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Tag: British Asian struggles

July 19, 2022August 10, 2022 Working Class History Podcast

E67-68: The Grunwick strike

Double podcast episode about the iconic strike of mostly East African Asian women workers at the Grunwick photo processing plant in London in 1976-8. Featuring Amrit Wilson, Jayaben Desai and Colum Maloney, who took part in the dispute, and Sujata, chair of the Grunwick 40 group.

Continue reading “E67-68: The Grunwick strike” →
September 18, 2019July 11, 2022 Working Class History Podcast

E33-34: Asian youth movements in Bradford

episode-graphic-Bradford-12.jpg

Double podcast episode about anti-racist Asian youth movements in Bradford, England in the 1970s and 80s. We speak to Tariq Mehmood about the Asian Youth Movement, the United Black Youth League, and his seminal trial as one of the so-called Bradford 12.

Continue reading “E33-34: Asian youth movements in Bradford” →

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On this day, 7 December 1928, Avram Noam Chomsky, activist, linguist and author was born in Philadelphia. Chomsky came to prominence as an activist as an outspoken critic of the Vietnam war, for which he was arrested several times and placed on President Richard Nixon's official list of enemies.
On this day, 7 December 2006, three thousand women working at the Misr Spinning and Weaving complex in El-Mahalla El-Kubra, Egypt left their workstations to protest against non-payment of a bonus. They marched through the plant chanting "Where are the men? Here are the women!" and shamed the men into joining the strike. While thousands of workers gathered in a nearby square, seventy workers remained in the factory, occupying it to prevent production being restarted. They resisted eviction by riot police and remained inside, until on the fourth day the government conceded defeat and agreed both to pay the bonus and commit to not privatising the plant. The dispute kicked off a massive strike wave across the entire country.
On this day, 6 December 1918, Black soldiers in the British West Indies Regiment stationed in Taranto, Italy, mutinied and attacked their officers against appalling and racist treatment. The regiment consisted of over 15,000 people from the Caribbean. Many had been spurred to volunteer by activists like Marcus Garvey, who believed that if Black people showed loyalty to the British king, then they would show they deserved to be treated equally with whites.
On this day, 6 December 1989 (content note: gendered violence), 14 women, most of whom were training in engineering fields, were murdered in a mass shooting at the École Polytechnique in Montreal. The 25 year old shooter specifically targeted women, claimed he was "fighting feminism," and killed himself after shooting 28 people. The names of those lost were: Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte, and Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz. The day is commemorated annually across Canada as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.
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