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Photo courtesy of AFSA A lliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa Moderator’s Note:   We just received this press release from the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, dated July 2 2015. We are reposting  at the request of the activists  concerned with the problems of a  proposed  African regional framework for the protection of plant varieties. Because of the significance of this issue for the future prospects of food self-sufficiency and autonomy in the African countries, we call on our readers to support the work of AFSA, the grassroots alternative to the Gates  Foundation and its   ‘Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa’  (AGRA); see our post of October 8, 2010 . AFSA Calls On African Governments at Arusha Meeting to Shun Protocol AGREEEMENT SEEN AS UNDERMINING SOVEREIGNTY & FARMERS’ RIGHTS TO SEED AFSA Press Release | Arusha, Tanzania | 2 July 2015 Nineteen African nations, members of the African Regional Intelle...

Photo by Alex Garland. Courtesy of CAGJ      Moderator’s Note: Last week, I was fortunate to host some of the participants in the Africa-U.S. Food Sovereignty Strategy Summit organized by the Community Alliance for Global Justice (CAGJ) as part of the AGRA-Watch campaign. This vitally important project monitors and reports on the Gates Foundation and its Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The Summit was held on October 10-14 in a Seattle union hall with a packed public Town Hall meeting on October 12. One of the Summit participants was Dr. Daniel Maingi of Growth Partners Africa and the Food Rights Alliance in Kenya. He graciously agreed to visit a class I am teaching on the anthropology of food. Dr. Maingi explained the need for recognition and support of community-based local action-oriented research by African farmers seeking food sovereignty. Like the other participants in this important meeting, Dr. Maingi’s approach emphasizes the need for a shift ...