Misha Glenny

speaker

1,430 appearances 22 recordings 1 series first heard May 2026 last heard 5d ago

Misha Glenny’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 22 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 6.

Appearances

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In Our Time · Indian Indentured Labour · 21 May 2026 podcast

Yes. voice-verified

So what arguments was he making and who did he need to persuade in order to introduce this system of indentured labour? voice-verified

So, Poroma Hussein, the legislation goes through relatively swiftly. voice-verified

The indentured system is set up and it begins with the Atlas voyage going from Calcutta to Mauritius in 1834. voice-verified

Why does it begin in Calcutta? voice-verified

So what were the voyages like? voice-verified

What were the conditions that the indentured workers were kept in? voice-verified

And presumably it's a lot quicker once you've got steam. voice-verified

So, Clem, let's focus a bit on Guyana, which became one of the main destinations after Mauritius. voice-verified

What were conditions like for indentured labourers at first when they arrived in Guyana? voice-verified

But suspended because the conditions were so awful. voice-verified

Yeah, of course, the Indian indentured labour was not the only indentured labour system that emerged in the 19th century. voice-verified

We saw this particular with Chinese workers as well. voice-verified

Neha, you mentioned before about the lifting of the sugar monopoly in the 1840s. voice-verified

So we've got a tension between the colonialist planters and the free traders in Britain at the time. voice-verified

What role does the idea about free labour, how does that fit into this? voice-verified

Well, talking about those contracts which they were signing back in India, who was doing the recruiting and how much did the indentured workers know what they were signing up for? voice-verified

Their contracts lasted for about five years, is that right? voice-verified

And were they generally, after five years, free to choose what to do next? voice-verified

So, Clem, back to Guyana, you've mentioned the fact that the agency of the freed enslaved population was initially considerable, but then weakened by the introduction of indentured Indian labour. voice-verified

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