Abstract
Despite a systematic attempt by colonial powers to destroy female systems of farming, across the planet women today constitute the bulk of agricultural workers and are in the forefront of the struggle for a non-capitalist use of natural resources (land, forests, waters). The article examines these struggles, arguing that by defending subsistence agriculture, communal access to land, and opposing land expropriation, women internationally are building the way to a new non-exploitative society, and one in which the threat of famines and ecological devastation will be dispelled.
How can we ever get out of poverty if we can't get a piece of land to work? If we had land to plant, we wouldn't need to get food sent to us all the way from the United States. No. We'd have our own. But as long as the government refuses to give us the land and other resources we need, we'll continue to have foreigners running our country.
—Elvia Alvarado (Benjamin 1987: 104)
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