At The People's Forum last weekend, Honduran farmer and union organizer Ahrax Mayorga and Larry Ginter, a white third-generation farmer in Iowa, shared the stage, both dressed in plaid. Mayorga described the fight for workers' rights in Honduras, saying: “Until US trade policy and multinational corporations respect the right to organize, the poverty and violence we face will increase and these are the root causes of our they force us to leave. “
“When I hear stories like this, it makes me angry,” Ginter said. “Transnational corporations continue to trample on the rights of farmers in Iowa and the rights of farmers in countries like Honduras.” Both were speaking to Sen. Bernie Sanders at The People's Forum, a five-hour political event held in Des Moines, Iowa, that gave the audience a chance to press four Democratic presidential candidates—Sen. Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former HUD Secretary Julián; Castro and Mayor Pete Buttigieg—on their broad, progressive agenda, which includes everything from living wages to universal health care to a Green New Deal.
For Austin Frerick, an Iowa antitrust expert and 2018 congressional candidate, it's this type of organization that illuminates a political path toward changing food systems. “I can't name another agriculture and food event that he has put together [farmers and foodchain workers]. This is how we balance the power dynamic. No one else does this.”
Featuring 2,300 workers and organizers from Iowa and seven neighboring states, the Forum—the first of four was designed by the organizers Laiki Drasi, a coalition consisting of teams in 27 states— marks a resurgence in “movement politics,” a strategy born out of anti-war activism in the 1970s. The evolution of the 21st-century strategy focuses on corruption and corporate control of the political system and features unabashedly progressive candidates trying to build the type of majority considered unthinkable by establishment Democrats.
As a result, and especially in Iowa, food and agriculture took center stage. For example, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the nation's largest private sector union and leaders in the Fight for $15 campaign, which was strongly represented at the event, he regularly cites fast food chains as poster children for corporate greed and abuse.
“Trump tried to put the CEO of Hardees as Secretary of Labor in this country,” Terrence Wise, a Fight for $15 organizer and one of America's 4 million fast-food workers, told Warren, asking her how would “make sure Black and brown workers have a seat at the table” in her administration.
In response, Warren said of her picks for Labor Secretary and the National Labor Relations Board, “we're going to have people who are on the side of workers and who believe in unions.” SEIU President Mary Kay Henry spoke briefly at the event and described the movement's goal as “to end poverty-wage work in fast food and make those jobs good jobs that people can support families with their”.
At the People's Forum, food system workers were joined by organizers working for comprehensive family care, universal affordable housing, a humane immigration system and debt-free education. Under this umbrella, food and agriculture are no longer considered niche issues, but are seamlessly integrated into a government vision that puts people and the planet first.
“We the people deserve an ag system that works for us and the land, and there's no reason we shouldn't have it,” Dayna Burtness, a Minnesota Land Stewardship Action member and hog farmer, told Warren. Echoing the movement's political philosophy, Warren explained corruption as the root cause of inaction, saying, “we know what works” for family farmers.
“Big Ag has figured out that they can continue to reap billions from the farmlands of this country,” he said. “They've realized that if they invest in Washington, in senators, in people in Congress, then nobody's going to stop them.”
Warren's plan? “We just need to make our democracy work and that means a determined woman supported by millions of people across the country,” she said. Her response embodies a theory of movement politics that she and Bernie Sanders have explicitly embraced: individual politicians are insufficient for lasting change.
By hosting four forums—events are planned in New Hampshire, Michigan, and Nevada—Popular Action focuses on regaining democratic support in rural areas by promoting a long-term, progressive agenda. The group points to several major progressive wins from 2018, including Wisconsin State Sen. Jeff Smith, Minnesota Sen. Ilhan Omar, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.