| Dear Betsy, Nourishing food for all and fair livelihoods for the people who grow that food. Those are core values that are important to me - and if you're on our email list, it's likely that they resonate with you as well. Throughout the winter, farmers and farmworkers in India have been taking to the streets to protest three undemocratic farm bills that threaten their livelihoods - and the future direction of farming in their country Add your name in solidarity with all those calling for fair livelihoods and human rights These three bills stand to deregulate and privatize India's farming industry by cutting support to small-scale farmers and removing limits that currently exist to keep corporations from hoarding land and stockpiling crops. By prioritizing corporations over people and the planet, these unjust laws further environmental degradation and economic oppression. Over 250 million people have taken to the streets to protest these laws. And as they exercise their basic rights, the protesters have been faced with a brutal crackdown from the state. The Indian government has used police brutality and disappearances to discourage protesters. They have also tried to control information by detaining journalists, spreading disinformation, and cutting internet access--all recognized as human rights violations by the UN. As the protests continue, around the globe, thousands more are raising their voices recognizing that these protests are as much about human rights as they are about land rights and livelihoods. Add your name in support of the farmers and farmworkers and take a moment to share on social media. See the bottom of this email for how your organization can sign on as well. The current protests in India are part of a much bigger and longer story. Further reading and listening from a range of perspectives: India's Farmer Protests: A Fight for Fair Trade - this post from Tomy Mathew Vadakkancheril of Fair Trade Alliance Kerala puts the moment in the broader context of fair trade and the truism that "a Fair Price is the best farm manure." Peeling Back the Layers of Punjab's Green Revolution - in this podcast episode from the Art of Citizenry, Manpreet Kaur Kalra and guests explore the roots of the bills being protested in nationalism and the ongoing push for more power by corporate agribusiness. | | | | | "No community can survive without the role of farmers, and I think if you're going to look at healthy nations of tomorrow, they have to look at ‘What are the kind of farming practices that we are promoting within our own community?' and ‘What are the kind of farming structures that we are enabling?' And if you feel empathy towards small farmers, I think, wherever you are in the world, I think it becomes your duty to raise your voice and to empathize with farmers and to raise your voice for their rights." - Arvinder Singh | | | | | Farm Protests in India are Writing the Green Revolution's Obituary - this article examines the current protests as part of the larger resistance to industrial agriculture and the recognition that it will take "agroecological, diverse, decentralized and just agrarian and food systems" to feed the world. Thank you for adding your voice to the call for solidarity, Anna Canning P.S. If you have a shop, organization, or business who would like to add your name to the organizational sign-on version of the petition, please use this form. | 
