We congratulate Indian farmers and workers on their historic victory!
After 378 days of continuous non-violent, peaceful protest, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha—SKM (United Farmers Agitation) that represents over 40 farm unions formally announced the suspension of their protest on 9 December 2021. A written document from the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was received by SKM on Thursday stating that the government had agreed to their pending demands: withdrawal of cases lodged against protesting farmers and compensation to over 700 farmers and workers who died during the protest. Earlier, on 19 November PM Modi had announced that he was repealing the three farm laws thereby acceding to the foremost demand of the protesting farmers and workers.
This has been a historic protest by hundreds of thousands of farmers and workers against the three farm laws—called black laws by farmers—that would have deprived them of land and livelihood. The government failed to break the protest despite resorting to violence and demonizing the farmers and their unions. The protesting men and women from different communities, including marginalized Adivasis and Dalits, braved a bitter winter, a scorching summer, and torrential monsoons. We salute their tenacity and steadfast resolve underpinned by a belief in non-violence and peaceful resistance.
The SKM expressed gratitude for the international solidarity they have received during the protest. Many Canadian unions, including the Canadian Labour Congress, supported the farmers’ and workers’ movement; several Canadian cities and municipal councils passed resolutions in support of the farmers and workers. As with the protesting farmers and workers, the supporters in the diaspora were also vilified by the Indian government.
Dismantling their temporary hutments from different sites, protesting farmers in convoys of tractor trolleys and other vehicles began leaving Delhi border sites on 11 Dec in a “Fateh [Victory] March” to return home. The protest is “suspended” keeping in view how their demands are fulfilled in accordance with the written statement by the government. With elections looming in some of the pivotal states in February 2022, it appears, the government has backed down. The leaders of the SKM will meet on 15th January to review the situation and prepare their next steps which could include returning to the protest sites if the government does not fulfill its commitment.
While the demands of the protestors have been met and there are celebrations at this fantastic victory, there are outstanding issues that are yet to be addressed. For example, an agricultural growth model long past its sell-by date which rather than prosperity, now generates inter-generational debt traps and often leads to farmer and worker suicides—on average 28 per day since 1995 when India first joined the WTO. Agribusiness corporations that plan to take control of Indian markets are continuing their lobbying efforts. At COP26, the US and UAE, backed by most of the so-called developed states, called for an increased involvement of Ag Tech and Big Tech in agriculture, with so-called developing countries expected to “open up” their markets to corporations, which already control more than 70% of the global agricultural markets. Unlike what the Modi government had been promoting–that the farmers are opposed to reforms—the farmers had been opposing the pro-corporate reforms that the government had tried to legislate; their struggle continues and we stand in solidarity with them.
CERAS (Centre sur l’asie du sud), Montreal
Indian Farmers & Workers Support Group, Edmonton
Secular Peoples Foundation, Edmonton
Indian Farmers & Workers Support Group, Vancouver
Indian Farmers & Workers Support Group, Winnipeg
Punjabi Literary and Cultural Association Winnipeg
SANSAD (South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy), Vancouver
The Indian Farmers and Workers Support Group, the South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD), and the Punjabi Literary and Cultural Association, Winnipeg strongly condemn the brutal killing of four farmers on 3 October 2021 in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, India, when a vehicle owned by Ashish Mishra—son of Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Mishra—intentionally drove into a group of farmers who were returning from a protest demonstration. A highly disturbing video circulating on media clearly show a black SUV deliberately mowing down a group of farmers walking peacefully. Farmers Gurwinder Singh (19 yrs), Lovepreet Singh (20 yrs), Daljeet Singh (35 yrs), and Nachatar Singh (60 yrs) along with journalist Raman Kashyap (28 yrs) died in this horrific incident and a number of others were injured. We offer our condolences to the bereaved families.
We also condemn the blanket lockdown in the immediate aftermath of this horrendous killing: shutting down the internet in the area to prevent any dissemination of news regarding the incident, detaining politicians, and stopping farm leaders from entering UP or reaching Lakhimpur Kheri to pay their respects to the bereaved families and show support to the farmers. These restrictions and containment of people and non-BJP politicians are signs of an anti-democratic state that is stripping constitutional and legal rights and protocols.
Although the UP government has announced compensation for those killed and injured on 3 October, the incident demonstrates that the ruling BJP government is getting desperate as the farmers agitation gains support from the people of India. Furthermore, despite committing heinous crimes, its ministers, their family members, and cadres often go unpunished, enjoying above-the-law freedom to flout the rules and laws enshrined in the Constitution of India and its justice system.
We urge the governments of UP and India to:
arrest those who are guilty and charge them with the murder of the farmers;
to ask for the resignation of the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Mishra so that a fair investigation can take place;
allow farmers, workers, and others to protest peacefully as per the Constitution of India; and
permit all farm union leaders and political leaders to travel without any restrictions to the incident site to meet with the grieving families.
