agriculture
News and articles about work, policy and workers' struggles in retail and the food industry around the world.
Vietnam: Farm-workers' union members remain in jail
Five organisers from the independent United Workers-Farmers Organization, were arrested and remain in prison.
In Vietnam independent unions are illegal, Nguyen Tan Hoanh, Tran Thi Le Hang, Doan Huy Chuong and his father Doan Van Dien were arrested in November last year, a month after the organisation was launched. Tran Quoc Hien was arrested in January this year after his election as a spokesman for the UWFO.
Brazilian farmers' occupation kicks off 'Red April' protests
Landless Brazilian farmers have begun a series of coordinated protest actions, occupying properties belonging to a large paper firm.
News reports said on Tuesday that around 200 members of the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) on Monday evening peacefully occupied a property belonging to the Suzano company in Itanpenitinga in Sao Paulo state. A second property was also occupied in Bonito, in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco.
20,000 farmers and workers riot in China
Hunan city, Yongzhou, central China; around 20,000 farmers and laid off workers have rioted and clashed with 1,000 police armed with guns and electric cattle prods.
The rioters were reported to be protesting against government corruption and rising transport costs. The unrest was eventually suppressed with scores of arrests and some injuries, none serious, on both sides.
1913: Wheatland Hop Riot
A brief history of the riot that occured at Wheatland in Northern California after a meeting of farm labourers of the radical union the IWW was broken up by police.
Agricultural labour in the hop fields of California was amongst the most strenuous, badly paid and time consuming labour that a worker could undertake in early 20th century America. The situation of the hop pickers who worked at the Durst Ranch, the single largest employer of agricultural workers in the state, near the Northern California town of Wheatland in 1913, was no different.
Striking olive harvest workers in Spain, 2005
Article about the agricultural industry in Spain, and the strike of mostly immigrant olive harvest workers in 2005.
Statistical information on socialisation in the Spanish Revolution
Statistics on agrarian and industrial collectivisation in the Spanish Civil War, the numbers of collectives and workers involved.
Adequate statistical information is difficult to obtain, but the following data should give a general idea of the extent of the libertarian revolution on the land and in the cities.
The South African Landless People’s Movement
Very brief information about the landless movement and land struggles in South Africa.
Palestinian farm workers organise
In-depth article about the plight of farm workers in the Jordan Valley and their attempts to organise.
Work at Any Cost: Employment of Palestinian Agricultural Workers in Jordan Valley Settlements
Hundreds of Palestinian workers from Jericho and its surroundings are employed in Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley. So far, no Palestinian or Israeli body had taken upon itself to provide an accurate account of the numbers of these workers.
1839-1846: The Anti-Renter movement
Howard Zinn's short history of the Anti-Renter movement against the patroonship system, created in the 1660s when the Dutch ruled New York.
1934: Queensland canecutters' strike
The history of the victorious strike of mostly migrant cane-cutting workers in Australia. To secure the victory the workers had to overcome the bosses' resistance, the police and the racist trade union.
Like many other anti- fascists, Francesco Carmagnola was forced to emigrate from Italy because of fascist violence. From his arrival in 1922, he was increasingly active and prominent in organising anti fascist activities in North Queensland, Sydney and Melbourne.
