Folkster Bongeziwe Mabandla sings South African blues


Bongeziwe Mabandla sings love songs in his home language, Xhosa, on his latest album (AFP/GUILLEM SARTORIO)

Claire DOYEN
Thu, November 18, 2021

Bongeziwe Mabandla cuts a striking figure: a muscular folk musician with his trousers rolled up above his ankles, there is still something of the little boy who grew up in the hills of South Africa.

Nominated for a South African Music Award in 2018, Mabandla has grown hugely popular in his home country and has performed at concerts and festivals overseas.

He cut his latest album during the height of the pandemic, drawing on the heritage of maskandi, the musical tradition of migrant workers.

During apartheid, trains crossed South Africa carrying workers in livestock cars to labour on the gold and coal mines.

Others walked miles to work sugar cane fields.

Men left their wives and children behind, and during their long absences they created a new genre of music.

They sang about their loneliness, their labour, and the travails of everyday life.

Thus was born the "Zulu blues".

In his thirties -- he refuses to reveal his exact age -- Mabandla performs with his guitar, alone on stage with a drummer.

On his latest album Iimini, or "The Days", he sings love songs in his home language, Xhosa, with all of its distinctive clicks.

"Xhosa language is very lyrical, very expressive," he told AFP. "It's a form of activism, keeping your culture, loving yourself."

Even those who don't speak the language can understand the emotions of what he's singing.

His voice conveys both the hurt and the jumbled feelings that love can engender.

"It really speaks about how love can change you," he said of the lead single "Zange", or "Never".

- "Humble" -

Born in a village in the south of the country, Mabandla burst onto the Afro-folk scene in 2012 with his debut album Umlilo.

He'd discovered the guitar as a child in the Eastern Cape, the vast southeastern province that's home to a rich tradition of music and literature.

"My childhood was very happy, I grew up with my mother. A normal, humble sort of growing up," he said. "I never thought I'd be a musician."

Like many others from rural South Africa, he left for the city in the early 2000s, hoping to make his way in Johannesburg, home to much of the country's recording industry.

He cites among his influences American artists Tracy Chapman and Lauryn Hill, as well as the Zulu singer Busi Mhlongo -- a pioneer of modern interpretations of the maskandi sound.

For Iimini, he decided to incorporate some sampling and electro elements.

So he tapped Mozambican producer Tiago Correia-Paulo, the former guitarist of South African hip hop group Tumi and the Volume, which enjoyed international success before breaking up.

The end result is well-paced, rhythmic sequences and RnB-style escalations that fill the room.

At a recent concert in Johannesburg, the crowd shouted out "Yebo!", a South African word of approval, as the crowd sang and danced in a concert hall that Covid had for too long left silent.

cld/gs/mbx

Mixed-race Brazilians increasingly embrace blackness

Louis GENOT
Thu, 18 November 2021,
 

Brazilian philosopher and writer Djamila Ribeiro holds her book "Small Anti-Racist Manual” during an interview with AFP in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on November 8, 2021 (AFP/NELSON ALMEIDA)

 Henrique Vieira, an Evangelical pastor with a black father and white mother


When Bianca Santana was little, her grandmother used to put her forearm alongside her mother's and her own, proudly showing how the family's skin had lightened across the generations.

Now 37, Santana, a Brazilian writer and activist, sees the long-loaded issue of race in her country through a different lens: she is proud to call herself black.

"When a child was born with lighter skin, that was cause for celebration," says Santana, recalling the messages she received about race growing up.

She remembers how her black grandmother used to make her pull her hair into a tight bun, so she wouldn't look like "'those little blackies.'"

"She liked to talk about how my mother's father had Italian blood, how his mother had blue eyes," she says.

Today, Santana, author of the book "How I Discovered I Was Black," proudly wears her hair in an afro, a style she only embraced at age 30.

Her shifting sense of identity is increasingly common in Brazil, the country with the largest black population outside Africa.

Brazil, which will celebrate Black Consciousness Day Saturday, struggles with structural racism and the legacy of slavery, which it only abolished in 1888 -- the last country in the Americas to do so.

But for the large mixed-race population in this sprawling country of 213 million people, the stigma long attached to blackness is fading.

