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31 July 2012 | Special reports | Gender | Food Sovereignty
“This Day is Ours”
Chile – The Voices of the Peasant Day in the Anniversary of the Agrarian Reform Law
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After 45 years of the passing of the Agrarian Reform Law in Chile, which was later halted by Pinochet’s dictatorship, a new edition of the Peasant Day was celebrated last July 28th in El Carmen community, with the presence of students, rural workers, peasant men and women demanding “a second agrarian reform”.
The activity to celebrate the Peasant Day was jointly organized by Chilean organizations member of CLOC-Via Campesina, such as Anamuri, the Ranquil Confederation, Conaproch and ANMI, and also the Ñuble Peasant Federation and the Coordination of Ñuble Popular Organizations.
The Agrarian Reform passed on July 28th, 1967, by Eduardo Frei Montalva’s administration was strengthened during Salvador Allende’s term, and over 10 million hectares of land were distributed.
However, this reform was drastically reversed during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, amid an atmosphere of fear, harassment and repression.
Every July 28th, the peasant organizations celebrate their day in Chile which "is also a day to strengthen our commitment to the struggle for land and water, food sovereignty, to continue reproducing seeds, our culture and peasant life, to reestablish harmony with nature and continue resisting the aggression of neoliberal capitalism suffered by our working people for over thirty years".
Nowadays, under Piñera’s administration with the Free Trade Agreement with the US, the student repression, and the attacks against the Mapuche people, this day has an added value, according to the testimonies gathered during the activity.
This is what Hector Segel, peasant leader of Ñuble province, said in an interview for Real World Radio by journalist Viviana Catrileo, of ANAMURI, at the activity which is also aiming to reestablish in the current ultra-liberal Chile a demand for "land for those who work and take care of it".
Meanwhile, the member of CONAPROCH (the National Council of Producers of Chile), Helena Silva, said that the new generations are increasingly aware of the importance of land, natural resources and peasant mobilization.
“We can see the strong motivation of the new generations of peasants so that they stay in the countryside, organized. We need the capacity-building of the young people and for them to know their rights. This is our plan”, said Helena.
Interviews and photos by Viviana Catrileo (ANAMURI-CLOC-VC) from El Carmen, Ñuble, Chile, for Real World Radio.
