Land Rights, Conflict, and Violence Amid Neo-Liberal Globalization

Conflict and violence have characterized most societies where tensions over land and, hence, over the control, use, and benefits of natural resources (including land, water, forests, mineral resources, and, more recently, fossil fuels) have been a persistent characteristic of agrarian class relations. Usually, those groups that could employ the coercive apparatus of the state, as well as mobilize their own private armies, were able to control such resources. Historically-and today-peasants are not passive actors. They have habitually resisted exploitation and coercion. So, it is not surprising that, where there have been land enclosures, there has also been rural resistance, revolts, and even revolutions, especially during the past century. Adapted from the source document.