South Korea

The author of this article, Geumsoon Yoon, is a South Korean small-scale farmer, leader of the Korean Women Peasant Association, and a member of the International Coordination Committee of La Via Campesina.  As a female peasant farmer, she highlights global efforts to resist corporate power and free-trade deals that threaten rural self-sufficiency, and describes how peasants around the world are standing up for the small scale, local agricultural systems that have developed over 20,000 years, feed around 70% of the world’s population, and places Mother Earth in the centre of its philosophy. As they fight a system which turns food from a common good into a commodity and the erosion of sustainable food systems, Yoon and her comrades often meet violent repression, however, these brave farmers continue to demand their right to decision making power over things that affect their lives. Photo credit: Reuters