leaders that, uh, that I have the privilege to meet, that they are heroes, uh, really heroes. They struggle for the good things. And, uh, yeah, uh, very modest heroes. They are not in newspapers. They are not in the TV shows, but still they are heroes. Um, so I wondered if you had any advice for, uh, farmers, for peasants in Australia, how can they participate in the global food sovereignty movement? Well, first, I think it's very important. I'm very happy that AFSA is now a member of the Accompesina because I think that this connection with all the peasants movement in the world, it makes a difference. I mean, sometimes we are in our societies, we listen to the media, and it can make us see the world in a sense that it's propaganda. So the fact that we can have direct connections with other people in other parts of the world, we can just ask them. Okay. I heard that in the TV this morning, but what do you think about it? Because you are in this country. So tell me, how is it really for you? And I think that this is important because the information, it's currently a weapon for the powerful people, a weapon of propaganda. And in front of that, the fact to keep direct connections, uh, among, uh, uh, workers, among peasants, uh, or self and to, and to us. Okay. How is it? And to understand that there is complexity. Uh, that it's, uh, it's, it's not very often. It's not as, uh, uh, it's not, it's not what we hear in the, in the, in the media and I'm saying this. Also, you know, France is still a very colonial country. So what we hear about Western Africa, uh, it's very much connected to this neocolonialism. And the fact to be able to discuss directly with small scale farmers in Western Africa, I get a completely different sense of what is going on there. And it's very helpful. And I think that, so, so that would be an advice to, uh, well, to To make webinars to ensure that, uh, you, you, you have some peasants traveling to other countries that you also invite, uh, peasants delegation to come to, to Australia so that we know about your reality as well, which is, uh, which is important. That's a first thing. Then I think that it's very important to keep the connection with, uh, uh, with people's which will face economic difficulties, even if they don't share all your values, because What we see all over the world, and in particular in western countries, is that the far right has been extremely smart into capturing the popular vote. And it's important that we don't let this happen. So that we ensure that we keep the connection with our neighbors who are facing Big economic difficulties were indebted were isolated and, uh, and that we maintain this this very concrete solidarity. Uh, they might be voting for the far right. But, uh, but but why? And I think that very often in the in the social movements, we are tending to think, Oh, if they are voting once for the far right, they are bad. And so we have abundant them. And I think that it's really important that we say. Okay. Actually, there is a sense that the far right is so smart in using the feeling of humiliation of people, but we need to ensure that we give the recognition to these people who are workers, who are, yeah, very often, uh, working very hard and do not get recognized by this capitalist society for the work that they do. And I think that if we abandon them, it's too easy for the far right to capture their, their votes and, and, and their support. So I think it's our task. To, uh, to, to not keep being in the, with the, with the people from the middle class, from the, from the cities, with the, with the scholars, but to ensure that we keep a strong connection with all, with our neighbors who are, who are facing, uh, this economic oppression. That's not easy. It's not easy because it's so much easier to keep among ourselves, uh, than to, than to have difficult conversation with our neighbors. Who might be racist, who might be homophobic and all those things, but at the same time, I think that if we are not doing so, we are not giving us the chance to really Build strong popular social movements that can make a difference in, uh, in our societies. Yeah, you can really, you can really empower people through those relationships. Wow, that's very, oh, that's excellent stuff. And already I've got so many thoughts pinging out of my mind, and I'm sure that other people do as well. Um, before we wrap up, I thought I would just ask you if there's anything else that Livia Campesina is doing right now that you'd like to share with us. Oh, wow. There are so, uh, there are so many things. Uh, well, I think in this moment, exactly. Uh, the, we are, we are very much concerned with the situation in Palestine. Well, we have been over the last month, obviously, uh, with the situation in the, in Gaza, but, uh, that was a statement that, uh, Trump is doing against the Palestinian people. It's, uh, it's making us very much, uh, concerned. And we think that it's not only about Palestine, what's going on in Palestine. It's about the project that this oligarchies, these billionaires, that they are for the, for the people in the world, actually, in particular in the global south, but also for the working class in the, in the northern countries. So we think that it's a matter of struggling for humanity, for dignity, to support the Palestinian people. And to say very clearly, there is no way that you erase Palestine. There is no way. So I think it's, uh, it's difficult because when saying this in Western Europe and probably in Australia, you face a lot of, uh, of, uh, repression. But we should keep saying this. It's the best thing. They are human rights, the Palestinian people. They have been living there. They have been farming there. Taking care of this territories for centuries. There is no way that they are pushed away for from their country to install a, uh, a touristic area for the rich people. No, we will not let it, uh, let it, uh, go like this and we will mobilize all over the world to support them because their struggle, the struggle of Palestinian people. This is a struggle for humanity. This is a struggle for equality and for human dignity. Yeah, exactly, because all people are people, and all Palestinian people are people. So their struggle is our struggle. Well, thank you so much for your time, Morgan. It's been an absolute delight having you with us today. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Bye bye.
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:We've invited a's focal point for farmers. Tammy Jonas onto the pod for a quick update on a's current abattoir campaign. Welcome, Tammy.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:Thanks, Lucy. Good to be here.
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:So what's going on with abattoirs in Australia right now?
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:Well, there's the bigger picture that multinationals are taking over most of them, and, uh, small and medium scale livestock farmers are losing access to them, at, at an increasingly rapid rate. It's been going on for more than a decade, this last year we've seen probably a dozen abattoirs, um, for closed access to small holders.
