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'''Biju Mathew''' is an American [[Marxist]] activist. He is an Indian immigrant and a professor of the Business Administration department at [[Rider University]] (New Jersey).He is also the co-founder of the [[Forum of Indian Leftists]] (FOIL)<ref>[http://pd.cpim.org/2001/march25/march25_biju_vijay.htm Hindutva For a Few Dollars a Day (author info)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828130119/http://pd.cpim.org/2001/march25/march25_biju_vijay.htm |date=2008-08-28 }}. ''People's Democracy'', Weekly Organ of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]]</ref><ref>[http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/apr/09us1.htm NY Radio Station Axes Two Leftist Producers], Arun Venugopal, April 9, 2001, rediff.com - NEWS</ref> and a member of the collective of Youth Solidarity Summer (YSS).
'''Biju Mathew''' is a [[New York City|New York]]-based labor organizer and intellectual. An immigrant from [[India]], he teaches [[Information Systems]] and [[American studies]] at [[Rider University|Rider University (New Jersey)]]. He co-founded the [[National Taxi Workers' Alliance|New York Taxi Workers Alliance]] in 1998, is a founding secretary of the National Taxi Workers Alliance, and president of the [[International Alliance of App-based Transport Workers|International Alliance of App-Based Transport Workers]]. As a writer, Mathew has published several academic articles as well as the 2005 book ''Taxi!: Cabs and Capitalism in New York City.''


Mathew is also an organizer of [[New York Taxi Workers Alliance]]. He has published a book titled ''Taxi!: Cabs and Capitalism in New York City'' (The New Press). It details the taxi workers' struggles in New York City from the 1920s to the present as well as discussing New York politics and policies and their effects on the taxi industry.<ref>[http://socialjustice.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/index.php/Taxi_Workers_Alliance Taxi Workers Alliance]</ref><ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6394/is_/ai_n29395963 Biju Mathew, Taxi! Cabs and Capitalism in New York City. (Book review)], Walby, Kevin, Labour/Le Travail, September 22, 2007</ref><ref>[http://www.thenewpress.com/index.php?option=com_title&task=view_title&metaproductid=1552 Cabs and Capitalism in New York City]</ref> He is also a contributor to ''[[Rethinking Marxism]]''.<ref>[http://www.rethinkingmarxism.org/cms/editors-introduction-12 Rethinking Marxism, Volume 12, Number 3, p. 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081122062032/http://rethinkingmarxism.org/cms/editors-introduction-12 |date=2008-11-22 }} (2000)</ref>
== Immigrant/ Taxi Workers Organizing ==
In 1998, Mathew co-founded the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA), along with [[Bhairavi Desai]], Javaid Tariq, and several others.<ref>{{Cite web |title=New York Taxi Workers Alliance Records: NYU Special Collections Finding Aids |url=https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/tamwag/wag_319/ |access-date=2025-10-01 |website=findingaids.library.nyu.edu |language=en-us}}</ref> NYTWA is a labor union representing immigrant taxi drivers in the US with over 26,000 members in NYC. The union primarily organizes yellow medallion lease drivers and has conducted several successful campaigns. In 2004, 2006, and 2012, it conducted fair hike–lease cap campaigns. In 2013–14, it set up a health and wellness fund for NYC taxi drivers. Its best known campaign came in November 2021, when, after three years of direct action, including a 15-day Hunger Strike, NYTWA reached an agreement with the City of New York and Marblegate Asset Management to restructure medallion mortgages, thereby saving many workers from falling into irretrievable debt.<ref>{{Cite web|title=#EndCabbieDebt|url=https://www.nytwa.org/debt-forgiveness|access-date=2022-01-31|website=New York Taxi Workers Alliance|language=en-US}}</ref> The campaign was widely covered in the media, including a cover story in ''[[The Nation]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Crabapple|first=Molly|date=2021-12-13|title=How the Taxi Workers Won|language=en-US|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/society/taxi-driver-strike/|access-date=2022-01-31|issn=0027-8378}}</ref>
 
In 2011 the NYTWA and its sister organization, The Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania (TWAPA) became the founding affiliates of the National Taxi Workers Alliance (NTWA) of the [[AFL–CIO|AFL-CIO]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mission & History|url=https://www.nytwa.org/mission-and-history|access-date=2022-01-31|website=New York Taxi Workers Alliance|language=en-US}}</ref> The NTWA is the 57th chartered union of the AFL-CIO and the first new charter in over 50 years. The creation of NTWA is described as historic given its status as the first national union of independent contractor-workers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What Drives Bhairavi Desai? |url=https://lux-magazine.com/article/bhairavi_desai_twa/ |access-date=2025-10-01 |website=Lux Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> Mathew is presently the secretary of the NTWA.
 
