On April 26th 2024, at the age of 89, Kenyan social justice champion Zarina Patel passed on. Over the course of her life, she championed many causes and fought for justice for many marginalised groups and communities, as well as being a significant figure in the democratic struggle in Kenya. Described by her biographer George Gona as “a courageous, relentless, resolute, and Indomitable Spirit” (also the title of the book, which can be purchased online here). You can also learn more about Zarina’s life and writing from https://zarinapatel.net/
Zarina was also the granddaughter of Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee, the businessman and activist who donated the Jeevanjee Gardens to the residents of Nairobi and, in 1991, she and her mother successfully led a campaign opposing the re-development of the Gardens into a shopping mall and underground car park, thus preserving the Gardens as one of the few remaining green spaces in the city centre for the people of Nairobi, as originally intended.
Zarina wrote several biographies and other books, which can be sourced from various bookshops, both online and physically, as follows:
Challenge to Colonialism: The Struggle of Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee for Equal Rights in Kenya
Unquiet – Life and Times of Makhan Singh
Stormy Petrel – Manilal Ambalal Desai
The In-between World of Kenya’s Media: South Asian Journalism 1900-1992
Jeevanjee: Rebel of the Empire
In later years, Zarina together with her life partner, Zahid Rajan, threw a lot of her energy into AwaaZ Magazine and the Samosa Festival, established in 2005 as the “cultural arm” of AwaaZ. AwaaZ aims “to provide a broad platform for debate and reflection on issues of both contemporary and historical interest. What started off in 2002 as a focus on the role of the South Asian community in the historical, political and socio-economic spheres of Kenya; has now broadened to cover the larger debates on diversity, democracy, human rights and social justice. The magazine also critically examines the role of minorities both as communities in Kenya and East Africa; as well as a concept of human rights in a society be they ethnic, racial, gender based, sexual or political.”
In February 2014, Zarina was featured in the Citizen TV series, “Strength of a Woman”, which you can watch below:
We invite you to also learn more about Zarina, her life and her work through her own website by clicking here.
Please also read some of the tributes to Zarina through the following links – in the Nairobi Law Monthly here, from the Communist Party of Kenya here, and by Salim Lone in the Daily Nation here.
Finally, we leave you with a tribute to Zarina from Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (in the picture above with Zarina and Zahid) published by Daraja Press:
Zarina you have left us
To be with us always
You were there when workers marched for adequate wages
You were there when peasants marched to defend their lands
You marched with all who march to demand adequate shelters
You marched with students rejecting education for sale and profit
Who demanded education for self-confidence and pride in us Kenyan people
You, sister Zarina Patel
You always marched step by step with all seekers of justice.
Zarina you remind me of Gama Pinto
Assassinated because he warned us against neo-colonialism
Zarina you remind me of Makhan Singh
The founding genius of Trade Unionism in Kenya
The first Kenyan to be “deported” to Kapenguria
Because in 1948 he said Kenyan people could govern themselves
Zarina you remind me of Desai who in 1920 worked with Harry Thuku
Who became the link between Gandhi’s Indian Congress and Marcus Garvey’s movement
And that was why the British Killed Nyanjirũ Mũthoni na 150 Workers
And deported Harry Thuku to Kismayu
And then brainwashed him…
Thus breaking the link between Asia, Africa and Black America resistance…
Zarina let me stop there because I don’t want tears to flood my face
Because I know you would want us Not to Cry for your body departed
But to cry with all those fighting for justice
Marching with all the workers and peasants of Kenya, Africa, Asia and the world.
Zarina Patel your body has returned to the elements
Fire, light, Ra
You will always be the sun shining in all our struggles for Justice
Zarina you have left us
To be with us always
See the fire
See the light
Thank you Sister Zarina Patel
Thank you Sister Zarina Patel
embrace everyone 