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tv   Witness History  BBC News  February 23, 2019 4:30pm-5:01pm GMT

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this is bbc news, the headlines: this is bbc news. the headlines at four... three cabinet ministers face a call but were illegally released to resign after going public clashes in venezuela into the wild in tayside several years ago. with a warning they're prepared to delay brexit, rather than between soliders and protesters — leave the eu without a deal. as opposition activists attempt now it's time for a look clashes in venezuela to move humanitarian between soliders and protesters aid into the country. at the weather with nick miller. as opposition activists attempt to move humanitarian aid here's the scene live on the colombian border — into the country from colombia. where the first convoy of aid trucks is expected shortly. it is england and wales that have votes are being counted in nigeria three cabinet ministers face a call had the lion's share of the china after the biggest presidential to resign, after going public today. we have a weather front in with a warning they're prepared to delay brexit, rather than leave northern ireland and western and parliamentary elections scotland, bringing rain in places. the eu without a deal. any rain from that will die away in african history. the singer r kelly is due to appear in court in chicago if ministers or cabinet ministers cannot support the government's position, tonight. there is an area of low on a series of sexual abuse charges. then they have to resign. cloud, mist and fog in the irish sea, northern england, southern in rugby, wales go for votes are being counted in nigeria a record 12th win in a row after the biggest presidential scotla nd sea, northern england, southern scotland and northern ireland. there as they host england and parliamentary elections will be some fog elsewhere as well, in the six nations. kick off is at 4.45. in african history. dense in places into the morning. the singer, r kelly, is due south—east england and northern to appear in court in chicago, scotla nd south—east england and northern scotland are likely to see clear skies, here, frost in the cold spots now on bbc news, it's as temperatures drop below freezing. time for witness. light wind tomorrow, taking a while for the fog to clear, parts of yorkshire may see it into the afternoon, holding the temperature down compared to elsewhere. most of hello, and welcome to witness
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us down compared to elsewhere. most of us will come out of the grey start history, with me, razia iqbal, and get to see some sunshine. a here at the royal academy in london. today, to celebrate little breezier towards the western international women's day, isles, with some showers, but most we present five extraordinary moments from the recent past, places light wind and sunny spells as told to us by women into the afternoon. temperatures who were there. well above normal for the time of this month, we are featuring year. some remarkable women. we meet carmen callil, who founded the feminist publishing house, virago press, in the 1970s. we are going back to the 60s to talk to the first female black head teacher in britain. we will find out about joseph stalin's final purge, the so—called "doctors' plot", as experienced by a young girl whose parents were arrested in moscow. and we will head to south africa to speak to a judge who served on the truth and reconciliation commission, which helped south africa move on from the horrors of apartheid. but first, london and a story about the strikers in saris, a group of south asian women employed in the grunwick film processing factory.
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because of the terrible working conditions there, they decided to take a stand for workers rights, and their action captured the imagination of many other trade unionists. archive: for asian housewife, mrs jayaben desai, her 220th day on the picket line was marked by a presentation. a presentation on behalf of the north west london usdaw shopworkers union to mrs desai, who is the treasurer of the strike committee. thank you very much, brother, for coming along. translation: jayaben desai was a very strong woman. she had made up of mind to bring the union into the factory, because our women were treated badly. we believe that, if women have so many rights in this country, then why can't we have them too?
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grunwick relied upon the new influx of asians from east africa to supply its workforce. commonly thought passive and ha rd—working, the tables were about to turn. in the grunwick factory there was a big classroom where the manager used to sit. he would observe us all, from that room. he would keep an eye on us. if you were going to the toilet and it took too long, then he would ask why? what were you up to? there is no doubt... the unlikely leader of the grunwick strike, jayaben desai, would challenge the stereotype of the submissive asian woman. i was on the picket line from the first day. we ladies came out with mrs desai.
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reporter: how long will you stay here ? unless, when we finish this dispute. a year? any time. five years? ten years. unions from across england supported us. all the unions were there with big banners. there were a lot of policemen, you could see them all over the street, and in the middle of them was jayaben. in spite of mass support, the strike committee found its power to act evermore circumscribed. two years after it had begun, the strike was called off. jayaben desai was not upset
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with the defeat at all. we felt that asian women in england had fought for two years for the union. and we were proud of that fact. the reason what we were fighting, we have achieved. the treatment with the staff has already changed. it is a great victory. the wages were increased after that. don't you think it is a victory? i am so proud of myself, that we fought for our right. laxmiben patel remembering the grunwick strike, which inspired widespread
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trade union support. now, at a similar time, in a different part of london a young black woman is making history by becoming the first female black head teacher in the united kingdom but, despite the positive spin from the media at the time, yvonne connolly suffered racist abuse when her of appointment was announced. archive: there is no colour problem at ring cross infants school. mrs yvonne connolly has to be thanked for that. but there is an awful lot of love, most of it for her. she is london's first west indian head teacher and what a hit she is with the kids, all 200 of them. i'm yvonne, i'm yvonne connolly. i was one of the first black head teachers in inner london, in 1969. i had done three years of teacher training injamaica so i thought i'll come to britain. i came in august, 1963,
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a grey, grey day. i wondered what i had done. i had planned to be here for three years but three years led to four years. i was very aware that there were racial tensions in quite a number of schools. i would turn up and somebody wouldjust, um, isuppose without meaning to, say, "but you are black!" of course, my reply was, "yes, i am but i'm also a teacher." so there were small, silly things, nothing changed the us but enough to cause discomfort. after six years, i applied for a headship, and ijust wanted to see what interviews at this level might be and i was absolutely amazed
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when my name was called, you know, mrs connolly. the newspapers picked this up the next day and the school was inundated by quite a number ofjournalists who came to take photographs. archive: since she took over the headship of the school a few weeks ago, she has brought a new vitality to it. her children, from many parts of the world, mix happily, unaware of prejudice. when i was appointed, somebody threatened to burn the school down. i had newspaper articles were actually sent to me, with crossing out my photograph with actually nasty comments. "go back to jamaica". i also had letters from, interestingly enough, members of the black community, who felt that i had "sold out" to the white establishment.
