http://youtu.be/nnS66fQJOcY

Our Rights, Our Responsibilities, Our Fight!

Justice for Domestic Workers Cordially Invites you to: J4DW's 4th Year Anniversary and International Women's Day Event

On the 06 of April, 2012 the British government remove the only  protection  that shelters migrant domestic workers here in the UK. The discriminatory and unfair removal of  the Oversaes Domestic  Workers Visa doesn't allow the  worker to change employer, renew  visa and access the right s as workers,making them more vulnerable  to  exploitation. The new legislation has driven them to be illegal and to the extent of criminalising them instead of respecting them as workers. Several  cases of abuse are recorded and many more are hidden in silence with fear.

Come  and join the discussion on 

"Legal Perspective for  Migrant Domestic Workers in the UK Open Forum"

Panellists:

Virgini Mantouvalou (Immigration Law  and Human Rights)

Emily  Gibbs (Criminal Law)

Jamila  Dunacn- Bosu (  Employment Law)

to be chaired by Don  Flynn, Director (Migrant Rights Network)

 "Strike!Dance!Rise with J4DW until Violence Stops against Women and Children"

                                                             One Billion Rising-UK!

  Who among you here have carers, babysitters, housekeepers, domestic  workers who serve your meals and help you get prepared for work,  take  care of your children with all   their hearts,   with all  their  time  and  with  all  their love, making  it  sure that they are safe..that these children of   yours will be able to give  you, dads and mums a big hug  and kiss after  a  long day of tiring work? Who among you here are being served on the table by these lovely aged hands who do wish to have been serving   her husband, her children, grandchildren but all for a wish? Who among you here have suffered for longing a family, missing parents and children for years in exchange of a small amount of penny? These are just few of the many struggles a vulnerable domestic worker is facing at the moment.  

On this very day of the One Billion Rising, where one billion women and men rise up to end  violence against women  around   the  globe, we ,  the Justice for Domestic Workers in the  UK rises  up  for our fellow domestic workers who suffered and are still in the combat to end  the abuse. We rise up for our sisters who are still caged secretly like dogs, locked up and raped, discriminated by unlawful eyes, ignored  and degraded for being a domestic worker. They say we are unskilled, we believe we are not. We are just being unrecognised by the society because we are hidden and tied up by most of our employers. We rise for them being beaten by their employers. We are not your stress basin! We are human beings like you. Every single slap of your hand, punches and kicks gave us pain and brought us scar. Don’t hit us with iron, it burn our skin. We are human beings like you!

On the 06^th of April, 2012 The British government removed the only protection that shelters the migrant domestic workers here in the UK. The discriminatory and unfair removal of the Overseas Domestic WorkersVisa doesn't give the vulnerable workers to change employer, renew visas and access the right as workers and so making them more vulnerable to exploitation. Given a short 6 months  of stay in the UK IS TREATING A DOMESTIC  WORKER LIKE A  HUMAN  LUGGAGE. The law driven them to be illegal and criminalising them instead of respecting them as workers. Several cases of abuse are recorded and many more are hidden in silence with fear.

J4DW March for the Alternative in protest to the removal of Domestic workers rights, October 20, 2012.

J4DW in ONE BILLION RISING GLOBAL CAMPAIGN 
to end violence against women and children

Let's Dance, Strike and Rise! One Billion Rising

                                  "Making Domestic Work Visible to the British Society"

Justice for Domestic Workers explored Tate with such great excitement and  enthusiasm! The weather was just fine and  sunny on that morning. Sundays have always been so  precious for us where we get to meet and socialise with other individuals and communities. Some are  fortunate  to exercise  their  rights  of holidays and breaks but many of the migrant domestic workers particularly in the UK continue to suffer in hidden and exploitative conditions. The project that was organised by the Tate Modern and in partnership with the Justice for Domestic Workers and Unite the Union with theme "Making Domestic Work visible in British Society". 

Saadiya and Nora of Tate tackled personal views to Henri Matisse' abstract collage "The Snail" and her own version.

It's aims are to a.) emphasize the value of domestic work done by domestic workers are relevantly significant to the  daily lives of the British society, regardless of their status whether from working ordinary  individuals or elites. b.) to   give migrant domestic  workers space to create, evaluate and to assert brilliant ideas through art c.) bring out a collective, creative and artistic  way of  campaign.

J4DW art workshops regularly fall every  fourth Sundays of the  month. Here,  each member get to express themselves and interact through open discussions and gallery tours. Every workshop  has  a theme  connected  to individual lives as migrant domestic workers, as working women in  the society, as mothers and as individuals who contribute  greatly to  the UK society. 

Busy J4DW working on their abstract collages

 "Domestic Workers are the shadows of education  and economy .We are the fundamental structures  that hold up the family, we mould children to be good individuals in the society yet we are often disregarded. We  are only noticed when we do mistakes at work but our great jobs seldom acknowledged or appreciated." Realizza Otarra explained.

One workshop done by the group with Nora Razian, art curator at Tate was the exploration to a genre of art,called Abstract.We were introduced  to various art works of renowned artists such as Henri Matisse(The Snail), Pablo Picasso(Bowl of Fruit, Violin and Bottle) Robert Delaunay(Endless Rhythm) and Constantin Brancusi (Fish). The workshop enables us to freely express our selves,our personalities and emotions through colours and shapes.

