Land Grabbing

To the governments and corporations buying up vast tracts of the Third World, it is ‘land leasing’; to its critics, it is nothing better than ‘land grabbing’ – the engine powering a new era of colonialism. In this arresting account of how millions of hectares of fertile soil are
stolen to feed wealthy westerners thousands of miles away, journalist Stefano Liberti takes readers on a tour of contemporary exploitation.

It is a journey encompassing a Dutch-owned model farm in Ethiopia; a conference in Riyadh, where representatives of Third World governments compete to attract Saudi investors; meetings in Rome where the fate of nations is decided; and the headquarters of the Movement of
Landless Workers in São Paulo.

Since the food crisis of 2007–8, when the cost of staples such as rice and corn went through the roof, the race to acquire land in the southern hemisphere has become more intense than ever. Land Grabbing is the shocking story of how one half of the world is starved to feed the other.‘One of the most thoughtful analyses of agrarian capitalism is also one of the twenty-first century’s most gripping travelogues. Liberti’s precise, occasionally wicked, sketches aren’t merely enjoyable for their own sake. They’re a reminder that both the commission of and the struggle against the global food crisis involves real people’. 
Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System

‘Exemplary reportage . . . accurate, engaged, honest’
Corriere de la Sera

‘Liberti writes with the curiosity and passion of the great journalists of the past’
Internazionale


Praise for A sud di Lampedusa

"Exemplary reportage ... accurate, engaged, honest."—Corriere della Sera

"Liberti writes with the curiosity and passion of the great journalists of the past."—InternazionaleStefano Liberti is a journalist at the foreign desk of the Italian daily newspaper il manifesto. He is the author of two books: Lo stivale meticcio, a short critical guide documenting the condition of contemporary foreign immigrants in Italy, and A sud di Lampedusa, a groundbreaking exploration of the routes of Sub-Saharan African migrations to Western Europe. He is the winner of the 2008 Luchetta Prize, 2010 Carletti Prize, and 2010 Indro Montanelli Prize for his writing.