SHARE
THE EARTH:
Truxton, NY to Cajibio, Colombia
by Colleen Kattau
In 1976, visionary and social
activist Hank Strunk used a personal inheritance to purchase 432 acres of land
on the south slope of Morgan Hill in Truxton, NY with the aim of making land
accessible for the development of a community committed to ecological land stewardship.
Today there are 12 households at Common Place Land Cooperative (CPLC) working
to live out that vision.
As CPLC celebrates its 30th year, it is proud to announce the first use of its
"Land Liberation Fund," a $10,000 donation to assist the Small Farmer's
Movement of Cajibio, Colombia. The money will support young people in their
quest to remain on the land and to secure it for future generations.
CPLC, which developed out of Syracuse's New Environment Association, was formally
established in 1982, along with its parent corporation "Share Earth."
Both were created to foster care of the land, with Share Earth serving as a
think tank and economic supporter of the community land trust movement, while
CPLC was the first cooperative to occupy and utilize the land provided by Share
Earth. CPLC leases the land in perpetuity "on ecologically sound and economically
nonspeculative" terms. The core ideals of both entities revolve principally
around ecological sustainability, balance with nature and cooperative community.
Equally important as making
space for this first community was the establishment of a Land Acquisition Fund
(nicknamed "the Land Liberation Fund") to which all residents of Common
Place contribute. It was envisioned that a relatively small donation to the
fund by all members (in lieu of a mortgage for the land) would keep the gift
of free land moving forward, and over time would be significant enough to purchase
more land for newly forming land trusts. The fund would facilitate the "liberation"
of land away from market forces and privatized ownership, and towards collective
ecological stewardship.
The Cajibio Connection
In 1990 the Small Farmer's
Movement of Cajibio (MCC) emerged as a collective organization which united
nine rural communities in a commitment to develop alternatives and strategies
against multinational incursion and its accompanying state and paramilitary
violence. In 2002 several Central New York activists traveled to Colombia with
Witness for Peace and met Marylen Serna Salinas, one of the leaders of the MCC.
That meeting was the seed out of which a sister-city partnership between Syracuse,
Cortland, Ithaca, and Cajibio emerged. Since that time two more delegations
have visited Colombia and representatives of the MCC have come to this area.
As contact between the partners increased, we recognized that the theoretical
underpinnings informing the MCC's concrete goals were very much aligned to those
of Share Earth and CPLC. The land stewardship principle that CPLC adheres to
parallels the idea of Territory that underlies MCC's existence - both concepts
embrace the right to inhabit and utilize land and the responsibility to share
and safeguard it for future generations.
In stark contrast to the pressures of US and transnational models of economic
development, the campesinos (small farmers) have always looked to the
land itself, without which they cannot survive. Not only in an economic sense,
but culturally and spiritually their lives are inextricably tied to, as they
call it, their "territory." MCC members pursue land recovery not just
to reverse the legacy of lands stolen by European invaders, but also for the
opportunity to steward the land and protect it from commercial purposes and
concentrated profit.
Lack of access to land has been a major obstacle for the MCC. Despite that,
they have made tremendous strides amidst adverse conditions of poverty and militarized
conflict. A 2004 sister-city delegation, for instance, visited one of the small
family farms participating in the MCC. The farm was an exciting demonstration
of ecological recuperation, nutritional sovereignty*and permaculture
- an example of what they envision for the rest of the community.
A Mutually Beneficial Proposal
In spring 2005, while the Central
New York half of the sister-partnership explored the possibility of providing
funding to Cajibio for land purchase, the Small Farmers Movement had been meeting
with the young people of their organization who wanted to participate in the
land recovery work. They needed land for a small youth center for cultural and
educational activities and to grow organic crops for local consumption. They
would also teach the younger children about organic farming. It was a perfect
time to propose using the Land Liberation Fund to support this project.
All CPLC decisions are made by consensus, rarely quickly or easily. In the case
of the Cajibio proposal, a series of potlucks and presentations were held to
familiarize Common Place members with the MCC's mission and accomplishments.
It took time to work through the idea that the fund could indeed be used in
all the Americas, not just the US. It was also interesting to realize that while
CPLC had the privilege to intentionally start and maintain a land trust as part
of the back to the land movement, the people of Cajibio have been struggling
to remain on the land - a struggle that has continued for 500 years.
In May of this year CPLC finally reached consensus to donate money for land
purchase to the MCC.
Through its deliberations, CPLC was reconnected to its founding document that
states "it is one finite Earth in this Infinite universe which must be
shared amongst all." The donation was also a way to honor Hank's deep commitment
to the people of Latin America.
The MCC and CPLC have much to learn from each other. It is our hope that young
people from both communities have the chance to visit each other soon and that
we can support the collectivist expression so central to MCC's success while
learning from them how to temper our own disproportionate individualism.
Colleen is a singer/songwriter and Spanish Professor at SUNY Cortland. She is a member of both CPLC and the Central NY/ Cajibio sister-partnership and visited Cajibio in 2004.
*"Nutritional sovereignty"is the MCC phrase used to describe self-sufficiency of food production and autonomy in making decisions about how and what to grow, in contrast to the dependency fostered by multinationals like Mosanto who constantly pressure them to purchase seeds, pesticides, etc.