Kshama Sawant with P. Sainath: Lessons of the Farmers & Workers Movement in India

For over 11 months, during the global COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020-2021, small farmers and agricultural workers battled the right-wing regime of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in opposition to his anti-farmer/pro-billionaire laws. Through the power of their mass mobilization and their steadfastness, and the solidarity of over 250 million workers who went on a general strike in support, India’s farmers and workers handed the Modi regime a massive defeat and forced him to rescind the laws.

In this important interview, P. Sainath and Kshama Sawant discuss the lessons of the farmers’ and workers’ movement in India for working people and small farmers internationally.

P. Sainath is a longtime journalist and the author of “Everybody Loves a Good Draught,” a book about the devastating impact of neoliberal, pro-corporate-agribusiness policies on India’s small farmers and agricultural laborers. He has recently published a new book, “The Last Heroes: Foot Soldiers of Indian Freedom,” about the rank-and-file leaders of the Indian Revolution, many of them socialist, who led the way in defeating the British Empire.

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On Strike is a production of Workers Strike Back, hosted by Kshama Sawant and Bia Lacombe.