Monthly e-newsletter from Focus on the Global South, India


Content summary:

Will 2008 be known as the year of global food crisis? This issue focuses on Food and Agriculture. An article by Afsar Jafri argues that the first priority of the Indian Government should be to strengthen the agriculture sector by increasing public investment, facilitating public control over inputs and the market and strictly regulating corporate investment in agriculture. In short he calls for a reversal of free market reforms in agriculture. S P Shukla discusses the implications of the latest WTO texts on agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) and urges the Indian government to play hardball. We carry 3 statements on the issue of food; First, by the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty, second, a statement on the WTO and its role in the food crisis and three, a strongly worded resolution from farmers groups in Delhi demanding that agriculture should be left out of the WTO.

Hello comrades,

The Social Movements Assembly (SMA) met in Belem (Brazil) during the meeting of the International Council (IC) of the World Social Forum (WSF), which was held from October 28th to November 1st 2007.

This assembly launched a call for the global days of action which will culminate on 26th of January 2008 (see below).

In the enclosed document you will find the first signatories of this call.

Your signatures and participation are fundamental to assure a broad and massive mobilization.

IMPORTANT: the organizations and individuals willing to sign this call should please send an email to < This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it >.

Militant greetings,

Olivier Bonfond

PS: This call is based on a document drafted during the Social Movements Assembly held in October 2006 in Brussels (Belgium). For your information, we have attached a list of the organizations which attended the Brussels' meeting.