desi people
i am a desi diaspora chick interested in people and their browness in various forms (especially those that might deviate in different ways from the slick bollywood images that i/we regularly consume)
browness is a fluid term used by many in many different ways. i generally use it as we did growing up; desi peeps
Last year…for every African Caribbean male on campus, there were two in jail
- Trevor Phillips, Martin Luther King Memorial Lecture, 2004
At the end of December 2005, one in four of the prison population, 19,549 prisoners, was from a minority ethnic group - a rise of 2,000 in just three…
(Source: smartjustice.org)
Although workers failed to achieve their demand, the strike helped highlight the oppression of migrant women workers. Defiant to the end, Jayaben told the final meeting of the strikers that they could be proud. “We have shown,” she said, “that workers like us, new to these shores, will never accept being treated without dignity or respect. We have shown that white workers will support us.”
In what The Guardian said was her last known public statement, Ms Desai told the newspaper: “I am proud of what I did. They wanted to break us down, but we did not break.”The Grunwick strike and the shameless exploitation of a largely female and Asian workforce by exploitative management backed up by the Tory Party and racist fellow travellers still resonates today pace the baying calls from the Tory Hyenas for more restrictions on the rights of trade Unions and attacks on workers’ rights hard won by the actions of Jayaben Desai in opposing obvious injustice and exploitation. Over 550 workers and supporters were arrested in the course of the Grunwick Strike and all the workers were sacked, but the insight their struggle provided into the heart of darkness changed British Society and employment relations in the years afterwards.
read the whole article here
Jayaben Desai – A Lioness is gone
Desai…came to be known as a “lioness” for her role in leading the two-year long strike at the Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories, north London, in the 1970s to demand union recognition for its largely Asian and female workforce.
She famously told a manager: “What you are running here is not a factory, it is a zoo. In a zoo, there are many types of animals. Some are monkeys who dance on your fingertips; others are lions who can bite your head off. We are those lions, Mr Manager.’’
Wish I had known about Jaybean Desai sooner, she sounded amazing. Desi women in the labour movement…anyone else have any tips? names? thoughts?
Just saw a trailer for “West is West” on cbc….”from the creators of East is East” they say.
I think it came out in the UK already, but I hadn’t heard of this till now….It feels like they took a movie I actually enjoyed and carelessly handed it over to the producers of Outsourced. Hopefully I’m wrong. :(
RIP Jayaben Desai, feminist role model and union leader
via The Hindu, Jayaben Desai, architect of Asian women workers’ movement, dead
Jayaben Desai, a pioneer of Asian women workers’ movement in Britain, died after a brief illness. She was 77. She is survived by her husband and two sons.
The diminutive India-born Ms. Desai, who moved to Britain from Tanzania in 1969, came to be known as a “lioness” for her role in leading the two-year long strike at the Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories, north London, in the 1970s to demand union recognition for its largely Asian and female workforce.
She famously told a manager : “What you are running here is not a factory, it is a zoo. In a zoo, there are many types of animals. Some are monkeys who dance on your fingertips, others are lions who can bite your head off. We are those lions, Mr Manager.’’
Recalling her memorable taunt, Labour MP and Jack Dromey, a former trade union leader who worked with her during the Grunwick dispute said: “She was 4ft 11 tall, but an absolute lioness.”
The Grunwick strike (1976-78), regarded as a seminal moment in British trade union movement, was sparked by the dismissal of Devshi Bhudia, a male worker, for working “too slowly’’. Ms Desai who walked out in support along with other workers, including her son, was dismissed . Most of the workers at the factory were women, mostly Indian, and as they took to the streets led by Ms Desai with her trademark handbag they were fondly dubbed the “strikers in saris’’. Although workers failed to achieve their demand, the strike helped highlight the oppression of migrant women workers.
In what The Guardian said was her last known public statement, Ms Desai told the newspaper: “I am proud of what I did. They wanted to break us down, but we did not break.”
“We, the women, are determined to make a stand and nobody will get in the way of that, including from within our own families.” RIP Jayaben Desai.
OMG I remember this movie. I used to watch it all the time.
Jewelery/art by Kali Arulpragasam. This is from her Super Fertile collection Cra$h.
(image source)
Jewelery/art by Kali Arulpragasam. This is from her Super Fertile collection Cra$h.
(image source)