"Mixed-race people in Brazil increasingly identify as black," Santana says.

"They're straightening their hair less, they're embracing black identity more and more."

- 'Racial democracy myth' -

Brazil's last official census, in 2010, found 43.4 percent of the population self-identified as "pardo," or mixed-race, and 7.5 percent as "preto," or black.

It was the first time black and mixed-race Brazilians constituted a majority. In 2000, 53 percent of the population identified as white.

The 2020 census was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, but partial surveys indicate the trend has continued.

Today, 45.9 percent of the population identifies as mixed-race, 8.8 percent as black and 44.2 percent as white, according to mid-2021 figures from the national statistics institute, IBGE.

Meanwhile, less than five percent of management positions at Brazil's 500 biggest companies are occupied by blacks, who represent a disproportionately high number of the poor and unemployed.

White Brazilians earn nearly 75 percent more than people of color on average.

A long-dominant narrative in Brazil held that the country was a "racial democracy," where black, white and indigenous were so mixed that racism did not exist.

But that is a "myth," says Djamila Ribeiro, a philosopher and author of the best-seller "A Little Anti-Racist Handbook."

"Black movements have worked hard to raise awareness about blackness in Brazil, because the country was founded on that myth of a 'racial democracy,' and that has made it difficult for black people to even see themselves as black," she says.

"Many people who are black grew up not thinking they were."

- 'Color of sin' -

A key turning point has been the introduction of race quotas for university spots and government jobs over the past decade and a half, says Roberta Calixto of ID_BR, an organization that promotes the inclusion of blacks in the workplace.

"Before, there was an ideology of 'whitening' in Brazil. We grew up with the idea that being white was the goal, because being black was considered bad," she says.

"Quotas have inverted that logic. Now, it's valuable to identify as black, which leads to a process of self-knowledge that I think is fundamental."

For Henrique Vieira, an Evangelical pastor with a black father and white mother, that awakening took years.

"When I was a boy, I had a book from church that talked about black being the color of sin and white the color of saintliness. I went home and told my mom I wanted to be the same color as her, that I didn't want to look like my dad," says Vieira, 34.

He says reading the Bible from a "less colonialist" perspective and getting involved in social movements helped him understand the heavy weight of racism, including in his own life.

"It's been a life-long conquest to identify as a black man," he says.

lg/jhb/mdl/dw

Myanmar arrests ex-lawmaker it says masterminded anti-junta attacks


Self-declared civilian 'people's defence forces' have sprung up to fight for democracy since Myanmar's generals seized power in a February coup (AFP/STR)

Fri, November 19, 2021

Myanmar security forces have arrested a former lawmaker and prominent hip-hop artist accused of masterminding a string of attacks targeting regime forces and officials, the junta said on Friday.

Self-declared civilian "people's defence forces" have sprung up to fight for democracy since the generals seized power in a February coup, with dissidents targeting officials perceived to be working with the junta.

Maung Kyaw, 40, was arrested from an apartment in the commercial hub Yangon following a "tip-off and cooperation from dutiful citizens," the junta's information team said.

The former lawmaker -- who also goes by the name Phyo Zeya Thaw -- was in possession of two pistols, ammunition and an M-16 rifle, it added.

Maung Kyaw had been accused of orchestrating several attacks on regime forces, including the brazen shooting on a commuter train in Yangon in August that killed five policemen.

A hip-hop pioneer in Myanmar whose subversive rhymes irked the previous junta, he was jailed in 2008 for membership in an illegal organisation and possession of foreign currency.

He was elected to parliament from Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party in the 2015 elections that ushered in a transition to civilian rule.

The Southeast Asian country has been in turmoil since the coup sparked massive protests and a bloody military crackdown on dissent, which has killed more than 1,200 people according to a local monitoring group.

The junta has stepped up arrests of dissidents in Yangon, which has been rocked by near-daily bomb blasts and shootings.

Earlier this month, a top executive from a major military-backed Myanmar telecoms firm was gunned down outside his home.

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#KASHMIR IS #INDIA'S #GAZA
Kashmir shut down after two 'civilians' reburied


1 / 2

Kashmir shut down after two 'civilians' reburiedMourners carry the coffin of one of the two civilians killed during a security operation by the authorities in Kashmir (AFP/Tauseef MUSTAFA)

Fri, November 19, 2021, 2:43 AM·2 min read

Thousands of Kashmiris defied the biting winter cold to attend the funerals Friday of two men killed during a security operation, heralding a widespread shutdown in the Indian-administered territory.

