International Day of Peasant Struggle

FIAN International joins each year in international actions to call attention to the “International Day of Peasant Struggle” and to violations of peasants’ rights around the world. This day marks the commemoration of the massacre of 19 landless agricultural workers who lost their lives for demanding their land in Eldorado dos Carajos, Brazil on April 17, 1996. 

This year FIAN International is focusing on a case of land seizure in Northern India. In 1993, 154 Dalit families were brutally evicted by a local land lord in the village of Ambedkar Nagar in the state of Uttarkhand (previously Uttaranchal). The Dalits have since then been fighting to regain their land by making use of the Indian law. Despite a ruling in 1996 by India’s Supreme Court stating that they are the rightful owners of the disputed land, they are still not able to access and use their land. The ruling of the judgment of India’s Supreme Court has until this day not been enforced.

In the state of Uttarkhand, the state government is increasingly acquiring more agricultural land for industrial purposes. This has made it even more difficult for the evicted Dalits to repossess their land. In 2005 the government of Uttarkhand finally expropriated the land illegally seized by the landlord, intending to use the area for industrial purposes. This is in stark contrast to the Supreme Court ruling and a violation of the right to food of the evicted land owners.

The acquisition of agricultural land for industrial purposes resulting in forced evictions of villagers and farmers living on the lands is an issue of increasing concern in India. FIAN has learned of several cases in the states of Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Orissa. Peasants from Nandigram, East Midnapore District in West Bengal have already paid a too high price in blood. On March 14, 2007, a 4000 strong police and para military force armed with AK 47 were instructed by the state government to open fire on villagers to suppress the growing protests of the Nandigram farming communities, who were fighting against the land acquisition for the proposed establishment of the US$ 4.2 billion mega-Special Economic Zones (SEZs). More than 20 persons died in that incident. FIAN West Bengal and FIAN International both intervened to support the peasants’ movement for the right to food in Nandigram. Protest letters have been launched by FIAN International and the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food has been informed of the incident.

FIAN International is now asking people across the world to participate in an international letter campaign to support the peasants from Ambedkar Nagar in the state of Uttarkhand, asking the Chief Minister to:
1) Investigate the lack of implementation of the High Court and Supreme Court verdicts to return land to the 154 Dalit families evicted from Ambedkar Nagar in Uttarkhand.
2) Secure the safety of the 154 Dalit families, especially when they return to their land.
3) Strengthen the legal protection of communities threatened by eviction, with special attention to marginalised groups such as Dalits and Adivasis, including men, women and children.

This development in India is not a unique case in today’s world. According to FAO 854 million people still suffer from hunger and starvation. 80% of them are rural people. Many of them lack access to and control over land and water resources. They suffer from economic poverty, social exclusion, political subordination and cultural marginalisation. They lack legal protection and are victims of national and international policies which cause violations of the right to food.