What will we do without our land? : land grabs and resistance in rural Cambodia

Abstract

Dynamics of the global land grab are exemplified in Cambodia, where at least 27 forced evictions took place in 2009, affecting 23,000 people. Estimates suggest that 15 to 20 percent of the population is landless or 'near landless'. Evictions of the rural poor are legitimized by the assumption that non-private land is idle, marginal, or degraded and available for capitalist exploitation. This paper: (1)views accumulation by dispossession as a defining characteristic of land grabs; (2) questions the assumption that land is idle; (3) explores whether land grabs can be regulated through a 'code of conduct'; (4) considers peasant resistance to land grabs. Overall, the Cambodian case studies confirm that land grabs are not benefiting the rural poor. Peasants challenge the existing distribution of power. Although 'everyday forms of peasant politics' are prevalent, 'advocacy politics' is slowly emerging as peasants activate their agency in an effort to prevent the loss of their land and livelihoods.