Land is always a deeply political issue, involving highly disputed and often very dangerous terrain, as recent events in Zimbabwe have illustrated all too graphically. But working on land requires adopting very long term horizons and sticking with things through thick and thin, for these are long term processes which defy quick fixes or easy final solutions. Contexts do differ greatly but it is clear that the clumsy imposition of liberalisation, the rolling back of the role of the state and of the state marketing boards, grain reserves and the like, combined with manifestly unfair international trade rules, have left many poor people far more vulnerable than they were and far more dependent on access to land than ever before, while that very access is increasingly threatened in a globalising world. In such a context, struggles for land rights continue to form a vital part of the wider fight for global justice. This is according to a paper for a Oxfam-Zambia Copperbelt Livelihoods Improvement Programme Land Workshop held on 29-30 March 2004.