Draft:Mukti

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Mukti

Mukti was a quarterly British Asian magazine written and run primarily in London (213 Eversholt Street, Camden) and Birmingham by a collective of Asian women. Mukti has been contextualised as being part of a second wave of Black British and South Asian feminist periodicals. Although based primarily in London and Birmingham, the magazine had international readership including readers from Amsterdam and India. The title referred to political and/or spiritual liberation. It was available by subscription, through a distribution agent named "Full Time Distribution" and by direct sales via Mukti's office.They received funding from the Greater London Council and Camden Council. The text was published in six different languages - English, Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali and Punjabi - in order to make it accessible to as many readers as possible both to read and contribute to the magazine.

This was part of the Asian women's movement which had grown from the late 1970s and inspired by Asian-women led campaigns such as the Grunwick Strike in 1976 and publications such as Amrit Wilson’s Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain (1978).

It provided a space for British Asian women's perspectives not available in the white mainstream and white feminist medias which usually either ignored or victimised Asian women and vilified Asian cultures without taking into account the nuances of the experiences, identities and oppression of Asian women or their agency.

The magazine functioned as a space for British Asian women and their voices to be heard, it included articles, poems and imagery created by members and subscribers as well as provided information for additional advice services and information across London. Mukti played and important role in distributing practical information for feminist and anti-racist activism among South Asian communities in Britain as well as providing a forum for debate, dissensus and consciousness raising. Mukti has been celebrated as being a strategically important node for building coalitional feminist politics across a wide spectrum of British South Asian communities.

"Mukti is not only about being a magazine - it is about participation in the community. Our work also encompasses holding workshops to pass on skills, developing and contributing to various forms of representing Asian women's experiences, working with Asian girls in schools and clubs"

British Nationality Act 1981

Key Issues

Campaigns/Issues they focused on - offered readers advice and guidance:

• Immigration - Examples: article by Shan and Hansa explaining the effects of the 1981 British Nationality Act on women
• Housing
• Employment and working conditions - Examples: republished article by Mira Savara from Eve's Weekly (India) which included a section about an ongoing strike by over 3,000 women workers of the textile industry in Bombay
• Education - Examples: article by Adshan Salaria on the necessity for Asian children to continue to speak and be educated in their first language in schools

Members

The Mukti Collective included many artists and teachers. The photographer Mumtaz Karimjee was invovled in the magazine, helping with layouts and including her own photographic work. Prominent artist Chila Burman designed a front cover and wrote an article on shared ownership housing.

• Adarsh Sood
• Amina Patel
• Kiran Patel
• Meena Sarin
• Rita Dutta
• Mumtaz Karimjee
• Pramile Pai
• Chila Kumari
• Burman and Zarina Bhimji