Janey Tetary (c. 1856–26 September 1884) born as Tetary Begum Janey was a

Indo-Surinamese Indo-Surinamese, Indian-Surinamese, or Hindustani Surinamese are nationals of Suriname who trace their ancestry to the Indian subcontinent. Their ancestors were indentured labourers brought by the Dutch and the British to the Dutch colony of S ...

indentured labourer Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract called an "indenture", may be entered voluntarily for a prepaid lump sum, as payment for some good or serv ...

, rebellion leader and

resistance fighter A resistance movement is an organized group of people that tries to resist or try to overthrow a government or an occupying power, causing disruption and unrest in civil order and stability. Such a movement may seek to achieve its goals through ei ...

in the Dutch colony of Suriname.

Life

Tetary was born in 1856 in Moniar,

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

(Former

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

) and was raised as a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. She was divorced at a young age and was known to defend women who had been badly treated by their husband. On 11 September 1880, Tetary and her 10-year-old son Boodhoo signed contracts in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

to labour overseas. They were indentured to Plantation Zorg en Joop near the

Commewijne River Commewijne River (Sranan Tongo: ''Kawina-liba'') is a river in northern Suriname. It originates in the jungle 100 or more miles southeast of Paraibo and meanders northwest until it receives the meandering Cottica River from the east and then ru ...

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

, which was under Dutch control as a plantation colony. In 1884, Tetary lead the collective labour resistance of a group of "Hindustani" indentured servants against exploitation, after planters filed a petition to the colonial administration to change penal ordinances. They also protested about the low wages and difficult tasks they were given on the sugar plantation. When the military and police were called in to put down their rebellion, she mobilised women to fight armed with stones and bottles they had collected. She was murdered by policemen, allegedly on the advice of the colonial official Barnet Lyon, dying from a shot to the back of her head at close range on 26 September 1884. Six other indentured labourers were also killed.

Legacy

In 2013, the documentary film ''Tetary Over strijd, moed en opoffering'' (Tetary, about courage, battle and sacrifice) was broadcast on Dutch television. In 2016, Tetary's life story was featured in ''The Uprising'' music documentary which told the story of resistance against racism in the Netherlands, UK and France from a

decolonial Decoloniality () is a school of thought that aims to delink from Eurocentric knowledge hierarchies and ways of being in the world in order to enable other forms of existence on Earth. It critiques the perceived universality of Western knowl ...

perspective. In September 2017, a statue of Tetary was placed in

Paramaribo Paramaribo ( , , ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's p ...

near the President's Palace, replacing a statue of Barnet Lyon. The statue was paid for through the ''Tetary Must Rise''

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

campaign lead by the artist and activist Pravini Baboeram. In August 2019, a street in the Netherlands was named in her honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tetary, Janey 1856 births 1884 deaths Indentured servants 19th-century Indian women Indian emigrants to Suriname Indo-Surinamese people Surinamese rebels Surinamese Muslims