Abstract

The military and the business of border control are two expanding investment sectors. But what is their link to the food we consume? And what do labour conditions in agriculture tell us about the nature of value and investment in the contemporary global economy? My paper discusses the impact of the NATO war on Libya and the externalization of EU borders in the Mediterranean upon the development of labour exploitation and unfree labour in the agricultural sector in southern Europe, looking in particular at the case of Italy. Focusing on the period between the 2007/8 crisis, the 2011 uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East and 2018, I trace the links between the pillaging of Libyan resources and the exploitation of immigrant workers in Libya and in Italian agriculture, as well as the role of the Italian state and Libyan state and non-state actors in containing and disciplining a reserve army of black African labour through a brutal system of detention, extortion and forced labour. This system both traps immigrants in Libya and pushes them towards Europe. Agri-business and retail corporations operating in Italy have benefitted from the import of cheap energy and vulnerable workers from Libya. Immigrants’ experiences of violence and forced labour in Libya can play a disciplining role when they arrive in Italy, but can also encourage them to mobilize and reclaim their collective rights. The paper concludes with a reflection on the role of war and borders in a new era of global revolt.