Seeds, Stories & Solidarity (Fall 2025) - Magazine - Page 28
I
n a conference room in Bogotá, Colombia, 150 young
peasant farmers from Asia, Africa, the Americas, the
Caribbean, and Europe are dancing, clapping, and
laughing. They take turns shouting—in Arabic, Portuguese,
Tamil, Swahili—La Vía Campesina’s slogan, “Globalize the
Struggle, Globalize Hope!” as earpieces feed real-time
interpretations in 17 languages. There are more languages
interpreted here than at the United Nations.
They gathered for the 5th International Youth Assembly
in 2023, where they strategized together, laying out the
top issues young people face in each of their regions and
stitching together a global response. Before the strategy
sessions, though, they began with a “mistica” in which each
delegate laid down a flag and an offering for the altar:
seeds, flowers, farming tools. The phrase “Youth Peasants
Change the World” was spelled out in bean seeds across
the floor.
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