The pair -- who police said had died in "crossfire" on Monday in a gunfight with suspected separatists -- had been hurriedly interred by authorities in a remote graveyard.

The deaths sparked anger in the restive region with their families insisting they had no links to the militants, accusing security forces of murdering them in "cold blood" and demanding their bodies be returned for a proper Islamic burial.


Officials on Thursday ordered a probe into the killings of Mohammad Altaf Bhat and Mudasir Ahmed Gul before exhuming their remains and handing them over to relatives amid wails and emotional post-midnight scenes in Srinagar.

Thousands of people turned out for their pre-dawn reburials, with some angry mourners shouting "we want freedom!" and others reciting Quranic verses, an AFP photographer on the scene said.

"Your death has shattered us completely," Bhat's niece Saima Bhat posted on Twitter, adding she did not know "if we'll be able to cope up from this tragedy!"

Family members told AFP that officers had instructed them to bury the men at night and not to allow crowds to assemble.

"There was just about enough time for our family and his children to have a last glimpse," said one of Bhat's relatives, declining to be identified.

Residents in large parts of the territory observed a complete shutdown later Friday to protest the killings, in response to a call by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a group of separatist parties seeking self-determination for Kashmir.

Shops and business establishments stayed shut across Srinagar and public transport did not circulate, with only a trickle of private cars on the roads.

Similar shutdowns took place in most main towns across the highly militarised disputed territory, which is also claimed by Pakistan.

Police and paramilitary troops in riot gear were deployed in force in the dead men's neighbourhoods and at some "volatile points".

Such shutdowns have been largely impossible since 2019 when New Delhi annulled the region's partial autonomy and brought it under direct rule, but with tensions at a peak authorities decided not to intervene on this occasion.

Police in Kashmir have previously denied families access to the bodies of slain militant suspects or their "associates", saying it helps stop the "glorification" of anti-India rebels, whose funerals were usually attended by thousands of people.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their first war over the Himalayan region soon after independence in 1947.

The South Asian arch-rivals claim the territory in full but separately administer parts of the region.

An armed rebellion against Indian rule erupted three decades ago and the conflict has left tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, dead so far.

pzb/slb/stu/ssy

EGYPT;THE GENERALS STATE

State security court sentences former MP, two journalists to prison for 'destabilising public peace'

Amr Kandil , Ahram Online , Wednesday 17 Nov 2021

An Egyptian emergency state security misdemeanour court sentenced lawyer and former MP Ziad El-Eleimy to five years in prison on Wednesday for spreading false news on social media among other charges


Ziad El-Eleimy. 

The court also sentenced journalists Hossam Mones and Hisham Fouad to four years in prison on the same charges.

El-Eleimy served as an MP representing the Egyptian Social Democrartic Party in the 2012 Parliament.

The prosecution charged the 13 defendants with crimes including cooperating with a group established in violation of the law, disseminating false news and information about the political and economic conditions in the country in order to destabilise public peace and undermine trust in state institutions.

In June 2019, El-Eleimy, Mones and Fouad and the rest of the defendants in the case were arrested for what the interior ministry described at the time as a hostile plot dubbed ‘Hope Cell’ to “disrupt the national economy.”

In the same case, Activists Mohamed Bahnasy and Hossam Nasser received three years. Meanwhile, Labour activist Fatma Abul-Maaty received a three-year sentence in absentia.

The court also imposed a fine of EGP 500 on all defendants in the case.

The ruling is final and cannot be appealed.

Unlike ordinary courts, emergency state security court rulings cannot be appealed.

The defendants, however, have the right to petition for clemency.

In April last year, a Cairo criminal court said the terrorist-designated Muslim Brotherhood leaders had tasked members and associates of the group in Egypt, including the Hope Cell defendants, with providing logistical support and weapons to carry out the scheme against the state.

According to the court, the plot sought to "provide financial support for hostile actions against the Egyptian state with the aim of harming national interests and economic security, and carrying out aggressive actions against the army and the police to topple the regime."

