（本文是席娃博士為聲援農民上凱道抗拒土地掠奪行動的文章，同時介紹印度同樣嚴重的土地掠奪問題。經＠Yi-tze Lee 與@陳思穎 翻譯與大家分享）

「有了大地，於是有了大海，河流以及水；於是有了食物以及各部落的形成，而萬物得以呼吸生息。」Prithvi Sukta, Atharva Veda

土地就是生命。土地是橫跨第三世界的眾多農民以及原住族群的基本生存根基，也逐漸成了全球經濟最受覬覦的資產。在全球化對資源要求的劇增下，土地正是主要的衝突點。在印度，百分之六十五的人直接依賴土地維生。另一方面，由投機金融以及無限制消費創造的全球經濟結構，也在土地上進行採礦，工業發展，造鎮建路，甚至生質能源的種植。投機經濟的規模比實體貨物以及服務業的價值要高上數百倍；而金融資本對於投資的需求從來沒有滿足過。它的目的就是要把地球上所有的東西都變成商品—土地，水資源，植物基因，微生物，以及包含我們在內的哺乳類。在印度藉由建立「經貿特區」以及「引進外資投資房地產」，土地商品化的問題愈來愈嚴重。

土地，對地球上的人而言有著不同的名稱，她可能是Terra Madre, Bhoomi, 或者Dharti Ma，但是都指向同一個意義—大地之母。土地是人民的身分，她承載著經濟活動以及文化。與土地的連結就是與Bhoomi，我們的母親的連結。第三世界有百分之七十五的人直接由土地承載著。大地是地球上最大的雇主，有百分之七十五的南方住民都依賴土地維生。

殖民主義基於暴力的本質取走土地。這個世代，全球化成了再一次的殖民主義，並且造成在印度大規模的土地掠奪。在拉丁美洲以及非洲， 投機經濟，城市擴張，或者建設高架道路，依賴土地掠奪這個主要手段；掠奪者讓農人陷入債務或逼迫其自殺，然後把土地奪走。

一八九四年於殖民時期制定的「土地獲得法案」，是印度土地掠奪的毒害來源。 隨後對於投資的放任，以及新自由主義政策的商業行為，形成無法控制的貪婪以及開發。而警察國家的建立以及殖民保安法的形成，使所謂公共利益與國家利益與實際民族公眾形成對立。

世界銀行也參與土地商品化的過程。一九九一年，世界銀行進行制度調整的土地重劃，引來毫無節制的採礦，開路以及開埠。雖然在印度獨立後地權回復到農人手上，但是一八九四年的「土地獲得法案」卻沒有任何變動。因此國家可以很容易地把土地從農民或者原住民手中取走，交由私人公司，土地開發業，或者採礦與工業業者來運用。

在印度的土地上，從北方邦(Uttar Pradesh)的Bhatta，到奧里薩邦(Orissa)的Jagatsinghpur，以及馬哈拉施特拉邦(Maharsashitra)的Jaitapur，政府正式對農民（印度語annadatas）宣戰，直接擷取農人的豐饒土地。他們使用的工具就是一八九四年所簽署的「土地獲得法案」，得以讓外國資本壓迫印度人民。政府的行動如同外國資本管理者，以各種代理人的身分出現：比如Yamuna快速道路的JP與UP，在奧里薩邦的南韓浦項製鐵公司(POSCO)及齋浦爾邦(Jaitapur)的法國AREVA公司。這些都是以想像的資本累積進行的土地掠奪。

這些土地戰爭對於我們的民主，社會和平，以及食物安全，農村生存有極大影響。如果印度想要朝向民主以及生態生存，這些土地戰爭必須要被禁制。

在奧里薩邦地方政府強硬地對Jagatsinghpur地區的土地強行徵收後，當地人民從二〇〇五年之後就進行爭取自身民主的對抗； 在Bhatta UP的 Rahul Gandhi也起而領導抵抗強行土地徵收 。環境部部長拉梅什(Jairam Ramesh)承認，他在極大壓力下讓南韓浦項製鐵公司的計畫過關。我們會問，壓力從何而來？這些可見的土地獲取雙重標準必須要立即停止。

在UP地區的Bhatta Parsual廣大區域，大約有六千英畝土地被Jaiprakash的建設公司計畫取得，將要建設高級住宅以及運動城鎮，包括在Yamuna高速道路建造F1方程式賽車的場地。這當中共有一千兩百二十五個村落的土地被轉用做高速道路。許多原有的農民被迫起而抗議毫無正義的土地取得過程，而就在今年五月七日，有四個農民在鎮壓抗議的警民衝突過程中喪生。如果政府仍持續在印度的麵包生產心臟地帶進行土地戰爭，農民將永毋寧日。

從各方面來看，任何金錢代價都無法彌補土地的異化。八十歲的Parshuram因為Yamuna高速道路建造而失去他的土地說：「你永遠無法了解失去土地的感覺」（引自「通往災難之路，在地球上」June 1-15, 2011, p.39）

