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financial crisis and the intricate mechanisms of stock market speculations
in commodities exacerbate the problem.
Pearce’s passion and outrage about the selling off of communal
resources shines through the book. Each chapter is dedicated to a certain
country, where protagonists change, yet the storyline stays the same:
governments around the globe grant large concessions to wily investors in
the hope of advancing their economies but displace and disadvantage large
parts of their own population in the process.
As Mike Ogg, an agriculture specialist from Swaziland, told Think
Africa Press: “I fundamentally believe that agriculture can lead
development in Africa. The quandary is: How do you create a win-win
situation where investors and the community benefit?”
Pearce presents a bleak picture of increasingly prevalent ‘land grabs’
by corporations for agriculture or resource exploitation as well as by wellmeaning
environmentalists for so-called “green grabs.” This is, Pearce
argues, encircling the last remaining habitats of indigenous peoples and
the landless poor, destroying their past and forever altering their future.
Pearce mixes this narrative with historical references to imperialism
and colonialism giving the impression of a continuous cycle of
exploitation. But his greatest achievement in the book is to give those
exploited a voice. He recounts their stories in numerous interviews, as
well as talking to those involved in the land acquisitions and a variety of
experts.
Pearce concludes that the bulk of the blame rests with foreign buyers
though it is crucial to recognise that most deals are also pursued by
respective governments which may give out large land concessions, tax
breaks and other incentives to draw foreign capital into their country in the
first place. And politicians are not only accomplices, but often also carve
out deals in return for money or land for themselves.
This is enabled by an environment in which laws are either nonexistent
or easily circumvented. As Graziano da Silva, director-general of
the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation, notes: “It appears
to be like the Wild West and we need a sheriff and law in place.”