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and they reminded me, these letters reminded me in no mean terms that i was here only for the black children. the racism was coming, both from the white side and from the black side. i had responsibility for all the children in my school, regardless of race or religion. in fact, the differences were less than the commonalities that we shared, and therefore one had to get on with it. happily, the parents were only interested in whether their children would get a good education, and that certainly was my focus. i felt that i had a job to do in britain, and i am happy having been here now for 56 years.
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the inspiring yvonne connolly. in the early 1970s, carmen callil realized that female authors were hugely underrepresented in publishing. this injustice spurred her to create virago press, to promote women's writing. launched in 1973, it would go on to publish some of the most famous writers of the modern age. she tells a story of how it all began. i always wanted to change the world. i didn't think the world was good enough. archive: the virago press is entirely staffed by women. when it was founded, it proudly announced itself in every book as a feminist publishing house. somebody later said to me that i put women at the centre of the stage — that was the thing — instead of men being always the centre of the stage, i just looked at women's writing and saw the world through their eyes. i did not think the way women
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lived was good enough. the expectations for somebody like me was just to have tea parties and get married, you know. and i knew perfectly well ijust simply could not do any of that. i was also working always for men, you see. and i was very struck by how much more idle they were than i was. that was still the days when they had secretaries, you see. i can't tell you how much my bottom and my knees and everything were pinched and... we are not fragile little things... by the end of the 60s, the women's movement had come over from america and, of course, i was very influenced by the young women who were absorbing it all and took it up and i said absolutely, so agree with that! i don't know how i came across virago but, i think i was drunk at the time.
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reporter: yes, the heroic woman? yes, the heroic woman and also the fact that i do think occasionally women should be loudmouthed and arrogant. i started the company and took up the name and staff in 1972, and the first book was published in 1975. it took some time to get the list together. writers had the write the books. archive: mary chamberlain was first author to be commissioned by virago. her contemporary account of the women of a fen village was written when she was barely known. women should tell their own stories. it was the story of women's lives not men's lives. it was not the first world war and the trenches, it was raising children, and being married, and working on the land or wherever and being poor in a cambridgeshire village. archive: virago's book are meant to celebrate what women have done in the past, to illuminate the difficulties they still face,
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and to encourage them to get together to change society in the future. we had to change the world through our concept of how women's lives should be presented. that was my important thing. archive: this year they will be putting out 85 titles and they'll have a turnover in excess of £1 million, which is a clear indication that was something missing in the world of books and that they supplied it. the world loves a story. you change people's lives through telling stories and, once we started publishing the novel, they started to buy the non—fiction too, because they trusted the imprint. the stories that we published were writers like antonia white, rosamond lehman, margaret atwood, and women and men scooped them up because they would talk to them about their own lives.
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carmen callil on the founding of the feminist publishing house virago. remember you can watch witness history every month on the bbc news channel or you can catch up on all our films along with more than a thousand radio programmes in our online archive — just go to... just before stalin's death in 1953 the soviet dictator ordered the arrest of several hundred doctors in moscow. he accused them of plotting to kill senior communist officials. many were tortured and executed in prison. professor yakov rapoport was among the few survivors of what was known as the "doctor's plot". his daughter natasha remembers the night he was arrested. that night i was alone, and then there was a very loud knock at the door.
