Actions for Repeal of Anti-Farmer Laws Continue
|
|
|
Throughout the month of February farmers staged many actions across India against the farm reforms mandated by global agri-business, demanding the withdrawal of the three agriculture bills pushed through by the Indian government in September 2020.
On February 6 farmers across India stopped railways and blocked highways for four hours to protest against the anti-farmer laws that the government has brought in to steal the lands of farmers to give to the corporate houses. For travellers on trains and roads they organized Langar (community kitchens) so they would not feel discomfort.
On February 18 farmers again gathered at railway stations across the country and blocked train tracks as part of a four-hour nationwide rail roko protest against the farm laws.
February 23 was the celebration of the anniversary of the birth of Chacha Ajit Singh, uncle of Bhagat Singh, leader of the farmers' movement against the British in 1907 called Pagdi Sambhal. The events also honoured Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, another leader of the farmers at that time. That movement led to the repeal of British anti-farmer laws.
February 24 was observed as anti-repression day by farmers all across India to protest the arrest and terrorization of farmers, their leaders, supporters and children by police and other agencies of the state.
February 24, 2021.
Anti-Repression Day protest
February 26 was celebrated as Young Farmers' Day. On this day, young farmers and other youth ran the show at the protests demanding the repeal of the anti-farm laws. As of this date the farmers' protests on the Delhi borders have entered their 93rd day and protests have spread to all parts of India. Gatherings and rallies are taking place in different parts of the country. Some farmers are planning a tractor march to Kolkata and have held mahapanchayats in Bengal. On February 27 the anniversary of Guru Ravidass was celebrated.
February 26, 2021. Yuva
Kisan Diwas, Young Farmers’ Day, is marked at
the Singhu
Border
of Delhi
Meanwhile, villages have declared that they will look after the fields and farming needs of those who are at the protest camps at the Delhi border. Harvest combine operators have announced that they will harvest crops for those who are at the protest. Farmers are ready for the long haul. They have announced that if need be they are ready to forego one crop.
Those in the Punjab film and cinema industry have announced that they will call on their fans to take part in the dharnas (sit-in protests) for the coming summer months. Other organizations have pledged to donate generators and coolers. The expression of social love from all quarters and directions is tremendous. It is so powerful that it is felt by the diaspora thousands of kilometres away.
Two young women, Nodeep Kaur and Disha Ravi, jailed for supporting the farmers, declared that they will not stop supporting them, no matter how much pressure is put on them. Both have now been released on bail. People across India are saluting their courage and spirit. Several young farmers arrested on trumped up charges were also released on bail. Some of them recounted a tale of torture and threats by police, trying to extract confessions that they were hired by someone to attend the protest. They said that they told the police that they came of their own volition and will go back to the protest no matter how much the police torture them. They stated that after they are released they are going straight to the protests.
A woman farmer whose 20-year-old son was shot and killed by police during a protest a few days before, said that she, her family and all farmers will fight to the end. She called on the youth to join with their parents and grandparents with double the vigour. Times are calling for great sacrifices to save their lands, hearths and homes.
At the protests very informative discussions are taking place. One of the speakers pointed out how India was forced to sign the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and how the World Trade Organization has pressured the government to remove the Minimum Support Prices. The World Bank has also threatened to recall a loan if these farm laws are not passed.
Another
farmer described Contract Farming. He said through this the
corporations will control the price of inputs, as the farmers will sign
the contract to buy all the inputs from the corporations and will sell
their produce to the same corporations according to the terms of the
contract. If there is any dispute, there will be no legal recourse. The
corporation will buy the produce at one price, store it and sell it
back to them at a price 20 to 30 times higher. The example was given of
potatoes. The company buys potatoes at 5 rupees per kilogram, but sells
a bag of chips which uses only one potato to the farmers for 20 rupees,
which is equivalent to them paying 200 rupees for a kilo of potatoes.
Another farmer gave the example of cauliflower, saying that Ambani pays
5 rupees a piece but after storing and packaging sells them back at 200
rupees a piece.
One of the farmers also explained
the new Water Act. Underground water on the
lands will not belong to
the farmers. It will be contracted out to
corporations for "cleaning"
as it has been "polluted by the farmers." So
they will have to pay the
company a license fee to get water from
their own land for
drinking or irrigation.
Farmers also pointed out that they were fooled by all the institutions and parties about the Green Revolution and now they are suffering from its consequences such as poisoning of land and water, indebtedness and suicide. This time they are not going to be fooled, they said.
In the U.S., more than 85 farmers' unions have come out in support of the farmers' struggle in India. In a recent statement, they supported all the demands of the Indian farmers, recounting their own experience with the same corporations and pointing out how the federal government's policy had brought ruination to farmers in the U.S.
In Pakistan, inspired by the farmers' movement in India, farmers have carried out a tractor march against high prices. For a long time small and marginal farmers have been protesting in places like Ukara against their immiseration.
The
ruling elite in alliance with their foreign mentors and allies see
India as a land full of resources that need to be extracted, packaged
and sold on the world market for maximum profits. They do not see it as
a land of more than a billion people with legitimate claims on society
that need to be fulfilled. The corporate interests covet the land
without acknowledging any obligations. The neo-colonial Indian state
and government are facilitating this land theft, no matter which party
is in power. Just like land theft in Europe, the Americas, Australia
and Africa, the ruling elite is using the state to steal the lands of
hundreds of millions of farmers with the anti-farm corporate laws.
Farmers describe them as their Death Warrants.
The Indian government is fighting a war of attrition, disinformation, diversion and deception. It is hoping that the farmers will get exhausted and run out of steam. In the last 70 years it has used communal violence and a left-liberal alliance to attack the struggles of the people at each crucial juncture. Whether in the 1960s, during the Emergency in the 1970s, in the 1980s and 1990s, the left-liberal alliance -- calling itself secular -- has saved the ruling elite. Now the left-liberal parties such as Congress, the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) have lost all credibility. The Aam Aadmi Party does not have a national presence. The BJP has discredited itself and splits in the ranks abound.
What weapon will the ruling elite use next to attack the farmers' movement that has become a broad people's movement against the ruling elite and their foreign mentors? Some analysts are suggesting that the ruling elite will have still more recourse to "politics" of assassination, criminalization, repression, anarchy and violence after the Bengal and Tamil Nadu elections in April. People have to be very vigilant, they say. Others are suggesting that whether the people's movement wins or is suppressed, the central state has become a huge vacuum cleaner to siphon resources, and a prison of all the nations, nationalities and peoples of India. It will collapse in the next couple of decades as a result of the people's struggle, giving rise to several autonomous and independent states in the subcontinent, as took place following the collapse of the Soviet Union. This will give rise to a federation or confederation of South Asia. One thing is certain: the situation engenders possibilities for great transformations and empowerment of the people, as well as devastation and destruction on an unprecedented scale if the issue of how to activate the human factor/social consciousness in the form of a human centred raison d'état and government remains unsolved.
This article was published in
Voluem [volume] Number 12 - March 1, 2021 - No. 12
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08122.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca