Who can say? Reflections on the unknown in Valle de Cauca, Colombia

By Emma Lord* On December 1st, 2016, headlines marked the formal end of Colombia´s prolonged war. Emma Lord shares some reflections on the contextual complexity of the conflict based on fieldwork in the department of Valle del Cauca in 2015. Sitting in the kitchen of a caleño guitarist –a research informant and friend– we chat …

A short history of the enclosures in Ethiopia

By tracing the history of enclosures in Ethiopia we learn how common property was first turned into state property that now enables the transfer of land to private investors. Such historical political ecological analysis can help civil society organisations learn from past social struggles against the enclosures and for the commons.* The 2007/08 financial crisis, …

Tales of dispossession in times of crisis: lessons from Greece

The case of gold-extraction in Halkidiki is only one chapter in the “book of dispossessions” in Greece during the crisis period.  Land, natural resources and public infrastructure in Greece comprise investment targets for local and international speculative capital; their current exploitation is now taking place to unprecedented extent, intensity and geographical spread.* In Halkidiki (northern Greece), from 2010 …

Struggling for land and water: resistances to tree plantations in Southern Chile

Different strategies to contest forestry extractivism in Chile show the complexity of these conflicts, with an overlap of present and historical political issues at different levels.* Tree plantations: old and new forms of dispossession Tree plantations are monocultures of a single tree species, typically fast growing species such as eucalypts, poplars, acacias and pines, designed to supply external markets …

Using art to study and communicate socio-environmental change in areas of land grabbing

By Emma Li Johansson* Art in research is a powerful tool to evoke feelings and actions beyond academia. This researcher set out to see what is possible when mixing research with artistic ways of expression. A picture says more than a thousand words, they say. Which is why art is a good way to inform …

Stop state-mediated violence in the name of green energy!

A handful of anti-dam activists were recently killed in remote Northeast India. A worldwide wave of state-mediated violence against anti-hydro protesters also brings up larger questions about these supposedly green and clean ‘development projects’. Two months after the highly publicized murder of renowned indigenous environmental activist and Goldman Prize winner Berta Caceres, who fought against …

International Conference of Agrarian Reform: Marabá Declaration

A declaration by 130 representatives of La Via Campesina member organizations and allies against agribusiness and towards a global land reform for landless peasants, the working class and for all of society. Signed on 17 April 2016, Day of Peasants' Struggle in Marabá, Brazil. Who are we? People who struggle for territory We are more than …

Whose game is it anyway? Critical reflections on anti-poaching narratives

by Benedict Singleton* We need to find or create media narratives that don’t depend on shock and crisis. Designating particular hunting practices as poaching is an inherently political act, which is not always simple or just. ‘Hunting the elephant hunters’ was the title of an email I received recently. It invited me to contribute money …

Letter from the Munduruku in the Brazilian Amazon

"We Munduruku, descendants of our ancestors, who survived and still survive these days, are still subjected to genocide. Without the land rights that guarantee our survival, we are left with only the right to die. Our blood shed on this sacred land cries out for justice until the new millennium." The international conference 'Undisciplined Environments' organized …

‘Never seen it so bad’: violence and impunity in Brazil’s Amazon

Violence has been legitimized as a normal part of politics. It has become informally “acceptable”. I’ve never seen, working for the past 10 years in the Amazon, a situation so bad.  Last week ENTITLE fellow Felipe Milanez was interviewed by the Guardian regarding the persistent wave of violent dispossession and the ensuing “humanitarian catastrophe” taking …