A Plot of Land for Peace

Land ownership has been the root cause of most revolutions and civil unrest throughout history. Too few have owned the land, while too many have had none. Having no land means going hungry and living as serfs, without any hope for the future. This is the story of Latin America, and explains why movements such as the FARC in Colombia have fought for so long.

The fact that land reform is the first point that the parties to the Colombian peace talks have agreed on shows just how important this issue is. What's most striking is that the government has agreed to give away public lands to peasants to cultivate them. Which begs the question: Why has it taken it so long for them to do it? One could understand that the government would resist the idea of taking land from the wealthy to give to the poor, but giving poor farmers a plot of public land could have been done decades ago.

This is the kind of insensitivity that breeds resentment and, ultimately, armed struggle by the downtrodden everywhere.

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