SPACE program at Gulshan Public School:
SPACE program held a two-day event for grade 5-10 studentson 13 February, 2019. A total of 210 students participated in these activities.
Two different modules were used for the events. For grade 5th to 7th a basic module was used to highlight the importance of safe and nutritious healthy food. Children were shown different pictures of two different categories of foods: one category included pictures of pizza, nuggets, soft drinks and other similar items. The other category included home-cooked foods, lassi, corn bread (makaike roti)and eggs from free-range hens(desiandae). Children were given the concept of ‘junk food’ and ‘health food’.
Another activity was based on making children aware of the impacts of pesticides on their health, health of other living things, the impacts on biodiversity and pollution. Pesticide was sprayed on a packed of chips and then children were invited to eat the polluted chips. All children refused to eat the contaminated product. They were told that all food that we currently eat has been grown by spraying it with toxic chemicals and hence they should try and eat more home grown food as well as demand that the food and agriculture system should be based on agroecolgy rather than corporate industrial agriculture.
The final activity that was carried out with this group of children was exposing them to the concept of natural desi(traditional) seeds. Seed sowing was carried out. Three kinds of vegetable seeds, namely okra, bitter gourd and guar beans were used in seed sowing; all the seeds were Roots for Equity’s Roof Garden.
SPACE program for grades 8th to 10thwas based on the advanced module. They were taken through a ‘maze’ of six different exhibits namelyProduction and Consumption, Green Revolution, Patriarchy, Globalization, Seed Sovereignty, and Climate Change.
In the first exhibit ‘Sustainable Production and Consumption,’ students were given information on the importance of equitable land distribution among small and landless farmers (especially women farmers). Secondly, the focus was on highlighting the importance of inequity embedded in the current system of food and agriculture production where those who work on land have least access to food and suffer from malnutrition and hunger. A critical message of this module was the right to adequate safe and nutritious food for all based on traditional agro-ecology-based sustainable production system.The most important aim of the exhibit was to emphasize the critical need for realizing that small and landless farmers are the bulwarks on which our food and agriculture system is based. So the small and landless farmers must be given the prime space for all decision-making as well as implementation in food and agriculture policies while rejecting imperialist corporate agriculture policies.
The second Exhibit was on ‘Green Revolution, It is an agriculture system which was introduced by United States in 1960s. It is based on intense use of high yielding variety seeds, chemical fertilizers and poisonous pesticides. The exhibit highlighted the extremely disastrous impacts of Green Revolution economically, socially and politically. It is economically disastrous because farmers have become market dependent on external inputs and have become more and more indebted. In addition mechanization has taken away livelihood from million of farmers (especially landless farmers) forcing rural to rural and rural to urban migration.
The third Exhibit ‘Patriarchy, informed the participants about patriarchal system which controls the women socially, politically and economically. It reveals about the discrimination faced by girls and women in different fields of life. It highlights the roots of the issue and tried to find cooperative methods among boys and girls to dismantle patriarchy.
In the fourth Exhibit, Globalization: participants were given information on globalization. Firstly, the pre globalization era, the oil crisis of third world countries which lead to the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) was discussed. The participants were also informed about three most often demanded reforms, deregulation, privatization and trade liberalization. Secondly, the impacts of globalization or neo liberalization and the negative role played by institutions like world trade organization and World Bank were also discussed. Finally, the most critical agreements like Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) and Trade related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) were also discussed.
In the fifth Exhibit “Seed Sovereignty” the participants were given information about the beginning of corporate control over seeds. Over a period of based on the introduction of Green Revolution policies in only 50 to 60 years hybrid seeds have led to the promotion of commercially produced seed varieties.In 1995, with the formation of WTO, the patenting on living organisms was allowed through Trade related Aspects of Intellectual property rights TRIPS, agreement. This was in particular granted for creation of seed through genetic engineering (GE), and the products created through GE are termed as genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The patenting of GMOs mean the patent s allow owning live-beings, microorganisms and even human cell lines.
Finally the exhibit on Climate Change was displayed;it was informed that heating up of the Earth’s temperature was due to carbon gas emissions which are caused by burning of fossil fuels. The excess use of fossil fuels was based on the need of advanced industrial nations to earn more and more profits based on industrial development – a model totally dependent on fossil fuels. Poor urban communities and rural communities especially in the third world countries were suffering the most from climate change. Globally Pakistan is only responsible for 0.4 percent emissions in climate change. Many forms of diseases are spreading as a result of climate change, for example dengue virus is the manifestation of climate change. The basic demand of communities suffering from climate crises is for climate justice. Climate Justice is the demand for sustainable production and consumption,locally, nationally and globally.
Students were asked to provide major learning from the SPACE program. The feedback and observations given by students was as follows:
Farmers Rights:
- Farmers are working very hard but in return get fewer wages that is why they are leading a life based on poverty.
- As farmers are the basic pillar for growing food for us, it is their right to get proper food.
- It is the right of farmers to live a healthy and happy life with their families.
Women Rights:
- Women should get equal rights in society.
- Men and women have same skills of doing work, so there is no reason of discrimination among them.
- Patriarchal system is a major hindrance for women’s mobility.
Green Revolution and Seed Sovereignty:
- We have lost our natural seeds due to the policies implemented in 1960s.
- The use of chemical fertilizer is making our lands barren.
- The seed sown by farmers are useful for health because the seed, which grows naturally, are healthier than hybrid seeds.
- Corporate agriculture hinders the livelihood of the local farmer.
Climate Change:
- Climate change is caused by the fossil fuel, mainly coal, gas and oil which leads to high temperature which is influencing global climate.
Student demands from the government included:
- Men and women are equal so they should be treated equally. Patriarchal system should be eliminated from our society.
- Corporate agriculture must be finished and our local farming should be promoted.
- We should boycott foreign companies.
They concluded that they want to see Pakistan as a strongstate whichgivesrights to the poor, farmers and women.