|
|
Membership Orientation Project: National Farmers Union (P.E.I.)
Publisher: Marie Burge, Voluntary Resource CenterYear Published: 1981 Resource Type: Organization Cx Number: CX2292 The National Farmers Union, Region I, District I (P.E.I.) is involved in a membership education program for the year 1980-81. Abstract: The National Farmers Union, Region I, District I (P.E.I.) is involved in a membership education program for the year 1980-81. A full-time volunteer worker assists in the awareness-raising process especially on the level of the locals. The N.F.U. takes for granted that the decision to become members of the Union does not necessarily indicate that all farmers who join have the same orientation or the same interpretation of the exploitation which they as primary producers experience. Just like other groups who sincerely struggle for social change, the N.F.U. recognizes the need for constant awareness of the reality in which they are carrying out the struggle on a long-term basis. They see the need for the members to have a common understanding of the policies of the N.F.U. as a national organization of farmers. The process of education which the N.F.U. is attempting to carry out on the Island is one in which there are no "experts," no "teachers." It involves a common search for the elements of the present-day economic system in which farmers are producing food and trying to market their product. The role of the volunteer worker is one of animator, to insure that participating members, using knowledge and experience they already have, go beyond the individual issues which they must face on a daily basis. The members are led to see that behind the issues of marketing, land use and tenure, Plant Breeders Rights, and transportation, there exists an organized structure which is based on the highest possible profit for the few. The animator leads the N.F.U. members in an analysis of the interlocking control exercised by various institutions which operate together to support and protect the interests of the transnational corporations. The Local Presidents with the Volunteer worker have the task of choosing the direction of the education project and of working out the details. This organizatio no longer exists. This abstract was published in the Connexions Digest in 1981. |