A Mongabay Notable Book on Conservation and the Environment Featured in the Civil Eats Summer 2024 Food and Farming Book Guide
Two decades ago, a group of Indonesian agricultural workers began occupying the agribusiness plantation near their homes. In the years since, members of this remarkable movement have reclaimed collective control of their land and cultivated diverse agricultural forests on it, repairing the damage done over nearly a century of abuse. Countering Dispossession, Reclaiming Land is their story. David E. Gilbert offers an account of the ways these workers-turned-activists mobilized to move beyond industrial agriculture's exploitation of workers and the environment, illustrating how emancipatory and ecologically attuned ways of living with land are possible. At a time when capitalism has remade landscapes and reordered society, the Casiavera reclaiming movement stands as an inspiring example of what struggles for social and environmental justice can achieve.
Contents
Dramatis Personae
Introduction: Land Back
Part I. Dispossession
1. Under the Gun
2. Primitive Enclosures
3. The Plantation Lifeworld
Part II . Reclaiming
4. From Dissent to Occupation
5. Organizing the Movement
6. Diversifying the Land, 19982016
7. The Predatory Work That Remains
8. Reclaiming Solidarities
Conclusion: Going Beyond
Acknowledgments
Appendix I. History of the Collective Land, 1997
Appendix II. Indonesian Peasant Union (Serikat Petani Indonesia)
Charter Documents, 1998
Appendix III. Counter-Mapping
Notes
References
Illustration Credits
Index
David E. Gilbert is a postdoctoral researcher in society and environment at the University of California, Berkeley. He is active in protest movements across three continents.
