Weaponizing Hunger

Colonial legacies and stories of resilience from West Asia and North Africa

In their respective case studies from West Asia and North Africa (WANA), the six contributions to this publication examine how hunger is produced, instrumentalized, and endured under conditions of political violence. Across the region, starvation is not merely the result of scarcity or environmental crisis; it is deeply entangled with histories of war, colonial domination, and economic exploitation. WANA countries share a legacy of imperial violence that continues to shape their political economies and food systems today.

Under colonial rule, local economies were restructured to serve external interests. Territories that once functioned as breadbaskets for regional populations were transformed into sites of extractivism — supplying oil, gold, and other raw materials to imperial centers. These transformations undermined diversified agricultural systems and laid the groundwork for long-term food dependency. In the 1980s, structural adjustment programs imposed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund deepened these vulnerabilities. Policies promoting monoculture, hybrid seeds, and chemical inputs marginalized smallholder farmers and increased reliance on global food markets. Such dependencies have made societies acutely vulnerable in times of war, blockade, and crisis.

Although international law and humanitarian norms formally prohibit the starvation of civilians, enforcement remains weak, often constrained by the political interests of powerful actors. In this gap between legal principle and political reality, communities are forced to rely on their own strategies for survival. The struggle for food under conditions of violence thus becomes inseparable from the struggle for freedom. Farmers and communities resist deprivation by asserting their right to land, to livelihood, and to nourishment. Food sovereignty becomes a practice of resistance against control and destruction.

As this publication demonstrates, local actors across West Asia and North Africa have developed powerful forms of resilience — from communal kitchens and seed banks to cooperative farming networks and rooftop gardens. These initiatives not only sustain life under siege; they actively challenge the weaponization of hunger. They reveal the agency of affected populations and show that where legal protections fall short, communities preserve their livelihoods, knowledge, and cultural practices.

Food sovereignty, therefore, is not only about access to food. It encompasses practices of solidarity that reclaim resources, strengthen resilience in times of crisis, and transform entrenched power relations.

Content

• Tanja Tabbara:
  Legacies of Imperial Violence
  Starvation and Stories of Resilience from West Asia and North Africa
• Annia Ciezadlo:
  A Syrian Guide to Starvation
• Michelle Eid:
  Weaponizing Olives
  The Strategic Destruction of Lebanon’s Agriculture, Economy, and Connection to the Land
• Mohamed Ismail Ireg:
  Siege and Solidarity
  The Imperial Politics of Starvation in Sudan
• Dr. Imen Louati:
  Silent Violence, Agrarian Dependency
  The Fight for Food Sovereignty in North Africa
• Dr. Schluwa Sama:
  How Peasants Kept Resistance Alive
  Land, Labour, and Survival in Iraqi Kurdistan
• Raya Ziada:
  Harvesting Freedom
  Food Sovereignty and the Struggle against Colonial Hunger in Palestine

Authors

Annia Ciezadlo is a journalist; she edits investigations and long-form narrative reporting for the Beirut-based publication The Public Source.

Michelle Eid is a Lebanese researcher and the Programme Manager for Food Sovereignty at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s Beirut Office. 

Mohamed Ismail Ireg is an independent Sudanese agronomist, writer and researcher focusing on agriculture, food systems, and political economy in the Global South. 

Dr. Imen Louati is Programme Manager for Political Ecology and Researcher at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s North Africa Office. 

Dr. Schluwa Sama is an expert on agriculture, food systems, and political economy in Iraq and Kurdistan. 

Tanja Tabbara is Senior Advisor for socio-ecological transformation in Africa and West Asia at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in Berlin. 

Raya Ziada is a Palestinian researcher and writer based in Ramallah; she is the Food Sovereignty Programme Manager at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in Palestine and Jordan.