Avtar Jouhl: Hundreds attend funeral for Indian Workers' activist

Jagwant Johal said his father would be remembered for his trade union work

Hundreds of mourners have attended the funeral of a prominent anti-racism activist and trade unionist.

Avtar Jouhl died aged 84 on 7 October.

Born in India, he moved to Smethwick in the West Midlands in 1958 and soon became involved in activism, joining the Indian Workers' Association (IWA) the same year.

His son, Jagwant Johal, said he spent his whole life campaigning for equality and said his legacy needed to be built upon.

"He is considered amongst others as one of the giants on whose shoulders we stand," he said.

It was Mr Jouhl who famously invited US civil rights activist Malcolm X to Smethwick in 1965.

At the time, Smethwick was considered a hotbed for racial tension - the previous year a local Conservative MP had campaigned on a racist slogan.

Mr Jouhl had said he wanted to make Malcolm X aware of segregation in pubs and bars.

Hundreds of people attended Mr Jouhl's funeral on Saturday

Mr Jouhl had come to England hoping to study at the London School of Economics but found himself working in a foundry for years.

"Most people think the streets were paved with gold but the reality was they were paved with soot from the foundries," Mr Johal said.

He unionised his Indian colleagues as well as those from African-Caribbean backgrounds, organising marches and strikes for workers' rights, particularly relating to industrial deafness.

He would go on to become the national president of the IWA, tirelessly campaigning for racial equality.

"In honouring his legacy we need to progress matters going forward and build on those legacies that the forefathers of first generation migration to this country of black and Asian workers achieved," Mr Johal said.