Food Sovereignty in Times of War

This webinar focused on food sovereignty in times of war, centering lived experiences and political analysis from Palestine and Lebanon. Bringing together farmers, organizers, researchers, and movement actors, the conversation examined how war, siege, and settler-colonial and military violence systematically target food systems, land, and the conditions of life itself.

The discussion featured interventions by Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, who reflected on the deliberate destruction of food systems in Gaza and shared a visual comic produced to document and communicate how starvation is weaponized as a tool of war. The comic was discussed as both an advocacy tool and a form of political documentation, linking international law to grassroots struggles and public mobilization.
(Comic referenced during the webinar: Michael Fakhri’s illustrated explainer on Gaza and the right to food.)
The webinar also introduced Saad Dagher, a Lebanese farmer and agricultural activist, who grounded the discussion in local realities from Lebanon. Drawing on concrete case studies, he spoke about farming under economic collapse, military escalation, land dispossession, and the erosion of state support, highlighting how farmers continue to resist through collective practices, seed saving, and mutual aid despite compounding crises.
Across both contexts, the webinar emphasized that food sovereignty is not a technical or humanitarian issue alone, but a political struggle, one inseparable from resistance to occupation, war economies, and corporate control. The conversation underscored the importance of transnational solidarity, shared strategies, and movement-led knowledge in defending the right to food under conditions of violence and dispossession.
Rather than framing food insecurity as an emergency to be managed, the webinar insisted on food sovereignty as a political demand, rooted in anti-colonial struggle, collective rights, and the defense of life against militarization and corporate control. The conversation emphasized transnational learning between movements and reaffirmed that struggles over food, land, and seeds are inseparable from broader fights for justice, liberation, and self-determination.