This year, once again, the national capital of India is witnessing a farmer’s protest, amidst state repression, media blackout and disinformation. We are witnessing similar protests by farmers across the globe. As Pritam Singh notes, all of them are fighting against flawed visions of economic growth and urban apathy towards agricultural policies.
This illustration of trolley homes reminds us why farmers and agricultural workers need to be at the heart of sustainable agricultural futures.
In April 2021, I made this monochrome illustration with a black liner pen for the Trolley Times, the mouthpiece of the farmer’s protest. It shows two young Indian farmers attending online classes from their trolley homes during the year-long farmer’s protest of 2020-21 in the outskirts of New Delhi. During the protest, farmers had ingeniously converted their tractor trolleys into makeshift homes to survive the extreme weather conditions of North India and continue their fight against the anti-farmer, pro-capitalist policies of the Indian state. These trolley homes became sites of care, resistance and critical consciousness.
