A HISTORIC STARTING POINT

The historic reality of this statement is typically underpinned with references to the United States Bill of Rights (1776) and the French Revolution (1789). In the context of the discussion of land struggles and a human right to land, another, older historic event refers more directly to these issues. The so called Great Peasants’ War (German: Großer Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in the German-speaking areas of Central Europe, especially southwestern Germany between 1524 and 1525. It was preceded by more local peasant revolts in the second half of the 15th century like the Bundschuh movement. The historic background of these revolts was the renaissance of Roman law in many parts of Europe – especially Roman property law. In this context, the ruling elites appropriated common lands, forests and waters. The resulting systematic deprivation of access to these resources together with arbitrary corvée has been a key cause for the spreading of rural revolts in Central Europe. In March 1525 representatives of 50 southern German peasant groups (so called Haufen) gathered in Memmingen to elaborate a set of demands, the ‘12 Articles’, that can be seen as an articulation of their human rights. Articles 5 and 10 aptly highlight the context of their struggle:

Article 5:

Article 10:

The uprising against this appropriation and privatization of natural resources ended in a bloody war in 1525, where some 300,000 poorly armed peasants were slaughtered by the soldiers of the aristocracy. This revolt is a relevant but rarely referred to example of social struggle for basic human rights in the context of access to and control over natural resources.