Witness History

In the early 1970s, New Zealand’s government cracked down on Polynesian migrants who had overstayed their work permits. They carried out what became known as the Dawn Raids, when police raided Polynesian households in the early hours of the morning looking for overstayers. The Polynesian community felt targeted and formed a resistance group, the Polynesian Panthers, in June 1971. Ben Henderson spo...

In 1975, President Juvénal Habyarimana introduced Umuganda in Rwanda, where citizens had to help with community projects like planting trees and building schools, every Saturday morning. Rachel Naylor speaks to former minister Jean Marie Ndagijimana, who loved taking part.(Photo: Residents of the village of Mbyo, in Rwanda's Eastern Province, taking part in Umuganda in 2014. Credit: Getty Images)...

Dame Carmen Callil, who died in October this year, founded feminist publisher Virago Press in 1972 to promote women’s writing. In this programme first broadcast in 2019, she tells Claire Bowes how she hoped to put women centre stage at a time when she and many others felt side-lined and ignored at work and at home. Music: Jam Today by Jam Today courtesy of the Women’s Liberation Music Archive.(Pho...

Over the last 50 years an estimated 46 million girls have been aborted in India. The cultural preference for boys and the development of pre-natal sex determination tests like ultrasound in the 1980s, meant an increase in the number of girls being aborted. Activist Manisha Gupte describes how she campaigned, as part of the feminist movement, against sex-selective abortion - including the use of si...

In the 1970s, Albania’s Stalinist leader, Enver Hoxha, launched a new series of purges against government ministers and officials, following numerous purges in previous decades. Those accused of being ‘enemies’ of the ruling Party of Labour were executed or received lengthy prison sentences. Their families were punished too. Many were sent into internal exile and forced to work in the fields. Rob...

In 1985, Carol Taylor wrote a survival guide for young black men in the Unites Stated who were stopped by the police. Her son, Laurence Legall, tells Ashley Byrne the story of the small and important book created by his mum to help young black men stay safe on the streets of New York. It all began when Laurence went shopping and was robbed but the police didn’t take his complaint seriously. A Made...

In October 2012, Prime Minister Julia Gillard made an impromptu speech in the Australian parliament setting out the misogyny she endured for years as a prominent female politician. Ten years on, she discusses with Alex Collins her career defining-speech which has been viewed online by millions of people.(Photo: Julia Gillard giving her misogyny speech. Credit: PA) HISTORICAL ARCHIVE & EVIDENCE...

In 1991, a law was introduced in Sudan which was used to control how women acted and dressed in public. It resulted in arrests, beatings and even deaths during the 30 years it was in place. Amiera Osman Hamed was arrested and fined for wearing trousers in 2002. She’s been speaking to Laura Jones.(Photo: Amiera Osman Hamed. Credit: Amiera Osman Hamed) HISTORICAL ARCHIVE & EVIDENCE The original...

It is 20 years since heavily-armed Chechen rebels took an entire theatre full of people hostage. They threatened to kill them all if the Russian government didn't call off the war in Chechnya. When Russian special forces stormed the theatre they let off gas to stun the Chechens - it killed many of the hostages as well. In this programme first broadcast in 2012 Dina Newman speaks to one of the surv...

Many women supported Iran’s 1979 revolution against the monarchy but some later became disillusioned. Islamic rules about how women dressed were just one of the things that women objected to. Sharan Tabari spoke to Lucy Burns in 2014 about her experiences during, and after, the Iranian Revolution.(Photo: Iranian women at the 1 May 1979 protest. Credit: Getty Images) HISTORICAL ARCHIVE & EVIDEN...

In 1998 President Suharto of Indonesia resigned after more than thirty years of military rule. It meant people from indigenous communities were finally free to speak out after years of being ignored. Tribal leaders seized their chance to gather together at the first ever Congress of Indigenous People of the Archipelago in Jakarta in 1999. Laura Jones has been speaking to Rukka Sombolinggi.(Photo:...

We go back to 1959 when Cuba’s most famous ballet dancer Alicia Alonso turned her back on a successful career on the world stage and returned home to form Cuba’s National Ballet Company. She spoke to Mike Lanchin in 2015.(Photo: Alicia Alonso. Credit: Alicia Alonso) HISTORICAL ARCHIVE & EVIDENCE The original photo gallery, unedited witness statements, and the private archive documents mentione...

Earlier this year, Cuba lifted a 60-year ban on professional boxing, which Fidel Castro imposed in 1962. Before then, amateur boxers who wanted to turn pro, had to risk everything in order to defect. Rachel Naylor speaks to Mike ‘The Rebel’ Perez, who escaped in 2007 with the assistance of Mexican gangsters, a fishing boat and an Irish promoter.(Photo: Mike Perez (right) and Bryant Jennings during...

