Solidarities from Below in the Making of Emancipatory Rural Politics: Insights from Food Sovereignty Struggles in the Basque Country

Abstract

Exclusionary and regressive politics are on the rise globally. How do food sovereignty struggles help counter these forces? We ground our analysis on how EHNE-Bizkaia, a Via Campesina member organisation in the Basque Country, conceptualises and practices food sovereignty. Inspired by Massey's 'politics of place beyond place' and Featherstone's work on left politics and solidarity, we shed light on the ways that this organisation mobilises food sovereignty to establish political bonds between those marginalised by neo-liberalism, helping to construct political identities and enact forms of subaltern agency that challenge uneven power relations and geographies. We argue that 'solidarity from below' is key in building an emancipatory rural politics rooted in class-based alliances, intersectionality, and internationalism as well as non-exclusionary notions of sovereignty. The article provides theoretical and empirical insights on what constitutes an emancipatory politics of food sovereignty that has the potential to act as a counterforce to right-wing populism.