Motivation behind the Landworkers Alliance Identity-based groups
The Landworkers’ Alliance supports a model of change based in grassroots organising and social movements as drivers of social and political transformation. We believe in bringing people together to build collective power that can create practical and political solutions to the multiple crises we currently face. But this is only possible when you heal the impact of various forms of oppression, including: colonialism, imperialism, racism, patriarchy, sexism, gender discrimination and classism.
Identity groups are part of our political commitment to support those who have been, and continue to be, marginalised in landwork and food. They are a space for members who experience specific kinds of oppression or marginalisation to come together, share experiences, develop activities and services tailored to their needs and build up a collective strength and perspective together, and to be more visible within the movement.
The current identity groups are:
- Out on the Land (OOTL) - LGBTQIA+ members
- Racial Equity, Abolition and Liberation (REAL) - BPOC members
- Food, Land, Agriculture: A Movement for Equality (FLAME) - Youth members
- Women and Diverse Genders (WDG)
Member-led groups are coordinated by a group of member organisers, members who have chosen to be more active and involved in the organising work of the group. They receive support from the LWA Membership Team, and are assigned an annual seed fund. Groups are supported by the LWA if they wish to fundraise, and most identity groups are involved in a range of funded projects.
These groups all emerged in different ways and at different times, spearheaded by members who recognised a need for these spaces and had the energy and desire to self-organise. The most recent addition to the identity groups is Women and Diverse Genders (in Forestry & Landwork) (WDG) which emerged from the recognition that the forestry industry in the UK permeates a particularly toxic culture of masculinity, which often excludes women, people of diverse genders, and sometimes even men.
These groups make it more accessible for those marginalised in landwork to join and be an active part of our movement, and it also ensures that underrepresented voices are heard in the work of the LWA.
The influence of identity groups on LWA's mission and work
The identity groups of LWA benefit both those who experience marginalisation, but also the movement as a whole. They are important caucus spaces and their presence and involvement helps us build the strength of our movement, hopefully, in more inclusive and visionary ways.
For example, in 2022 OOTL wrote a powerful LWA statement in support of trans and nonbinary landworkers, and this year REAL will be steering on the development of the LWA’s Racial Justice Strategy. The purpose of the strategy will be to ensure that all of the LWA’s work is aligned with and supportive of movements towards racial justice and liberation, to encode liberatory politics into the infrastructure of our work, to support members and staff in journeys towards liberation, and integrate learnings from our Learning History project.
These are just two examples of identity group members steering the work that we do, with identity groups being spaces to ensure that underrepresented and marginalised voices are heard in our work. As a member-led union we really emphasise member democracy, but in this work it is important for us to be thinking about who is making decisions, and who is doing the work under the umbrella of the LWA. It is also important for us to be accountable to marginalised voices, and to make sure that we are not acting in exploitative or extractive ways.
All member-led groups have delegates who attend the annual Organisers’ Assembly, a space where member organisers get to meet with other organisers, staff, and members of the coordinating group. The assembly was conceived as a way for representatives of all the member-led groups to come together and have a democratic voice and strengthen practices through peer to peer learning. We’re currently working on building up the democratic muscle of the LWA by transforming the Organisers’ Assembly into a decision making body in a General Assembly model. Our identity groups mean that underrepresented voices will hopefully always have a seat at the table, as delegates from all member-led groups will be involved in steering the work of the LWA.
Impact and benefits of joining the affinity groups
Being a landworker can be a really isolating experience, amplified greatly for those who inhabit marginalised identities. Over and over again we hear that identity group spaces allow for members to finally feel in community, to be recognised and validated in their stories, struggles, and successes. They are spaces for mutual aid, recognition, and being held in safe space. They are also spaces for members to work together to build the movement that they want to see.
We often have identity group spaces at events, such as our AGM and the Land Skills Fair (LSF), recognising that those experiencing marginalisation may want to come together for rest and respite and a safe space to exist fully as themselves.
At the 2022 LSF, Women and Diverse Genders held a sharing circle attended by many, and it highlighted a great desire and need for a space for that community to continue to come together and stay connected, which prompted the solidifying of the group as an official member-led identity group. Those in attendance highlighted that it is isolating and tiring to work in a male-dominated sector, and that the group would be an important opportunity to build community and support each other. Many members echoed the desire for community and safe spaces to be together, share challenges, and support each other.
They then went on to host a really successful Skillshare, where folks were able to share marginalised knowledge and skills (such as picking up heavy stuff safely) and celebrate each other’s crafts and skills. It was a space in which women and gender diverse people were at the centre of sharing, as an important way to shift the power dynamic in which men hold much of the knowledge in forestry and in the use of heavy machinery. Read a blog post celebrating this diversity here.
FLAME regularly hosts fully funded educational trips designed to make learning landworking skills and experiences available to all, looking to make the prospect of a livelihood based in landwork more accessible to young people.
As the staff link for REAL (and a member myself), at every meeting I witness the power and importance of BPOC landworkers being in a space with others just like them, in an industry that is so overwhelmingly white. I often leave meetings feeling moved, breathing more deeply, and hopeful.
