> 20 000 peasants rally in Okara

I had the honor to attend a massive peasant rally yesterday, in the Okara region of the Punjab province. I’ve never seen anything like this before: 20 000 peasants all gathered in one place to defy the Pakistani military and express their unity.

This was in the aftermath of the deaths of 3 peasants in an attack by thugs allied to the Pakistani military. I wrote about that earlier.

The atmosphere was charged, yet somewhat festive.

Thousands of peasants arrived in carvans, waving red flags and singing songs of resistance.

I stood on the side of a dirt-road near the Kalyana Military Estate farm, as throngs of peasants arrived on motorcycles and tractor-trolleys. Each delegation was led by women, who have played an active role in the defense of their lands from the military and its allied landlords.

Leaders of the Okara peasants’ movement have always been open in saying that without the participation of women, their movement would never have been successful. One of the most memorable sights for anyone who attends a rally in Okara is the participation of the famous Thaapa Brigade, which is an affectionate term we use for the women wielding wooden thaapas. These women defended their homes and their men, even using the wooden instruments to attack and kill state forces on some occasions.

It is a wonderful sight to see delegations of women leading the peasant men, banging together thaapas. It is a sound which the military robbers should rightly fear. It is a symbol of our strength, and remains an insult to those cowards.

The peasants were openly hurling insults at the Pakistani military, which has tried to deprive them of their lands. Among the most popular slogans there were:

“Jera waawey:
ohoi khaawey!”

which translates roughly from Punjabi as: “Whoever grows (the crops), they shall eat (of the crops)“

In other words, those who produce in society should be the ones who consume, and not our murderous, lazy and useless elite.

Another one, which I love, of course, was:

“Pukkay nungay mein tey tu:
Lut kay khaa gai GHQ!”

which translates roughly as:

“You and I are hungry and un-clothed,
The GHQ (General Headquarters, i.e. the Military) have robbed us!”

I especially loved a speech by an elderly female leader of the peasants, who roundly abused the Pakistani military for daring to attack those whom she referred to as “our sons” (i.e. the peasant men who were killed by military thugs a few days earlier).

Here is a video of a part of the event:

At one point, I was standing near the gates to a Military-owned farm, a few paces away from the uniformed soldiers standing guard there. Some 50-60 peasants on their way to the rally gathered around us, and we started talking. They insisted that I address them in a few words. So I started out by saluting their struggle, and then began to attack our murderous Pakistani military.

I said that on the one hand, our military is so brave when it guns down un-armed peasants who stand up for their small plots of land, and yet, when NATO forces bombard the north-west of our country, our military is too scared to even protest such acts of aggression.

Needless to say, the peasants loved it. They started clapping and grinned at the soldiers with the utmost contempt. The soldiers could only glare at me.

(bwahahaha, losers: BURN! )

While there were many excellent accounts of this event all over the internet, I recommend this one.

It was decided that if the demands of the peasantsare not met, they will march on Lahore and even Islamabad in thousands, to protest the injustice.

Needless to say, yours truly will be with them when that happens… assuming I’m still in the country.