[P2P-F] Fwd: [NetworkedLabour] Fwd: [foodsovUK discussion list] News Alert - Polish Farmers Arrested Defending Farmland

Fri Oct 9 20:30:40 CEST 2015

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anna Harris <anna at shsh.co.uk>
Date: Sat, Oct 10, 2015 at 1:24 AM
Subject: [NetworkedLabour] Fwd: [foodsovUK discussion list] News Alert -
Polish Farmers Arrested Defending Farmland
To: "networkedlabour at lists.contrast.org" <networkedlabour at lists.contrast.org
>

Begin forwarded message:

*From:* "Fundacja ICPPC" <biuro at icppc.pl>
*Date:* 9 October 2015 at 18:43:25 BST
*To:* <foodsov.uk.coordination at lists.riseup.net>
*Subject:* *[foodsovUK discussion list] News Alert - Polish Farmers
Arrested Defending Farmland*
*Reply-To:* "Fundacja ICPPC" <biuro at icppc.pl>

URGENT! The Polish farmers are calling for other farming and consumer
groups in Europe and beyond to show solidarity with their actions. As one
farmer said "To day we are arrested - tomorrow you could be."
Please do send letters of support!

On 6th October 2015 the police arrested 11 farmers from Pyrzyce (Western
Pomerania Province) where 60% of farmland has already been sold off to
foreign buyers. The arrested farmers are accused of participating in an
organized group whose aim is to prevent the actioning of tenders for the
sale of Polish farmland by WRSP (land owned by the state). The farmers were
arrested on their own farms and handcuffed with their families watching.

The prosecutor stated that "they will all have to answer for impeding the
tenders for the sale of land... The farmers are blocking a dozen tenders
connected with the foreign sale of farming estates worth at least 6 million
zloty."

The arrested farmers had actively participated in protests in Szczecin and
the surrounding region as well as Warsaw, their aim is to introduce changes
into the law applicable to farmland management and to put a stop to Polish
land sale transactions to speculative foreigners and corporations.

"These changes would stop the out-of-control and reckless sale of Polish
farmland which is causing economic and social degradation of the
countryside and the building of colonial relations in these territories..."
- said Edward Kosmal - the leader of the KPRWZ (Western Pomerania Farmers
Protesting Committee).

Two days after the farmers were arrested (8th October) five of them were
sentenced to two months of provisional detention. Others were released on
bail with the financial guarantees of 30 to 60 thousand zloty. The farmers
could be sentenced to five years imprisonment.

"Is this an attempt to intimidate other farmers participating in protests?
A revenge for fighting with companies with foreign capital that want to
buy-up Polish farmland? - asked Sir Julian Rose, the President of ICPPC.

"The farmers blocked tenders connected with the sale of Polish farmland in
which foreign companies participated (for example, Danish companies and
their agents). They also sowed the land which was supposed to be grabbed by
foreign capital with their own grains and kept watch on the area, thus
blocking other entities from entering. Their protest is against the sale of
Polish land into foreign hands instead of to aspiring young Polish
farmers." - commented Jadwiga Lopata, vice president of ICPPC.

The farmers from the Western Pomerania Province are outraged and are
demanding that the arrested farmers should immediately be released from
custody. They have announced a large scale protest in front of the
Prosecutor's Office in Szczecin on Monday (12th October). 100 tractors will
participate in this action.
International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside-ICPPC is fully
supporting the farmers' actions!
URGENT! The Polish farmers are calling for other farming and consumer
groups in Europe and beyond to show solidarity with their actions. As one
farmer said "To day we are arrested - tomorrow you could be."
This includes TTIP attempts to prevent the sovereign protection of internal
food chains.

Please do send letters of support to the farmers - through us - and we will
forward them to the Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopasz and other ministers as
well as to the prosecutor.

You can donate to ICPPC's activities here
http://icppc.pl/index.php/en/support-us.html
Many thanks!

Jadwiga Lopata and Julian Rose
==========================
ICPPC - International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside,
34-146 Stryszow 156, Poland tel./fax +48 33 8797114  biuro at icppc.pl
www.icppc.pl   www.gmo.icppc.pl   www.eko-cel.pl
Julian's website ABOUT BOOK: www.julianrose.info
==========================
Sources:
http://protestrolnikow.pl/aktualnosci/
http://www.radiostargard.fm/news.php?readmore=33
http://www.rmf24.pl/fakty/polska/news-grupa-ustawiala-przetargi-na-sprzedaz-ziemi-zatrzymano-12-os,nId,1899633

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