In July of this year, the Court of Cassation upheld a ruling placing the 13 defendants in the case on the country's terrorism list for five years.

Egyptian ex-lawmaker and journalists get prison sentences


FILE - Egyptian protesters shout slogans against the then ruling military council during a rally in support of then member of Parliament Zyad el-Elaimy outside the Egyptian parliament in Cairo, Egypt, Feb. 21, 2012. An Egyptian court on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021, sentenced former lawmaker el-Elaimy, a prominent human rights lawyer, to five years in prison for his conviction on charges that rights advocates have decried as baseless and politically motivated. The court found el-Elaimy guilty of conspiring to commit crimes with an outlawed group -- a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt has banned as a terrorist organization. The banner shows el-Elaimy with Arabic that reads, "your hands raised in front of injustice will move future generations." (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)More


Wed, November 17, 2021, 

CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced a prominent human rights lawyer to five years in prison for his conviction on charges that rights advocates have decried as baseless and politically motivated.

The Misdemeanors State Security Emergency Court in Cairo found Zyad el-Elaimy, a former lawmaker, guilty of conspiring to commit crimes with an outlawed group. That's a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt has banned as a terrorist organization.

The court also sentenced journalists Hossam Monis and Hisham Fouad to four years in prison on the same charges. Two other defendants got three-year sentences. All were fined 500 Egyptian pounds (around $32).


Defense lawyer Khalid Ali said Wednesday's verdict is not subject to appeal before civilian courts because it was issued by an emergency court. He said the defense would file an appeal to a military court.

The global rights watchdog Amnesty International condemned the charges against the defendants, saying they stemmed from "their peaceful political activities.” It called for President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi to quash the sentences and release them.

"These politicians and activists should never have been arrested in the first place and yet they have been convicted and sentenced to prison on charges related to their legitimate criticism of the Egyptian authorities," said Philip Luther, Amnesty's regional research and advocacy director.

The convicted men were arrested in June 2019 after they met with political parties and opposition lawmakers to hash out how to run in the 2020 parliamentary elections.

In March 2020, a court sentenced el-Elaimy to a year in prison after it found him guilty of “deliberately spreading fake news.”

El-Elaimy was added by a court in 2020 to a list of suspected terrorists for the next five years, a decision upheld by the Court of Cassation — Egypt’s highest criminal court.

A vocal critic of the government, el-Elaimy is a leading activist in the secular Egyptian Social Democratic Party. He served as a member of parliament after the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat President Hosni Mubarak.

The Egyptian government has in recent years waged a wide-scale crackdown on dissent, jailing thousands of people, mainly Islamists, but also secular activists involved in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

British firm denies involvement in

alleged Israeli abuses

AP , Friday 19 Nov 2021

A British heavy machinery company has denied allegations by an international rights group that it is complicit in alleged Israeli abuses in the occupied West Bank.

Amnesty International says J.C. Bamford Excavators Limited's diggers and excavators have been used to demolish Palestinian homes and in the construction of Jewish settlements, both of which are widely seen as violations of international law. JCB is among more than 100 businesses listed in a U.N. database of companies that operate in West Bank settlements.

Related

 Israel attacks 'shameful' UN report on companies active in West Bank settlements

 UN rights office issues report on companies active in West Bank settlemen

In a statement issued late Thursday, JCB said it ``does not contribute to, or is in any way responsible for, or otherwise linked to adverse human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, either directly or indirectly.''

It said an independent investigation by the U.K. National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises had recently absolved the company of any wrongdoing.

That investigation found that JCB had not breached guidelines aimed at preventing or mitigating human rights violations. But it faulted the company for not carrying out human rights due diligence in its supply chain.

Amnesty said in a report Thursday that JCB's equipment is sold to an Israeli intermediary, who then sells it onward to clients that include the Israeli Defense Ministry. Amnesty said the use of a middleman does not absolve JCB of ensuring its equipment is not used to violate human rights.

``JCB's failure to conduct proper human rights due diligence on the end use of its products represents a failure to respect human rights,'' the group said in its report.

