Land Consciousness: What can England learn from Scotland about Taking Back Control?

Radical Performance Knowledges webinar series + Place and Performance Research Group present:

Land Consciousness: What can England learn from Scotland about Taking Back Control?

Alastair McIntosh

In Scotland, three per cent of the land is now owned by some 500 community groups, and citizens have a responsible right to roam anywhere. Ordinary people feel like they own their own country, that they have taken or are taking back control, but that did not come from nowhere. Rather, it developed as a gradual process of conscientisation (in the sense of conscience and consciousness), theological and spiritual reconnection, community inspiration from countries of the South, researching and reclaiming history, and propagation through the arts. How does England’s position compare with Scotland, and what might English land rights activists learn from Scotland’s ongoing process?

Alastair McIntosh is a Scottish land reform activist, born in Doncaster of an English mother, raised on the Isle of Lewis of a Scottish father. A pioneer of modern Scottish land reform, his books include Soil and Soul which George Monbiot described as “world-changing”, Rekindling Community, Poacher’s Pilgrimage and most recently, Riders on the Storm, about climate change. He is an honorary professor at the University of Glasgow.