In January 2020, Mathew co-founded the [[International Alliance of App-based Transport Workers|International Alliance of App Based Transport Workers]] (IIATW), along with delegates from 23 countries.<ref>{{Cite web|title=About Us – IAATW|url=https://iaatw.org/about-us/|access-date=2022-01-31|language=en-US}}</ref> Initially a member of the steering committee, he became president of IAATW in 2021.
 
== Political Education ==
Mathew has a long record of volunteer educational work. He is a co-founder and chair of the executive council of [[Lamakaan]], an open cultural space in [[Hyderabad, India]]. He serves on the board of the [[Brecht Forum|Brecht Forum, NY]]. He is also the co-founder of Youth Solidarity Summer, a South Asian youth education summer camp.
 
== Transnational Solidarity Campaigns ==
For over three decades, Mathew has worked with various civil society groups to uphold human rights and monitor human rights violations in India. After the [[2002 Gujarat riots]], in which reports estimated that more than 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed by Hindu nationalist mobs, Mathew and several others founded the Campaign to Stop Funding Hate (CSFH), which tracked over US$6,000,000 being funneled to the [[Hindutva]] movement in India. This work is documented in a report titled “The Foreign Exchange of Hate.” CSFH has also investigated and published a report, “Unmistakably Sangh,” on Hindutva student organizations in the US.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Unmistakably Sangh: The National Hindu Students Council and its Hindutva Agenda|url=http://hsctruthout.stopfundinghate.org/|access-date=2022-01-31|website=hsctruthout.stopfundinghate.org}}</ref> In 2005, he helped found the [[Coalition Against Genocide]] (CAG), a coalition of 40 organizations focused on minority rights in India, particularly justice for the victims of the [[2002 Gujarat riots]].
 
Mathew is also the co-founder of the Mining Zone Peoples Solidarity Group (MZPSG), which works on solidarity campaigns supporting movements opposing indiscriminate mining and consequent displacement in India. MZPSG supported a campaign against the anti-Posco campaign in India.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-07-06|title=The People's Movement Against POSCO - India|url=https://kairoscenter.org/peoples-movement-posco-india/|access-date=2022-01-31|website=Kairos Center|language=en-US}}</ref> Its report documented inconsistencies in the claims of Posco India, the [[government of India]], and the government of [[Orissa]] in justifying the US$12,000,000 Posco-India project.
 
In 2020, Mathew co-founded India Civil Watch International, a membership-based civil rights monitoring and campaign organization based out of North America, which has over 200 members as of 2024.<ref>{{Cite web|title=About Us – India Civil Watch International (ICWI)|url=https://indiacivilwatch.org/about-icwi/|access-date=2022-01-31|language=en-US}}</ref> ICWI has mounted campaigns addressing [[Facebook]]'s role in the spread of hate speech on its India platforms, and advocating for the release of activists detained as part of the [[2018 Bhima Koregaon violence|Bhima-Koregaon]] conspiracy, among others.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Rights groups push Facebook to release India human rights assessment|language=en-US|work=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/19/india-facebook-assessment/|access-date=2022-01-31|issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Bhima Koregaon Campaign – India Civil Watch International (ICWI)|url=https://indiacivilwatch.org/issues-bk16/|access-date=2022-01-31|language=en-US}}</ref>
 
== Media and Publications ==
Mathew has authored numerous scholarly and journalistic publications on subjects ranging from labor to neoliberalism to communal violence. In 2005, he published ''Taxi! Cabs and Capitalism in New York City'' with [[The New Press]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Product Details|url=https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/|access-date=2022-01-31|website=Cornell University Press|language=en-US}}</ref> The book, which draws heavily on Mathew's interaction with drivers, details the taxi workers' struggles in New York City from the 1920s to the present and discusses New York politics and policies and their effects on the taxi industry. It received positive reviews in publications including the ''[[Financial Times]]'' and has been described as a classic. It was republished in a new edition by [[Cornell University Press]] in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Product Details|url=https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/|access-date=2022-01-31|website=Cornell University Press|language=en-US}}</ref>
 
Between 1999 and 2011, Mathew hosted a weekly radio show for the [[WBAI]] station titled "Global Movements, Urban Struggles."<ref>{{Cite web|title=WBAI Radio - NYC|url=https://wbai.org/program.php?program=83|access-date=2022-01-31|website=wbai.org}}</ref> It featured discussions with activists focused on racial and economic justice around the world.


==References==
==References==

Latest revision as of 01:27, 17 December 2025

Biju Mathew is a New York-based labor organizer and intellectual. An immigrant from India, he teaches Information Systems and American studies at Rider University (New Jersey). He co-founded the New York Taxi Workers Alliance in 1998, is a founding secretary of the National Taxi Workers Alliance, and president of the International Alliance of App-Based Transport Workers. As a writer, Mathew has published several academic articles as well as the 2005 book Taxi!: Cabs and Capitalism in New York City.