Israel captured east Jerusalem and the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want both territories to be part of their future state. The Palestinians and most of the international community view Israeli settlements _ now home to more than 700,000 Jewish settlers _ as a violation of international law and an obstacle to peace.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city its capital. It views the West Bank as disputed territory whose fate should be settled in negotiations, which broke down more than a decade ago. Israel's current prime minister, Naftali Bennett, is opposed to Palestinian statehood.

Fujimori's ex-strongman sentenced to 17 years for Peru kidnapping


Vladimiro Montesinos, pictured at his trial in Lima in 2014, was already serving a 25-year sentence for human rights violations (AFP/STR)

Fri, November 19, 2021

Vladimiro Montesinos, the jailed former intelligence chief of Peru's disgraced ex-president Alberto Fujimori, has been handed a 17-year prison sentence for the 1990s kidnapping of a journalist.

Montesinos has been imprisoned since 2001 on a 25-year jail term for human rights violations, and under Peruvian law is considered to have already served the additional, shorter sentence handed down late Thursday.

Gustavo Gorriti, a harsh critic of Fujimori's autocratic regime, was kidnapped from his home by soldiers late on April 5, 1992 -- the night Fujimori, with support from the armed forces, announced he was dissolving parliament and suspending Peru's constitution.

The journalist, who worked for Spanish newspaper El Pais, was kept at a military prison until his release several days later following diplomatic pressure from Spain.

Montesinos was a hardline security chief to Fujimori during his decade-long presidency, from 1990 to 2000.

Like Fujimori he fled the country following the disgraced leader's downfall, and like him he was eventually extradited back to his homeland to face trial.

The 83-year-old Fujimori is currently serving a 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity and corruption, after being found guilty of ordering two massacres by death squads in 1991 and 1992.

ljc/dga/bc/ec

Iraq churches rebuilt after jihadist destruction

AFP 2 hrs ago


Cymbals, prayers and Chaldean Catholic liturgy resounded on Friday in Mosul's Saint George monastery, where Iraqi faithful marked the restoration of two churches destroyed by jihadists in their former stronghold.

© Zaid AL-OBEIDI An aerial view of Mosul's Chaldean Monastery of Saint George, whose churches were among at least 14 destroyed by jihadists in Iraq's Nineveh province

Dozens gathered in one of the monastery's churches that have been rebuilt in stone six years after the Islamic State group (IS) pulverised them, in a city home to one of the world's oldest Christian communities.

It is the latest sign of a slow return to normality in Iraq's second city.

Mosul was left in ruins after three years of jihadist occupation which ended in 2017 when an Iraqi force backed by US-led coalition air strikes pushed them out.

"We have old memories in this monastery," said Maan Bassem Ajjaj, 53, a civil servant who moved to Arbil, capital of the neighbouring autonomous region of Kurdistan, to escape the jihadists.

"My son and daughter were baptised here," he said. "Each Friday, Mosul's Christian families would come here."

The US Department of State funded the project, which also had support from a Christian non-governmental group, L'Oeuvre d'Orient, according to Samer Yohanna, a superior of the Antonian order of Chaldean monks.

He told AFP that the jihadists destroyed 70 percent of the monastery the year after they occupied Mosul in 2014 and declared the establishment of an Islamic "caliphate".

The IS onslaught forced hundreds of thousands of Christians in Nineveh province surrounding Mosul to flee.

Iraq's Christian population has shrunk to fewer than 400,000 from around 1.5 million before the US-led invasion of 2003 that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

On a visit to Iraq in March, Pope Francis prayed outside another ruined church, one of at least 14 which IS destroyed in Nineveh.

Although the churches have been repaired, other parts of the centuries-old monastery still need restoration.

"You can see walls that are still standing but are weak and which need to be reinforced," Yohanna said.

Chaldean Bishop Thabet Habib, from the Al-Qosh diocese, said further work was needed so the entire monastery "can regain its splendour".

Last month, Mosul's Muslim community celebrated with a ceremony to mark the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed at the historic Al-Nuri mosque, which too was severely damaged by IS but is also being restored.

str-tgg/gde/it/lg

Syria Kurds revive ancient rain ritual as drought bites

Syrian Kurds in the northeast city of Qamishli on Friday performed an ancient rain ritual that has gained new relevance as they struggle with record low rainfall.

