Speaker tour by Nicaraguan rural workers representatives 

From 26 Oct – 4 Nov Marlen Sanchez and Erika Takeo from the Nicaraguan Rural Workers Association (ATC) will be visiting London, Bristol and Birmingham to participate in events and to meet up with UK organisations such as the UK Landworkers Alliance.

Food sovereignty, agroecology, climate justice, gender equality, internationalism, and involving the next generation of agroecologists will be the key themes of their visit.

‘Globalise struggle, globalise hope’ is the slogan of the global movement La Via Campesina (LVC) of which the ATC is a founder member, a slogan that couldn’t be more appropriate in our fragmented, fractured world!

Marlen is also the director of the Latin America Agroecological Institute (IALA) in Nicaragua, and Erika is the coordinator of Friends of the ATC. Both are representatives of CLOC, the Latin America and Caribbean region of LVC.

London event

Saturday 29 Oct,Another way is possible: the example of Nicaragua, NSC & NSCAG Solidarity event. 2.30 – 4.30pm, Lift, 45 White Lion Street, Islington, N1 9PW (Angel Underground)

Marlen will be speaking along with Francisco Dominguez, NSCAG Executive Committee; Alix Hughes, Bristol Link with Nicaragua; and teachers from the UK-Nicaragua teacher exchange sponsored by the NEU:  Chair: Christine Blower, Labour member of the House of Lords

To register

Bristol event:

Mon 31 Oct, Food, Ecology & Sustainability in Nicaragua. speakers, food, music. 7.30 – 9.30, Parish Church of All Hallows, All Hallows Rd, Easton, BS5 0HL

“Food sovereignty is the right of people to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and the right to define their own food and agriculture.” LVC

Marlen and Erika will be in conversation with Freya Widdicombe from Sims Hill Shared Harvest, a pioneering social enterprise growing food for the people of Bristol just four miles from the city centre.

Sims Hill is a community co-operative supporting a partnership between growers and consumers. It uses natural methods and permaculture principles to produce high-quality vegetables and to support innovative social action through land-based projects.

To register

Birmingham event

Food Sovereignty, Workers’ Rights and & International Solidarity: Stories from Nicaragua

Location: UNISON West Midlands, 24 Livery St, Birmingham B3 2PA

Date: Wednesday, 2nd November

Time: Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start

Join us for an inspiring evening with two activists from the Nicaraguan Rural Workers’ Association, who are part of La Via Campesina, a global Indigenous and peasant-led movement for a just and sustainable food system. Marlen and Erika will share about the global movement for food sovereignty and grassroots organising in the Nicaraguan context

Registration is free but donations welcome.

To register