South Asia Solidarity Group
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HomeSouth Asia Solidarity Group video channel

South Asia Solidarity Group video channel

South Asia Solidarity Group

South Asia Solidarity Group
At the demonstration held on the 26th of November 2021, Sarbjit Johal of South Asia Solidarity Group said: "We, SASG stand here with all these other groups here TO CELEBRATE THE MASSIVE VICTORY OF THE FARMERS' MOVEMENT To express our solidarity with the Farmers who in protesting against the farm laws have organised one of the largest and longest protest we have known The Modi BJP passed these laws at the beginning of the pandemic thinking no one would dare to protest under such conditions. Yet the farmers refused to give in, women, men, children camped for over a year at Delhi's borders, and in many other places, they faced murderous attacks from right wing supporters of Modi’s govt, lost over 700 of their loved ones - family, friends and supporters - to the bitter cold, to covid, or they were murdered by the police and armed forces. Many have received police charges and have been imprisoned. But despite all these efforts to crush their movement, the the farmers have remained united in their demands and resistance to Modi’s fascism. They have stood up to the corporates who are trying to take over Indian agriculture, and plunder the land for their profits. They have stood up to Ambani and Adani and to British finance capital which backs them.The fact that Modi has been forced to withdraw the laws, shows the power of peoples movements. They were called Terrorists, Khalistanis, illiterate, simple, peasants. Now that they have won their demand to get the laws repealed, BJP Women like Kangana Ranaut and Uma Bharti have been quick to defend Modi trying to make him look like a caring reformer who really ‘loves the Sikhs’. But we remember the Gujarat genocide and stand with Zakia Jafri who is fighting for justice today We remember the Citizenship Amendment Act and stand with all those protesting against this Islamophobic Act stripping muslims of their rights to citizenship We stand with the political prisoners criminalised for dissenting against Modi’s fascism and demand the release of Khurram Parvez, a leading human rights defender in Kashmir arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)Act We remember the mob lynching of Muslims and all the attacks on Dalits fighting for equal rights and we stand with all those across India standing up against Modi’s fascist regime We will never forget 5th August 2019, the day Modi revoked Kashmir’s special status and we stand with all progressives demanding restoration of Article 370 We of course will never forget that it was India’s peasantry which sustained the freedom movement and eventually ended colonial rule. And after 1947, every major social movement has had India’s farmers and youth at the forefront. And lets not forget that in the last three decades of HIndutva fascism and Globalisation, it was the movement of farmers against the Special Economic Zones which ended the 1894 Land Acquisition Act, it was farmers and Adivasis who stopped Modis attempt to subvert the 2013 Land Acquisition and Compensation Act in the interest of corporates. YES!….and we will never forget all those who were killed and injured at Lakhimpur Kheri and we demand the sacking of Ajay Mishra Teni, the BJP Home Minister reponsible for what happened that day. We as South Asians in the diaspora stand with all those who love democracy and love India. We stand with the farmers and workers and all those who support them to demand: 1 Minimum Support Price is made a legal right 2 Compensation for the lost lives (700+) 3 Withdrawal of charges against farmers 4 Waiver of pending Electricity bills 5 Sacking of Ajay Mishra Teni, the Minister responsible for Lakhimpur Kheri Throughout the last year the farmers movement has also amplified the demands of other struggles and movements against fascism. We salute their inspiring solidarity and reiterate those demands too: -Repeal Labour laws -Repeal Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) -Repeal Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) -Restore Article 370 We stand United Against Fascism in India! Fascism will be defeated!" With Global Women's Strike, Women of Colour Global Womens Strike, Indian Workers Association (GB) and others. #farmersprotest #narendramodi #globalwomensstrike
Victory to the farmers' protest and solidarity demo outside India High Commission in London
YouTube Video VVVxbURDNnBhU3hBVk5UU1FxVHJPeDhnLjgwLUZUVW1Oa0hB
