Rural people in third world countries, and especially the poorer rural people, are losers in many ways. Whatever vocabulary is in fashion whether one talks of dependence, deprivation, domination, exclusion, exploitation, impoverishment, marginalisation, powerlessness or subordination part of the reality to be captured is weakness. This weakness is often seen in terms of lack of political organisation, poor access to resources, employment and services, and impotence in the face of class and urban interests and of the machinery of the state.