政府透過土地獲得法案，以每平方公尺三百元盧比(約一百九十五元台幣)的價格取得土地。但是開發單位卻可以每平方公尺六十萬盧比的價格賣出—由此得來百分之二千的獲利！這正是土地攫取所貢獻的貧困，掠奪，以及衝突！

同樣的四月十八日，在馬哈拉施特拉邦(Maharashtra)的Jaitapur鎮，當地警察對抗議興建核能電廠於馬邦Jaitapur以及Ratnagiri兩處的和平示威群眾開槍。造成一人喪生並有八人重傷。Jaitapur核電廠將是世界最大的核電廠，並且是由福島核災同樣的法國廠商AREVA建造。在福島核災之後，引來更大規模的示威，以抗議政府對巨大災難的無動於衷。

六月六日，另一個相似的狀況在奧里薩邦的Jagatsighpur鎮 發生。二十個軍營為了違憲的土地掠奪而佈署，以協助印度最大的外資利益—南韓浦項製鐵公司的計畫。政府已經設定了一天摧毀四十個蔞籐種植田的速度來加速土地掠奪。蔞籐種植田一英畝可以幫農人帶來四十萬盧比的收入。五年以來，反抗運動一直都以和平抗議行動對抗使用無數次暴力的國家。這一次農民的反抗，可能是最後一次非暴力以及民主的模式！然而我們仍要再次對抗國家不民主以及暴力協助財團利益的土地掠奪，並且實際監督拆遷期限的程序正義以及人民的憲法權力。

印度，這個世界上最大的民主政體，正以土地戰爭摧毀她的民主機制。憲法裡面承諾人民權利，也認可村落會議（Panchayat）對於民主議題諸如土地發展的決定效力；政府應當遵從當地基層組織的民主決定。在南韓浦項製鐵公司計畫裡面，就有三個村落會議拒絕放棄他們的土地。現在以暴力和破壞生計為基本模式的暴力掠奪，不只危害印度民主的未來，也對印度國家與公民社會的生存產生危害。印度被稱為世界上四大快速發展的經濟實體，然而有百分之四十的兒童沒辦法吃飽的事實，是這個國家的恥辱。土地不應用來建造水泥叢林以證明一個國家的發展或經濟成長，而是食物和水的祖先遺產，以及人類生存的基本條件。可以確知的是，當前印度不需要一份從殖民時代所簽署遺留的土地掠奪法案，而是一份土地保存的政策；這樣的政策才可以保障我們賴以為生的生態系統。有遠見的土地政策，要能夠守護肥沃的恆河平原以及海岸區域。是這些偉大的土地提供我們賴以為生的生態功能。

把肥沃的土地交給私人企業，形成新的收租地主(zamindars)，絕不是公共利益應有的目標。建造私有化的高速道路甚至賽車路線，絕對無法向大眾辯稱為必要的基礎建設。印度需要真正的基礎建設，這樣的基礎建設以考量食物安全及用水安全的需求為基本要務。如果把我們賴以為生的肥沃土地，埋葬在水泥區塊以及工廠建地之下，埋葬的將是整個國家真正的未來。

以下為原文

Land Wars and the Great Land Grab

Dr. Vandana Shiva

June 6, 2011

“The Earth upon which the sea, and the rivers and waters, upon which food and the tribes of man have arisen, upon which this breathing, many life exits” – Prithvi Sukta, Atharva Veda.

Land is life.  It is the basis of livelihoods for peasants & indigenous people across the Third World and is also becoming the most vital asset in the global economy.  As the resource demands of globalization increase, land has emerged as a key site of conflict.  In India, 65 percent of the people are dependent on land.  At the same time a global economy, driven by speculative finance and limitless consumerism, needs the land for mining and industry, for towns, highways, and biofuel plantations.  The  speculative economy of global finance is hundreds of times larger than the value of real goods and services produced in the world.  Financial capital is hungry for investments and returns on investments.  It must commodify everything on the planet – land and water, plants and genes, microbes and mammals.  The commodification of land is fueling the corporate land grab in India, both through the creation of Special Economic Zones and through foreign direct investment in real estate.

Land, for most people in the world, is Terra Madre, Mother Earth, Bhoomi, Dharti Ma. The land is people’s identity; it is the ground of culture and economy. The bond with the land is a bond with Bhoomi, our Earth. 75% of the people in the Third World live on the land and are supported by the land. The Earth is the biggest employer on the planet. 75% of the wealth of the people of the south is in land.

Colonization was based on the violent take over of land. And now, globalization as recolonisation is leading to a massive land grab in India, in Africa, in Latin America. Land is being grabbed for speculative investment, for speculative urban sprawl, for mines and factories, for highways and expressways.  Land is being grabbed from farmers after trapping them in debt and pushing them to suicide.

