TURIN, Italy – Terra Madre 2024 opened on Wednesday, 26 September, 2024: 3000 delegates from 120 countries arrived in Turin (Italy) to represent the whole world with their traditional costumes, highlighting the different colors and peoples they belong to. Many of them are Indigenous people, many of them come from rural areas and, many had to travel for days to get to Turin. They were ready to celebrate the anniversary of 20 years from the first edition of this gathering that changed the history of the food movement worldwide.
Edward Mukiibi , Slow Food President, passionately addressed the delegates gathered under a stage in Dora Park for the opening of the event.
“In 2008 I participated in Terra Madre for the first time. It has changed my entire vision, as an agronomist and as a young farmer. I came as a delegate, and I left like an activist. Now I am the president of Slow Food. When I look back over these 20 years, I see the efforts and the great work done by everyone who has been here in the past. I look at all the delegates who could not get here because of the wars that plague so much of the world. We are with them, we stand in solidarity with them, and they are here with us. Terra Madre means unity in diversity, it is a peaceful, tolerant, and supportive network. We are here in joy, but we cannot forget the climate, environmental, and social crisis, and the injustices that stand before us. We cannot ignore the urgency and close interrelation of these crises. Change must start now, and it will start from here”.
Mukiibi added: “Terra Madre represents the history of the Slow Food Network and the work it has done. It has a symbolic meaning to reflect on the future of the movement but also of the food system. It is an opportunity to bring the network together and strengthen our big global family, and to take action to create a better future for the entire world, taking care of nature, as nature has always been taking care of us”.
Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food recommended: “This is the time for a cultural and political restart, this edition of Terra Madre requires a consistent effort to represent not only those who have worked it in the past 20 years but also those who will work with us in the future. Food is fundamental in the global ecological transition, it represents a common good and of relationships. We must break this perverse mechanism that allows a few multinationals to make huge profits by monopolizing food production”.
A message of solidarity and closeness from Pope Francis was read at the ceremony, where he recalled the great pain and violence that afflicted the Amazon region, the planet’s “biological heart,” where 33 million people live and around 2.5 million of these are Indigenous, often forced to endure the decisions of those whose only creed is based on technocracy and money.
Dalì Nolasco Cruz , Slow Food Board member and referent for the Indigenous Peoples Network declared: “Terra Madre is an opportunity for the Indigenous peoples to remind everybody that we are the main defenders of biodiversity. We need to change the world. We urgently call on everybody. We, the indigenous people need this change, for us all”.