"Migrant Domestic Workers commemorates International Migrant's  Day"

Members and supporters of the Justice for Domestic Workers gathered in a full-packed Sunday to commemorate and  celebrate International  Migrant's and Christmas Day Event.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/12/20/12/uk-based-domestic-workers-share-stories-exploitation

J4DW and Unite the Union launch the 12<12 ILO Convention campaign for the Ratification of ILO C189

J4DW joins in solidarity and celebration of  "Our Day", Standing Together in for International Migrants Day

"Justice  for Domestic Workers Goes Surreal"

On the 25th of November 2012, Sunday as part of the Justice for Domestic Workers's  "Making  Domestic Work Visible to  the British Society", in  collaboration  with Unite  the Union, The Showroom and Tate Modern - London, the group of migrant domestic  workers in the UK took a trip of adventure and fun  to Poetry and Dreams exhibitions and installations by renowned surrealists  such  as Max Ernst and  Joan  Miro. It exhibits  the  diversion of contemporary art particularly to  the genre of  Surrealism and  the  exploration of some artists to different techniques/themes such as using biomorphic symbols and forms which have been extracted from  subconscious minds into bizarre representations.

Surrealism is a period in art history when artists  create dreamlike or absurd  paintings  filled with mysterious or familiar objects  that have been arranged or altered  in ways that you would not see in  the real  world.

The members  were toured around the gallery to be able to understand the  meaning of Surrealism, how the  artists incorporated these techniques with poetries and dreams and to  hear their  thoughts and views on  each of the selected masterpieces.

"The Entire City"

by: Max Ernst 1934

Oil on  Paper laid canvas

The Entire  City brings the viewer into thne realm  of  Max Ernst's mind and  provides a rare  glimpse at the artist's  gloomy state of  existence during the World War II, when Nazism took  over his home country Germany.

" I  like how rough it looks like.  Very Chaotic and heavy."

-Myrna Manlangit , J4DW

"Iron"

Man Ray 1963

A  humble flat iron transformed by the addition of a row of nails into new and potentially threatening objects. The  nails  and the evocation of hot metal suggest sadism or violent erotism ironically at odds with  the works  title.

"This attracts me  the most.  I saw my personality in this artwork and  it is related to my work as  a  migrant  domestic  worker. I make  contribution  though unrecognised like this iron at home Nails for me  symbolized my resistance to violence. I am  with armed with my knowledge and  rights."

- Dorotea Fabile,  J4DW

"The Voice of Freedom in the German night Wavelength 1937"

John Heartfield

Heartfield imagines the  raised fist of the  communist salute as a radio transmitter. The text  identifies the underground 'Radio station' leading the  clandestine 'struggle' for peace,  freedom  and democracy.

" I saw the struggles of  J4DW and  its fighting spirit to survive!"

- Rosita Salvador, J4DW

“WHY WE WORK TOGETHER”

 Ask! Actie Schonen Kunsten

Members of  the Justice  for Domestic Workers making a reverse graffiti art

Why we work together? Actie Schonen Kunsten is an asssociation of  cultural art workers making alliances with Migrant Domestic Workers who address the condition s  and  demands  of Domestic Work mainly in Netherlands. It is an assonating name using the traditional Dutch term for ‘fine arts’ which can also be read as ‘clean arts’. On the 28th of October 2012, Actie Schonen Kunsten (ASK) visited London in cooperation with The Showroom London and Justice for Domestic Workers – an organisation of multi national migrant domestic workers based in London. The Showroom’s Louise Shelley formally introduced the artists from the group ASK Netherlands who came for a reverse graffiti campaign with the J4DW. Binna Choi, the director of the  group who initiatively working together with Rogier Frederik Hendrik Delfros, a graphic artist and Marc Roig Blesa, visual artist started the open discussion by asking why we should work together? There were five reasons we tackled with them. Firstly, Domestic workers and artists are both dealing with aesthetics on a daily basis. Aesthetics in domestic labour doesn't mean of that beautiful design or looking nice and good. It is more of recognition and acknowledgement, constant questioning and (re) negotiation. As Domestic labour and workers are struggling with this invisibility, artists who are specialists with aesthetic works of art are now struggling with the invisibility of art. Artists and domestic workers contribute greatly in the society without being recognised and acknowledged. Hence, both have to break these mental barriers and work together in a new form of protest. Secondly, we, domestic workers and artists both demand recognition and respect for our work. We perform our living labour under conditions and precarity. Thirdly, we believe in domestic labour. Domestic work is the beginning and end of all labours. It is the source of economy and we should be the centre of reorganisation and challenge the current pattern. Next, we can learn from each other. Domestic workers can use media and art spaces as platforms. Working together with various artists from The Showroom and Tate Modern and credits for Monica Fabiola Cortazar, J4DW’s Art Adviser we developed a new way of approach to campaign. With Art, we believe each individual is an artist with a unique kind of creativity and resourcefulness that need to be brought into the outside world of domestic bondage. On the other hand, artists and curators can learn from the domestic workers’ organisational strategies and collectivism. Finally, we count on temporary alliances. As what the artists said, we cannot make a change if we just stay in our own respective worlds.

Together with ASK cultural art workers and with The Showroom, we Justice for Domestic Workers enjoyed the collaboration of strategic campaign and reverse graffiti campaign in “dirty” areas around The Showroom neighbourhood using isotopes, a work of art by Berlin artist Andreas Siekmann representing an ‘army’ of Domestic workers.

Army of Domestic Workers, image: Andreas Siekmann(Artist, Berlin)

J4DW would like to thank Unite the Union and Tate Modern for continuous support in making this project 'Making Domestic Work visible in British Society'.