The news release below was sent out by the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice on May 30. Click here to see a video about the strike. --tim

WASHINGTON, DC – Indian guest worker Paul Konar, the "hunger strike strongman" who is leading a fast on behalf of over 550 Indian labor trafficking survivors, astonished doctors during a brief hospital visit on Thursday with his near-ideal health after more than two weeks without food.

"My strength is God's gift," said Paul, who celebrated his 54th birthday on Wednesday, blowing out birthday candles on top of a water bottle. "I have 140 nuns praying for me morning and night in the Convent of St. Alfonse. Their prayers are my food." (See photos at www.flickr.com/photos/nolaoworkerscenter.)

Paul's incredible endurance has helped inspire allies from the Jobs With Justice coalition in over 40 US cities to write 8,766 letters to US Congressmen in support of the workers since the start of the hunger strike.

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"Paul Konar's strength and commitment are bringing inspiration to the entire movement for workers' rights and social justice in the United States," said Krista Hansen, field organizer at Jobs With Justice.

A total of 15 hunger strikers have taken part in the fast, which began May 14 in view of the White House, though Paul is the only worker who began on Day One and has not yet been forced off the fast by medical problems.

The hunger strikers are seeking justice against the US-Indian labor trafficking chain that brought them to the US with false promises of permanent residency for themselves and their families. The workers paid US and Indian recruiters up to $20,000 apiece for an American Dream, and instead received 10-month temporary H2B guest worker visas and worked at the Gulf Coast shipyards of Signal International under deplorable conditions.

They are demanding continued presence in the US to participate in an official investigation into their case, US Congressional hearings into abuses of guest workers, and Indian government pressure on the US to protect future guest workers.

"The Indian government wants us all to go away, but the whole world is watching now," said Rajan Pazhambalakode, an organizer with the Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity and a former worker at labor trafficker Signal International. "It is time for India to protect the NIRs who sent home $27 billion to fill the government's coffers last year."

The workers have submitted nearly 150 pages of evidence against the labor trafficking chain to Ambassador Ronen Sen, asking him to transmit it to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and Minister for Overseas Indian Affair Vyalar Ravi.
"These workers have shown extraordinary courage in fighting to bring labor traffickers to justice," said Saket Soni, an advocate for the workers and director of the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice. "The Indian government should do the same."

The workers are members of the Indian Workers' Congress and the Alliance of Guest Workers for Dignity, affiliates of the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice.

Follow the hunger strike on our text and photo blog: www.neworleansworkerjustice.org.

India contact: Anannya Bhattacharjee
+91-9810970627 (India mobile phone); email: anannya48@gmail.com

US Contact: Stephen Boykewich – Media Director, NOWCRJ
+1-504-655-0876 (US mobile phone); email: spboykewich@gmail.com