In this interview Anthony Mohamed, and HIV/AIDS activist and attendee of the Desh Pardesh festival discusses several social movements that took place for the LGBTQ community from the 1940s till the 1990s. He discusses the impact of racism within the…
Heidi McKenzie was the co-coordinator of the Desh Pardesh festival alongside Steve Pereira for a year and a half, beginning in 1994. She discusses in this oral history interview the notion of multiculturalism in Desh discourse, representation in the…
Ian Iqbal Rashid is a poet and writer, and one of the co-founders of Desh Pardesh. In this interview he discusses the conception of Desh, its original visions and its its manifestation into an internationally recognized event. Rashid was not involved…
Acharya was an activist that was involved in the progressive feminist scene in Toronto prior to hearing about Desh Pardesh. She later went on to work in the programming committee for Desh Pardesh. In this interview, Acharya discusses how the…
Mohabeer discusses her experience of moving to Canada during the 1970s, when racism, sexism and homophobia were rampant. She also discusses briefly her experience as a Pakistani person in a time where Paki-bashing was common place. Mohabeer then goes…
Matharu discusses the critical progressive nature of the Desh Pardesh festival, and how this was targeted specifically for a population of people of colour. Matharu also touches briefly on the intergenerational nature of the festival, and how this…
Paramjit Rai was a volunteer and co-coordinator at Desh Pardesh for a number of years. She discusses her experience as a social policy worker and academic at the festival and how this role of “outsider” informed her perspective on the festival. She…
Sharon Fernandez begins by discussing her various works within the people of colour community prior to the Dash Pardesh festival, with a specific goal to push women of colour’s involvement in the writing and in the community. She then discusses the…