Where There Is No Movement: Local Resistance and the Potential for Solidarity

Abstract

In Burma, any attempt to form independent agrarian movements is violently suppressed, yet rural Karen villagers have developed and practise complex forms of resistance involving inter‐community action and solidarity across wide regions. These have been successful in weakening state control over land and livelihoods largely because their lack of formal organization makes them difficult to target. Though Karen village resistance has characteristics that resemble ‘movements’ as broadly defined and make it comparable to some existing agrarian movements, transnational movement coalitions have yet to actively engage with it. This contribution argues that transnational agrarian movements and local struggles could both benefit from active engagement, and explores the possibility and potential for such engagement in the Karen case.