Last week, we introduced you to the motto for this fall’s Development and Peace campaign “Working our land, fighting for our rights.” Over the years, Development and Peace campaigns have advocated that people who farm or live off the land should have privileged access to it. Support for food sovereignty is growing around the world. A 2008 World Bank study affirmed the importance of food sovereignty and the essential role of small-scale farmers in achieving it. Food sovereignty, with its emphasis on small-scale community agriculture and food grown for local markets, is a vision developed by small-scale farmers of the Global South, many of them Development and Peace partners.

That’s why our action this year asks the G8 to support small-scale farmers in the Global South. According to our partners, small-scale farmers’ ability to feed populations and protect ecosystems is threatened by developed countries’ loan and aid policies. Such policies have encouraged industrial agriculture in the Global South, most recently by supporting agrofuel plantations.

To learn more about the agrofuel trend, please feel free to take any of the three “Backgrounder” documents at the entrance to the church prepared by Development and Peace. Or you can find more information at the Development and Peace website www.devp.org.

THANKSGIVING REMINDER

Our local food bank, La mie de l’entraide, will be the recipient of all the food offered during mass on Thanksgiving at both St. Malachy and Our Lady of Victory parishes. The food will be delivered to Le mie de l’entraide on Wednesday, October 14th. Non-perishable food donations can still be made until October 14th by contacting the Secretary at the rectory. The Transformation Committee wishes to thank parishioners for their continuous generosity.