WE STAND WITH INDIAN FARMERS - Full Page Advertisement in New York Times of February 16 in support of farmers movement

By Dilip -

WE STAND WITH INDIAN FARMERS  

We – farmers, activists, and citizens of the world – stand in solidarity with farmers in India protesting to protect their livelihoods. Nearly one million farmers are peacefully organizing and demonstrating, but the Indian government has responded with state-sanctioned violence, including the use of tear gas, water cannons, mass arrests and indefinite detention. These human rights abuses must end now.

Indian farmers are standing up to defend their dignity and livelihoods. They are protesting three new laws, passed hastily without due deliberation, that will deregulate agriculture in India. For many, this is a matter of life and death. These laws benefit large conglomerate corporate entities and remove protections for farmers. Nearly half of India’s workforce is in the agricultural sector, the majority on small-hold farms. Millions of families now stand to lose their farms. An increase in industrial farming could have a devastating impact on the food we consume and the future of our environment. 

See video

Farmers across India have peacefully organized and protested for months. Yet they have faced violence, persecution, and retaliation by the government. The protest sites, at times, have been cut off from water, aid, and electricity. Internet services have been strategically suspended to silence dissent. Media outlets have been censored and threatened. Protestors, activists, and journalists have been arrested, assaulted, and held in indefinite detention. 

India’s actions run counter to core sacred values shared by all democracies: the protection of civic and political participation and the commitment to human rights. We are living in a dangerous time when global citizens must be called on to safeguard the principles on which all democratic nations are founded.

To Indian farmers: You have ignited one of the largest protests in human history. From the fields of Punjab, to the villages of Kerala, to the streets of New Delhi, your voices echo around the world. Now we raise our voices in solidarity.

We call on all people who champion human rights -- in the United States and around the world -- to join us and condemn the abuses against farmers, laborers, and protesters in India. Use your voice to call on India to respect the core principles of democracy, including the rights of all people to protest peacefully, demand accountability, and envision a safer, healthier, and more just future for all people on the planet.

Signed,
Concerned farmers, activists, and citizens of the world

Source: https://justice4women.org/indian-farmers-protest/

Organizational Signatories

18 Million Rising

AFL-CIO

Agroecology Research-Action Collective

Amalgamated Transit Union International

Amnesty International USA

Amplifier

Apna Ghar, Inc.

Asian American Writers' Workshop

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance

Athens Neighborhood Planting Project

Aubin Pictures, Inc.

Auburn Seminary

Battle Born Progress

Can’t Stop! Won’t Stop! Consulting

Caribbean Agroecology Institute

Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment

Chicago Metro LCLAA

Cleveland Jobs with Justice

Community Alliance for Global Justice

Community Services Unlimited Inc.

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Detroit Black Community Food Security Network

Dolores Huerta Foundation

East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC)

Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC)

Equality Labs

Fair Trade Federation

Fair World Project

Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project (FLAP)

Food Chain Workers Alliance

Food Empowerment Project

Food Forest Network

For Freedoms

Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum

Global Project Against Hate and Extremism

Green America

Hindus for Human Rights

Hispanic Federation

Illinois Migrant Council

Indian Bayou Food Forest

Jahajee Sisters

Jobs With Justice

Jonas Philanthropies

Justice for Migrant Women (see JMW video)

Justice For Muslims Collective

La Conexión

Laal

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement

Leadership Counsel

Lobelia Commons

Louisiana Permaculture

LULAC-IL

Meztli Projects

Migrant Justice

Milk with Dignity Standards Council

Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project

Moms Across America/Mothers Across The World

MPower Change

National Domestic Workers Alliance

National Lawyers Guild

Nest

NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

New York City Fair Trade Coalition

Real Food Media

Repairers of the Breach

Resilience Force

Sakhi for South Asian Women

Sankofa.org

Sapna NYC

South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)

Southeastern African American Farmers' Organic Network (SAAFON)

Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF)

Sur Legal Collaborative

The Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice

The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans

The Revolutionary Love Project

TransLatin@ Coalition

UMOS

Win Without War


Individual Signatories

Ahir Shah

Ai-jen Poo

Ajay Appasaheb

Akhila Ananth

Alana Siegner

Alba Ponce de Leon

Alexandra Stanton

Alok Vaid-Menon

America Ferrera

Amreet Sandhu, J.D.

