Islands of the Occupation

Fishing boats at the tip of an occupied char. For a successful land occupation, the movement needs a strong occupation committe, whose leaders can withstand attacks by the landlords' goondas (hired thugs); a strong mass mobilization; a medical team who can provide medical treatment to those who suffer physical attacks; and a legal team to fight the legal cases brought by landlords in the local courts in an attempt to stop the occupation.

Monsoon Flooding

During the Monsoon, the river inundates the low lying land of the occupied islands (chars), creating problems in terms of protecting grazing cattle, growing food etc.

Ganges Delta

Travelling south through the Monsoon-swollen rivers of the Ganges delta. Peasant homes cling to the small crops of land not yet inundated by the river's swell.

Bangladesh Kisani Sabha

Members of the Lisani Sabha (Landless peasant women's association) in a meeting in Kurigram district, northern Bangladesh.

Rain Comes, then River

Meeting of the BKF and BKS, Kurigram District. Picture by Pathak Lal Golder.

'The sky has gone to bed" commented Pathak-bhai as we trundled by rickshaw down the dirt road from Bhurungamari, in Bangladesh's northern Kurigram district. Cloud filled, silver grey sky is reflected in the turgid river's flow. The Monsoon has finally arrived late, but with typical torrential elan: "Rain comes, then river" he adds, as roads become rivers before us. The border town - 3km from West Bengal in India - shelters from the rain. Jute rope hangs over bridges. Jute sticks are stacked in teepee cones. Jungle green and humid heat. The cadres of the Bangladesh Krishok Federation (BKF) move through the rain and the mud and the jungle. Past river, and padi, flooded field and peasant huts with their corrugated metal roofs, the resistance travels from village to village, meeting to meeting. And I move with them.

We stay in the simple homes of the landless peasants. Eat fiery chicken and fish curry with the peasant staple, rice. We drink well water turned muddy red with oxidizing iron, and black chai (tea) scented with cloves. At meetings I speak about food security and the changing climate: "Brothers and sisters, peace be to you.....". The mobile is the crucial activist organising tool of choice, and BKF activist mobiles ring-tone to the tunes of Bollywood and political songs: "The land is fertile, but there is no land for the peasant".

The BKF organise peasants for land occupations so that they may legitimately live lives of dignity, but they face constant attacks from landlords and their private goondas (armed thugs). Peasant activists are attacked, beaten, burned, jailed, and their homes burned. As Pathak bhai says: "That is the reality that we face. We need a strong organising committee, with leaders who can fight the goondas. We need a strong mobilization, with not just the peasants of the BKF and the Bangladesh Kisani Sabha (BKS), but also medical teams to treat those who are attacked, and a legal team to fight the legal cases brought by the landlords against our movement". The BKF will use strikes, and sit ins, gheraos (surrounding offices and local politicians), hunger strikes and mass actions...prior to the invasion of the land. And remember: the land occupied is khas land, i.e. land that was fallow and to which the landless are legally entitled according to the country's constitution.

The cadres of the BKF and BKS move through the rain and the mud and the jungle. And I move with them.

Bangladesh Krishok Federation

Barisal District Conference (2009) of BKF and BKS demanding khas land for the landless. Photo by Pathak Lal Golder, BKF.

The Bangladesh Krishok Federation (BKF), is the largest rural based peasant movement in the country, and was established in 1976. Since its inception it has been actively involved in land occupation struggles. From 1977 until 1991 the BKF conducted various types of struggles and movements e.g. hunger strikes, sit-in strikes, public meetings, the encirclements of the local administrative offices (gherao), demonstrations, and road blocks. Through different agitation programs, the BKF has been able to compel local government officials, at different times, to make commitments about the distribution of land amongst landless men and women. Despite these commitments no concrete action was taken. However, in 1987 the government introduced a land law called the "Land Administration Manual" which enabled landless people to occupy and farm fallow (khas) land. Because of this new land law, the movement gained momentum.

Since 1987 the BKF has demanded the distribution of khas land among landless men and women as stated in the land law. Because of ongoing government refusal to take any initiative on behalf of the landless, since 1992 the BKF has organised landless people to occupy khas land. This time over 22,000 acres of land on 4 chars (small islands) in the southern coastal belt were occupied. During the occupation movement, the BKF has encountered many impediments from the local big landowners and their goondas (armed thugs), and some local bureaucrats working in the Land Revenue Department. Local large landowners have made several attacks on the landless people's settlements on the chars. Every time, the landowners were defeated, but the landless people had to shed blood for their victories. In remaining in their settlements, the people have built their homes, cultivated their land, and grown different indigenous crops (e.g. rice, vegetables, and fruits). Since 1992, the land occupation movement has continued, and so far, under the leadership of the BKF, the landless people have been able to occupy approximately 80,000 acres of khas land, across Bangladesh. Most of the occupations are concentrated in the south of the country and land has been distributed to more than 107,000 of the poorest men and women living in the countryside. Currently 27 chars are occupied throughout Bangladesh.


The BKF now has 700,000 members and it belongs to the Aaht Sangathan (the Eight Organisations) which includes the Bangladesh Kisani Sabha (BKS, peasant women's organisation, 800,000 members); Floating Labour Union (100,000 members; Floating Women's Labour Union (150,000 members); Bangladesh Adivasi Samiti (indigenous committee, 50,000 members); Rural Intellectual Front (5,000 members); Ganasaya Cultural Centre (200 members); and the Revolutionary Youth Association 5,000 members). The total membership of the Aaht Sangathan is now close to 2 million members.

Dhaka Landing

Monsoon rains fall in the humid heat of Bangladesh's capital. We travel by bicycle rickshaw through the traffic past the highrise apartment horizon of speculative capital, now crashed like the rest of the global economy. In Bangladesh, the garment industry has been badly hit by the recesssion, as too those middle classes who gambled on the stock market, and the state sector. Food prices have risen, felt especially by the poor. For the rickshaw wallah, another day amongst traffic horns and exhaust fumes, dodging buses and traffic cops. For me, a meeting with the Bangladesh Krishok Federation (the landless peasants movement) to discuss issues of food sovereignty and climate change and to plan a programme for my visit.