Making Worlds Community Teach-in and Discussion: The Farmers Protests and Peoples Movements in India

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Please join us for a discussion of the Indian farmers' protest, a movement that has created a worldwide audience and rekindled the hope for mass mobilization t to bring about progressive change in the agrarian sector in India. Farmers hailed victorious in December of 2020 after protesting at the borders of the national capital for more than a year, resisting three farm laws passed by the Indian government. The aesthetic and strategy this movement displayed was unique and captured the attention of media both nationally and globally. Mobile trolley homes, free medical camps, 24-hour langars (a Sikh tradition to provide free meals to everyone), libraries at every kilometer, film screenings, musical evenings, open discussion sessions were all part of the movement. People across caste, class, gender, region and religion boundaries participated in this resistance effort and the Indian diaspora played an important role in making this movement global. 

The recent Indian farmers protest has been hailed as the largest peoples movement in the history of the country. After the right-wing BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) government passed three pro-corporate farm laws, many farmers of Punjab camped out at the borders of the national capital for more than a year in protest. In solidarity with trade unions and workers, the farmers articulated various demands and successfully forced the government to rescind the laws in December 2021. This historic protest created a worldwide audience and rekindled the hope for mass movements to bring about meaningful change in the Indian agrarian sector. The protests have shined a light on the intersections between corporate agriculture in India and global capitalism. Crucially, women were at the forefront of the movement. Their involvement expanded the scope of the movement and brought questions of gender, patriarchy, and the caste system to the fore. 

Navkiran Natt joined this movement from day one, witnessing and participating in all of the movement up-close. In this talk, she will share the story of this historic movement. Navkiran Natt is a student-youth activist and film/media researcher who works between Punjab and Delhi, India. She is trained as a dentist and later completed her Masters in Film Studies from Ambedkar University, Delhi. She works on transnational Panjabi migration and its reflections in Punjabi popular culture and media. Her primary areas of interest are media and politics, visual culture of new media, transnational migration, popular culture, caste and gender. She did a podcast series on the Green Revolution's health implications in Punjab with the Goethe Institute, New Delhi. Currently, she is co-editor of Trolley Times, a newsletter that started from India's ongoing farmers' movement.

Event cosponsored by Philly Socialists and Philly DSA.

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IN-PERSON EVENT

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