By B. Venkat Mani · Monday, March 15, 2021 To read more in depth from Telos, subscribe to the journal here.
On January 31, 1920, Dr. Bhimrao “Babasaheb” Ambedkar—lawyer, thought leader, social thinker, and one of Columbia University’s most famous alumni, who later became the prime architect of the constitution of the postcolonial Republic of India—published the first issue of the Dalit newspaper Mooknayak (The Silent or Muted Hero). The aim was to create, in the Marathi language, an alternative narrative of self-representation of Dalits (then called “untouchables”) to counter the caste-biased local vernacular and colonial English-language newspapers in pre-independence India. Under Dr. Ambedkar’s leadership, and often led by his editorials, Mooknayak quickly turned into a megaphone for those who were consciously being silenced by those in power, a platform to champion the rights and dignity of the oppressed and impoverished lowest castes. The idea was effective: through Mooknayak, those who were marginalized and minoritized were able to leave a paper trail of their accounts, their struggles for dignity, hope, and rights for the next generations to come.
On December 18, 2020, at the end of a year marred by the global COVID-19 pandemic, during which a shadow pandemic exposed the socio-economic divisions and the differences between the mainstream and the marginalized across the world, the most befitting centennial tribute to the spirit of Babasaheb’s Mooknayak came through the publication of Trolley Times, a self-published newspaper of the Indian farmers’ movement. The paper drew its title from the trolleys (trailers) hitched to a tractor or a truck that have become the temporary abodes of thousands of farmers protesting at the borders of New Delhi since November 2020. The genesis of this newspaper is as extraordinary as its founding team, comprising a freelance journalist, a filmmaker, a documentary photo artist, and a physical therapist and farmer. Launched bilingually in Punjabi and Hindi with a first printing of 2,000 copies that quickly grew to 10,000 in the subsequent editions, Trolley Times established itself as a very important space for the narrative self-representation of the political and cultural spirit that is the driving force of the ongoing Indian farmers’ movement. With the digital presence of this newspaper on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and more recently through online English translations of its issues, it is hardly surprising that Bloomberg called it the “fastest growing newspaper in India today.”
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By B. Venkat Mani · Friday, March 5, 2021 To read more in depth from Telos, subscribe to the journal here.
On February 2, the second day of Black History Month, a tweet from a Black woman in the United States unleashed a war of words in India, with global resonance. Rihanna, the Barbados-born U.S. singer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and cultural activist posted a one-liner: “why aren’t we talking about this?!” with the hashtag #FarmersProtest and a link to a report about the government of India shutting down internet services in areas bordering the national capital, New Delhi, where farmers have been carrying out a movement to oppose three contentious farm laws.
Rihanna’s tweet went viral. The climate activist Greta Thunberg, Hollywood actor John Cusack, U.S.-based lawyer and supporter of Black Lives Matter Meena Harris, former adult star Mia Khalifa, Instagram influencer Amanda Cerny, R&B singer Jay Sean, and music composer Dr. Zeus all expressed support for the Indian farmers’ protests in their own independent tweets. Kisan Ekta Morcha, the official twitter account of the United Farmers’ Front, thanked Rihanna for her support of the movement, and countless Indians praised her for drawing international attention to the movement.
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By B. Venkat Mani · Friday, February 26, 2021 To read more in depth from Telos, subscribe to the journal here.
On November 26, 2020, when international borders were still partially closed due to the global coronavirus pandemic, a new democratic and peaceful movement was taking shape in India, led by farmers. They wanted to register their protest against three contentious agricultural reform laws covering “Produce Trade and Commerce,” “Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services,” and an amendment in the definition of “Essential Commodities.” Thousands of men, women, and children from the farming communities of the northern states of Punjab and Haryana left their homes and fields and drove on tractors and pick-up trucks hitched with “trolleys” (trailers) to New Delhi.
At the borders of the national capital of the world’s largest democratic nation, the farmers witnessed the full display of the power of their own elected federal government. Their attempts to enter the city were blocked by the deployment of a heavy police force, and the capital was closed off at several points; excavators were sent to dig up trenches, elaborate multilayered barricading was erected with massive concrete boulders generally used to prevent the impact of bombings, iron grills normally used in India to control traffic and set up temporary checkpoints were placed, covered with barbwire to assure extra security, and if all of this was not enough, water tankers were brought in to spray cold water on the farmers, who were also beaten up with lathis (batons).
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