This document provides an overview of a training session on land grabbing. It discusses the session's learning objectives and content, which includes defining the Earth in different ways: as part of the universe, as the source of life, as our common home, and as territory. It also discusses how the Earth became a territory to dominate and exploit over history through concepts like private property, feudalism, and colonialism. The document outlines activities for participants, including discussing personal experiences with issues relating to land and injustice.

1. Training on land grabbing
Fr. John Paul Pezzi, Mccj
VIVAT International associate
www.jpic-jp.org - www.vivatinternational.org

2. No.1/2
Session N° 1.
Let us talk about the earth

3. LearningObjectives. No.1/3By this session we want to perceive clearly
that:
1-. The Earth is a part of the Universe
2-. The Earth is the source of life: the Mother that nurtures us
3-. The Earth is our common home, the only one we have
4-. The Earth is a "territory", the
"background" of life, power and
center of conflicts; and today is the
"key" to understand what happens in
the world.
5-. The Earth is the field, the land we
cultivate to eat and where one lives.

4. Contentsofthesession No.1/4
1-. The Earth is part of the Universe. An extraordinary journey:
2-. The Earth is our Mother: We are all one!
3-. The Earth is our only common house
4-. The Earth is our territory. A brief historical review.
5-. The earth is where we live
Personal activity and working group
-Introduction to working Group
- Personal Activity N° 2: My involvement in the JPIC
- Working Group N° 1: sharing
o Personal Stories relative to the Earth:
challenges, joys, failures
o Focus of the injustices coming from the earth
Assembly to share
Conclusion. PP. The answer is in the wind
The words Earth is used with different meanings:

5. 1-.TheEarthistheuniverse No.1/5
 The human being is not a wandering
pilgrim, a passenger coming from
somewhere and belonging to another
world. He is the son / daughter of the
Earth and our fate is tied to the fate of
the Earth and of the cosmos where the
Earth finds herself.
We need to create a new way of living, feeling, thinking, judging,
acting, and praying. We need to live in harmony with nature and
take care of it.
1-. The Earth is the universe: God created heaven and earth. It is a
generic word for talking about all that exists.

6. No.1/6
Each one, while looking, deeply inside can make a prayer to God or to whom
he/she considers a Divinity.
This PowerPoint shows that in the universe ...
…we are a small part of a big world and we are at the
same time something mysteriously great
.
POWER OF 10
Wonders of Micro to
Macrocosm
An extraordinary journey

7. 2-.TheEarthistheplanetonwhichwelive No.1/7
This sister now cries out to us
because of the harm we have
inflicted on her by our irresponsible
use and abuse of the goods with
which God has endowed her. The
violence present in our hearts, is
also reflected in the symptoms
of sickness evident in the soil, in
the water, in the air and in all
forms of life. The earth, burdened
and laid waste, is among the most
abandoned and maltreated of our
poor; she “groans in travail”
(Rom 8:22).
2-. The Earth is the planet on which we live: a star.
It's a particular globe that is our common house.

8. No.1/8
 The Earth is our home, our house, our unique common house.
 What there is at stake is not only her spiritual value: as our common
household, the Earth urges us to create a sustainable society, founded on
respect for nature, ecological justice and a culture of peace that allows the
care of this common house.
 We are a unique human family, living on one common home:
 we are not wandering pilgrim coming from somewhere and belonging to
another world.
 We are the sons / daughters of this Earth and our fate is tied to the fate of
this Earth and of the cosmos where the Earth finds herself.
 We need to live in harmony with nature and take care of our common
home.
 Therefore, we need to imahine a new way of living, feeling, thinking, judging,
acting, and praying.
2-.TheEarthistheplanetonwhichwelive

9. 3-.TheEarthisthesourceoflife No.1/9
“Praise be to you, my Lord, through
our Sister, Mother Earth,
who sustains and governs us,
and who produces various fruits with
colored flowers and herbs”
In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint
Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common
home is like a sister with whom we share our
life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms
to embrace us. (LS °1)
3-. The Earth is the source of life: the “Pacha Mama”. It is
the spiritual experience of belonging, dependency.

10. 4-.TheEarthisourterritory. No.1/10
4-. The Earth, permanent "base" of human Life
Let's walk through history, eyes
focused on the land as territory.
 It is the "place" where peoples live, where they struggle
for power and the center of conflicts
 It is the background of all events
 It is the basis of every step of progress and human
evolution
 It is the "key" to understand what is happening today in
the world
 It is a territory, a permanent "base" of human Life.

