Extending solidarity with the ongoing farmer protests against the three farm laws in India, Justice for Migrant Women, a civil rights organization based in the US ran a full-page advertisement in The New York Times on Tuesday. As many as 75 civil rights, legal, and community organizations from across the world co-signed the solidarity statement.
“To Indian farmers: You have ignited one of the largest protests in human history. From the fields of Punjab to the villages of Kerala, to the streets of New Delhi, your voices echo around the world. Now we raise our voices in solidarity,” read the statement in the advertisement.
Activists urged people all over the world to condemn the abuses against farmers, laborers, and protesters in India. “Use your voice to call on India to respect the core principles of democracy, including the rights of all people to protest peacefully, demand accountability, and envision a safer, healthier, and more just future for all people on the planet,” they said.
The organizations that extended their support include 18 Million Rising, Amnesty International, Thenmozhi Soundararajan’s Equality Labs, Valarie Kaur’s The Revolutionary Love Project, several South Asian and Asia Pacific organizations, trade unions, and farm worker unions from the US and around the world.
The organization that paid for the ad, Justice for Migrant Women is a legal advocacy and rights group that works to educate and protect the rights of migrant women in the USA. Founded by Monica Ramirez, the organization comprises advocates from rural areas working towards causes like equal pay for Latina women and the rights of farmworkers. The organization published a statement on their website explaining their decision to run the ad.
“Justice for Migrant Women is proud to demonstrate our solidarity with the farmers’ protest, alongside more than 75 like-minded organizations across the US and beyond,” said Ramírez in the statement. “India’s response to these peaceful demonstrations run counter to the fundamental values shared by all democracies — among them freedom of expression, protest, and the press, as well as the fundamental dignity of all people — and it is time that we all lend our voices to speak against this unjust treatment with those who are fighting for their lives and livelihoods,” she added.
The organization also published video supporting Indian farmers on their social media pages.
Along with the 75 organizations, several journalists, activists, and entertainers extended their support to the protesting farmers. Actresses Kerry Washington, America Ferrera, Eva Longoria, Pallavi Sharda; comedians Ahir Shah, and Hari Kondabolu; YouTube star Lilly Singh, journalist Van Jones, The Polis Project’s Suchitra Vijayan, writer Kiran Desai, and New York City lawmaker Zohran Mamdani are among the signatories who expressed their solidarity with the farmers.