In 1961, Fidel Castro launched a nationwide campaign aimed to eradicate illiteracy in Cuba. An ‘army’ of volunteers known as brigadistas equipped with books and pencils travelled across the country to teach people how to read and write. Alex Collins spoke to Rosa Hernandez Acosta who taught many adults even though she was a 10-year-old schoolgirl herself.(Photo: Rosa Hernandez Acosta. Credit: Kian...

Jo Fidgen hears what was happening in the Pentagon and the Kremlin in the final days of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev finally offered to withdraw the missiles as the crisis came to a head. In 2012, his son Sergei remembered those fraught few days.(Photo: Nikita and Sergei Khrushchev. Credit: Sergei Khrushchev) HISTORICAL ARCHIVE & EVIDENCE The original phot...

In 1962, the Cuban missile crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Jo Fidgen spoke to American Intelligence officer Dino Brugioni who played a crucial role as the crisis unfolded. Dino was a CIA expert whose job was to interpret the photographs of missiles in Cuba. This programme was first broadcast in 2012.(Photo: Dino Brugioni. Credit: The Washington Post/Getty Images) HISTORICAL A...

In the 1960s, a wave of strikes and protest marches by Mexican-American farm workers inspired Latinos across the US. The movement was led by Cesar Chavez - a man now regarded by his community as a civil rights hero. Dolores Huerta, who coined the slogan “yes we can!”, worked closely with Chavez. She spoke to Simon Watts in this programme first broadcast in 2012.(Photo: Cesar Chavez pointing in fro...

Park Heongjun takes us back to May 1980, when a strike in the city of Gwangju became one of the most divisive moments in South Korea’s history and led to the imprisonment of activist Bae Ok Byoung. She worked in a factory making wigs and along with other female employees, went on strike to demand better working conditions. In this programme first broadcast in 2021, Bae recalls the brutal crackdown...

Walt Disney cartoonists went on strike for nine weeks in 1941. They were led by Art Babbitt, Disney’s top animator who created Goofy. The picket line was remarkable for its colourful artwork and support from Hollywood actors. The confrontation was rooted in the paranoia of the day – the infiltration of communism into American life, as Art Babbitt explains in BBC archive recordings presented by Jos...

In 1979, British public sector workers went on strike over pay. Among those taking industrial action were gravediggers. But the media, politicians and even their own families turned against them at the thought of bodies being left unburied. Claire Bowes spoke to the gravediggers’ convener Ian Lowes in 2011. (Photo: Protestors during the 'Winter of Discontent'. Credit: Getty Images) HISTORICAL ARCH...

On 30 January 1959, the late Trinidadian activist Claudia Jones held a Caribbean party in St Pancras Town Hall in London, planting the seeds for the famous carnival. She wanted to bring Caribbeans across the UK's capital together for dancing, singing and steel bands. Rachel Naylor hears from her best friend, Corinne Skinner-Carter.(Photo: A woman having a good time at Claudia Jones' Caribbean carn...

In 1972, a low-budget Jamaican film and its legendary soundtrack helped popularise reggae music in the world. Ben Henderson speaks to one of the most famous reggae artists ever, Jimmy Cliff, who played the film's protagonist and wrote a number of the songs. Jimmy explains why the film was so popular and how it reflected his own life.'The Harder They Come' was produced by International Films Inc.(P...

On 5 October 2000, protests in the Yugoslav capital Belgrade spiralled into an attack on the parliament building. Hours later President Slobodan Milosevic stood down. Mark Lowen spoke to Srdja Popovic - one of the leaders of the student-led opposition movement - in 2010.(Photo: Demonstrators and police at the Belgrade parliament. Credit: Getty Images) HISTORICAL ARCHIVE & EVIDENCE The original...

On 18 October 2011, Israeli solider Gilad Shalit was freed after spending over five years in captivity in Gaza. His release was part of a controversial prisoner exchange which saw more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails. Alex Collins talks to Israeli spy, David Meidan, who was successful in negotiations where others had failed.(Photo: Gilad Shalit and David Meidan standing d...

In 1962, Nigerian man Phil Magbotiwan opened a brand new nightclub in Manchester, England. In part because of his own personal experiences of racism, Phil wanted to create somewhere where everyone would be welcome – Manchester’s first racially inclusive nightclub. The Reno was born. The nightclub became a particularly important space for Manchester's mixed heritage community, who felt unwelcome in...