With #Modi #greenwashing his environmental crimes at #COP26, don't miss this exciting and inspiring meeting which prioritises #Adivasi resistance to corporate crimes, coal and environmental destruction in the face of intense repression. SPEAKERS: Soni Sori, Adivasi and women’s rights activist Phillip Kujur, Adivasi Activist Forum for Indigenous Rights activist Dayamani Barla, Adivasi journalist and journalist Disha Ravi - climate activist Priya Pillai, social and environmental activist Keval Bharadia, political economist and activist The session discussed the environmental destruction and widespread dispossession caused by transnational corporations working with India’s #BJP government. Speakers focused on the global importance of people’s resistance, particularly Adivasi (indigenous) communities' resistance, in the face of intense repression and discuss ways of building international solidarity. Organised by South Asia Solidarity Group and Survival International at the People's Summit COP2 Photo: Hidme Markam, an Adivasi woman activist who has been imprisoned under the draconian UAPA, leading a march. Photo Credit: Sujit Karma
People's Resistance and Repression: Modi's Corporate Crimes, Coal and Environmental Destruction
YouTube Video VVVxbURDNnBhU3hBVk5UU1FxVHJPeDhnLlFGUXdGQl9yc2o4
Narendra Modi was at COP26 in Glasgow and announced India will be net-zero by 2070. Net-zero means that the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere will be offset equally by a huge array of green-based solutions, like planting more trees. Ask any serious environmentalist and you will discover net-zero is a huge con. We in South Asia Solidarity Group, stand with everyone around the world fighting against the causes of climate change; which is Capitalism, born through colonialism and imperialism of the last 500 years. To make such an unethical, unsustainable, exploitative and murderous economic system work, governments and corporations globally must always manufacture racism and division through violence and authoritarianism to make it work. Under Narendra Modi, the BJP government is turning India into an authoritarian Hindutva corporate state. All dissenters are targeted and human rights trashed. Scholars, journalists and academics are gunned down by BJP affiliated gangs. Human rights activists are thrown in jail for sedition and left to die there. Adivasi or indigenous people are being tortured and raped and imprisoned by police and militias for trying to defend their forests from mining companies. Farmers are being run-over and murdered by Government officials for protesting the corporate takeover of India’s food supply chain. Muslims are being regularly lynched by Hindutva groups and are being targeted in laws which disenfranchises them and are a prelude to ethnic cleansing. We stand with Adivasis, Dalits, farmers, Muslims, refugees and migrants and other workers and minorities being demonised, attacked, thrown in jail, murdered and lynched. We stand with the Kashmiri people against occupation and militarisation We stand with everyone in the fight to protect their lands from corporates and governments who fuel religious and race wars in attempts to weaken us with divide and rule. During the pandemic last year, the number of billionaires went up as they continue to suck wealth upwards under this financialised, casino economic system that commoditises every conceivable part of life. During the last year alone, the number of billionaires in India went up by almost 50% and their wealth nearly doubled to three quarters of a trillion dollars. It confirms what we already know, capitalism causes inequality but also entrenches power into a few hands who dominate politics and policies. With wealth comes political power, which in India under Modi, presents as an authoritarian, fascist state embracing neoliberal capitalism including fossil fuel financing from British banks. They push for more growth through more production output and consumption. They are driven to fossil fuels because the margins are greatest there. To get the fossil fuel they must violently and murderously throw indigenous communities off their land. Globally, we are being dispossessed to allow for the unimaginable accumulation of wealth and power, where trillions and trillions of dollars end up in government sanctioned tax havens. Climate change, like poverty and inequality, are political projects, reversible by mass movements. An important part of our resistance is to come together and fight for revolutionary reparations, and not to give in to liberal reformist solutions like net-zero, green-growth or green consumption as this means more capitalism, imperialism and colonialism. There is no ethical production or consumption under capitalism. We must remember grassroots reparations is about power – getting power out of the hands of corporations and fascist governments. The fight for climate reparations is the fight to kill the causes of climate change and create true democracies and peace - by the people, for the people. South Asia Solidarity Group stands with everyone fighting for revolutionary climate reparations and justice.
Modi, COP26 & climate reparations
YouTube Video VVVxbURDNnBhU3hBVk5UU1FxVHJPeDhnLm1xa0EyOHZhYTRn
