NFU launches books on Girmit
(posted 15 May 2004, 16.45)
The National Farmers Union has launched two historical
publications to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the arrival of the
first Girmityas to Fiji on 14 May 1879: a souvenir magazine titled
Girmityas and a book Children of the Indus which looks at the history of
Fiji Indians from 1879 to present day (2004).
The magazine Girmityas published by the Girmit Divas
Celebrations Committee of the National Farmers Union was launched on
Saturday 8 May by a leading Fijian High Chief Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, the
Roko Tui Bau. It is now on sale at $10 at all Post Fiji bookshops and NFU
branch offices throughout Fiji.
The magazine provides 218 pages of historical documents,
articles, pictures and stories relating to the Girmityas and the Indenture
Period. It also carries interviews, messages and articles on our
pioneering forefathers and personalities who have contributed to the
development of Fiji, and the progress of Fiji Indians.
The magazine is a must for descendents of Girmityas
interested in their roots.
Children of the Indus is a book which provides a
panoramic sweep of Fiji Indian history from the landing of the first
Girmityas in 1879 to the overthrow of Mahendra Chaudhry's government in
the 2000 coup and events which have followed since. It provides an insight
into the evils of Indenture and goes on to deal with each crisis the
Indian community faced in the last 125 years of their sojourn in Fiji:
- the truth about the 1920 strike when an armed assault
was launched against a helpless community seeking a pay increase to
meet the rising cost of living
- Gross exploitation of Indian farmers under the CSR
Co. of Australia and how they finally received justice under Lord
Denning in 1970
- The land problem and its impact on Indian politics
- the struggle for equal rights from the early 1900s to
present day including the three coups of 1987 and 2000; The overthrow
of the Mahendra Chaudhry government and the on-going present day
struggle against racism and a denial of the constitutional rights of
the Indian community.
Children of the Indus is highly readable and provides a
graphic insight into the attempts of an immigrant community to gain self
respect and dignity lost in the degrading and dehumanising experience of
Indenture, its struggle thereafter for recognition and equal political
rights and the atrocities committed against an innocent community during
the coups.
As an added bonus Children of the Indus is beautifully
illustrated with rare black and white pictures of the Girmit era and the
early Indian sojourn in Fiji as well as coloured pictures of more recent
events and personalities.
Children of the Indus is also a must for all those
interested in building an awareness of their roots and the struggle of
their pioneering forefathers to carve a better future for themselves and
their progeny in the land of their adoption. It is a story of pain,
suffering, hardship but it is also a story of triumph, the grit of a
community determined to rise above their servile station in life and to
fight for equal rights in the land of their birth.
The book is available for $20 at all Fiji bookshops and
National Farmers Union branch offices. Or contact Ph 3308602; email: flp@
connect.com.fj
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