The Local to Global Justice Forum and Festival is an annual event that gathers over two hundred student, faculty, and community activists from across the state and region, connecting local issues to global struggles. Each year, we explore a new theme that addresses pressing social issues. For the 24th Annual Forum and Festival, we will be focusing on multiple meanings of Land Justice, with recognition that all land justice is anchored in issues of Indigenous land [in]justice. 

Land justice addresses the deep-rooted inequities surrounding land ownership, access, and stewardship—issues that intersect with race, gender, class, colonization, extraction, and environmental sustainability. Around the world and locally, we witness the continued struggles of Indigenous peoples, rural communities, and marginalized groups to maintain control over their lands in the face of corporate exploitation, climate change, and unjust land policies. Communities and activists are resisting these injustices through advocacy, education, organizing, working toward equitable land distribution, environmental conservation, and the recognition of land as a fundamental human right. 

The “land back” movement for Indigenous communities such as the state of California’s return of 2800 acres to the Shasta Nation and responses to unhoused populations by organizations such as Newtown to create equitable and affordable housing are two examples. Recent examples of grassroots efforts are challenging economic and housing inequalities, emphasizing the importance of land as central to justice, identity, and survival.