English subtitles available. We condemn in the strongest possible terms a deeply shocking incident which occurred at the farmers protest site at Delhi’s Singhu border. Lakhbir Singh, a Dalit man, was lynched by a Nihang Sikh outfit, allegedly in reaction to an act of desecration of a holy scripture of the Sikh religion. While we deplore all acts of desecration of symbols sacred to the Sikh community, no such act of ‘sacrilege’, ‘heresy’, ‘blasphemy’ or ‘insult’ can ever justify a murder. The Samyukt Kisan Manch, representing over 40 farmers organisations coordinating the protests has already unequivocally condemned this terrible and gruesome anti-Dalit atrocity. Alongside the SKM we demand that those who committed this crime, or are implicated in it, in the name of defending religious symbols, be brought to justice, prosecuted and punished. We also condemn all those who seek to justify this lynching in the name of religion. As more details about the case emerge, we are becoming aware that some crucial questions remain unanswered suggesting that this terrible crime had been well-planned, and was part of a deliberate and vicious conspiracy to discredit the farmers movement. According to residents of Lakhbir’s home village it was odd that Lakhbir was found at Singhu—he was poor and a drug addict. According to his sister, he never even travelled to meet a relative and it was very strange that he had gone all the way to Delhi. He had also never been to a farmers protest. So was he persuaded to go to Singhu by forces outside his village? Videos and photos of Lakhbir’s body, which have been widely circulated on the internet, showed that he was dressed in a kacchera—inner shorts, typically worn by Sikhs. But, according to his relatives, Lakhbir never wore a kacchera. Doubts have also been raised about the true identity of the prime accused. We would like to once again express our solidarity with the farmers movement who are facing brutal attacks from the state and its representatives, including the recent act of terror at Lakhimpur Kheri in which four protesters were killed. We stand with them as they take on the Modi regime and its corporate cronies Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani.
Lynching of Lakhbir Singh at the Singhu border; Farmers protest site
YouTube Video VVVxbURDNnBhU3hBVk5UU1FxVHJPeDhnLlFLREYxcGlybVBr
As dawn broke in London today, members of the diaspora and friends of India in the UK dropped a huge banner reading ‘Resign Modi’ from London’s iconic Westminster Bridge. En route to the bridge, the participants held a candlelight vigil outside the Indian High Commission to remember all the victims of the Modi regime. A statement released at the time of the banner drop identifies ten reasons for the call for Modi’s resignation: 1. Calls for genocide of Muslims and normalization of mob lynching and pogroms Calls for the genocide of Muslims are being made openly at rallies by people who belong to Hindu supremacist terror groups. These incidents are being brushed aside as part of ‘normal life’. 2. Rapes and murders of Dalit women and girls The ever-present violence against Dalits has increased several-fold under Narendra Modi, with Dalit women and girls being gang-raped and murdered by oppressor-caste men who are shielded by ruling BJP governments at state and central level. The Prime Minister has remained silent in the face of such unspeakable violence and Brahmanical misogyny. 3. The corporate takeover of agriculture The Modi regime has passed three Farm Laws which facilitate a handover of the entire agricultural sector to his corporate cronies Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani. 4. Incarceration of dissenters and human rights defenders under draconian laws like the UAPA 5. Settler colonialism in Kashmir Kashmiris have suffered decades of intense militarisation, grave human rights abuses and the denial of their right to self-determination. Under Modi, India’s relationship with Kashmir has entered a new phase of occupation similar to Israel's settler colonialism. 6. Modi’s Nuremberg Laws The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is an attack on the very basis of Indian citizenship. 7. India is the world’s fourth-worst country in the Environmental Performance Index. 8. Violation of the democratic electoral process Elections have been occasions for scapegoating Muslims and lethal violence. 9. Criminal mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic 10. Far-right Hindu supremacists in the UK including Priti Patel and Rishi Sunak do not speak for us! MODI MUST RESIGN!
Westminster Bridge, London UK banner drop - Resign Modi: Indian Independence Day
YouTube Video VVVxbURDNnBhU3hBVk5UU1FxVHJPeDhnLlpiOExUdkZLdVYw
