Milo Rau, Angela Davis, Annie Ernaux, Brian Eno, Yanis Varoufakis and 50 more prominent figures call for boycott against European food companies!
Milo Rau, Noam Chomsky, Brian Eno, Elfriede Jelinek, Yanis Varoufakis, Angela Davis, Slavoj Zizek, Annie Ernaux, Carola Rackete, David Van Reybrouck and 50 other prominent scientists, artists and activists from around the world have signed the Declaration of 13 May, published today. The signatories declare their solidarity with the Landless Workers’ Movement MST in Brazil, the largest social movement in Latin America, criticise the practices of big Brazilian agrobusiness and companies such as Ferrero, and demand immediate action against greenwashing through certificates.
“Food producers claim that everything is fine because the big agribusinesses where they buy palm oil or soy have green certificates. Indeed, everything looks good and sustainable on paper, but in practice these companies flout the rules. There is deforestation, land grabbing and serious human rights violations. We are demanding a radical system change, starting with an immediate verification of certificates and the boycott of all products from the buyers of large Brazilian agro-trusts that destroy the Amazon rainforest”, the signatories say.
The call for boycott comes at the same time as the European premiere of Milo Rau’s latest theatre production: For Antigone in the Amazon, Rau and his team travelled to the Brazilian state of Pará to work with the Landless Workers’ Movement MST. Near the city of Marabá, where 19 MST activists were shot dead by military police on 17 April 1996 on a road through the Amazon forest during a march for land reform, the Swiss director staged a new version of Sophocles‘ Antigone this spring.
Now, Milo Rau and 50 prominent figures from all over Europe, Brazil and the world declare their solidarity with the MST, which is fighting for land reform, truly ecological agriculture and against the destruction of the rainforest. Stop the certified sell-out of our planet! Land reform now! Against neoliberal greenwashing! For an economy of radical care!