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204 DOROTTYA MENDLY — MELINDA MIHÁLY
to industrial agriculture, and a scientific discipline. Since current policy allocates
resources for agroecological practices, a framing competition has emerged between
social movements and industrial agricultural actors to define the term. Among the
agricultural practices proposed by agroecology, permaculture can be considered
one of the most radical in searching for systemic alternatives. Permaculture regards
political decentralization as one of the best social systems, which it aims to achieve
through networking and grassroots organization based on bioregional foundations,
in line with the ethics of caring for people. Bioregionalism is a movement not
directly related to food, but it can help the planning of local food systems and the
organization of food sovereignty on a landscape scale both from a scientific
perspective (developing a local food system that fits the landscape) and as a
movement (an emancipatory approach).
The alternatives presented in this chapter are in dialogue with each other and
can easily be combined. However, as shown by the above-mentioned challenge of
agroecology, groups of civil organizations, small-scale farmers and researchers
fighting for systemic alternatives struggle to build a social base due to a lack of
resources. In the absence of a social base, asserting their interests becomes difficult.
Advocacy through NGOS is particularly difficult in Central and Eastern Europe
because of the scarcity of resources. Nonetheless, owing to the semi-peripheral
position of CEE, several alternative practices of food provisioning have survived
(e.g., food self-provisioning through backyard farming, preservation, etc.) which
can be relied on in the search for systemic alternatives.
Recommended readings
Tilzey, Mark 2019. “Food Democracy as ‘Radical’ Food Sovereignty: Agrarian Democracy
and Counter-Hegemonic Resistance to the Neo-Imperial Food Regime.” Politics and
Governance 7/4: 202-213.
This work clarifies basic terminology and political concepts, and argues for the radical
position.
Via Campesina 1996. The Right to Produce and Access to Land. The Rome Declaration.
https://viacampesina.org/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/1996-Rom-en.pdf
Nyéléni 2007. Declaration of Nyéléni. Nyéléni Village. https://nyeleni.org/IMG/pdf/
DeclNyeleni-en.pdf
Fundamental documents of the global movement of food sovereignty
Bibliography
Altieri, Miguel A. — Nicholls, Clara I. 2017. “Agroecology: a brief account of its origins
and currents of thought in Latin America”. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems,
41/3—4: 231-237. DOL: 10.1080/21683565.2017.1287147
Ängyän, Jözsef 2003. A környezet- &s täjgazdälkodäs agroökológiai földhasználati
alapozäsa [The agroecological land use foundations of environmental and landscape
husbandry]. MTA doktori értekezés. Szent István Egyetem, Gödöllő, Környezet- és
Tájgazdálkodási Intézet.
Baer, Hans A. 2019. Democratic Eco-Socialism as a Real Utopia: Transitioning to an
Alternative World System. New York, Berghahn Books.
Baläzs, Bälint 2020. “Elelmiszerönrendelkezes” [Food sovereignty]. Fordulat 27: 83-101.