Land-Grabbers

May 2000
Jeremy Seabrook (Third World Resurgence, 117, May 2000, pp.34-35)

The seizure of land by those with no legal title to it is what was done a thousand times over by pioneers, colonists and builders of empire. There is nothing new in the transformation of pirates into legitimate landholders who then invoke the law to protect what they have stolen. It all depends when history starts. The powerful have always grabbed land, but when the poor do it, all hell breaks loose.