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.
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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
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