In Costa Rica, rural and indigenous women are threatened by the dispossession of one of the most precious assets: the seeds. This is due to a bill and a presidential decree that seek to control, privatize and prevent the free movement of peasant seed. At the same time the levels of pollution, due to agro-poisons, increase every day, with intoxicated schools, towns, and people sick from the indiscriminate use of agro-toxics.
Against this background, the Rural Women’s Network of Costa Rica, the Tinamaste Association, and the Women of the Field Interuniversity Project, Rights, and Body-Territory invite “Mujeres en Lucha (Women in Struggle) for Free Seeds and Fumigation-Free Communities” day.
Several scheduled activities
First, on Wednesday, October 30th, 2019, we will carry out an exchange of seeds from 9:00 am to 11:00 am, on the boulevard of the Legislative Assembly. To demand that peasant seeds be outside the seed bill and against the presidential decree that seeks to control the seeds and the people who produce them; and also to demonstrate against aerial spraying and agro-toxic in rural and indigenous communities.
Then, on Thursday, October 31st, from 8:30 am to 12:00 m, we will have a forum at the Auditorium of Education of the University of Costa Rica (UCR), to discuss these same topics, the law of seeds, the decree, fumigation, and agro-toxics in our communities.
In this forum we will have the participation of more than 40 members of the Network of Rural Women of Costa Rica, from different regions of the country; as well as the participation of Perla Álvarez, a member of the Organization of Peasant and Indigenous Women CONAMURI of Paraguay, who will share the experience of resistance against agro-toxics in her country, as well as the trajectory of her organization.
Join us, because life and seeds are matters that belong to all of us. Let’s talk about our experiences, among rural women and populations of other communities. Let’s support each other!