VIGIL FOR FATHER STAN SWAMY - MURDERED BY THE INDIAN STATE. NEVER FORGET! FREE THE BHIMA KOREGAON ACCUSED! REPEAL THE UAPA! FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS! On 5th July, 84 year old Father Stan Swamy, a tireless activist for Adivasi rights and for democracy and justice, who had been arrested in October 2020 and remained in jail after being charged under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), died from Covid-19 complications after repeatedly being denied bail on medical grounds. Join us for a Vigil outside the Indian High Commission in London, to remember Father Stan Swamy, murdered by the Indian State. We will never forget. Statement by Diasporic and Human Rights Groups on the Passing of Father Stan Swamy: 'In spite of repeated exposes showing that Fr. Stan Swamy was falsely implicated in the case filed against him; in spite of the valiant efforts of his lawyers, fellow Jesuits, a wide array of activists across the world who loved him and drew inspiration from him; and in spite of the strenuous efforts of his doctors, Father Stan Swamy passed away on the 5th of July, 2021. His death is the direct result of the inhumanity of a regime that filed the false case against him. It is the direct result of the draconian law, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), and the inhumane treatment meted out to prisoners during a global pandemic. And in this, Fr. Stan is not alone: there are many other political prisoners held under false pretenses under the same draconian law, who are all still at risk of death, including fourteen of the Bhima-Koregaon 16. This was not unforeseen: over and over again, the authorities persecuted Father Stan and the other arrestees; over and over again, the authorities were warned that, especially after the outbreak of the pandemic, death would result if they did not release them. Far from heeding these warnings, the Central government took extraordinary measures to subvert a review of this baseless case by the Government of Maharashtra which may have resulted in its dismissal, and transferred the Bhima-Koregaon case to the NIA. The NIA, and the Taloja jail authorities, in turn, did all they could to keep Fr. Stan under deplorable conditions in prison, just as they continue to persecute other Bhima-Koregaon arrestees. It has only been a few weeks since an international effort was required just to get Prof. Hany Babu the basic care he needed for an infection. From UN Special Rapporteurs to members of the US Congress to members of the European Parliament, to legions of social movement groups in India, all kinds of people from all walks of life spoke up in support of Fr. Stan, to no avail. Now it is all too late. In one voice, we in the Indian diaspora, as well as allied groups, condemn the regime that persecuted Father Stan, denied him dignity and care, and hounded him to his death. We demand a judicial enquiry into his death. We condemn the continued persecution of the rest of the arrestees under false and trumped up charges during a global pandemic. We demand the release of all the rest of the Bhima-Koregaon arrestees. We demand the repeal of the unlawful UAPA. ... Fr. Stan set an example for us all: to be steadfast, to persevere, and to keep rekindling the flame of hope, no matter how many times it is extinguished. We are bereft without him, but the work he began will continue. We will not stop until this injustice is at an end' Signatories: Alternatives International, Canada Ambedkar International Center, USA Ambedkar King Study Circle, USA Americans For Kashmir, USA Amnesty International USA Aotearoa Alliance of Progressive Indians, New Zealand Boston South Asian Coalition, USA Canadians Against Oppression And Persecution (CAOP), Canada CERAS (Centre sur l'asie du sud), Canada Coalition Against Fascism in India, USA Coalition of Seattle Indian Americans, USA The Crescent Hub, Middle East Dalit Solidarity Forum, USA Foundation London Story, Europe Hindus for Human Rights, USA The Humanism Project, Australia Indian Alliance Paris, France India Civil Watch International, North America Indian American Muslim Council, USA Indian Farmers and Workers Support Group, Vancouver, Canada Indian Solidarity Finland, Finland Insaf Bulletin, New York, New Jersey, USA, and Montreal, Canada International Council of Indian Muslims, USA InSAF India (International Solidarity for Academic Freedom in India), Europe and USA Le Groupe Culturel Montreal Serai, Montreal, Canada Peace Vigil, USA The Polis Project, New York, USA Progressive India Collective, USA Punjabi Literary and Cultural Association, Winnipeg, Canada SADAN (South Asian Dalit Adivasi Network), Canada South Asian Left Activist Movement (SALAM), USA South Asia Solidarity Group, UK Scottish Indians for Justice, Scotland Students Against Hindutva Ideology, USA Voices Against Fascism in India, USA Women of Diverse Origins, Montreal, Canada
Vigil for Father Stan Swamy - murdered by the Modi Government
YouTube Video VVVxbURDNnBhU3hBVk5UU1FxVHJPeDhnLk1BY1dDQ2tnUy1V
