Land and Bread: in defense of territories and life
Paolo Groppo, retired Territorial Development officer FAO, Rome
Agriculture & Justiçe, EOFC
Introductory note
A "romaria", in religious tradition, is a pilgrimage to a shrine or other place worthy of devotion. In Brazil, the Pastoral Commission for the Land has begun to organize "romarie" for the land, in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. While traditional pilgrimages essentially seek the altar and the saint, the “romarias” for the land have introduced the "Word", reflection, incorporating rites and symbols of other religions into the Catholic universe. More than comforting the heart, they seek the transformation of society.
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Dear,
the title you have chosen for this “romaria”, Land and Bread, is very significant and becomes even more so with the graphic reference to the theme of agroecology.
Together with Andrei and other friends of the Agriculture and Justice group of the Economy of Francesco initiative, rightly renamed the Economy of Francesco and Chiara by various Latin American groups, we carried out a path of reflection starting from the Land theme, centering it on the gender issue in agriculture (land and food sovereignty) which had led us to prepare a proposal entitled Alliance Woman Mother Earth whose message was sent to Pope Francis, thanks to the help of a Jesuit priest, Gaël Giraud.(1)
My message to you today wants to start again from this point: the fight for land and bread, for the defense of territories and life starts from the question of gender, understood as overcoming patriarchy.
Agriculture, in its simplest expression, is human intervention on a natural ecosystem. He transforms it and puts it at the service of his needs, with methods and techniques that have evolved over time and space. If we borrow the reflections of many thinkers, first of all Michel Foucault, on the theme of power, we can agree in saying that, in doing so, man establishes a relationship of power with the natural ecosystem.
Power, Foucault wrote, cannot be studied starting from its institutional and juridical forms, from the concepts of sovereignty and law, but must be understood in the everyday effects it produces in the social world. From this introduction followed an analysis of how power is created and established among human beings, social classes, etc. etc. One criticism that has been leveled at him in recent times is that his analysis never took the issue of gender into account. From there, interesting proposals start, such as those of Nancy Piedra Guillèn to which I refer.(2) Here I am interested in opening the perspective further, inserting the relationship of power that man has created with natural ecosystems (Mother Earth).
We can say that it is true that this relationship was established slowly and with a search for balance on the part of the man (and woman) farmer, a search which became increasingly important as the land was appropriated (with institutions, laws and politics) in favor of a few, for which the need to survive commanded a different relationship from the original one of the hunter-gatherer peoples who worked with the slash and burn technique.
This agricultural practice involves the (total or partial) felling of the natural vegetation which is then burned to clean the land but above all to be able to use the nutrients contained in the ashes of the woody vegetation, minerals, calcium and magnesium. The cultivation of these lands lasts a few years, until the soil has "exhausted" its fertility. At that point, we move to another area, where the cycle begins again. The previous land is thus left to "rest" for years or decades, until the initial fertility has been reconstituted. The moment of the possible return is indicated by the growth of some trees used as indicators of soil fertility.
Much criticized today by the owners of agricultural "modernization", the corta e queima, as it is called in Brazil, has been for millennia the simplest technique for appropriating the fertility of natural resources, given that there is no need for complicated tools. However, it should be emphasized that, despite its simplicity, the slash and burn nonetheless shows the establishment of a relationship of power between the dominant (Man) and the dominated (Mother Earth). And this relationship of power, expressed in relation to natural resources, and which is never remembered, goes hand in hand with a social stratification between men and women still present today in indigenous peoples: only considering the production phase, Ernesto V.S. Gama et al., examining an indigenous area in the state of Bahia, remind us of the following: “As mulheres se ocupam mais da cozinha, do plantio e da limpeza das roças. E têm ao longo do dia mais atividades que os homens” (Women are more involved in cooking, planting and cleaning the fields. And they have more activities than men during the day).(3)
With the arrival of the agrarian revolution of the modern era(4) (after the Second World War onwards), consisting not only in motor-mechanization but above all in the ever-increasing use of chemical resources (fertilizers, insecticides...) and new varieties prepared no longer from the long work of peasant hands, but from research laboratories that first introduced hybrids and then GMOs, power relations have changed drastically.
