The Last Heroes: Foot Soldiers of Indian Freedom by P. Sainath
This event is presented by SFU's David Lam Centre and SFU's Department of Political Science.
What motivated these freedom fighters? And why do they tell us that Freedom and Independence are two different things?
The Last Heroes: Foot Soldiers of Indian Freedom records the life stories of 15 very ordinary Indians – representative of tens of millions of others – and how they took on the British Raj.
The book is written for those in it – that their stories be told. The youngest living person in the book is 98, the oldest 104. As many as 7 of the 15 have died since last September. You will also find more women freedom fighters here than in any other books (except those focused exclusively on women). It is also written for a younger generation being robbed of their history. The author grew up in a family where several members had fought the British – his granddad was actually expelled from Ireland at around the time of the Easter uprising and returned to join the struggle in India
The Last Heroes also addresses the question of what constitutes participation in the freedom struggle. It looks at the grounds on which people were/are recognised as freedom fighters.
Speaker Bio
P. (Palagummi Sainath) is an award winning writer, journalist and activist based in Mumbai, India, who serves as founder and editor of People's Archive of Rural India (PARI) an independent multimedia digital platform showcasing the stories of rural people and everyday life to bear on contemporary Indian politics. He has won over 70 national and international awards including the Ramon Magsaysay Award in the year 2007, World Media Summit Global Award for Excellence 2014, in Public Welfare reporting and Amnesty International’s Global Award for Human Rights Journalism in its inaugural year in 2000.
Sainath has taught journalism at the Sophia Polytechnic in Mumbai, India for 37 years, and has held visiting appointments at various institutions including UC Berkley and Princeton University.
