[Editor: interesting presentation with significance well beyond India.]

Conversation with Canadian Union Leaders and Political Representatives Panel Discussion

Watch the video here.

June 27, 2021

Organized by the Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation and Indian Farmers and Workers Support Group.

Co-sponsored by Institute for the Humanities, SFU; South Asian Studies Institute, University of Fraser Valley; South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD), Vancouver; Democracy, Equality and Secularism in South Asia (DESSA), Winnipeg; Punjabi Literary and Cultural Association, Winnipeg; Gursharan Singh Memorial Lecture Committee, Vancouver.

ABOUT THE EVENT

May 26, 2021, marked the completion of six months of India's farmers' and workers' protest at the borders of the national capital of Delhi against the three contentious farm laws. These farm laws were passed in September 2020 by the Modi government, without consultation or debate in the midst of the first wave of the Covid pandemic and lockdown. The farmers oppose these laws because they will empower corporations to seize their land, jeopardize their livelihood, create food insecurity and deepen the agrarian crisis facing the country.

These farm laws are part and parcel of neoliberal policies expropriating people's resources, labour and livelihoods worldwide. The global significance of this largest and longest non-violent peaceful protest by the Indian farmers has been warmly appreciated by labour unions, political activists and farmers everywhere. Many city councils in Canada, such as Vancouver, Victoria, Burnaby, Port Coquitlam, Surrey, and others, along with many Canadian labour organizations, including the Canadian Labour Congress, Federations of Labour, and UNIFOR, have passed resolutions or issued statements in support of the demands of the Indian farmers.

SPEAKERS

- Councillor Jean Swanson, City Council Vancouver

- Mohamad Alsadi, Director, International Department and Social Justice Fund at Unifor National

- Councillor Chuck Puchmayr, City Council New Westminister

- Stephen Von Sychowski, President, Vancouver and District Labour Council