The new edition of the Nyéléni Newsletter is now online!
Land has always been a highly contested good. Control over land and related resources reflect the power relations in a
country/region, and are an indicator of existing social injustices. At the same
time, these resources are central to the rights, livelihoods and identity of
small-scale food producers, and they have been at the heart of the food
sovereignty movement from its beginning.
This issue of the Nyéléni Newsletter is the
second edition this year dedicated to the theme of land. In a historical
review, we look at how land-related struggles have evolved over the past
decades, starting with demands for agrarian reform to a more comprehensive
framing, which asserts people’s and communities’ close and multi-faceted
relationships to their territories.
Despite persistent challenges to people’s
struggle for land, this issue celebrates important victories and features the
ingeniousness of communities around the world to assert their rights and manage
their territories. Social organizations are finding ways to include emerging
issues such as the challenges of climate change and digital technologies into
their struggles. In the light of aggressive digitalization, financialization and
authoritarianism, as well as an increasing overlapping of agrarian and
ecological questions, we point out the need for movements to revive and refocus
their strategies.