The date of October 12th, 1492 is still seen in the indigenous, afro and mestizo circles with historical resentments that need to be overcome because we live in another era. The agro-musical band “Campo y Sabor”(Land and Taste) considers that the Spanish ships also brought important products for the human alimentation like: rice, chickpeas, lentils, coffee, wheat, oat and several vegetables, that were unknown in this continent and when these ships returned, Europe could get to know: Corn, beans, potatoes, cacao, pineapple, tomato, peanut, avocado and other wonders which were native of this continent.
To commemorate the meeting between Europe and Abya Yala, the continent that later would be called America by the Europeans, it will take place on October the 12th the second edition of the Festival of “Land and Taste”, because what happened on that date was a meeting of tastes. The discovery of new land and a new world of tastes that transformed the alimentation of the planet, from there started a fusion of food cultures and the enrichment of the culinary art.
In this occasion, the guest product is LA PAPA that took away so much hunger from the Europeans. At the beginning it was received with disdain, afterwards its acceptance became so big that the famous Spanish omelet is made of “Papa”, that the Iberians call potatoes.
Our main protagonist León Octavio Osorno and director Ede Müller gave an interview on national radio Caracol in August, throughout the last shoot of “With his Feet on the Ground”. (interview in Spanish)
On August 3 the new Embassy of Villa Maga in Tibirita (Dept. Cundinamarca) was opened. It´s been a dignified ceremony enjoying the overwhelming landscape of Cundinamarca/Boyacá. With new ambassador Francisco Jaramillo Cabo, León Octavio Osorno and Don Ivan, the constructor of the embassy.
Don Ivan is regarding his creation, Casa Asisi, the new embassy of Villa Maga
View from the terrace
Francisco Jaramillo Cabo (middle), the new ambassador of Villa Maga holds the speech of inauguration, with León Octavio Osorno and Don Ivan.
During the ceremony of inauguration
After the ceremony, paying homage to the nature
The free trade agreement (FTA) signed by Colombia with the United States (2012) and the European Union (2013) laid down a number of requirements to be fulfilled by Colombia. In 2010, the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) brought new legislation into force, Resolution 970. This resolution declared native seed to be illegal and forced farmers to plant only certified seed, penalizing and criminalizing the use and production of native seed. Farmers convicted of using non-certified seed face terms of imprisonment of 4 to 8 years.
Between 2010 and 2012, more than 4,000 tons of seed were seized from farmers and destroyed. Massive outrage in 2013 about these events was expressed in different ways, and led to nationwide agricultural strikes in Colombia. This civil response has momentarily stopped the criminalization of the use of non-certified seed.
The “Network of Guardians for Seeds of Life“ is fighting for agroecological practices to preserve agrobiodiversity and for regional markets to be supplied with local native seed and food.
By clicking this link, you can adopt a native seed and contribute to the network’s goals.
http://colombia.redsemillas.org/ (spanish only).
CAMPO Y SABOR: “WATER IS FOR EVERYBODY“ (LIVE IN RIOSUCIO 2013)
FIRST SUCCESSFUL EUROPEAN CITIZEN INITIATIVE
The first successful European Citizen Initiative (ECI) “Water is a Human Right” has collected more than 1,500,000 signatures in protest against plans by the European Commission to open up public water services to the private market through the backdoor. A European Citizen Initiative (ECI) “is an instrument for greater civil participation, implemented by the European Union in spring 2012”.
Even before the signatures were handed in to the European Commission (this will happen in autumn 2013) “Water is a Human Right” has achieved a first political success!
The Commission has announced (June 21, 2013) that water will be excluded from the concessions directive, which could have forced communities to hand over their water services to private companies.
You can undersign the campaign here until September 9, 2013: www.right2water.eu
More information about the subject can also be found here.
In 2005 León Octavio wrote a song called “Water is for everybody“ which was released on CD as part of the “Referendum for the Water”. The referendum collected more than 200,000 signatures to protest about governmental plans to privatize the public water services in Colombia. This forced the parliament to discuss the issue, delaying privatisation to this very day.
Here you can see Leon Octavio´s band “Campo y Sabor” performing their song “El agua es de todos” at the “Carnaval de Riosucio” in January 2013:
I was out for a morning run in the park next to my house in Cali. Last night there was a big party in the open air theater. Once I left the park next to the theater I found many of these little paper wrapers you can see above. That´s how they sell the cocaine here. What a statement!!
YES, cocaine is violent, that´s for sure. For the last five decades Colombia has been suffering from a civil war in which cocaine is also playing a prominent role. About 10 per cent of rural Colombian communities (4 million people!!) are displaced in their own country, because the guerilla or the paramilitary units claim their land for their purposes (the production of cocaine is one of their businesses). But also the national military is involved in criminal acts against the civilian people. The situation is very complex and complicated, today even more, as multinational companies also defend their interests on land (e.g. palmoil, bananas, coal) with criminal and violent methods.
At the moment the guerilla and the government are holding peace talks in Havanna/ Cuba. For the first time in more than ten years dialogue is possible. One key issue is how to deal with the displaced people and their land that was violently taken away from. While it may be a good start, it´s hard to believe that the results of this dialogue will lead to an end of the violence, that is mainly fueled by business interest.
But there is also another Colombia that is not always talked about in the media. It’s the beautiful and diverse country with its deep roots and the cultural heritage of the three ethnical groups (indegenous, black and mestizo) which create a unique mixture. Colombians take pride in these cultural goods.
There is progress and resistance to a violent Colombia. There are Colombians who are not giving up to believe in Colombia’s transformation into a peaceful and humane society.
That´s the Colombia we are exploring in our documentary.
VIVA LA VIDA.