We stand in solidarity with the farmers of India.
SANSAD (South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy) Indian Farmers and Workers Support Group Punjabi Literary and Cultural Association, Winnipeg
India is in the grip of a Covid catastrophe caused by criminal inaction on the part of the national Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of Prime Minister Modi. It chose to prioritize its electoral and ideological agenda and disregard assessments and predictions based on Covid mapping scenarios by experts. This is consistent with the BJP’s governance model since 2014 weakening and decimating every countervailing centre of power be it media, judiciary, opposition political parties, trade unions or human rights groups. These divisive governance practices negatively impact the working poor, the marginalized and oppressed sections of society, while providing huge dividends for their crony capitalists friends.
The current situation was not inevitable, proven by the state of Kerala where proactive measures resulted in them having a surplus of medical oxygen, or that the city of Mumbai chose not to dismantle large-scale temporary medical facilities created during the first wave because it foresaw a second coming.
In this context, we note the on-going struggle of millions of farmers demanding that PM Modi’s government repeal the three farm laws passed in September 2020, without consultation or debate in the midst of the first wave of the Covid pandemic.
This farmers’ movement, the largest and longest non-violent peaceful protest in world history, is now entering an unprecedented sixth month. Farmers rightly fear that these laws will empower corporations to seize their land, jeopardize their livelihood and deepen the agrarian crisis facing the country. Since November 2020, hundreds of thousands of farmers have camped at the borders of the capital New Delhi, in the bitter winter cold and now, the searing heat of summer, despite police tear gas, water cannons and barricades. Several hundred of them, young and old, men and women, have perished due to weather, disease, police violence and traffic accidents. Many have been injured by vigilantes of the ruling party. Yet the struggle endures and grows. But the Modi government continues to turn a deaf ear to their demands. With the current wave of Covid it is feared the government will opportunistically invoke public health and attempt to demolish the camps, just as it did last year, at the onset of the first wave of this virus, with the massive mobilization against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) designed to strip many Indians of citizenship. While the farmers know the health risks they face by staying encamped at this time, they remain resolute because it’s a devil’s bargain between threat of covid infection or farm laws that spell death for them.
The farmers’ protest has garnered amazing support from all sections of Indian society and outside the country as well. In Canada, city councils such as Vancouver, Victoria, Burnaby, Port Coquitlam, Surrey, Brampton and others, along with many Canadian labor organizations, including Canadian Labour Congress, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Federations of Labour, and UNIFOR, have passed resolutions or issued statements in support of the demands of the farmers. In the midst of the second wave of the covid pandemic ravaging India, we the undersigned, call on the Indian government to pay heed to the demands of the farmers and to ensure that the poor and the marginalized do not disproportionately bear the burden of the ferocious second wave. It is important to remember that farmers feed the nation and working people build it.
IMMEDIATELY REPEAL the farm laws passed in September 2020 so the farmers can protect themselves from COVID and return to their homes, secure in the knowledge that the futures for themselves and their families are not jeopardized.
RELEASE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS being held under draconian laws and now also facing COVID infection.
FREE COVID-19 VACCINATIONS for all in India aged 18 and above.
DANS LA CRISE DE LA COVID, SOUTENIR LES AGRICULTEURS INDIENS
LES LOIS AGRICOLES INJUSTES DOIVENT ÊTRE ABROGÉES
L’Inde est en proie à une catastrophe Covid causé par l’inaction criminelle du gouvernement national Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) du Premier ministre Modi. Il a choisi de donner la priorité à son programme électoral et idéologique, et de ne pas tenir compte des évaluations et des prévisions basées sur les scénarios de cartographie Covid par des experts. Cela est cohérent avec le modèle de gouvernance du BJP depuis 2014 – orienté vers la logique de l’affaiblissement et l’anéantissement de tous les centres de contre-pouvoir, qu’il s’agisse des médias, de la justice, des partis d’opposition, des syndicats ou des groupes de défense des droits humains. La logique du BJP est aussi celle de pratiques de gouvernance divisionnistes ayant un impact négatif sur les pauvres, et sur les secteurs marginalisés et opprimés de la société, tout en procurant d’énormes dividendes à leurs amis et copains capitalistes.
La situation actuelle n’était pas inévitable. L’État du Kerala l’a prouvé avec des mesures proactives qui ont produit un surplus d’oxygène médical. Idem la ville de Mumbai, qui a choisi de ne pas démanteler les installations médicales temporaires à grande échelle créées lors de la première vague car elle prévoyait la seconde vague.
