What is #FarmersProtest all about?

Today Rihanna -one of the the world’s most famous music artists- tweeted about the #FarmersProtest to her 100 million+ followers.

To all of those now asking, don’t be blinded by All Of The Lights, step under our Umbrella, and let us take you to Disturbia by telling you all bout the #FarmersProtest!

The first thing to know is how important farming is to India. With over 150 million farmers in the country, it is estimated that 60% of the population rely on agriculture for their livelihood. Many families have owned their farming land for generations.

Why are India’s farmers upset?

In September 2020 the Indian Government passed three new agricultural laws without consulting any farmer representative groups.

Farmer groups unanimously expressed dissatisfaction about the new laws, viewing them as a path towards bankruptcy and corporate takeover of their land. This view has been supported by a former Chief of the World Bank among many other academics and agricultural experts.

After months of protest went ignored, including a strike by 250 million people, a decision was made for the farmers to march to India’s capital Delhi where they would stay in protest against the state.

During the march to Delhi protesters faced police brutality in the form of lathi (stick) beatings, tear gas and more. Barriers were put in roads to stop them forming for the protest, but farmers marched on to demonstrate.

Since November 26th farmers have been in protest in and around Delhi in numbers estimated of 100,000+. The protesters are young, old, men, women, trans and more.

What is the govt doing about this?

Despite the fact protesters from across India have joined in making it hundreds of thousands around Delhi, the Indian Government is refusing to change the laws.

The farmers representatives, such as Unions and regional community groups, are in a stand-off with the Indian government as they camp around India’s capital Delhi. They are demanding nothing more than a full repeal of these new laws. Not a suspension. Not an amendment. A full repeal.

Although they support farmer reforms, they want to be consulted in their creation.

Why are we only hearing about this now?

In the last week, Indian authorities seem to have increased their violent means of ending these protests.

Protesters have been shot dead, beaten and are having militarised barriers placed around them to prevent further movement. Journalists have been arrested for reporting the truth about police violence, women are being sexually abused after imprisonment and as Rihanna tweeted about, the internet is being shut off to prevent such news leaking.

Are you sure this is the truth? Lots of people on Twitter are saying different.

The Indian government has an army of online bots and many disinformation wings designed to hide the truth about situations like this.

India also has an extremist nationalist problem. Its Prime Minister Narendra Modi is strongly linked with an extremist Hindu group that terrorise minorities. These extremists demonise minorities like Sikhs when they are critical of the Indian government, as media help the average Indian believe protesters are “anti-national”.

Is this a religious issue?

No. This is not a Sikh issue. But it is an issue for every Sikh.

This is because the motherland of the Sikh faith is Punjab, often called “The Bread Basket of India”. Farming is the lifeblood of Punjab and is engrained spiritually and practically into the Sikh faith.

What next?

India has a history of using brutal violence against its people to destroy movements, including notoriously in the 1984 Sikh Genocide. This tactic is seemingly the only way Indian authorities know how to deal with an issue and that is playing out right now.

The farmers recognise the new laws will destroy their way of life and will not budge from asking for a full repeal of these laws. Many Sikh protesters have said they are willing to die before they allow these laws to be implemented.

As such, Sikh orgs from across the world are calling for support from MPs, from media and beyond.

Now that Rihanna has drawn more attention to this situation, maybe more influential figures will speak out, and just maybe the Indian government will serve the will of the people and remove the laws.

Is Rihanna a Khalistani?

Maybe, but there’s nothing wrong with that!

Khalistan is the name of a proposed country many Sikhs are campaigning for in India.

Many Sikhs support the belief that the community should have its own state, especially since the Indian state perpetrated 1984 Sikh Genocide. The right to self-determination is not a crime according to the UN Charter.

Indian media purposefully conflate Khalistanism with terrorism to demonise Sikhs that fought back against Indian authorities during their years of massacring Sikhs in great numbers in the 1980s and 1990s. The term “Khalistani” is now being used to push an “anti-national” narrative against the #FarmersProtest.

The #FarmersProtest is not a Khalistani movement. But it is a movement that shows why many people support Khalistan.

Anything else?

Sikhs want people to keep tweeting and talking about the #FarmersProtest to ensure the world remains focused on the issue, which may hopefully stop Indian authorities from killing or abusing any more people!