On the International Day of Peasant Struggles, rural communities across Tunisia mobilized in defense of their land, livelihoods, and dignity. In regions such as Borj Toumi, Zaghouan, Bizerte, Jbeniana, and Gabès, they staged actions that expressed not only solidarity with Palestinian farmers but resistance to a shared system of marginalization. These mobilizations followed a key conference in April that connected the agricultural struggles in Palestine to those faced by Tunisia’s rural population, highlighting common patterns of dispossession, dependency, and exploitation.
This movement reflects a growing transnational narrative in which peasants are recognized not merely as food producers, but as defenders of sovereignty and political agency. Their resistance whether to military occupation or market liberalization underscores their frontline role in challenging global systems of land grabbing, structural inequality, and capitalist exploitation.
Tunisia’s rural crisis is rooted not in mere underdevelopment, but in the legacy of colonial land dispossession reconfigured through neoliberal globalization. Key trade agreements signed in the 1990s opened the country to foreign markets and subordinated local food systems to external trade imperatives. As Tunisia aligned itself with international institutions and European regulations, it surrendered tools necessary to protect smallholder farmers. Infrastructure declined, public cooperatives collapsed, and investment in the rural sector waned. Export-driven monocultures displaced diverse local agriculture, rendering communities vulnerable to climate shocks and food insecurity.
Once celebrated as “Green Tunisia,” the country is now marked by degraded lands, industrial pollution, and increasing droughts. Yet the state remains committed to development models dictated by foreign lenders and trade partners, prioritizing tourism and export logistics over rural well-being. This is not a failure of planning, but a deliberate governance model that transforms sovereignty into economic dependency.
The situation is especially dire for rural women, who make up over 70% of Tunisia’s agricultural labor force but face entrenched inequality. With less than 7% owning land, most women work informally, lacking social security, healthcare, or legal protections. Their labor is essential but undervalued, and they are often transported in unsafe vehicles dubbed “death trucks” which have led to numerous fatal accidents. This tragic reality symbolizes a wider system that disregards rural women’s safety, dignity, and contributions.
The dismantling of cooperatives and privatization of services have further marginalized women, cutting off access to credit, markets, and public support. Without land ownership or legal recognition, their economic participation is restricted, perpetuating poverty and disempowerment across generations. Still, rural women resist through informal seed-sharing networks, local organizing, and food sovereignty initiatives defending their land and reclaiming agency in a broken system.
Parallel struggles unfold in Palestine, where farming is a political act of survival under occupation. Farmers face land confiscation, water deprivation, and the destruction of crops and infrastructure. Agricultural activity is systematically targeted through military violence and apartheid policies that deny Palestinians access to their own land and resources. Yet through olive cultivation, seed saving, and community resilience, Palestinian peasants continue to assert their presence and identity.
Across borders, these struggles are deeply interconnected. From Tunisia to Palestine, from Indigenous communities in Latin America to African pastoralists, peasants are rising as global frontliners in the fight for land justice, food sovereignty, and ecological balance. They embody a transformative vision rooted in autonomy, sustainability, and solidarity a counterforce to a system driven by greed and environmental destruction. Their defiance carries not only historical weight, but profound hope for a just future.