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i opened the door and there was a crowd, a big crowd of men. i decided that they were burglars, that they came to take our furniture. and then there was a telephone call. and one of them grabbed me, screamed at me, "talk, talk!" and it was too much for me, and i fainted. my parents came home — i didn't see it, because i was unconscious, for several hours actually. they took my father away. both my parents were medical scientists. it was actually the last year of stalin's life when he became extremely paranoid, and he arrested all major
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doctors in the kremlin hospital. they were accused of spying for england, for israel, for america, and deliberately killing high—level communist party members. major targets werejewish doctors. you could not turn on the radio, the moment you turn it on you hear about these jewish killer doctors, scum on earth, people who sold their soul to the devil. my father was accused of spying for england. translation: rumours were spreading about the sort of punishment that would be meted out. there were threats of hangings on red square. but he refused to sign
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false accusations. he was kept there in manacles and many, many days and nights without sleeping. if he sign the full false confession, it would have been his death sentence. 5th march 1953, stalin died. and the situation of the doctors in prison changed immediately. translation: i remember the marvellous evening when i was suddenly called to go downstairs. i was taken in a prison van to the lubyanka to see a general, and he told me, "you are free, you have been totally rehabilitated and can go home." that was really a big celebration in our
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house, at the time of stalin's death. because it was stalin's death, and for us it was a rebirth of my father. i think, i am sure, that the doctor's plot accelerated stalin's death. because he didn't have doctors to help him, all of them were arrested. and when his stroke happened, there was nobody at hand to help him. natasha rapoport on stalin's doctor's plot. for ourfinalfilm we head to south africa. when apartheid was abolished in the 1990s, south africans had to find a way to confront their brutal past without endangering their chance for future peace. justice sisi khampepe served on the amnesty committee of the truth and reconciliation commission, and she worked to expose the truth about apartheid.
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we are charged to unearth the truth of our dark past. to lay the ghosts of that past so that they will not return to haunt us. reporter: south africans face a collective test today. the reaction to these hearings will show whether they are able to expose the sins of apartheid, yet free themselves from the desire for revenge against those who propped up the system. the trc act allowed amnesty only if the perpetrator had confessed to having committed the crime. i did terrible things. i did terrible things to members of the anc. i grew up in soweto. it was rampant with security police. you people, let's get out now, very quickly. the army presence grew on streets that began to look like battlegrounds. it felt like hell.
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parents washed tear smoke from their children's eyes. being in a city required a special permit, if you were a black person. absolutely no freedom of movement. i had also suffered as an activist by being shot in the leg by the police while attending the funeral of a fellow student. it was at the graveyard where the police again started shooting. man: you've got two minutes to disperse! i survived, others were killed on the spot. it is a scar which is a constant reminder of where i come from. i knew the harshness of the system first—hand. yet as a member of the amnesty committee, i had to decide that these people had to be granted amnesty — not because they are apologetic,
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but really because they disclosed the truth. that was really difficult. man: did you then shoot the person? yes, that is correct? people would cry, just by listening to the explanation was given, of how people were tortured, people were killed. what kind of man uses a method like this one on other human beings? there were occasions when people who applied to amnesty did say sorry. those were few and far in between. but it was extraordinarily difficult for me when people did not even care to apologise. translation: there was no other way, other than to eliminate these people.
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these hearings provide a forum for those who have been treated in the past as if they were rubbish. archbishop desmond tutu was the star of the truth commission. without his leadership the commission would not have been able to obtain its objective. i think the trc process ensured that people were not vengeful. that there was proper public acknowledgement and recognition of those who had suffered. translation: we asking from you, please do forgive us. we are still going through a process of coming out of our grief. but i wake up every morning and i am grateful that and i am grateful that after all,
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i am a south african. justice sisi khampepe from south africa's truth and reconciliation commission. that's all from an all—female edition of witness history this month, to celebrate international women's day. we will be back next month with more first—hand accounts of extraordinary moments in history. but for now, from me and the rest of the witness history team, goodbye. hello, it looks like next weekend, our weather will be cooler and unsettled. until then, it is pretty much as you were. the mornings may start like this, just as they did this morning, but for many of us as we come out of that and see some blue sky
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and temperatures well above normal for this time of year. satellite pictures from earlier show we did see some cloud in northern ireland and western scotland. this produced some patchy rain earlier. that has edged further east, but any rain or through this zone will die away into tonight, but we are left with an area of cloud, low cloud, mist and fog, with fog patches elsewhere. poor visibility more widespread than recent nights, fog could be dense in places. northern scotland and south—east england seeing clearer skies, and in a rural spots, temperatures will be below freezing with some frost. a fairly chilly night out there. towards the second half of the weekend, high—pressure is in control, but not too many isoba rs. the wind is light, so it will take a while to shift the low cloud, mist and fog for some of us to start the day. some of the fog may be dense in places, part of yorkshire may hold onto it into the afternoon. when it doesn't clear,
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that will hold temperatures down compared to elsewhere. you may see patchy rain in the western isles later on, certainly breezier than elsewhere. temperatures down a little bit than recent days, but still sunshine in england and wales, 16—17 degrees. high pressure for most of us into monday, this weather front is just lurking close to northern scotland, so with this, you will see some cloud, patchy rain. some fog patches around again to start the day, clearing more readily than recent days, probably lasted to go for parts of eastern scotland and north—east england. away from northern scotland in the northern isles, with the threat of outbreaks of rain, for most of us, it will turn into another glorious afternoon, lifting the temperatures yet again into the warm spots towards the high teens. look at the trend as we go deeper into the week. a downward trend in temperatures, more cloud showing up, that is the change to more unsettled weather. looks like it will take
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hold next weekend. that is your forecast.
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