op-ed: what the farmers’ revolution in india says about big ag in the us and worldwide
From CIVIL EATS
MARCH 1, 2021
Farmers in India are engaged in nearly the same fight U.S. farmers waged 40 years ago—against the same corporate interests.
Spring has finally come to Delhi after a harsh winter. Yellow mustard fields are gravid with seed, and adolescent green wheat ears dance to the sound of bird calls. But evening winds bring in hundreds of hungry birds of prey that hover over the highway at Delhi’s eastern border at Ghazipur, patiently nibbling from garbage mountains while thousands of unarmed, sunburned farmers camp nearby. The scavengers hungrily await clashes between farmers and police and paramilitary forces in full riot gear with AK-47s. For any bloodletting on these borders has only one winner—a scavenger.
It’s been almost 90 days since Indian farmers began occupying Delhi’s arterial roads protesting three farm laws passed by India’s Parliament last September. The border regions surrounding the city have hosted millions of farmers over the cold winter months. There, battalions of security forces wait behind barbed wire. The roads are blocked and the air is abuzz with surveillance drones and reconnaissance aircraft. The electricity and water have been turned off and internet connectivity is restricted. And yet, the farmers’ revolution grows stronger every day.