Locating Agrarian Labour within the Contours of Imperialism

Abstract

The neo-liberal processes of globalization of capital and financialization of economies have had profound implications on agrarian labour and petty producers, particularly in the global South. Analysed through the lens of interconnected historical developments in the North and the South, neoliberalism can be comprehended as a set of continuities and discontinuities between the old imperial order and the new structures of imperialism. Why neoliberal policies with elaborate promises of reducing rural poverty do not benefit the agrarian population in a generalized manner needs to be understood in the inherited agrarian class structures in the South from the colonial and postcolonial national development experiences. The emergence of transnational corporations (TNCs) in agriculture as the hegemonic force under neoliberalism has an impact for the agrarian sector in multiple ways. Land grabs as part of international and national land deals/acquisition can potentially alter the value relations drastically with severe implications for the rural poor. This chapter surveys the impact of neoliberalism on the agrarian communities, particularly labour and petty producers. It also looks at the economic and political resistance that have emerged or failed to do so in various contexts as a response to the hegemonic neoliberal order and identifies possible alternatives as agrarian policy that can retain greater value within the agrarian domain, thereby enhancing both well-being and productive investments in peasant farms.