The lengthy title of this post isn’t hyperbole. The largest protest in history has been going on for 2+ months in India with their farmers, and Americans are – for the most part – unaware. I don’t blame you if you’re a fellow U.S. Citizen. We’ve been kept in the dark & distanced. I hope to shed some light on the situation in this post.
A Little Context About the Protest
I wrote about this back in December. I won’t retread anything like what this is all about. Instead, I encourage you to read that earlier post about the Indian Farmers and their dire circumstances to get a general understanding of the root cause of all of this.
What You’re About to See…
Since I genuinely haven’t seen hardly ANY news coverage about this here in the United States (there are some who have finally covered the events of today), I want to share a bit from an Instagram account I’ve been following to keep up with what’s been happening on the ground over there.
In short, these embeds will focus on a large coordinated tractor rally that kicked off on January 26th in India. This has all pretty much been going on as we slept (both literally and figuratively).
I warn people now that some of the imagery may be a hard watch. I will try to avoid posting too much bloodshed, but some of the mentions and videos of violence, in general, might be a lot for viewers.
(scroll past the embeds for my take)
[UPDATE: Sadly, the account is no longer active on Instagram & all embeds were rendered inaccessible]
And that’s all that I have up to this point from that account.
My Two Cents About the Protests in India
To quote Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (a quote which has been seen a lot lately)…
“A riot is the language of the unheard.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Now that I’ve started this opinion off from that perspective, I want to say that I’m posting about this because of the tactics being used by the state. The United States’ relationship with India is likely keeping our government from saying ANYTHING about the matter, and the media blackout it concerning because it’s a weapon of dictators in our modern era. Typically the cameras go off when an atrocity is about to be committed, and they’d prefer the international community doesn’t see it.
I’d suspect some accounts will be forcibly deactivated, flagged, and some useful hashtags online will be suppressed in tools and in search engines.
And I know, some people reading this are wondering, “What’s the difference between this and what happened in DC a couple of weeks ago? Why do these protestors get a pass from you and the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol don’t?”
It is an understandable question, and to avoid seeming entirely hypocritical, I’ll bite and try to respond.
I will try to say this as succinctly as I can: The Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol Building in D.C. didn’t have just cause to “rise up” the way that they did. Especially when compared to the current plight of the impoverished farmers of India.
In India, current laws have pushed many to the brink of suicide on an alarmingly frequent basis (again, check out the first post I wrote about this) and the new bills will only make those hardships worse. The people know this, so they rose up. We do not have that level of state-sponsored oppression happening here in the United States.
What happened in D.C. a couple of weeks ago was simply an expression of outrage at losing (sort of an adult temper tantrum) a legal presidential election, NOT an outcry from oppression. Just my opinion.
I leave you all with a plea: Care about this. Do not become indifferent to the suffering and deaths of others… Especially if a government is behind it.
Do what you can to support (which in most cases is just getting the word out) because a lot of people in India are about to suffer under the push of their own government. It just isn’t right.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Peace, and thanks for reading.
The soundtrack for this post provided by…
Image Credits:
– Cover Image © Sajjad Hussain/AFP (Getty Images)
– Body Image © Unknown