Heather Retberg stood on the steps of the Blue Hill, Maine town hall surrounded by 200 people. “We are farmers,” she told the crowd, “who are supported by our friends and our neighbors who know us and trust us, and want to ensure that they maintain access to their chosen food supply.”
Historic change eventually comes via small and modest beginnings. The current revolts in Brazil and Turkey actually started in low-key fashion at least one decade ago.
Forty eight hours prior to moving in to take power in Egypt, the military led by General Abdel Khalil al-Sissi had given an ultimatum to President Mohamed Morsi to transform the government to meet “the will of the people” or the military would take power and impose its own “road map”.
Last night at the hotel lobby of an Arab Gulf country, a family walked in aiming for the westernized café that sells everything but Arabic coffee. The mother seemed distant as she pressed buttons on her smart phone. The father looked tired as he buffed away on his cigarette, and a whole band of children ran around in refreshing chaos that broke the monotony of the fancy but impersonal hotel setting.
“We’re surrounded by agricultural land but we have no food security. Right now we’re strapped to the global market,” said Miguel Santistevan, a New Mexican farmer and biologist. “Some people are trying to figure out how to set themselves free and are showing other people."
On February 11, 1958 Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was asked about Tunisia during a press conference. A few days earlier French planes had bombed and strafed schools and a local market in the village of Sakiet. Dulles’ reply was ignored by the daily press, and before the Internet that meant it almost didn’t happen. But Toward Freedom obtained a transcript and printed it verbatim.
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019