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.
