Capitalism, crises and nature. A land grabbing analysis in and from Global South

Abstract

Land grabbing refers to the global process of large scale land acquisitions in other states, triggered in the context of international crises convergence —food, energy, financial and ecological— of 2008. This paper analyses the reasons which turn land grabbing into a global phenomenon, irreducible to North-South logic. Additionally, its implications for Global South definition and international position are investigated. Based on ecological marxism, it is argued that land grabbing is rooted in capitalist dynamics, which turn land essential for accumulation process. The reason is that it represents a response to global power redefinition, with new actors competing for access to scarce natural goods in a multiple crisis context. At the same time, the participation of great South powers in this process contribute to the reproduction, within Global South, of patterns of exploitation and dispossession similar to North’s. For that, it is studied the China project in Xai-Xai, Mozambique.