Immigrant/ Taxi Workers Organizing[edit | edit source]

In 1998, Mathew co-founded the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA), along with Bhairavi Desai, Javaid Tariq, and several others.[1] NYTWA is a labor union representing immigrant taxi drivers in the US with over 26,000 members in NYC. The union primarily organizes yellow medallion lease drivers and has conducted several successful campaigns. In 2004, 2006, and 2012, it conducted fair hike–lease cap campaigns. In 2013–14, it set up a health and wellness fund for NYC taxi drivers. Its best known campaign came in November 2021, when, after three years of direct action, including a 15-day Hunger Strike, NYTWA reached an agreement with the City of New York and Marblegate Asset Management to restructure medallion mortgages, thereby saving many workers from falling into irretrievable debt.[2] The campaign was widely covered in the media, including a cover story in The Nation.[3]

In 2011 the NYTWA and its sister organization, The Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania (TWAPA) became the founding affiliates of the National Taxi Workers Alliance (NTWA) of the AFL-CIO.[4] The NTWA is the 57th chartered union of the AFL-CIO and the first new charter in over 50 years. The creation of NTWA is described as historic given its status as the first national union of independent contractor-workers.[5] Mathew is presently the secretary of the NTWA.

In January 2020, Mathew co-founded the International Alliance of App Based Transport Workers (IIATW), along with delegates from 23 countries.[6] Initially a member of the steering committee, he became president of IAATW in 2021.

Political Education[edit | edit source]

Mathew has a long record of volunteer educational work. He is a co-founder and chair of the executive council of Lamakaan, an open cultural space in Hyderabad, India. He serves on the board of the Brecht Forum, NY. He is also the co-founder of Youth Solidarity Summer, a South Asian youth education summer camp.

Transnational Solidarity Campaigns[edit | edit source]

For over three decades, Mathew has worked with various civil society groups to uphold human rights and monitor human rights violations in India. After the 2002 Gujarat riots, in which reports estimated that more than 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed by Hindu nationalist mobs, Mathew and several others founded the Campaign to Stop Funding Hate (CSFH), which tracked over US$6,000,000 being funneled to the Hindutva movement in India. This work is documented in a report titled “The Foreign Exchange of Hate.” CSFH has also investigated and published a report, “Unmistakably Sangh,” on Hindutva student organizations in the US.[7] In 2005, he helped found the Coalition Against Genocide (CAG), a coalition of 40 organizations focused on minority rights in India, particularly justice for the victims of the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Mathew is also the co-founder of the Mining Zone Peoples Solidarity Group (MZPSG), which works on solidarity campaigns supporting movements opposing indiscriminate mining and consequent displacement in India. MZPSG supported a campaign against the anti-Posco campaign in India.[8] Its report documented inconsistencies in the claims of Posco India, the government of India, and the government of Orissa in justifying the US$12,000,000 Posco-India project.

In 2020, Mathew co-founded India Civil Watch International, a membership-based civil rights monitoring and campaign organization based out of North America, which has over 200 members as of 2024.[9] ICWI has mounted campaigns addressing Facebook's role in the spread of hate speech on its India platforms, and advocating for the release of activists detained as part of the Bhima-Koregaon conspiracy, among others.[10][11]

Media and Publications[edit | edit source]

Mathew has authored numerous scholarly and journalistic publications on subjects ranging from labor to neoliberalism to communal violence. In 2005, he published Taxi! Cabs and Capitalism in New York City with The New Press.[12] The book, which draws heavily on Mathew's interaction with drivers, details the taxi workers' struggles in New York City from the 1920s to the present and discusses New York politics and policies and their effects on the taxi industry. It received positive reviews in publications including the Financial Times and has been described as a classic. It was republished in a new edition by Cornell University Press in 2008.[13]

Between 1999 and 2011, Mathew hosted a weekly radio show for the WBAI station titled "Global Movements, Urban Struggles."[14] It featured discussions with activists focused on racial and economic justice around the world.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ "New York Taxi Workers Alliance Records: NYU Special Collections Finding Aids". findingaids.library.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  2. ↑ "#EndCabbieDebt". New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  3. ↑ Crabapple, Molly (2021-12-13). "How the Taxi Workers Won". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  4. ↑ "Mission & History". New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  5. ↑ "What Drives Bhairavi Desai?". Lux Magazine. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  6. ↑ "About Us – IAATW". Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  7. ↑ "Unmistakably Sangh: The National Hindu Students Council and its Hindutva Agenda". hsctruthout.stopfundinghate.org. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  8. ↑ "The People's Movement Against POSCO - India". Kairos Center. 2014-07-06. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  9. ↑ "About Us – India Civil Watch International (ICWI)". Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  10. ↑ "Rights groups push Facebook to release India human rights assessment". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  11. ↑ "Bhima Koregaon Campaign – India Civil Watch International (ICWI)". Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  12. ↑ "Product Details". Cornell University Press. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  13. ↑ "Product Details". Cornell University Press. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  14. ↑ "WBAI Radio - NYC". wbai.org. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
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