Bhairavi Desai
Template:TOCnestleft Bhairavi Desai is a New York activist. She has worked in the support movements of Cuba, Palestine and El Salvador; and in the student struggle at Rutgers University around issues of violence against women.
Background
Desai was born in Gujarat, India, and came with her parents to Harrison, New Jersey when she was 6 years old. Her father was a lawyer in India, but was unable to find work and had to consequently work at a grocery store.
She received a degree in Women's Studies from Rutgers University and following that, worked at Manavi, the South Asian women's organization in New Jersey that worked with victims of domestic violence.
She then moved to working for the rights of Asian workers by joining the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence in 1996. In 1998, she and others set up the NYTWA with an initial membership of 700 workers.
She currently resides in Bronx, New York with her husband Victor Salazar, also a union activist.
New York Taxi Workers Alliance
In 1998, Biju Mathew was one of the cofounders of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) (along with Bhairavi Desai, Javaid Tariq, and several others) . NYTWA is currently one of the most successful new immigrant workers unions in the US with over 17,000 members in NYC. He is currently a secretary for the national union (with Bhairavi Desai as president, Ron Blount as VP, and Javaid Tariq as treasurer).
Communist "Manifestivity"
On October 30 and 31, 1998 the Brecht Forum presented the "Communist Manifestivity -150th Anniversary of the Communist Manifesto" at at Cooper Union's Great Hall, New York.
One of the many workshops at the Manifestivity was;
Strikes: Signals of New Struggles; with Bhairavi Desai, Dan Georgakas and Jose Matta
Left Forum 2010
Struggles of an Independent Radical Union: The Case of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance:
- Victor Salazar, (Chair), New York Taxi Workers Alliance
- Ed Ott, Former Executive Director, New York City Central Labor Council; Distinguished Lecturer, Murphy Institute, CUNY
- Ron Blount, Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania
- Beresford Simmonds, New York Taxi Workers Alliance
- Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director, New York Taxi Workers Alliance
- Biju Mathew, New York Taxi Workers Alliance
Left Forum 2010
The History of May Day and the 2010 New York May Day March:
- Larry Moskowitz, (Chair), Left Labor Project
- Ai-jen Poo, former Executive Director, Domestic Workers United
- Chung-Wha Hong, Executive Director, New York Immigration Coalition
- Ed Ott, former Executive Director, New York City Central Labor Council
- Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director, New York Taxi Workers Alliance
- Frances Liu, Immigration Advocacy Field Coordinator, New York Immigration Coalition
Left Forum 2018
Left Forum May 18:
Don't miss Cathy Dang speaking with Ajamu Baraka, Bhairavi Desai, Mark-Winston Griffith and Kali Akuno at the closing plenary of #LeftForum2018! register at leftforum.org
Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign
In 2012 Bhairavi Desai served on the Board of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief & Responsibility Campaign.[1]