As I watched the documentary the “Promised Land” on PBS a few weeks ago, I was reminded how there needs to be a global dialogue on the worldwide divide, infighting & wars over land; whether it is Palestinians against Israeli settlers, Native South Africans against Afrikaner settlers, Native Americans against New American settlers, enslaved Africans & their descendants still awaiting their promised 40 acres & a mule for hundreds of years of forced unpaid slave labor, the very first freed slaves of Haiti  or poor farmers in Brazil who are still fighting to claim their land for self sustainability in order to escape  & eradicate foreign dependency & agricultural dictatorship, or Native Bolivian Indians & Native Zimbabweans championing a President who they voted in to finally take back the land from the descendants of former settlers & colonizers to redistribute back to the natives of the nation. It seems all over the world  from South Africa to South America, someone is trying to write the wrongs of colonialism, imperialism, racism, apartheid,war & occupation with all eyes on the prize of the Promised Land.

“Brazil is the target of an offensive by big capital, joined by transnational corporations and banks, in an alliance with the capitalist landowners who created a model of organization of agriculture called agribusiness. From the second half of the 1990s – and even more after the crisis of international capitalism – large international corporations, underwritten by finance capital, began to advance on Brazilian agriculture: land, water, seeds, production and industrialization of food and the marketing of pesticides.” READ MORE

“Brazil, South America’s largest economy, is finally poised to realize its long-anticipated potential as a global player, economists say, as the country rides its biggest economic expansion in three decades. It has also given Brazil new swagger, providing it, for instance, with greater leverage to push for a tougher bargain with the United States and Europe in global trade talks. After seven years, those negotiations finally broke down this week over demands by India and China for safeguards for their farmers, a clear sign of the rising clout of these emerging economies.” READ MORE

“Villase had walked into one of the fights over land, rooted in Haiti’s history of slavery, occupation and upheaval, that have served to slow recovery to a near-standstill in the six months since the earthquake leveled much of the capital and killed as many as 300,000 people.The government, already weak before the magnitude-7 quake and still hobbled by its aftermath, is trying to build anew in places like Corail-Cesselesse, a nearly empty swath of land that begins about 15 kilometers (9 miles) north of the capital. But the effort is paralyzed by disorganization, bitter rivalries and private deals being struck behind its back. Multiple families claim title to almost every scrap of real estate. Already one reconstruction official has been forced to step down for steering a public project to his company’s private land at Corail-Cesselesse. Wealthy landowners vow the “new Haiti” will become yet another vast slum unless the government rebuilds on their terms. Caught in the middle are the homeless, looking to grab a patch of ground from the thugs hired to keep them away. Even facing machetes, Villase had to be dragged from her flimsy shelter.”I didn’t want them to take the tent away,” she recalled. “They said, ‘We don’t care. We can rip it up while you’re inside.” READ MORE

With the recent opening up of America’s racial wounds with former USDA Director, Shirley Sherrod, becoming the poster child uncovering America’s long history of racism, classism & land disputes, I learned that in our recent history Black farmers had been rewarded a settlement of $1.25 billion in 1999 for discrimination by the USDA in its allocation of farm loans and assistance between 1983 and 1997. This class action lawsuit is known as  Pigford v. Glickman, which still has not been fully paid to date in its settlement. Where’s Fox news on this one- oh hell where is the Black news media in taking any responsibility in shedding light or education on this one in assistance & historical education of our youth?Absent as usual! I am a 37 year old African-American who would have never known about this if it hadn’t been for Fox News trying to Massacre Shirley Sherrod. In wanting to know more about who she is, I researched & stumbled upon this very important piece of history.

“The interesting thing about land is that in spite of the fact that we were enslaved, in spite of the fact that share cropping was a quasi form of slavery, between 1865 and 1910, according to census bureau figures, the African American community had acquired approximately 16 million acres of land. Now that’s 45 years after slavery when we could not read, could not write, and for all intents and purposes did not know where a college or a university was at. Our ancestors owned more of this country on a per capita basis 150 years ago than we do today.” READ MORE

“United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack and Department of Justice Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli announced in February that a lawsuit by Black farmers who alleged the agency discriminated against them, had been settled, and that there would be a $1.25 billion payout. President Barack Obama stated last May that the funds to pay back the Black farmers would be included in the 2010 budget, and Congress was to approve the settlement before March 31 of this year.At this point, money has still not been allocated.” READ MORE

“Bolivian President Evo Morales, the country’s first Indian leader, was re-elected to a second term in December 2009. Morales makes land redistribution and titling a cornerstone of his presidency. The majority of the country’s land has long been owned by a powerful non-indigenous fraction of the population, whose holdings are concentrated in the country’s fertile eastern lowlands. Morales’ government is now giving government-owned and unused land to poor and landless people, like Fernandez, in an attempt to combat this monopolization of Bolivian soil.” READ MORE

Today, particulary in Africa it seems descendants of many of Africa’s former colonizers are looking to Africa as the new frontier as the global recession makes what was once considered the European & American dream no longer tangible for most. As the instability of never ending wars in the Middle East looms over & threatens the American & European need for Middle Eastern oil, the lure for new markets in oil & energy resources outside of the Middle East has bolstered emerging markets in energy from Latin America to Africa. There is a new scramble for Africa based on the global need for energy & the natural resources of a continent that even after centuries of colonial pillaging is still bountiful.

“Portugal, one of Europe’s ailing economies, is increasingly placing its hopes of recovery on Angola, a former colony that has established itself as one of the strongest economies in sub-Saharan Africa — thanks largely to oil and diamonds. The shift comes as competition is getting stiffer in Brazil, another booming former colony, and as Portugal’s traditional European trading partners, led by Spain, struggle under a mountain of debt and soaring joblessness. Angola has already become Portugal’s largest export market outside of Europe, accounting for 7 percent of Portuguese exports last year, compared with 1 percent in 2000, according to the Portuguese statistics institute and Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency.” READ MORE

These 2 videos below are very telling of those who have been truly oppressed in history in their humility & humanity. The South African woman below still finds compassion for the White Afrikaners who oppressed her & her people for years in being shameful to see another human being suffer- Africans & their descendants are by far the most compassionate, hospitable people on earth. The majority of us would never be able to do unto Whites what the majority of them have done unto us in history & present day. Even when they bring hate we find a way to muster up love. Many may be upset & say this is a racist thing to say, but the facts of history are the facts of history & we can never rectify it if we are too afraid to address it & confront it. Just listen to the difference in tone & speak of the Afrikaners who for the first time in their life are experiencing what they have dealt to South Africans all their lives -where is the humanity & compassion for one another as human beings in their tone & speak?  All of a sudden when roles are reversed the oppressor now sees the ills of oppression, but still can not understand why he has been dealt or deserves such misfortune in anyway. As the man from Zimbabwe in the video above said -now all of a sudden they want to talk about civil rights but when we were begging for it they didn’t want to hear it-SMH! If we all had the type of compassion displayed by the South African woman below & many who have suffered oppression all their lives, oppression would never have happened nor continue to happen, but it seems the idea of White Privilege has somehow been accepted & embedded in all of us-both as the oppressed & as the oppressors.

“I was shocked ..cuz I couldn’t believe it.. u know in the apartheid, whites used to get everything & blacks we’re the ones who were suffering so it was a shock to see that..I felt uncomfortable because I couldn’t believe it.. It’s ok with blacks because we are used to it, but for whites .. it was unbelievable .. I felt sorry for them”