(Image: The Source Project)We are now witnessing the beginning of the second “Green Revolution” in India. The Punjab in the north west of India was an experiment to test an oil based, chemically dependent, corporately controlled model. The land, the water and its inhabitants are now testament to a failed system. A system driven not by a desire to enhance an already sustainable system, but to destroy it and replace it with one orientated around profit and plunder.
This is the first film in the 9×9 film festival. These films have been made for one reason: to help people understand the reality of what’s really happening to the world’s food and farming systems, and why.
The film is from an interview taken with Indian food policy analyst Devinder Sharma and the farming communities of Punjab. He explained the “Green Revolution,” and how agriculture has changed more during the past 50 years than it has during the last 10,000 years. The former system was designed and developed, not for long-term food security or sustainability, but for the control and manipulation of our global food systems. For the first few decades the world celebrated the Indian government’s corporate-driven policy as statistics were mutated to convince the world of this modern technology’s success. The reality however is that in recent years, the true cost of this “experiment” has begun to become ever more apparent to the farmers and communities of Punjab, the “Bread Basket” of India.
Not a very Green Revolution from The Source Project on Vimeo. Produced by Chintan Gohil and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Study. Music by Alien Soap Opera, Second Wave.
The Source Project was set up to work in a more holistic way within the development media as business interests transform the development sector into a business driven model. By changing the way we live and operate, we are able to use our limited funds to help subsidize films that we feel need to be made. We have created a short film format that can be easily watched and shared on various social media platforms. We feel that this way we are able to not only help counter an imbalance and misinformation within development media, but also stimulate consciousness on issues that otherwise would pass unnoticed. At the heart of The Source Project is agriculture, a system not only of food production, but also one that maintains our ecosystem, our cultures, our health and the very survival of humanity.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.