India: government blocks internet and Twitter, while peasant protests explode
In the midst of a new outbreak of protests by farmers, the New Delhi government decides an Internet blackout for large parts of the continent in order to discourage the spread of news and the coordination of protests. Farmers protest Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new agrarian law, which puts an end to government subsidy programs that allowed for controlled agricultural prices. The government would like the market alone to set the prices, however putting millions of small family farmers into crisis, hence the very strong protests.
CNN reports that "Internet access was blocked Monday in several districts of a state bordering India's capital following violent weekend clashes between police and farmers protesting controversial agricultural reforms."
The protest is also igniting with episodes of hunger strike, and the government begins to have the first big problems in crowd control:
Protests continue in #India over the new agricultural laws, with hundreds of farmers gathering in #NewDelhi to join a hunger strike as the #Indian government suspends mobile internet "to maintain public safety." pic.twitter.com/yxoIgkWprm
– Prof. Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) January 30, 2021
In some areas the protests have also degenerated into clashes with the police and acts of violence. The situation is gradually becoming explosive.
Farmers protest turn violent #India pic.twitter.com/2btCuqjsXS
– News Kashmir 24/7 (@ newskashmir24) January 26, 2021
Twitter has also closed access to thousands of profiles, mostly of political personalities or the media. In this way, however, social media comes to show, for the umpteenth time, its "Double standard": if it likes you it obeys you and blocks dissidents, but if it dislikes you it blocks you, as happened to President Trump. Jack Dorsey comes to show an ever-growing love for Asian dictators
Even if muted, the protests continue and intensify. If Modi does not change his legislative intentions, there is a risk of a very hard social conflict with unpredictable effects.
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The article India: the government blocks the internet and Twitter, while peasant protests explode comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/india-il-governo-blocca-internet-e-twitter-mentre-esplodono-le-proteste-dei-contadini/ on Wed, 03 Feb 2021 09:45:44 +0000.