Amy Bell

Amy Emmerich

Andrea Alford

Andrea Castagno

Ani DiFranco

Aniq Rahman

Anna Brown

Anna Rose Menken

Anoushka Shankar

Antonio Roman-Alcalá

April Uchitel

Aram Bingham

Ariane Goldman

Arin Lawrence

Arjun Sethi

Ashwini Sukthankar

Bamby Salcedo

Barkha Cardoz

Bhajneet Singh

Bisha K. Ali

Bishop William Barber II

Brian McLaren

Brittany Zion Estrada

Brooke Williams

Bruce Cheung

Carolina Iwanow

Cheryl McDonough

Chiara de Rege

Chiara Moore

Chitra Ganesh

Christie Marchese

Christine Currence

Cindy Gallop

Cristela Alonzo

Daisy Auger-Domínguez

Daljit Soni

Dara Lazar

David Moriya

Dawn David

Dawn-Lyen Gardner

Deep Kailey

Dee Poku

Deepa Iyer

Desiree Peterkin Bell

Dev Benegal

Dolores Huerta

Dyllan McGee

Eleanor Forster

Ellie Burrows Gluck

Elsa Collins

Emily TeKolste

Eric Kampe

Erin Darke

Esteli Jimenez-Soto

Eva Longoria

Fariha Róisín

Fawzia Mirza

Florian Koenigsberger

Fran Hauser

Freida Pinto

Garrett Grady-Lovelace

Georgie Greville

Ginny Suss

Gregory Cendana

Guy Gunaratne

Happy Feminist

Hari Kondabolu

Haya Emaan

Heidi Bechtel

Hitha Herzog

Hitha Palepu

Iman Qureshi

Iram Parveen Bilal

Isolde Brielmaier

James Zogby

Janica Anderzen

Jeff Liebert

Jen Marshall

Jennifer Cohan

Jennifer Justice

Jeremiah Younossi

JJ Rosenbaum

Joel Garcia

John Morrow

Karen Robinovitz

Kate Quarfordt

Katharine Henderson

Kathryn De Master

Keisha E. McKenzie

Kerry Washington

Kiran Desai

Kiran Rai

Kisha Bari

Kishori Rajan

Knoxy Knox

Kourtney Collum

Krystle Loyland

Laura Keiter

Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zeren

Lauri London Freedman

Leah Fischman

Lilly Singh

Lucas Bragg

Maloni Gosss

Maneesh Goyal

Manpreet Kaur Kalra

Martha Caswell

Matthew Canfield

Megan Cunningham

Melanie DuPuis

Michael Meuter

Michelle Perro, MD

Mim Shaikh

Monica Botkier

Monica Dogra

Mónica Ramírez

Monisha Rajesh

Mythili Prakash

Nathan Teske

Navneet Bhalla

Nicholas Gonzalez

Nikesh Shukla

Nikhil Shah

Nikkia Reveillac

Nina Davuluri

Nisha Anand

Nisha Ramachandran

Nyakio Grieco

Otis Moss

Pabitra Benjamin

Pallavi Sharda

Pamela Romanowsky

Paola Mendoza

Piper Perabo

Prabeen Singh

Prama Verma

Preti Taneja

Rabbi Sharon Brous

Rachel Carmona

Rania Batrice

Rekha Malhotra

Reshma Saujani

Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams

Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis

Rosanna Arquette

Ruchira Gupta

Ryan Piers Williams

Sabari Raja

Sabrina Mallick

Sally Rumble

Sam Douglass

Sanjay Chhugani

Sarah Berner

Severine von Tscharner Fleming

Shaifali Pur

Shikha Bhatnagar

Shruti Rya Ganguly

Sonali Bijor

Sr. Simone Campbell

Suchitra Vijayan

Sue Udry

Sukhman Dhami

Suman Mudunuri

Sunny Jain

Svati Shah

Sweety Kapoor

Tanaïs née Tanwi Nandini Islam

Tanya Selvaratnam

Tanya Shah

Tara Abrahams

Tara Brach

Thais Stiklorius

Thanu Yakupitiyage

Tiffany Chang

Tiffany Keriakos

Uma Kadekodi

Uzma Hasan

Valarie Kaur

Van Jones

Vanessa Hallik

Vijay Iyer

Vinay Patel

Vivek Bald

Waris Singh Ahluwalia

Zain Alam

Zohran Mamdani

See video

*********************************

COLIN TODHUNTER: Farmers’ Protest in India: Price of Failure Will Be immense // Global Corporations' plans for India's agriculture

Nivedita Menon: Toolkits of democracy and a paranoid Hindu Rashtra

Express Editorial: Weaponising an advocacy document to arrest an activist signals paranoia, not democratic power.

Naxalites should lay down their arms and challenge the ruling class to abide by the Constitution

Noam Chomsky: Internationalism or Extinction (Universalizing Resistance)


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