Until then we could think of a Man-Mother Earth relationship which, in the exploitation of natural ecosystems for "our" purposes, still sought forms of adaptation to the different local realities. That's why there were many different varieties of all productions, from wheat to rice, passing through potatoes, corn, legumes, etc. etc. The same was true for animal breeds, cattle, sheep... In short, even if not said openly, it was Man who adapted to Mother Earth, to what she could give. With the modern revolution the paradigm changes and is reversed: Man no longer has to adapt, but takes the situation in hand by deciding what, how, how much and where to produce what interests him. All of this always cloaked in fine words, new concepts invented for the occasion (such as development and underdevelopment)(5), the need to help the poor who are dying of hunger (that hunger which, as Josué De Castro(6) had already been explaining for years, was the daughter of an agrarian structure where a few had all the land, and very many had nothing, a hunger created by man on the basis of a highly asymmetrical power relationship!).
The relationship of precarious balance between human beings and nature gets lost along the way. We are witnessing an acceleration of agricultural production but above all we are witnessing a reduction in the cultivated varieties, in order to respond to an industrial vision of agriculture, an economy of scale that the new masters, ever fewer farmers and ever more financial "business-men" they introduced for their profits.
The excuse that has been used for decades is that we need to produce more and more to eradicate hunger and feed the world's population. Despite the attempts promoted since the 1950s, almost a billion people still suffer from hunger today but, what is more important, the problem is not to produce, but to redistribute well-being. In the words of FAO chief economist Maximo Torero: “There is enough food to feed everyone in the world today. What is lacking is the capacity to buy food that is available because of high levels of poverty and inequalities” levels of poverty and inequality.”(7)
A rage from below arose against this world which gradually became an organized critical mass, and large peasant associations and movements were born. The main battle at the beginning was that for a just division of the land, a theme that is still very sensitive today in many parts of the world, starting with Brazil, as recalled by the many "romarie" for the land organized in recent decades.
But in addition to the struggle for land, a new battle has begun to find a place on the struggle agenda. Daughter of the same peasant actors (male) of the first struggles for the land, agroecology was born and was studied starting from the agricultural world and by many (male) agronomist experts.(8)
In its essence, agroecology (or conservation agriculture as it is called in many Anglo-Saxon-speaking countries) is the return to less invasive techniques, more respectful of the natural ecosystem and which can be put into practice by the peasant world that agribusiness it is transforming them into mass-workers, distancing them more and more from the historically accumulated knowledge which was their heritage.
Within those who fight for agroecology, new voices have begun to carry forward a different message,(9) which I too bring here to you: the need to look not only at production techniques, but also at power relations, which remain , in traditional as in modern agriculture and also in agroecology, daughters of a patriarchal culture that was created and imposed well before capitalism arrived.
The relationship between the human being and Mother Earth, as we said at the beginning, is a relationship of power. The same scheme that had been implemented in families, extended or restricted, where for a very long time (but not always) the domination of the male has been the rule. The same relationship of search for a balance between the dominant (Man) and the dominated (Mother Earth), with the need not to completely destroy the dominated, but to submit it to the "needs" of the dominant, is the patriarchal pattern that we find in man- woman, even more when we analyze them within families or, by extension, within their organized forms, associations or movements.
The female voices that cry out the need for a structural change, and not just a superficial one, are increasingly numerous and despite the resistance of the ruling classes (not only at the levels of government or institutions, but also of peasant movements) are beginning to make their way.
Thinking that agroecology can be an answer to the ills of the world, if it does not promote a structural change in the power relations between men and women, is a waste of time. The real change starts from there, from that asymmetrical power that we then find in all vital instances, but in a very evident way in the distinction of tasks between the productive sphere (public) and the reproductive sphere (private), where women are cornered.
Men are afraid to put this topic at the center of the debate, because they know, even if they don't want to admit it, that it is not a "women's" topic, but that it requires awareness and real change on their part, giving up part of the power and taking on an equal share of the tasks of the private sphere.
