All posts by SANSAD

SANSAD Supports Hilton Metrotown and Pacific Gateway Hotel Workers 

Forum, Solidarity Links, Statements/News Releases

At a meeting organized by the Hilton Workers Support Committee held on Saturday, May 7, the South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD), represented by its long serving members and its president, unequivocally expressed its full support to Hilton Metrotown and Pacific Gateway workers in their struggle for reinstatement of terminated workers as well as new collective agreements.

Hilton Metrotown workers, primarily women of colour, most of whom are South Asians, have been locked out by Hilton for more than a year. Hilton locked out room attendants, front desk agents, banquet, and kitchen staff on April 15, 2021, after terminating 97 long-term staff — a move that can only be called “mass firings” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

UNITE HERE, Local 40, which represents the workers at Hilton Metrotown, is calling on management to end the lockout, reinstate all employees and offer them an agreement enjoyed by other hotel workers in British Columbia.

Pacific Gateway hotel workers have been on strike and picketing every day since May 3, 2021. Pacific Gateway terminated 143 long-term staff, many of them South Asian women, during the pandemic. This happened after the hotel owner allowed the federal government to take over the hotel as a quarantine site and brought in contractors.

The federal government terminated its contract with the hotel earlier this year after workers urged them to do so and the hotel is now open to the public. But workers continue to fight back against management’s mass firings and economic rollbacks. The hotel still refuses to return the 143 terminated workers to their jobs and wants to get rid of everything workers worked so hard for (pension, job security, good wages, etc.).

The BC Federation of Labour issued a public boycott of both hotels last year and BC’s major unions have withdrawn their business from the hotels. 

Statement on the Historic Victory of Indian Farmers and Workers

Bulletin Board, Forum, Solidarity Links, Statements/News Releases

12 December 2021

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

cerasmontreal@gmail.com

sansad.president@gmail.com

Fault Lines to Fort Lines: One Year of Farmers’ Protest in India

Bulletin Board, SANSAD Events

SANSAD, in collaboration with the Hari Sharma Foundation, presents a FREE ONLINE TALK “Fault Lines to Fort Lines: One Year of Indian Farmers’ Protests” as part of the PARTITION@75 SERIES on Saturday, December 4, 2021 @ 6:00 PM PST.

FREE REGISTRATION

About the speaker:

Amandeep Sandhu is a Punjabi writer and journalist who writes in English. His recent book PANJAB: Journeys Through Fault Lines has been shortlisted for Atta Galatta-BLF Non-Fiction Prize, 2020. Aman also writes for news magazines and papers like Caravan, The Hindu, Scroll, and others. Currently, he lives in Bangalore, India.

Statement Condemning the Brutal Killing of Protesting Farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh (UP), India

Solidarity Links, Statements/News Releases

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