 

© Delil SOULEIMAN Syrian Kurds parade a doll made of wood and colourful fabric as they perform the 'Bride of the Rain' ritual in the northeast city of Qamishli on 

November 19, 2021

AFP

The "Bride of the Rain" ritual, practised for centuries by the region's Kurdish community, is traditionally performed during winter to ward off drought.

A doll made of wood and colourful fabric is paraded through the street and sprayed with water while people recite special prayers.

After largely dying out in recent decades, the custom has re-emerged as drought-hit residents of Syria's northeast grapple with a growing climate disaster that has threatened their crops and livelihoods.

"We had abandoned this tradition a long time ago but we restored it in the past two years... due to severe drought," said Farhan Ahmad, 54, who owns a plot of farmland.

In the Syrian city of Qamishli, a group of children carried the doll through the streets as neighbours brought cups of water for the ritual.

An elderly man perched out the window of an empty cinderblock building delivered a rain prayer.

Hajji Suleiman, 71, said he remembered performing the same ritual as a child but that circumstances were different now.

"We have entered the middle of winter and it has not yet rained once," he said.

Najah, 34, said she had organised a feast in honour of the ceremony.

"We hope God will have mercy on us because our nation needs rain," she told AFP.

"Most of the people here are poor, some of them have not brought meat into their homes for five months."

str/ho/lg

Indian PM Modi repeals controversial farming laws after a year of protests

Fri, 19 November 2021


Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday he would repeal three agriculture laws that farmers have been protesting against for more than a year, a significant climb-down for the combative leader as important elections loom.

The legislation, introduced in September last year, was aimed at deregulating the sector, allowing farmers to sell produce to buyers beyond government-regulated wholesale markets, where growers are assured of a minimum price.

Farmers, fearing the reform would cut the prices they get for their crops, staged nationwide protests that drew in activists and celebrities from India and beyond, including climate activist Greta Thunberg and pop singer Rihanna.

"Today I have come to tell you, the whole country, that we have decided to withdraw all three agricultural laws," Modi said in an address to the nation.

"I urge farmers to return to their homes, their farms and their families, and I also request them to start afresh."

The government would repeal the laws in the new session of parliament, starting this month, he said.

The surprise concession on laws the government had said were essential to tackle chronic wastage and inefficiencies, comes ahead of elections early next year in Uttar Pradesh (UP), India's most populous state, and two other northern states with large rural populations.

Nevertheless, Modi's capitulation leaves unresolved a complex system of farm subsidies and price supports that critics say the government cannot afford.

It could also raise questions for investors about how economic reforms risk being undermined by political pressures.

Protesting farmers, who have been camped out in their thousands by main roads around the capital, New Delhi, celebrated Modi's back-track.

"Despite a lot of difficulties, we have been here for nearly a year and today our sacrifice finally paid off," said Ranjit Kumar, a 36-year-old farmer at Ghazipur, a major protest site in Uttar Pradesh.

Jubilant farmers handed out sweets in celebration and chanted "hail the farmer" and "long live farmers' movement".

Rakesh Tikait, a farmers' group leader, said the protests were not being called off. "We will wait for parliament to repeal the laws," he said on Twitter.

Vulnerable to big business

Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government said last year that there was no question of repealing the laws. It attempted to break the impasse by offering to dilute the legislation but protracted negotiations failed.

The protests took a violent turn on Jan. 26, India's Republic Day, when thousands of farmers overwhelmed police and stormed the historic Red Fort in New Delhi after tearing down barricades and driving tractors through roadblocks.

One protester was killed and scores of farmers and policemen were injured.

Small farmers say the changes make them vulnerable to competition from big business and they could eventually lose price support for staples such as wheat and rice.

The government says reform of the sector, which accounts for about 15% of the $2.7 trillion economy, means new opportunities and better prices for farmers.

Modi announced the scrapping of the laws in a speech marking the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism.

Many of the protesting farmers are Sikh.

Modi acknowledged that the government had failed to win the argument with small farmers.

The farmers are also demanding minimum support prices for all of their crops, not just for rice and wheat.

"We need to know the government's stand on our other key demand," Darshan Pal, another farmers' leader, said of the new demand, which has gained traction among farmers across the country, not just in the northern grain belt.

