{"id":2348,"date":"2017-03-29T01:31:30","date_gmt":"2017-03-28T17:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panap.net\/?p=2348"},"modified":"2017-03-29T01:31:30","modified_gmt":"2017-03-28T17:31:30","slug":"day-of-the-landless-resistance-and-peoples-rights-best-counter-vs-land-grabs-panap","status":"publish","type":"panap_updates","link":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/updates\/day-of-the-landless-resistance-and-peoples-rights-best-counter-vs-land-grabs-panap\/","title":{"rendered":"Day of the Landless: Resistance and people\u2019s rights, best counter vs. land grabs \u2013 PANAP"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Press statement<\/p>\n

29 March 2017<\/p>\n

Reference: Ms. Sarojeni Rengam, Executive Director, nolandnolife@panap.net<\/a><\/p>\n

PENANG, Malaysia \u2013 Still the most effective way to counter the land grabbers is the collective action of rural communities to resist and to assert the people\u2019s rights to their own land and resources.<\/p>\n

PAN Asia Pacific (PANAP) stressed this message as it joined various peasant organizations and advocates of the right to land in the region in marking 29 March as the \u201cDay of the Landless\u201d.<\/p>\n

Landless peasants across the region are taking bold actions to reclaim the lands that have been taken away from them. In the Philippines\u2019 southern island of Mindanao, for instance, farmers and farm workers have occupied portion of a banana plantation<\/a>. They asserted that 145 hectares of land inside the plantation operated by Lapanday Foods Corporation, one of the country\u2019s largest banana exporters, rightfully belong to them.<\/p>\n

But these actions are often countered with violence. Alleged security personnel of the plantation fired upon the farmers in separate shooting incidents that wounded at least 10 people. In a solidarity mission to support the farmers, PANAP also learned that allegedly the plantation aerially sprayed pesticides on them and their children.<\/p>\n

Despite the violence and harassments, the farmers and their supporters remained steadfast in their assertion to reclaim their land. Government eventually issued a cease and desist order against the plantation while Congress also probed the case.<\/p>\n

29 March has been declared \u201cDay of the Landless\u201d by the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) \u2013 and supported by PANAP and other advocates of the people\u2019s right to land \u2013 to highlight the struggle for genuine land reform and food sovereignty.<\/p>\n

To commemorate the day, PANAP also launched a seven-minute animation \u201cThe Right to Resist Land Grabs\u201d<\/em>. The group said that through the video, it hopes to help popularize the issue of land grabbing and the repression faced by rural communities, and generate broader support.<\/p>\n

PANAP staff join the solidarity mission to support farmers resisting land grabbing at the Lapanday banana plantation in Mindanao, Philippines, 15 December 2016.<\/p>\n