Who owns the land?

from w

Who owns the land, asks Colin Deoki in the Fiji Times today.

After a rambling introduction, Colin Deoki gets to the point in the end of his article:

To fully understand the solution to any land issue one has to first wrestle with the question — who owns the land Just recently, while watching a program about how children from diverse backgrounds communicate and relate with each other, I heard a young indigenous Australian boy say something so very profound about land ownership that it has left an indelible mark. He said, and I quote, "The land does not belong to us — we belong to the land!"

Leviticus 25:23 states: "The land, moreover, shall not be bought or sold permanently, for the land is mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with me."

I have always thought this, that paper titles or claims are secondary to the primary fact that humans are part of nature and in a relationship with nature,. The concept of ‘Deep Ecology’ is better than believing that we can ever ‘own’ land. As Colin quoted from a very old document – Leviticus – which I do take with a grain of salt mostly – we are sojourners, travellers on our way.