Range war

Une range war est un type de conflit de l’Ouest américain, habituellement violent, qui a eu lieu le plus souvent au 19e et au début du 20e siècle.

Histoire

L'origine de ces conflits était le contrôle des pâturages (open range) librement utilisés pour le bétail et qui ont donné leur nom à ce type de conflit. Habituellement, il s’agissait de différends concernant les droits d’accès à l'eau, ou les droits de pâture, et aussi la propriété du bétail[1].

Ces guerres ont eu lieu avant la Taylor Grazing Act de 1934 qui réglementait les parcelles de pâturage sur les terres publiques. La guerre du comté de Johnson est un exemple de range war, mais il y en a eu beaucoup d'autres.

Usage moderne

Alors qu’au cours des siècles précédents la violence était souvent d'usage[2], le terme s’applique de nos jours à la concurrence pour des ressources rares, comme entre les éleveurs et les environnementalistes[3]^,[4], ou entre les éleveurs et les amateurs de chevaux sauvages[5].

Range war est aussi un terme d’argot pour désigner une guerre de territoire ou un désaccord sur une relation hiérarchique. Il est souvent utilisé en politique ou dans les affaires[6]^,[7].

Range wars dans la littérature et la culture populaire

Range War, film de 1939 avec Hopalong Cassidy.
Range War, roman de Lauran Paine sur la guerre de Johnson County.
The Virginian un roman de Owen Wister.
Shane, un film de 1953 avec Alan Ladd.
Oklahoma!, comédie musicale de 1943.
Chisum, un western de 1970.
Heaven's Gate, film de 1980.
Tom Horn, film de 1980 avec Steve McQueen.
Open Range, film avec Kevin Costner.

Références

Johnson, Marilynn S., Violence in the West: The Johnson County Range War and Ludlow Massacre: A Brief History with Documents. Bedford Series in History & Culture : First edition (September 18, 2008. p. 12. (ISBN 978-0312445799)
Cecilia Rasmussen, « Castaic Range War Left Up to 21 Dead », Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society (consulté le 4 juillet 2004) (sourced from the Los Angeles Times): "The violent, long-running Jenkins-Chormicle feud, which started in 1890 over a boundary dispute, is a colorful and cruel saga – part fact, part myth – of barn burnings, ambushes and gun battles on horseback. It lasted more than two decades." describes a Southern California range war that started in 1890.
U of Idaho Range Management site telling of conflict in Idaho: " Range wars continue, just as they did a century ago, between those who have grazing rights and those who do not. Today these range wars pit ranchers, with state grazing leases, against the environmental groups that are trying to restore the grazing lease areas to a healthy and pristine land. The weapons have changed from the cold steel of a gun to the amount of cold hard cash a rancher or an environmental group will pay for a piece of land."
Brazil's Range War on the Amazon
MSNBC site, telling of Bureau of Land Management policy changes and impacts: "The mustangs' current troubles come thanks in part to another Western icon: cattle ranchers. There are currently 37,000 mustangs sharing public rangelands with several million head of cattle. The result has been overgrazing, exacerbated by six years of drought. To restore the land, the BLM has cut the number of cattle allowed, and ranchers say the horses and burros have to be pared substantially. "If we don't receive relief, and soon, we'll be out of business," Lemoille, Nev., rancher Kenneth Jones"
Irregular Times site describes a disagreement among Democratic Party regulars in upstate New York as a "range war". In this case the "unfenced territory" is an election district, and the hearts and minds of Democratic party regulars
For example, the Mac Observer site characterises the conflict between IBM and the SCO Group as a "range war". In this case, the "unfenced territory" is the Unix/Linux marketplace, and the hearts and minds of technical, purchase influencing, IT people.

Portail du western
Portail des États-Unis

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[1] Johnson, Marilynn S., Violence in the West: The Johnson County Range War and Ludlow Massacre: A Brief History with Documents. Bedford Series in History & Culture : First edition (September 18, 2008. p. 12. (ISBN 978-0312445799)

[2] Cecilia Rasmussen, « Castaic Range War Left Up to 21 Dead », Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society (consulté le 4 juillet 2004) (sourced from the Los Angeles Times): "The violent, long-running Jenkins-Chormicle feud, which started in 1890 over a boundary dispute, is a colorful and cruel saga – part fact, part myth – of barn burnings, ambushes and gun battles on horseback. It lasted more than two decades." describes a Southern California range war that started in 1890.

[3] U of Idaho Range Management site telling of conflict in Idaho: " Range wars continue, just as they did a century ago, between those who have grazing rights and those who do not. Today these range wars pit ranchers, with state grazing leases, against the environmental groups that are trying to restore the grazing lease areas to a healthy and pristine land. The weapons have changed from the cold steel of a gun to the amount of cold hard cash a rancher or an environmental group will pay for a piece of land."

[4] Brazil's Range War on the Amazon

[5] MSNBC site, telling of Bureau of Land Management policy changes and impacts: "The mustangs' current troubles come thanks in part to another Western icon: cattle ranchers. There are currently 37,000 mustangs sharing public rangelands with several million head of cattle. The result has been overgrazing, exacerbated by six years of drought. To restore the land, the BLM has cut the number of cattle allowed, and ranchers say the horses and burros have to be pared substantially. "If we don't receive relief, and soon, we'll be out of business," Lemoille, Nev., rancher Kenneth Jones"

[6] Irregular Times site describes a disagreement among Democratic Party regulars in upstate New York as a "range war". In this case the "unfenced territory" is an election district, and the hearts and minds of Democratic party regulars

[7] For example, the Mac Observer site characterises the conflict between IBM and the SCO Group as a "range war". In this case, the "unfenced territory" is the Unix/Linux marketplace, and the hearts and minds of technical, purchase influencing, IT people.