All India Shutdown to Take Place March 26
All Out to Support the Demands of Indian Farmers!
March 15, 2021. Women farmers at the Delhi-Tikri border, March
15,
2021
Protesting farmers in India have set a plan for a number of actions. On
March 19 India-wide they marked Kheti Bachao, Mandi Bachao and the
anniversary of the Landless Workers' struggle. March 23 is the
commemoration of the martyrdom of Rajguru, Sukhdev and
Bhagat Singh 90 years ago. On March 26, the
farmers have called for an All-India shutdown. Transport unions
representing over 14 million truck drivers have come out in support of
the farmers' unions, threatening to halt the movement of supplies in
certain states.
Women in their hundreds of thousands and youth have taken their
place in the front ranks of the movement. A group of the sons and
daughters of Punjabi farmers who are prominent singers, have written a
new song, Kisan Anthem 2, which expresses the determination of farmers.
The essence of their song is Victory or Death! Ya Jit Ke
Jawange Ya Laashan Jaangiyan (Either we will go back victorious or our
dead bodies will return).
Protest sites surrounding Delhi have become great teach-ins and
universities for farmers and thousands of people. All matters that
concern the people are discussed in full view of hundreds of thousands
of people. Ordinary people are raising questions and participating in
discussions. Plans for gaddi wapsi (removal from power) of the BJP are
being discussed in the mahapanchayats (joint mass meetings of several
villages). 
March 13, 2021. Mahapanchayat in Rajasthan
Without
doubt, this is an unprecedented mass movement the likes of which India
has not seen since the brutal partition conducted by the British
following which they imposed on the people the same British
institutions which had oppressed them under the Raj -- this time with
an Indian face. The result is that two-thirds of land holdings in India
-- the lands the rulers covet today -- are each less than one hectare
on which the farmers depend for their living. India reported a total of
296,438 suicides of indebted Indian farmers between 1995 and 2015. In
2019, 10,281 people who work in the farming sector committed suicide.
 This mass movement has entered its ninth month. For more than four
months, farmers in their hundreds of thousands have lived in
encampments outside of Delhi. No amount of persecution, harassment,
arrests and covert actions have deterred them or split their ranks.
Their level of organization is without precedent. They are feeding
hundreds of thousands of people, providing them with sanitation,
shelter and protection. The mass of the people rose independently,
uplifting all who make up the majority of the Indian people, especially
those pushed to the very lowest rungs of the social ladder who are
crushed
by oppression and exploitation. They have stamped on the course of the
developments in India, and indeed the world, the imprint of their own
demands.
Workers' Forum salutes their mighty achievement. Their
striving to build in their own way a new society in place of the old
one that is crushing them is focused, heroic, resilient and historic. All Out to Build the New by Making the Claims Which Belong to the
People
by Virtue of Being Human!
All Out to Support the Demands of Indian Farmers!
This article was published in
March 24, 2021 - No. 21
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08211.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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