About us
LION is a grassroots Black-led collective committed to reparations in Britain by connecting land and climate justice with racial justice.
We reimagine dynamics of land stewardship and are committed to a deep healing of the colonial-rooted trauma that separates us from the land.
We understand land rights as the basis for revolution and sovereignty in our communities.
We are working to transform the narrative around land in Britain in how it relates to intersections of race, gender and class for systemic change.
What is our vision?
Our vision is to usher a movement for liberation through land and racial justice.
We want to mobilise a network of BPOC land stewards, striving for access to land and affirming the right to grow and live in safe, sustainable communities.
Our desire is to foster a relationship with the land that exists beyond the dynamics of extraction.
Land has always been a focal point for organising within our communities across the diaspora and it is our hope that this movement can continue in this tradition.
Why is there a need for this?
Land is often overlooked within society, unrecognised in the structures and institutions it underpins.
In the UK, ‘BAME’ communities are 60% less likely to be able to access green space and natural environments than their white counterparts. (Natural England)
There is a vital need for healing, land redistribution and resurgence of ancestral farming practices that honour this Earth, disrupting the domination of it as simply a resource to be harnessed.
Unequal access to land is particularly stark in Britain, where land ownership is often inherited, and concentrated into hands of a few wealthy (white) individuals and families.
Little research exists on the racial demographics of land ownership but we do know that 1% of the population own more than 50% of the land in England alone, with 30% of land in the hands of the aristocracy and gentry. (Who owns England?, 2019)
There is a need to interrogate this history and contextualise it in our collective narratives of justice.