We're outside Hamleys, which was bought by Reliance, the biggest company in India. Reliance bought the famous toy brand for £80 million in cash. Reliance first started in Gujarat in the 1960s, and then grew as India began liberalising its economy. India’s privatisation made Mukesh Ambani, Reliance’s owner the world’s 6th richest man. He was brokering deals with Narendra Modi, who was formerly Gujarat’s chief minister. Reliance now does everything in India: Fossil fuel mining, chemicals, banking and finance, military and defence, textiles, supermarkets, electronics, telecoms, e-commerce, and a premier league cricket franchise. Ambani and Modi’s relationship is now formidable since their formative days when they were making a killing in Gujarat together. Modi has given Reliance more of India’s public infrastructure including airports, coal plants, communications and power distribution companies whilst buying Reliance weapons. Once Modi stripped the state of Jammu and Kashmir of its autonomy in 2019, it handed over vast chunks of land for Reliance to mine there. Narendra Modi and Mukesh Ambani together dominate India. Modi puts in place all the free-market and privatisation policies so his friend Ambani can capitalise on them. Ambani earnt £9 million pounds an hour in 2020. Ambani uses his wealth to helps finance the BJP. India’s fascist Hindu-supremacist government that uses propaganda campaigns and troll armies to shore up elections and entrench power. We must resist the corporate theft of India and not let Reliance’s purchase of Hamleys brand provide an innocent face to these deadly political, fascist and corporate ideologies.
Modi & Friends: A rendezvous in Regent Street
YouTube Video VVVxbURDNnBhU3hBVk5UU1FxVHJPeDhnLkFiUEVrREhMR1NV
Select 'CC' to see English subtitles of Jasbir Natt and Rajveer Kaur's talk. Chair: Dr Ravinder Kaur, University of Copenhagen Speakers: Jasbir K. Natt, farmers' leader, Punjab Kisan Union Navsharan Singh, feminist writer and researcher Rajveer Kaur, sister of arrested Dalit labour activist Nodeep Kaur Ahead of International Women's Day 2021, join us for this inspiring discussion with women activists on the ground of how women are affected by Modi's corporate Farm Laws, why women are at the forefront of India's huge farmers' protests, how this is impacting patriarchal gender relations, how new solidarities are emerging, and how unequal caste, class, community and gender relations must continue to be challenged. Ravinder Kaur (Chair) is Associate Professor of Modern South Asian Studies, University of Copenhagen, and currently Global History Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard. She is the author of Brand New Nation: Capitalist Dreams and Nationalist Designs in 21st Century India (2020). Jasbir K. Natt is a state committee member and long-time leader of the Punjab Kisan Union. She has been based at the Tikri border protest site since the beginning of the protests. Navsharan Singh is a writer and independent researcher who has worked with and written about the struggles of women in rural Punjab for many years. Her books include Landscapes of Fear: Understanding Impunity in India. Rajveer Kaur is a PhD student at Delhi University and a student activist with the Bhagat Singh Chatra Ekta Manch. She is campaigning for the release of her sister Nodeep Kaur who was arrested on January 12 for her labour rights activism in Haryana and for organising workers in solidarity with the farmers' protests.
From the Fields to the Frontlines: Women in the Farmers' Protests in India #IWD2021
YouTube Video VVVxbURDNnBhU3hBVk5UU1FxVHJPeDhnLmpiTm5CdkY5SXNZ
'Women of all ages are on the frontlines... facing State violence... to protect lands and livelihoods'. Solidarity on International Women's Day 2021 Claudia Webbe MP for Leicester East, UK The Politics of the Farmers' Protest
1/7 | Claudia Webbe MP: 'Why I am supporting the women farmers in India' #IWD2021
YouTube Video VVVxbURDNnBhU3hBVk5UU1FxVHJPeDhnLk5YWVZvWWx2MWRr
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About SASG

South Asia Solidarity Group (SASG) is an anti-imperialist, anti-racist organization based in Britain. We are committed to supporting, publicising, and building solidarity with people’s struggles for justice and democracy and against exploitation, gender and caste based oppression, imperialism, war and the so-called ‘war on terror’ in the countries of South Asia.

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    SurvivalSurvival International@Survival·
    2h

    Hidme Markam’s now been imprisoned for NINE MONTHS. She was arrested at a march for women’s rights, the day after Intl Women’s Day. 

    #FreeHidmeNow #FreeHidmeMarkam
    @AliceBarwa @TribalArmy @SAsiaSolidarity @Nxoor @disharavii @kavita_krishnan @LetIndBreathe @jigneshmevani80

    Twitter 1468906052062224384
    rakeshfilmRakesh Sharma@rakeshfilm·
    5h

    Finally, partially free! After being framed and arrested in a seemingly dubious, politically motivated case.

    I wonder if the Court has imposed similar terribly restrictive bail conditions on #PragyaThakur, terror-accused in an actual bomb blast case, not some made-up conspiracy! https://twitter.com/barandbench/status/1468468209175052289

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