International Conference:

Development, War, and Agriculture in the Arab-Iranian Region

Rethinking the Agrarian Question

November 6–9, 2025 | Tunis, Tunisia

Simultaneous translation will be provided in English, French, and Arabic.

Program

Day 1, 6 November 2025

8h30 : Conference introduction

9h - 11H Keynote speaker : Utsa Patnaik

Panel 1 — 11h15 - 13h:  Imperialism, development and the agrarian question in the region

  1. The Dedevelopment of Iran After the 1953 Coup: Imperialist Security Priorities and the Disruption of National Development, Mohammad Jamshidi-Manesh.
  2. From Sanctions to Privatization. The Slow and Structural Harms of Iranian Sanctions Regime, Helyeh Doutaghi.
  3. Imperialist-Settler Genocide, Militarization, and the Agrarian Question: Dispossession and Resistance in Tunisia and Palestine, Corinna Mulin.
  4. Palestine, the ‘weakest link’ in the chain for Yemen, Jude Kadri  (ONLINE).
  5. “The Agrarian Counter-Revolution: Imperialist Re-Subordination and Class Re-Formation in Neoliberal Algeria”, Brahim Rouabah

Pause

Panel 2 — 14h - 15h45 : Critique of Agrarian Politics/Policies

  1. Women-led agricultural cooperatives as a conduit for neoliberal policies? Reflections on rural Tunisia’s Post-1990s Trajectory, Mariateresa Natuzzi.
  2. The socio-ecological implications of endless agrarian modernization in Morocco: The Plan Vert and the agrarian questions of land, food, gendered labour and nature, Giuliano Martiniello.
  3. From State-Led Development to Neoliberalism: Impact of Agrarian Policy Changes on Smallholder Food Systems in Southern Africa, Patience Sibanda.
  4. The Peasantry as Revolutionary Subject in the Context of Post-Colonial Arab State in a Changing World Order, M.Wajdi Abu Sweireh

Panel 3 — 16h - 18h : Critique of Agrarian Politics/Policies

  1. From commons to commodities: The dispossession of collective irrigation systems in Tunisia, Khadija Limem.
  2. Beyond comparative advantage: olive oil, ecological unequal exchange, and postcolonial trade dependency in Tunisia, Kais Bouazzi
  3. The impact of the transition from a traditional agricultural society to a rentier-monetary economy on women's roles and power over their bodies, Asmaa Abdel Aziz
  4. Land, Capital, and the Absence of a National Bourgeoisie: Agrarian Transformation and Imperial Domination in Pre-Revolution Iran  Alireza Kheirollahi, Zahra Memarianpour, Sajjad Moqayyad.
  5. Yemen: labour and skill to the fore, Martha Williams MUNDY

To attend the conference

The conference will be held on the first floor of the Hotel Africa, in the "Malawi" room.