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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Thursday, December 22, 2011

LAND GRAB: 160,000 people thrown off their land


Farmers with no property rights.
It is the same old story in so many places around the world.  Because of government policies many farmers are not allowed the deed to the property that they farm.  Governments then lease the land right from under the farmers and give it to foreign investment groups that are often owned by governments.


The Road to Serfdom Series
No Property Rights  -  Some 160,000 people will be removed from their land by foreign "investors".


A fierce debate is currently taking place concerning huge tracts of Tanzanian land which U.S. "green energy" investors are seeking to develop. Tens of thousands of former refugees now farm the land.  The investors say they want to "help" the east African country, but activists and Tanzania's opposition call it a land grab, reports Voice of America.

Tanzanian government officials say they are working on finalizing leases which would allow the company, Agrisol Energy Tanzania Limited, to develop 325,000 hectares in the western Rukwa and Kigoma regions.

The company in question is part of Agrisol Energy, a U.S-company co-founded by Iowa-based hog and ethanol entrepreneur Bruce Rastetter.

A recent letter issued by the environmental groups Sierra Club US and Sierra Club Canada expressed fears Agrisol's motivation is mainly export-driven biofuel production rather than food for local consumption.

A senior research fellow with the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute, Deborah Brautigam, is urging the Tanzanian government to take its time in making a decision on the proposed 99-year-lease.

Activists such as Anuradha Mittal from the US-based Oakland Institute have been waging letter writing and media campaigns against the project. She says if the deal goes ahead 160,000 people will be displaced. She also says there will be environmental degradation, and very few, if any benefits, for the local population.

In recent weeks, opposition leaders in Tanzania have also been speaking out against the proposed lease. Meshack Opulukwa from the opposition Chadema party told the country's lawmakers increased food production is no justification in taking away land from villagers.

(Voice of America)

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A victory against Chinese Communist "Investors"
The area Chinese "investors" had wished to buy is close to Iceland's Vatnajokull National Park.


Victory  -  Iceland says no to Chinese land grab
  • "There is no precedent for land on this scale being sold to foreigners."

A Chinese business tycoon who hoped to buy a swathe of land in north-east Iceland has attacked the government's decision to reject his bid.

Earlier this year Huang Nubo offered a billion krona (£5.4m; $8.8m) for the 300sq km (115 sq mile) Grimsstadir a Fjollum region.

Iceland's interior ministry said the deal did not comply with land sale rules.

Iceland officials were concerned that the move would help China gain a strategic foothold in a region where climate change is expected to open up new shipping routes and make oil and gas deposits accessible.

The interior ministry said that the deal would not go ahead because it did not comply with rules on foreign land ownership.

"The ministry believes that it's not possible to look past how much land the company wanted to purchase," it said in a statement.

"There is no precedent for land on this scale being sold to foreigners."

Mr Huang - who is the chairman of the Zhongkun investment group, and is also reported to have worked as a minister in the Chinese Communist Central Propaganda Department and Ministry of Construction - said his proposed investment was purely commercial.

(BBC News)

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The Road to Serfdom Series

The world is moving toward a modern form of Neo-Serfdom where everyone works for the all-powerful State or businesses controlled by the State.  A world where individual property rights and economic freedom do not exist. 

FREEDOM IS VANISHING:   What happens when the major employers are owned by government backed investment groups, or your food comes from government owned farms, or your news is delivered by so-called "private" corporations but are in reality connected and interconnected to governments?

George Orwell had a name for it:  Big Brother.

Please check out other stories in our Serfdom series.

THE FEDERALIST - "China is buying up Argentina."

THE FEDERALIST - "Corporations use Global Warming to steal land."

THE FEDERALIST - "China wants to buy a huge chunk of Iceland"

THE FEDERALIST - "China to buy up Australian farmland"

THE FEDERALIST - "Brazil takes action to protect their farmlands from foreigners"

THE FEDERALIST - "Saudi Arabian "Food Colonies" in Argentina"

THE FEDERALIST - "China buys oil fields in Texas"

THE FEDERALIST - "America is committing suicide - The Road to Serfdom, Part IV"

THE FEDERALIST - "The Road to Serfdom, Part III"

THE FEDERALIST - "Benito Mussolini was right"

THE FEDERALIST - "The Road to Serfdom, Part II"

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