Rural peoples are under attack by an onslaught of \u2018new wave\u2019 policies and mechanisms of land and resource grabbing, colonial plunder, and human rights violations.<\/p>\n
The last decade has been marked by a continuous rise in foreign and domestic large-scale land acquisitions led by the world\u2019s biggest TNCs and imperialist governments. In fact, a 2020 report<\/a> highlights that only 1% of landowners operate 70% of the world\u2019s farmland. This stark reality also emphasizes the growing army of landless peasants in the Global South.<\/p>\n In the hands of both corporations and domestic landlords, the ballooning land concentration has facilitated deforestation[1]<\/a>, rural poverty, and the degradation of rural food security and national food sovereignty.<\/p>\n Worse, these also come with increased militarization and relentless attacks against land and environmental defenders, taking the lives of at least 212 people<\/a> in 2020 alone. Rising fascism in the Global South complements these neoliberal policies of plunder to thwart the growing demand for radical transformation for just, equitable, healthy, and sustainable food systems and societies.<\/p>\n The corporate-led United Nations\u2019 Food Systems Summit has legitimized and popularized the most notorious schemes of land and resource grabbing in the last decade: the financialization of \u2018farmlands\u2019 and \u2018natural capital\u2019, biofuel frenzy, conservation-as-carbon-offsets, and digitalization of \u2018assets\u2019, including land.<\/p>\n The UNFSS also birthed[2]<\/a> and entrenched[3]<\/a> TNC-led multi-stakeholder initiatives to support these land and resource grabbing schemes.<\/p>\n Some of the major offshoots of these discussions are the various \u2018nature-positive solutions\u2019, which the UNFSS proponents also advocated for at the 26th<\/sup> Conference of Parties last December. Taking off from the World Economic Forum\u2019s carbon offset initiatives, nature-positive solutions are poised to greenwash polluting companies with \u2018green\u2019 initiatives like the Trillion Tree project, conservation projects, and carbon sequestration programs targeted mostly at the lands of the Global South.<\/p>\n These green land and resource grabs are now legitimized as part of the arsenal to combat climate change \u2014 a facade for TNCs to evade carbon reduction and continue colonial plunder in the Global South. Despite the failure of similar schemes in the past, including REDD+ programs, they are rehashing these \u2018nature-based solutions\u2019 to evade accountability, continue colonial plunder, and increase profits.<\/p>\n The Global People\u2019s Summit, led by the People\u2019s Coalition on Food Sovereignty, PAN Asia Pacific, and other Global South NGOs and peoples\u2019 organizations, has made a mark last year in demanding that these greenwashing schemes be done \u2018not in our name\u2019. This year, we\u2019re building on the strength of the landless people\u2019s movements and rural people to demand: NOT IN OUR LANDS.<\/p>\n Amid the rising prices of food\u2014pushed by imperialist trade regimes, neoliberal policies, and rising biofuel prices\u2014we are standing our ground to advocate for a radical transformation in land ownership and tenure.<\/p>\n A genuinely redistributive land reform program in the Global South is crucial in achieving food security and people\u2019s food sovereignty. Furthermore, it should be complemented with the increased struggle against foreign and TNC land and resource grabs.<\/p>\n Human rights violations, including killings of peasant leaders, harassment, community evictions, related to the struggle for land, must be exposed and perpetrators held accountable.<\/p>\n Led by the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) since 2015, the Day of the Landless is commemorated every March 29 to gather landless rural peoples\u2019 movements and land advocates to highlight the struggles for land in the Global South.<\/p>\n Since then, the Day of the Landless has been instrumental in broadening and deepening the understanding of landlessness and land monopoly in the Global South. It also widened the support for landless farmers\u2019 movements for rights, land, and food sovereignty.<\/p>\n This year, the APC, PCFS, PANAP, International League of Peoples\u2019 Struggle (ILPS) Commission 6, and the Rural Constituency of the CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE) will hold both virtual and on-ground discussions and actions with allies to:<\/p>\n This year\u2019s Day of the Landless commemoration also serves as a build-up to the Stop Killing Farmers campaign, a 2019 resolution of the ILPS Commission 6, underscored every October.<\/p>\n Take part in the March 29 Day of the Landless global action!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Organize on-ground activities such as protests, meetings, discussions, gatherings, or any such activity that highlight our land struggles and our analysis on today\u2019s new wave of land and resource grabs. Post these activities and\/or share any visual or written content (photos, videos, graphics, statements, etc.) on social media to amplify our demands and broaden the reach of our calls.<\/p>\n Please use the hashtags #DayoftheLandless2022, #NoLandNoLife, and #Hungry4Change so that we can also share your posts.<\/p>\n Join Peasants Rise Up vs Land Grabs and Fascist Attacks<\/em> (webinar on peasants\u2019 political repression<\/strong>)<\/span><\/p>\n PANAP, PCFS, APC, ILPS Commission 6, and the Coalition of Agricultural Workers International (CAWI) are holding a webinar on the continued and worsening political repression of peasants asserting their right to land.<\/p>\n Register to join: https:\/\/bit.ly\/DOTL2022<\/a><\/p>\n Call for write-ups: Not in our Lands!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Let us share the stories of our land struggles in line with the theme. Here are a few questions as take-off points for submissions: How does the new wave of land and resource grabs concretely impact our communities? What are our experiences in the fight for rights, land, and food sovereignty amid worsening repression? How do we envision the radical transformation in land ownership and tenure?<\/p>\n Send your contributions\u2014preferably 500 to 1000 words\u2014to hungry4change@foodsov.org<\/a> and we will feature them on the PCFS website and its social media accounts. Accompanying photos\/videos are also welcome.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s00267-020-01354-w<\/a><\/p>\n\u2018New wave\u2019 of landgrabs<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Not in our name, not in our lands<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Day of the Landless<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Ways to participate<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Our calls:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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