Within the frame of climate justice, that centres liberation and flourishing for all, land is a key metric that exposes economic, social, environmental and racial injustices.
In this talk we explore what land justice is and means in practice, looking at the privatisation of seemingly “public” space, with 92% of land not accessible to the public, and how this form of ownership is entangled in colonial histories and racial injustice.
We’ll also interrogate how new laws that criminalise trespass threaten our right to roam nature, and reveal the exclusionary logic of land ownership. And from the perspective of climate resilience; how Black people and people of colour are enacting a process of repair through grassroots projects for land access and food sovereignty, linking land to racial justice.
Facilitator: Farah Ahmed is Climate Justice Lead and Events Coordinator at Julie’s Bicycle, a charity working at the intersection of art and sustainability. Her interests lie in exploring how we can reshape narratives on climate action to centre perspectives and solutions from the frontlines of injustice.
Speakers: Josina Calliste is the founder of Land In Our Names (LION), an organisation that aims to disrupt oppressive land dynamics relating to BPOC communities in Britain.
Yali Banton-Heath is a freelance writer, and works on the campaigns team at the Landworkers’ Alliance – a grassroots union of land-based workers in the UK.