11. 4.1.Anexample:ThePygmies No.1/11
o The land-Territory is not important in
itself, it is "important for all things
that can be found on it" .
o The land-Territory, it is only the space
where are "found"
 forests, rivers, hills, etc.
 food, water, leaves for the house, etc.
Therefore, Pygmy culture:
 They do not accumulate goods: all is
provide by forest
 They do not have community leaders:
they do not have an organized life
 They do not suffer gender conflicts: in
the meeting, men talk, women decide
For the Pygmies, always in the past and even now

12. 4.2.Powerandterritory No.1/12
 When the society starts to organize itself, power
appears; the earth is an object and becomes the
arena where fights, wars, political intrigue are
produced;
 The desire - the necessity - of having,
"conquering", expanding the "land" that one
possesses, furthers the boundaries of power:
domination is born;
 The land becomes the hub of all power struggle
and property: earth becomes territory.
 Conquests, feudalism, colonies, empires
followed
How the earth became Land to grab

13. No.1/13
 Roman law. It started before Christ and our legislation still depends on it.
 The idea of dominium. All territory they conquered is their land, and Roman
authority gave it according to their decisions.
 Later on Enclosures (Magna Carta 1235): enclosing a land is a tool to possess
 Private property. To possess a territory entitles to take advantage of
everything that is and happens on it: I own property on it, I dominate, take
contributions, taxes and all kinds of profit from it.
4.3.Twoissuesappearedinthehumanhistory

14. No.1/14
 Feudalism
 The land-territory and everything on it belongs to the owners.
 The peasants work & share 50% the harvest with the master. If
the produce does not satisfy the owner, the farmer is at fault,
loses his job, has to leave without any return for all the advance
made for housing and fields.
 A “dominance-dominium” moves from land to people: symbol
right of first night.
 Colonialism. That is:
 Occupy, settle, dominate. History
is plagued of colonizing empires:
Assyrian-Babylonian, Persian,
Roman, Russian, Spanish,
Portuguese, British.
 It can be economic, political,
military, cultural; it can be done
peacefully or violently. It implies
Migration (with settlement),
Exploitation (with structures)
Let'staketwosignificantexamples

15.  The human history goes forth, and a new consciousness opened its way:
each nation is sovereign at home.
 The independences came in, of various types: political, economic, and
cultural.
 The political ones come up in two ways:
 The settlers become independent from their mother country (see the
Americas);
 The native becomes independent of the colonizers: see Africa and Asia.
No.1/15Theindependences

16.  Political independence does not mean economic, or technological, or
commercial, or cultural independence. During colonial time, colonizing
countries had created their structures: often political independence is
achieved without economic or commercial or cultural independence: a
country remains in slavery.
 Today political independence is a fact and make the inhabitants owners of
their country, even though they are not economically or commercially or
culturally free : only few and small territories are still under colony status
and few are nations that acquire territory by force to exploit it.
No.1/16
The idea of the pygmies is
back: what matters is not
to own a territory but to
take advantage of it.
Theindependences

17. No.1/17
 People may assume a good stance in politics, economy, culture; where the
real struggle occurs today, is in the MARKET. Everything goes through
markets: culture (Coca-Cola and MacDonald); economy (accumulation of
goods and capital); weapons (market order); trade (transaction of goods
and finance); people (trafficking in persons).
The current reality
Where does land stand today?
 Today again we see that the
land-territory is the
background of all struggles
because all of the assets that
feed the market are found in a
territory: water, food,
minerals, roads, housing,
working people.

18. No.1/18
 It is the earth from where come the fruits we eat and where we build
our houses..
This specific earth-territory then becomes the arable land, the
agriculture land.
 But often it is not this Mother Earth where food is grown food: it is a
"good", a means to make money.
 It is object of greed. We’ll se why
 This land-territory nowadays, belongs to someone, state or private.
 Thus there is still a need to “conquer” new territories, new space for
trade and to quench the greed. How? A new and different way was
needed. And so
Land grabbing is born
This course will focus on arable
land that today is a central
element of new conflicts =
Land Grab (LG).
5-.TheEarthisthegroundsomeonecultivates

19. Personalactivityandworkinggroup No.1/19
1-. Introduction to working group (5 m)
2-. Personal activity No. 2 (15 m).
 Each participant draws a line on a
sheet of paper.
 The line is the way of life.
 Below the line, dates are written; up,
pictures or words are drawn (events
and experiences that motivate to
work for JPIC in relation to the land).
3-. Working Group No. 1 (30 m.).
 Participants go to their group
 Each group chooses a moderator and rapporteur
 Each participant shares his experience on the subject:
 Personal stories related to land: challenges, joys, failures, focusing
injustice.
 The moderator helps find common elements and notes them on
paper for submission to the assembly.
 The group responsible keeps the answers

20. Assembly No.1/20
(20 minutes)
 Each group submits an experience: "My way with JPIC
and land“
Each group chooses and presents an injustice from the
experiences that causes "Ethical indignation"

21. Conclusion. No.1/21
The answer is in the wind
(La Respuesta esta en el Viento)
Una de las canciones más emblemáticas de los 60’s,
obra del poeta del rock Robert Zimmerman, (Bob Dylan).
Himno en la lucha que la juventud americana y el mundo entero libró
y finalmente ganó para terminar la ominosa Guerra de Vietnam.
(A Resposta está soprando no Vento)
Uma das canções mais emblemáticas dos anos 60,
obra do poeta do rock Robert Zimmerman, (Bob Dylan).
Hino utilizado na luta que a juventude americana e todo o mundo
iniciaram, e ganharam, para terminar a nefasta Guerra do Vietname.
Blowin’ in theWind
Transición de diapositivas sincronizadas con la música. Se recomienda NO usar el mouse
Transição de slides sincronizada com a música. Recomenda-se NÃO utilizar o rato
 An old song translated in many languages to awaken
hope.
A long way is ahead to make the world as it should be but
hope is already blowing and we perceive the strength of
the pushing forward future.