Rain Comes, then River

Meeting of the BKF and BKS, Kurigram District. Picture by Pathak Lal Golder.

'The sky has gone to bed" commented Pathak-bhai as we trundled by rickshaw down the dirt road from Bhurungamari, in Bangladesh's northern Kurigram district. Cloud filled, silver grey sky is reflected in the turgid river's flow. The Monsoon has finally arrived late, but with typical torrential elan: "Rain comes, then river" he adds, as roads become rivers before us. The border town - 3km from West Bengal in India - shelters from the rain. Jute rope hangs over bridges. Jute sticks are stacked in teepee cones. Jungle green and humid heat. The cadres of the Bangladesh Krishok Federation (BKF) move through the rain and the mud and the jungle. Past river, and padi, flooded field and peasant huts with their corrugated metal roofs, the resistance travels from village to village, meeting to meeting. And I move with them.

We stay in the simple homes of the landless peasants. Eat fiery chicken and fish curry with the peasant staple, rice. We drink well water turned muddy red with oxidizing iron, and black chai (tea) scented with cloves. At meetings I speak about food security and the changing climate: "Brothers and sisters, peace be to you.....". The mobile is the crucial activist organising tool of choice, and BKF activist mobiles ring-tone to the tunes of Bollywood and political songs: "The land is fertile, but there is no land for the peasant".

The BKF organise peasants for land occupations so that they may legitimately live lives of dignity, but they face constant attacks from landlords and their private goondas (armed thugs). Peasant activists are attacked, beaten, burned, jailed, and their homes burned. As Pathak bhai says: "That is the reality that we face. We need a strong organising committee, with leaders who can fight the goondas. We need a strong mobilization, with not just the peasants of the BKF and the Bangladesh Kisani Sabha (BKS), but also medical teams to treat those who are attacked, and a legal team to fight the legal cases brought by the landlords against our movement". The BKF will use strikes, and sit ins, gheraos (surrounding offices and local politicians), hunger strikes and mass actions...prior to the invasion of the land. And remember: the land occupied is khas land, i.e. land that was fallow and to which the landless are legally entitled according to the country's constitution.

The cadres of the BKF and BKS move through the rain and the mud and the jungle. And I move with them.