Dans ce contexte, nous notons la lutte continue des millions d’agriculteurs exigeant que le gouvernement du PM Modi abroge les trois lois agricoles adoptées en septembre 2020 sans consultation ni débat au milieu de la première vague de la pandémie.
Ce mouvement paysan, la plus grande et la plus longue manifestation pacifique et non violente de l’histoire mondiale, entre maintenant dans un sixième mois sans précédent. Les agriculteurs craignent à juste titre que ces lois autorisent les entreprises à saisir leurs terres, à mettre en péril leurs moyens de subsistance et à aggraver la crise agraire à laquelle le pays est confronté.
Depuis novembre 2020, des centaines de milliers d’agriculteurs campent aux limites de la capitale, New Delhi, dans le froid glacial de l’hiver, et maintenant dans la chaleur torride de l’été, malgré les gaz lacrymogènes, les canons à eau et les barricades de la police. Plusieurs centaines d’entre eux, jeunes et vieux, hommes et femmes, ont péri à cause des intempéries, de la maladie, de la violence policière et des accidents de la circulation. Beaucoup ont été blessés par des miliciens RSS du parti au pouvoir. Pourtant, la lutte continue et se développe malgré le fait que gouvernement Modi fait toujours la sourde oreille à leurs demandes. Avec la nouvelle vague de la Covid, il est à craindre que le gouvernement invoque de manière opportuniste la santé publique et tente de démolir les camps, comme il l’a fait l’année dernière, au début de la première vague de ce virus, avec la mobilisation massive contre la loi d’amendement de la citoyenneté (CAA) conçue pour priver de nombreux Indiens de leur nationalité. Les agriculteurs connaissent les risques de santé qui les menacent en restant dans leurs camps de protestation. Mais ils demeurent résolus et déterminés car ils savent qu’ils sont coincés entre deux menaces diaboliques et mortelles : le virus létal de la Covid-19 et les lois agricoles qui signifient leur mort socio-économique.
La protestation des agriculteurs indiens a reçu un soutien étonnant de toutes les sections de la société indienne, et également à l’extérieur du pays. Au Canada, des conseils municipaux tels que Vancouver, Victoria, Burnaby, Port Coquitlam, Surrey, Brampton et d’autres, ainsi que de nombreuses organisations syndicales, y compris le Congrès du travail du Canada, le Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique, les fédérations du travail et l’UNIFOR, qui ont adopté des résolutions ou publié des déclarations à l’appui de leurs demandes. Au milieu de la 2è vague de la pandémie qui ravage l’Inde, nous, soussigné.e.s, appelons le gouvernement indien à tenir compte des demandes des agriculteurs et à faire en sorte que les pauvres et les marginalisés ne supportent pas de manière disproportionnée l’impact mortel de cette nouvelle agression covidienne. Il est important aussi de se rappeler que les agriculteurs nourrissent la nation et que les travailleurs la construisent.
ABROGEZ IMMÉDIATEMENT les lois agricoles adoptées en septembre 2020 afin que les agriculteurs puissent se protéger du COVID et rentrer chez eux, en sachant que leur avenir et celui de leurs familles ne sont pas menacés.
LIBÉREZ TOUS LES PRISONNIERS POLITIQUES détenus en vertu de lois draconiennes et maintenant également confrontés à une infection au COVID.
VACCINATIONS COVID-19 GRATUITES pour tous et toutes en Inde âg.e.és de 18 ans et
Signatories
Feroz Mehdi, Alternatives International, Montreal
Catherine Pappas, Alternatives, Montréal
Mohammad Imran, Retired, NJ, USA
Patrick Farbiaz, PEPS-Pour une Ecologie Populaire et Sociale, Paris
Stop corruption, counter-insurgency and militarization in the Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda relief efforts!
Saturday, December 7, 4 – 5pm @ the Philippine Consulate in Vancouver – 700 W. Pender
Join us for a day of people- to- people solidarity with those affected by Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda and mark human rights day with the call
No to corruption; all aid should go directly to those affected by the Typhoon!
Stop the counter-insurgency and respect human rights!
U.S. troops out; no militarization of the relief effort!
Including: Street theatre, candle light vigil, collection of donations for the Council for Health and Development to support pro-people and grassroots relief efforts, speakers and more!
Organized by Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights, Alliance for Peoples Health, International League of People’s Struggle
BACKGROUND
In the wake of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, people around the world and across Canada have been moved to act in solidarity with those affected by the devastating storm in the Philippines. These expressions of people-to-people solidarity are welcomed and the resources are sorely needed.
Unfortunately, the relief efforts are hampered by endemic corruption in the Philippine government; the insistence of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in continuing its ‘counter-insurgency’ which targets peasant communities and progressive organizations even in areas severely affected by the Typhoon; and the U.S. agenda to re-establish a military presence in the Philippines under cover of the relief efforts.