In India, land grab is facilitated by the toxic mixture of a colonial Land Acquisition Act of 1894, the deregulation of investments, and commerce through neo-liberal policies, and with it the emergence of the rule of uncontrolled greed and exploitation. It is facilitated by the creation of a police state and the use of colonial sedition laws which define defense of the public interest and national interest as anti-national.

The World Bank has worked for many years to commodify land. The 1991 World Bank structural adjustment reversed land reform, deregulated mining, roads, ports. While the laws of independent India to keep land in the hands of the tiller were reversed, the 1894 Land Acquisition Act was untouched.

Thus the state could forcibly acquire the land from the peasants and tribals and hand it over to private speculators, real estate corporations, mining companies and industry.

Across the length and breadth of India, from Bhatta in Uttar Pradesh to Jagatsinghpur in Orissa to Jaitapur in Maharashtra, the government has declared war on our farmers, our annadatas in order to grab their fertile farmland.

Their instrument is the colonial Land Acquisition Act of 1984 used by foreign rulers against Indian citizens. The government is behaving as the foreign rulers did, appropriating land through violence for the profits of corporations- JP in UP for the Yamuna expressway, POSCO for Orissa and AREVA French company in Jaitapur, land grab for private profits and not for public purpose by any stretch of imagination is rampant in the country today.

These land wars have serious consequences for one’s democracy, our peace and our ecology, our food security and the rural livelihoods. The land wars must stop if India is to survive ecologically and democratically.

While the Orissa government prepares to take over land of people in Jagatsinghpur, who have been involved in a democratic struggle against land acquisition since 2005, Rahul Gandhi makes it known that in a similar case in Bhatta UP he stands against forceful land acquisition. The Minister of Environment Mr. Jairam Ramesh admitted that he gave the green signal to pass the POSCO project under great pressure. One may ask pressure from whom? This visible double standards when it comes to the land question in the country must stop.

In Bhatta Parsual Greater Noida (UP) about 6000 acres land is being acquired by infrastructure company Jaiprakash Associates to build luxury townships and sports cities including a Formula 1 race track in the garb of building the Yamuna Expressway. In total the land of 1225 villages is to be acquired for the Express Way. The farmers have been protesting this unjust land acquisition and last week 4 people have died and many have been injured during a clash between the protestors and the police on May 7, 2011. If the government continues its land wars in the heart of India’s bread basket, there will be no chance for peace.

In any case, money cannot compensate for the alienation of land. As 80 year Parshuram who lost his land for the Yamuna Expressway said “you will never understand how it feels to become landless” (quoted in Road to Disaster, Down to Earth, June 1 – 15, 2011, p.39).

While land has been taken from farmers at Rs. 300/sq.meter by Government using the Land Acquistion Act, it is sold by developers at Rs. 600,000/sq.metre – a 200,000% increase in price and hence profits. This land grab and the profits contribute to poverty, dispossession and conflicts.

Similarly in Jaitapur Maharashtra police opened fire on peaceful protestors demonstrating against the proposed Nuclear Power Park at Jaitapur, Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. One person died and about 8 were seriously injured on 18th of April 2011 when this incidence took place. The Jaitapur nuclear plant will be the biggest in the world and is being built by the French company AREVA. After the Fukushima disaster the protest has intensified as has the governments stubbornness.

Today a similar situation is brewing in Jagatsighpur Orissa where 20 battalions have been deployed to assist in the anti-constitutional land acquisition to protect the stake of India’s largest FDI – the POSCO Steel project. The government has set the target of destroying 40 betel farms a day to facilitate the land grab. The betel farms bring the farmers an earning of rupees 4 lacs an acre. The Anti POSCO  movement in its 5 years of peaceful protest has faced state violence numerous time and now is gearing up for another perhaps final non-violent and democratic resistance against a state using violence for its undemocratic land grab for corporate profits, overlooking due-process and constitutional rights of the people.

The largest democracy of the world is destroying its democratic fabric through the land wars. While the constitution recognizes the rights of the people and the panchayts to democratically decided the issues of land and development the government is giving a goby to these democratic decision as is evident from the POSCO project where three panchayts have refused to give up their land. The use of violence and destruction of livelihoods that the current trend is reflecting is not only dangerous for the future of Indian democracy but the survival of the Indian nation state itself. Considering that today India may claim to be a growing or booming economy but yet is unable feed more that 40% of its children is matter of national shame. Land is not about building concrete jungles as proof of your growth and development but is the progenitor of food and water, a basic for human survival. It is thus clear what India needs today is not a land grab policy through an amended colonial land acquisition act but a land conservation policy which conserves our vital eco-systems such as the fertile Gangetic plan and coastal regions for their ecological functions and contribution to food security.

Handing over fertile land to private corporations who are becoming the new zamindars cannot be defined as public purpose. Creating multiple privatized super highways and expressways does not qualify as necessary infrastructure. The real infrastructure India needs is the ecological infrastructure for food security and water security. Burying our fertile food producing soils under concrete and factories is burying the country’s future.