Manchester University Press
2 They needed us, and now they are terrified
Abstract
During the 1970s and 1980s, post-colonial migrants of Asian, African and Caribbean descent collaborated to confront the discrimination and exclusion they were facing in Britain. This chapter intends to explore the dynamic and complex relationship between the Bangladeshi community in the East End of London and the structural violence they endured. This community dealt with the National Front on the streets of East London and collaborated with other communities to lead the anti-racist movement of the 1980s. By drawing on the pivotal moment when Altab Ali was killed in 1978, this chapter will attempt to weave in and link the role of colonialism, the East End and the consequent galvanisation by the Bengali community. The colonial relationship is necessary to emphasise because the East India Company had its HQ in East London while in India its base was in Kolkata, West Bengal. The entanglements of geography and the Bengali community are crucial here and how the imperial metropole managed Bengalis ‘over there’ and how those from ‘over there’ then became a significant demographic in that metropole hundreds of years later.
Abstract
During the 1970s and 1980s, post-colonial migrants of Asian, African and Caribbean descent collaborated to confront the discrimination and exclusion they were facing in Britain. This chapter intends to explore the dynamic and complex relationship between the Bangladeshi community in the East End of London and the structural violence they endured. This community dealt with the National Front on the streets of East London and collaborated with other communities to lead the anti-racist movement of the 1980s. By drawing on the pivotal moment when Altab Ali was killed in 1978, this chapter will attempt to weave in and link the role of colonialism, the East End and the consequent galvanisation by the Bengali community. The colonial relationship is necessary to emphasise because the East India Company had its HQ in East London while in India its base was in Kolkata, West Bengal. The entanglements of geography and the Bengali community are crucial here and how the imperial metropole managed Bengalis ‘over there’ and how those from ‘over there’ then became a significant demographic in that metropole hundreds of years later.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication iv
- Contents vii
- List of contributors ix
- Introduction 1
- I How did we get here? 29
- 1 Remaking rule #1 31
- 2 They needed us, and now they are terrified 43
- 3 The four stages of moral panic 54
- 4 The duty to see, the yearning to be seen 67
- II Resisting the structure 79
- 5 Refusing to condemn as a political act 81
- 6 Navigating refusal within the academy 90
- 7 Randomly selected 101
- 8 Guilty without a crime 112
- 9 The struggle of a Muslim terror ‘suspect lawyer’ 122
- III Resisting the personal 135
- 10 The (im)possible Muslim 137
- 11 The racialised ‘go-to Muslim’ 149
- 12 Writing for the kids 161
- 13 It is Allah who condemns 174
- IV Resisting the performance 185
- 14 Is this radical? Am I radical? 187
- 15 Grappling with shadows 201
- 16 That’s because I’ve read 213
- 17 My art is for my people 227
- Glossary 237
- Acknowledgements 239
- Notes 243
- Further reading 263
- Index 265
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication iv
- Contents vii
- List of contributors ix
- Introduction 1
- I How did we get here? 29
- 1 Remaking rule #1 31
- 2 They needed us, and now they are terrified 43
- 3 The four stages of moral panic 54
- 4 The duty to see, the yearning to be seen 67
- II Resisting the structure 79
- 5 Refusing to condemn as a political act 81
- 6 Navigating refusal within the academy 90
- 7 Randomly selected 101
- 8 Guilty without a crime 112
- 9 The struggle of a Muslim terror ‘suspect lawyer’ 122
- III Resisting the personal 135
- 10 The (im)possible Muslim 137
- 11 The racialised ‘go-to Muslim’ 149
- 12 Writing for the kids 161
- 13 It is Allah who condemns 174
- IV Resisting the performance 185
- 14 Is this radical? Am I radical? 187
- 15 Grappling with shadows 201
- 16 That’s because I’ve read 213
- 17 My art is for my people 227
- Glossary 237
- Acknowledgements 239
- Notes 243
- Further reading 263
- Index 265
