SIGN UP TO JOIN: bit.ly/LandlessVoices2024
Overview
Since its inception, the Day of the Landless campaign has been a platform to highlight the struggles of the landless and their assertion of the right to land. In contribution, the People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) and PAN Asia Pacific are spearheading Landless Voices as part of this year’s DOTL commemoration.
Landless Voices is a series of online consultative forums where rural people’s groups can share their land issues and struggles amid the global food crisis. It aims to:
- Draw the global picture of how rural people resist corporate landgrabs and imperialist aggression that are dispossessing them of their land;
- Identify how imperialist schemes translate on the ground, i.e., what are the arrangements, programs, and policies implemented by landgrabber corporations and states that enable these landgrabs, and what are their impacts based on the local context of the communities; and
- Learn the challenges and best practices of rural people’s groups in carrying out their struggles and asserting their right to land.
The outcomes of the forum series will be shared in the May 13 Speakout of the Landless and will be used in the creation of the Rural People’s Agenda as part of the community consultations of the Global People’s Caravan for Food, Land, and Climate Justice.
Themes
The forum series identified four themes to focus on, following the main issues in this year’s DOTL.
- Land struggles vs international finance institutions (April 12)
Co-lead: Reclaim Our Future
International finance institutions (IFIs) like the IMF-WBG have been instrumental in enabling corporate landgrabs, especially in developing countries. These banks take advantage of their debt dependence and impose neoliberal conditions in exchange for accessing their funds. This session will tackle how the programs of these IFIs are being implemented in countries and how they concretely result in rural people’s land dispossession.
- Land struggles vs imperialist-backed wars, aggression, and occupation (April 30)
Co-lead: Silenced Suffering
In its 75th year, the US-Israel occupation of the Palestinian land has escalated into a full-blown genocidal war that is already spreading out throughout the Arab region. Meanwhile, there is an evident rise in rural bombings targeting rural communities, especially in Asia. To kick off the forum series, the Silenced Suffering (SS) will be organizing its global solidarity meeting to discuss the impacts of imperialist wars and rural bombings through the lens of land rights, as well as the ways communities stand their ground and defend their land in the face of aggression.
- Land and agricultural workers (April 29)
Co-lead: Coalition of Agricultural Workers International
This session intends to learn more about the current situation of agricultural workers. Agricultural workers are borne out of landless farmers who were compelled to sell their labor to corporations that have grabbed their lands. One out of every four people relying on agriculture for livelihood are agricultural workers, yet they are among the most exploited sectors with the worst working conditions and lowest wages.
- Land and resistance (May 6)
Co-lead: Asian Peasant Coalition
Rural people’s movements worldwide have advanced their land struggles in different ways amid different contexts. The assertion of people’s right to land comes in various forms, whether through policy advocacy, protest actions, land occupations, or even armed resistance. Movements can share their experiences and struggles through this session so that they can learn from each other’s experiences.
- Land and Indigenous Peoples (May 9)
Co-lead: Int’l Indigenous People’s Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation
Across all themes, the forums will be guided by the following questions:
- Issues: How are rural people dispossessed of their lands?
- Who are the perpetrating actors?
- What means are they employing to grab people’s lands? (program, policies, schemes, or strategies)
- Impacts: What are the impacts of these landgrabs on rural communities?
- Actions: How do rural people defend their lands and assert their right to land?
- What are their immediate demands and aspirations in the long term?
- How do they defend themselves against attacks?
- What are their activities and campaigns?
- Collaborations: What can we do together to confront the global problem of landlessness?
Program
Each consultative forum will run for at least two hours. To manage the time, here is the general program flow:
| Time allotment | Segment |
| 5 minutes | Zoom ingress |
| 5 minutes | Overview of the Day of the Landless 2024 campaign |
| 15 minutes | Thematic discussion |
| 40 minutes | Sharing of participants: Issues and Impacts |
| 5 minutes | Intermission |
| 40 minutes | Sharing of participants: Actions and Collaborations |
| 10 minutes | Synthesis and closing |
The consultative forums are open to all interested organizations who would like to participate. A signup form will be circulated to determine the participants and aid in the program’s moderation.
Link to the signup form: bit.ly/LandlessVoices2024
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