Rahul Gandhi of the main opposition Congress party, said the "arrogant" government had been forced to concede.

"Whether it was fear of losing UP or finally facing up to conscience BJP govt rolls back farm laws. Just the beginning of many more victories for people’s voices," Mahua Moitra, a lawmaker from the Trinamool Congress Party and one of Modi's staunchest critics, said on Twitter.

But some food experts said Modi's back-track was unfortunate because the reforms would have brought new technology and investment.

"It's a blow to India's agriculture," said Sandip Das, a New Delhi-based researcher and agricultural policy analyst.

"The laws would have helped attract a lot of investment in agricultural and food processing - two sectors that need a lot of money for modernisation."

(REUTERS)

Elections trump economics in Modi's farm reforms U-turn


The rural reforms infuriated many farmers, who feared they would leave them at the mercy of big agribusiness corporations (AFP/Money SHARMA)

Bhuvan BAGGA
Fri, November 19, 2021

Elections trumped the urgency for agricultural reform in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise decision on Friday to repeal new farm laws, economists and political analysts said.

Although far from perfect, the three laws passed in September 2020 which Modi now plans to scrap would have made a start at liberalising India's enormous but hugely inefficient farming sector.

"The government has made an electoral calculation," Professor Harsh V Pant, an Indian author and analyst, told AFP.

Modi "instinctively, intuitively" felt the political costs of his reforms were higher than their economic benefit, he added -- making the subject "untouchable" going forward.

"If even Modi, with his electoral mandate, is struggling, then I don't think anyone in the near future will be able to get the same mandate or tackle these issues," he said.

India's agriculture sector is vast, with two-thirds of the 1.3 billion population relying on farming for their livelihood. But it is a mess.

Several hundred thousand Indian farmers have been driven to suicide in the past three decades by crippling poverty, debt and ever more erratic weather patterns caused by climate change.

Huge volumes of produce rot before they reach consumers and experts say that in many areas farmers are growing unsuitable crops, guzzling up groundwater at unsustainable rates.

In northern India, farmers burn the residue from rice paddy across huge areas, blanketing the capital New Delhi and other towns and cities in a sickly cloud of toxic pollution every year.

The new laws aimed to allow farmers to sell their produce directly to private companies at mutually agreed prices, and anywhere they could find a buyer.

The government said it would open up competition and encourage farmers to not just rely on subsidies, but to become more competitive by adopting more efficient farming methods.

But that meant breaking up the decades-old monopoly of state-controlled agricultural markets that buy at set minimum prices.

And the prospect struck fear into the hearts of many farmers, who saw the reforms as leaving them at the mercy of big agribusiness corporations who would squeeze them for every last rupee.

- Election fight -

Last November tens of thousands of them, egged on by opposition parties, headed for Delhi and -- after ugly clashes with police -- camped out on the outskirts of the capital where they remain today.

In January they gatecrashed Indian Republic Day celebrations, running riot in Delhi on their tractors and raising a flag at the historic Red Fort. Hundreds of police officers were injured.

Suddenly Modi -- voted in on a platform of supporting ordinary people but also as a reformer -- was facing his biggest political challenge since his Hindu nationalist government came to power in 2014.

After taking a beating in May elections in the eastern state of West Bengal, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) started to worry about votes due in five more states early next year.

They include Punjab, governed by the Congress party of the Gandhi dynasty, and the currently BJP-run bellwether state of Uttar Pradesh. Both are home to enormous numbers of farmers.

And analysts say that Modi's move was unashamedly driven by his party's political interests.

"Obviously, this decision puts electoral politics front and centre," Nistula Hebbar, political editor with The Hindu, told AFP. "The BJP under Modi is willing to be very pragmatic for its electoral success."

"If they lose UP everything will be bad for them going forward –- from the morale of the party supporters, the opposition's morale, the election of next Indian president and Modi's 2024 reelection bid," she added.

It is only the second major U-turn the firebrand Modi has carried out since his election, after he dropped plans to reform rural land titles in 2015, also following huge protests by farmers and other countryside-dwellers.

Satish Nambardar, an official with one of the farmers' unions behind the current demonstrations, said: "He took a one-man decision to introduce the laws and now he's taken a one-man decision to take them back."

bb/stu/slb/leg