Guerrilla farms: Practicing food sovereignty in Assam

With the aim to free Assam from the ‘colonial occupation of India’ and reclaim its sovereignty, the guerrillas of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) had led a self-determination movement in Assam since 1979. Their struggle is grounded upon the extractive nature of the Indian Government to turn Assam into what scholars have called to be a ‘colonial hinterland’ for oil, tea, coal, and forest products. This article is about the farming initiatives of the ULFA guerrillas under ceasefire, to see how their continued engagement with the land expands the everyday notions of sovereignty. For this, we navigate through the pothar (agricultural field), bari (garden), and habi (jungle) which once were symbols of food sovereignty in rural Assam. In this article, we examine how these spaces have transformed under militarization or the market economy, and the activities of the guerrillas towards reclaiming these spaces under ceasefire. Their demand for sovereignty continues to generate questions of self-reliance, sustainability, and growing food for self and the community. This is in contrast to the security concerns of the state that solely frame the self-determination movements in Northeast India.