Land warriors
Over the last three decades, peasants have organised themselves to reclaim their right to defend small-scale agriculture and to have their voices heard.
The Zapatistas, the indigenous peasant rights movement from Chiapas, occupied San Cristóbal in 1994 when Mexico signed up to Nafta. The rebel army – one-third women –burned military posts and seized ranches in protest at centuries of what they saw as oppression by large landowners and the government. They became instant heroes of the left and an inspiration to indigenous groups around the world.
Today the Zapatistas claim to control much of the state of Chiapas and their ‘good government’ involves giving their time to the community, sharing food and helping to teach the young.
In the state of Pará, the 1,651,000-hectare territory of the Xikrin people was officially recognised by the government in 2000, but land grabbers crept into the area, and in 2019 deforestation increased by 278% compared to 2018. The indigenous people of the northern Amazon then took action by expelling the loggers and ranchers who had illegally occupied their land and set fire to the forest.
Pressure against the Xikrin comes mostly from livestock farming. Not far from their territory is the largest cattle herd in the country.
The climate crisis reveals the limitations of the agro-industrial mode of production. It is therefore becoming increasingly necessary to recognise that there will be no solution to the current crisis without the participation of small-scale farmers.
