Introduction to Political Economy Noaman G. Ali

This second episode of a two-part podcast explores two aspects of the Filipino peasant movement -- organizing around land and farmers rights through the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), the Peasant Movement of the Philippines, and policy advocacy for food sovereignty through the People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS). Both organizations are part of the National Democratic Movement whose key goal is full decolonization. The Philippines remains one of the deadliest countries in the world to be an environmental or peasant activist. So what are the aims and objectives of the KMP? What does its organizing practice look like on the ground? How is PCFS distinct from KMP, and how do they approach questions of agro-ecology and degrowth? Importantly, how do rural insurgencies in the Philippines impact their work?I'm joined by JC Mercado, an activist with the People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty and an associate of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, to discuss these questions.Music by Zobu. Edited by Mhd. Ali.

The Philippines is one of the deadliest countries in the world to be an environmental or land-based activist. Its rural poverty and highly unequal landownership is maintained by military force, while the Philippines' farmers find themselves subordinated to unequal international agricultural trade policies. But the country also has vibrant and militant farmers' movements, the largest being the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) which seeks to address the land inequality, while the associated People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) targetx international agribusiness. What does the agrarian political economy of the Philippines look like? What form does land inequality and agrarian crisis take? What are the gendered dimensions of agrarian problems? And how does the country’s entry into the world markets and invitation of foreign investment under structural adjustment impact its agrarian political economy? I'm joined by JC Mercado, an activist with the People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty and an associate of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant Movement of the Philippines), to discuss these questions. This is the first of a two-part podcast.Music by Zobu. Edited by Mhd. Ali.

While China was "closed" for the most part to the world market under its socialist, planned economy model from 1949 to 1978, most of the population worked in agrarian collectives, which are often blamed for being so unproductive as to have contributed to mass famine. From 1978 on China adopted market-oriented reforms, starting with decollectivizing and turning much agricultural land over to individual households, which in turn is supposed to have led to rapid gains in agricultural productivity. But why did China pursue collectivization in the first place? Was it really responsible for tens of millions of death? What were its achievements? Why then did China adopt decollectivization, and what have been its effects for farmers and workers?I'm joined by Dr. Zhun Xu, author of From Commune to Capitalism: How China’s Peasants Lost Collective Farming and Gained Urban Poverty, to discuss these questions.Music by Zobu. Edited by Mhd. Ali.

The farmer's movement in India continues massive protests against the new farm laws introduced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government under prime minister Narendra Modi. Some critics have alleged that the farmers' unions leading the protests represent the "rich farmers" who dominate the countryside, oppressing poor farmers and landless labourers. Labourers, moreover, tend to belong to different castes and face oppression on that axis as well. But because they speak in the name of all rural groups these farmers' unions are often described as "agrarian populist."What kinds of contradictions exist in the countryside between classes and castes? Is the current farmers' movement bridging the interests of different classes and castes? What differences exist among farmers' unions and why?I'm joined by Dr. Shreya Sinha, reviews editor at the Journal of Agrarian Change, to discuss these questions.Music by Zobu. Edited by Mhd. Ali.

Scholars of the agrarian question in the 20th century asked how capitalist relations were developing in the countryside, what role peasants (cultivators) played in politics, and what role agricultural production would play in funding industry—the agrarian question would be resolved when a society achieved the structural transformation from agriculture to industry, from a society of peasants to a society of workers. But in most of the world that transition did not quite happen, or at least not in that way. So what does the agrarian question look like in the 21st century? How has neoliberal globalization change the lives and livelihoods of people in the countryside? And what might the future hold?I'm joined by Dr. A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi, author of Hungry for Change: Farmers, Food Justice and the Agrarian Question, to discuss these questions.Music by Zobu.

Peasant movements shaped the conversations and policies that were part of decolonization in much of the Global South, including conversations about land reform and the privileges of landed elites. In post-colonial countries, problems around food availability also pressed ruling elites to pursue strategies of agrarian reform that again reshaped class relations. In Pakistan, this sparked a new round of peasant resistance and radical political movements.I continue my discussion with Dr. Kasim Tirmizey and Shozab Raza around these questions.Music by Zobu.