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Power
to the Indian farmers protests ਭਾਰਤੀ ਕਿਸਾਨਾਂ ਦੇ ਸੰਘਰਸ਼ ਨੂੰ ਤਾਕਤ ਦਿਓ।
Friday 26 November 2021,12-2pm High Commission of India India House, Aldwych, London WC2B 4NA (closest tube Holborn/Temple) On 19 November, President Modi announced he is repealing his hated Farm Laws. Millions are celebrating this historic victory all over India and internationally. 26 November marks one year of this massive, unwavering protest. Join us in London to celebrate, and show support for the farmers and land workers. In India, farmers will march to the parliament in Delhi when the winter session opens on 29 November to ensure that the laws it passed are officially repealed. They are also pressing for the legally guaranteed Minimum Support Price for all crops for all farmers so no corporation or government department can undercut them, and for the Repeal of the Electricity Bill and the Labour Laws. See Samyukta Kisan Morcha press statement. Dalit and Adivasi women and girls have been central to the protests from the beginning. Farmers have defeated agribusiness who intended to tighten their grip on how crops are grown, who eats, and what is eaten in India, and ultimately everywhere. The laws would have given more power to multi-nationals like BayercropScience and Netafim (the Israeli company which benefits from illegal settlements in Palestine), and Indian corporations like Ambani and Adani who are hand in glove with Modi’s government. On 12 November, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food wrote to the Indian government saying: “These laws may interfere with the full enjoyment of the right to food of India’s farmers, especially women as constituting the majority of small scale farmers in the country and all inter-related human rights.” This heroic movement has prevented millions of people from being starved. We remember and honour the brave farmers and labourers, women, men and children who have died in this struggle, and all those imprisoned, disabled, beaten, and raped by police and Modi’s thugs. Last November, the all India General Strike Against the Farm laws and the Labour Codes (which are still to be repealed) brought out over 250 million people across India -- factory workers, textile, transport, education and other workers joined with farmers and farm workers in the biggest strike in history. It was a coming together of people across castes, religions and backgrounds against Modi’s repressive regime. At the rally on 26 November, we will highlight the farmers
movement and demands, as well as the very important and successful
natural farming practices led by 700,000 farmers, mostly women in
self-help groups, in Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere. This farming method
has been shown to be effective against climate change by regenerating the
soil, greening the land and stopping the destruction of the natural world,
while increasing the nutrition of the food and the income of the farmers.
(See 2min UN video here).
The victory of the Indian farmers is crucial to subsistence farmers everywhere, often women, who feed families and communities and have been opposing government-backed takeovers of agriculture by multinationals for the industrial farming of cash crops. (See Africa Responds to the UN Food System Summit.) Victory to the farmers! Called by: Global Women’s Strike, Indian Workers Association GB, Women of Colour GWS To endorse, email gws@globalwomenstrike.net For info 020 7482 2496 |