So, it's no longer a question of beautiful but generic slogans, such as equal rights to the land. It is a question of looking within, especially us males, to ask ourselves how much we are willing to give in our lives, to make room to allow our wives, companions, to have the time and the political space to also enter and command our organizations, but even simply having free time for themselves, and how much we are willing to give of our time to take care of the domestic sphere. All of these themes are presented in more detail in the book we are publishing so I won't go further.(10)
A final thought, however, I cannot fail to make on the second word of the title of the romaria: bread. Remember that if it is true that bread is also seen as a metaphor for food in general(11), nevertheless it also remains a symbol linked in particular to the Western world and in particular to the Catholic religion(12). It is no coincidence that the FAO symbol is an ear of wheat, with the wording "fiat panis", which however in the South of the world, especially in those where bread is not eaten, is seen as yet another symbol of the will to power of the North. I know that in the context of romaria bread is a symbol of life, but I just wanted to remind you how important it is to pay attention to details, so as not to always fall into the same mistakes, perhaps wearing different clothes.
In conclusion: we fight to defend territories and bread, for this invitation to move forward with the Woman Mother Earth Alliance, not only for the right to the land, but to fight against patriarchy from the grassroots. Only a world that will accept diversity, and build on diversity, will be a better world: a pluriverse made of respect where men and women will collaborate equally in the private sphere as in the public one. Then yes, a real, great Alliance will be possible.
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Footnotes
[1] Giraud, Gaël. 2020. L’Economia di Francesco e i giovani. La Civiltà Cattolica, quaderno 4092, https://www.laciviltacattolica.it/articolo/leconomia-di-francesco-e-i-giovani/
[2] Piedra Guillén, Nancy. 2004. Relaciones de poder: leyendo a Foucault desde la perspectiva de género. Revista de Ciencias Sociales (Cr), vol. IV, núm. 106, Universidad de Costa Rica
[3] Gama, E. V. S., Marques, C. T. dos S., Carvalho, A. J. A. de, & Silva, F. 2007. Divisão de trabalho entre homens e mulheres na Aldeia Indígena Tupinambá de Serra do Padeiro, Buerarema – BA. Revista Brasileira De Agroecologia, 2(2). Recuperado de https://revistas.aba-agroecologia.org.br/rbagroecologia/article/view/7027
[4] Mazoyer, Marcel & Laurence Roudart. 2008. História das agriculturas no mundo: do neolítico à crise contemporânea - http://codeagro.agricultura.sp.gov.br/uploads/capacitacao/historia-das-agriculturas-no-mundo-mazoyer-e-roudart.pdf
[5] Escobar, Arturo. 2007. La invención del Tercer Mundo – Construcción y deconstrucción del desarrollo. 2007. Fundación Editorial el perro y la rana, Venezuela - https://cronicon.net/paginas/Documentos/No.10.pdf
[6] Josué De Castro. Geografia da Fome (o dilema brasileiro: pão ou aço). 1946. https://files.cercomp.ufg.br/weby/up/473/o/CASTRO__Josué_de_-_Geografia_da_Fome.pdf
[7] Torero, Maximo. 2022. To Achieve Human Rights, Start With Food. 7 dicembre 2022 https://www.ipsnews.net/2022/12/achieve-human-rights-start-food/
[8] Valenzuela, Hector. 2016. "Agroecology: A Global Paradigm to Challenge Mainstream Industrial Agriculture" Horticulturae 2 - https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/2/1/2
[9] Soler, Marta; Rivera, Marta e García Roces, Irene. 2021. Agroecologia feminista para la soberanía alimentaria: ¿de qué estamos hablando? LEISA, edición especial[1] Groppo, Paolo; Cangelosi, Elisabetta; Siliprandi, Emma, Groppo, Charlotte. 2023. Quando Eva bussa alla porta – Donne, terre e diritti. Ombre Corte editore
[10] Cusumano, Antonino. 2017. In nome del pane, in nome dell’uomo. Dialoghi mediterranei - http://www.istitutoeuroarabo.it/DM/in-nome-del-pane-in-nome-delluomo/
[11] Dom Robert Le Gall. Pain. S.d. Dictionnaire de Liturgie - http://archivesweb.cef.fr/prive/liturgiecatholique.fr/liturgiecatholique.fr/Pain.html
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