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:So what's AA doing to, to help in this, in this climate?
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:we've been, look, we've been advocating, uh, for reforms to allow it to be, to make it easier to build micro abattoirs, um, and to protect kind of smallholder access to the bigger abattoirs, uh, for several years. I think in Victoria specifically, where we've been the most active, we've put in, uh, proposed reforms for about seven years. Um, repeatedly to Minister after Minister for Agriculture. Um, and we were delighted in, uh, December, early December to see, uh, the report on the inquiry into securing the Victorian Food Supply Pro a recommendation that had our proposed reforms about micro abattoir. So defining them in the meat industry act and then making them easier to get a planning permit essentially. Um. And like the next day, Hardwick, which is owned by Kilcoy, a big multinational, um, meat packing firm, Told all the small holders in my region that we are no longer going to be welcome there. As of at the time they said the 1st of January, we managed to get them to make it the first of Feb. So now we don't have any access. That came off the back of in October of last year, DBC, which is an abattoir in uh, Southwestern had had a similar story where they had told small holders there that they were no longer going to take small lots for service kills. We managed to, in that case, advocate to both the WA government and to DBC, the board themselves. It's not a multinational, it's an Australian owned, vertically integrated co, uh, company. Now, now, uh, majority owned by West Pork, which is vertically integrated pork production. Um, we had written to all of them and convince them to stay, uh, give access until mid Feb. And so that was more successful than we had with Hardwicks, actually. Um, but because of that, and then actually in January, Tamin abattoir another one in wa uh, for closed access and three more in New South Wales in that same period of time, have done the same.
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Yeah. So it's been a problem for a long time, but it's really kind of rapidly accelerating now.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:with the acceleration, we went, okay, it's time to do more than just submit quiet reform ideas every now and again to the ministers. So we launched
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:we wrote a campaign strategy. We contacted all of our allies across the movement, and we said, let's go. We wrote a petition for Victoria. our comrades in Sprout, Tasmania, the growers, uh, group in Tasie already had a petition on the go about abattoirs.
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:so those things really helped us get more attention in, in like in the A, B, C and some of the other local media. Um, we submitted our petition to Victoria yesterday with nearly a nearly 3000 signatures on it. Um.
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Yeah. Wow.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:like, the, the, um, MP who supported it, Martha Halo, was really pleased with the response that we'd had to those signatures. Being in parliament was pretty interesting because the, were definitely not pariahs, you know, they were like ministers and, um, mps were coming up to talk to us to say, how's it all going?
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Wow.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:so, you know, you have to, you have to resist saying, well. We're hanging in there, but you could really help make it better. So, well, no, we
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:saying that at all. We said
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Yeah.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:that. so, and then we've got meetings with, we sent letters to ministers in, in every single state actually. Um, and so we
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Yeah.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:had,
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Wow.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:meetings with some of the states and some of the shadow ministers. Um, some other mps in those states have also shown interest in talking with us, so. it's still amping up. Um, but,
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Yeah.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:we're, oh, and wa I should say wa not only did DB, C give them till mid Feb. They recently back flipped entirely and have said they're going to continue doing small lots of service kill. And it's kind of a
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Wow.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:why, but it may have to do
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:live export ban that's coming up over there for sheep. And we think
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:deal for some grant money, um, for the transition from the government if they would remain open to small holders. Um, and we'll take it if that's
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Wow.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:for now, we'll
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Yeah.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:Um,
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely. So there's a lot going on all over, all over the country.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:on.
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Um, but yeah. So how can farmers and eaters and anyone else in the food system get involved with this campaign? I.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:one of the main things is to keep raising awareness about it, um, to, particularly to mps because we have stated demands that are all on the AFSA website. Um, so the, the reforms, which are pretty technical, if you're not a planning nerd, like, uh, pharma activists tend to be, um. So those things are there and there's, there's templates for writing to your local members. So making sure everybody's local members know that this is an issue for everybody who eats. You know, we, the focus on export has come to its logical conclusion where soon we will not be able to process any livestock that is produced here in Australia for Australians. That's the direction it's going. If they don't, if they don't get into gear. Um, so local members, uh, letters, um, sharing these things on social media. Joining usa obviously because. Um, it's, I, I like to say, I don't like to say, but I do say, um, if they have the money, we have the numbers, but we don't have the numbers unless they're signed up numbers. You know, governments don't listen
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Yeah.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:that, oh, but we have like 6,000 people who like us on Facebook. You know, what they wanna know is how many members do you have? And the
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Yeah, yeah.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:have, the more powerful our voice is
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Absolutely. Well, thank you very much, Tammy, for coming in and giving us an update.
squadcaster-aeeh_1_02-19-2025_164203:pleasure.
lucy-ridge--her-_1_02-19-2025_164203:Thank you for listening to this episode of the Agroecology Radio Hour. If you'd like to support AFSA work, please head to our website afsa.org au, where you can become a member or follow the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance on social media. You can also sign up as a subscriber to this podcast on buy me a coffee.com and contact us via our email address Australian food dot sovereignty@gmail.com. Thanks to our producer Ivan Blackett and our guests Morgan odi. And Tammy Jonas. We'll put relevant links in the show notes if you'd like to know more about Morgan's work with Lavia Campesina and the Abattoir campaign with Aafsa. And of course, please share this podcast with your networks to help grow the food sovereignty movement in Australia and be beyond Viva.