Black Star

Anandi Ramamurthy

Description

Black Star documents the vibrant Asian Youth Movements in 1970s and 80s Britain who struggled against the racism of the street and the state. Anandi Ramamurthy shows how they drew inspiration from Black Power movements as well as anti-imperialist and workers' struggles across the globe.



This book is populated by landmark events in anti-racist struggle, from the Grunwick strike, to the Handsworth riots, and the acquittal of the Bradford 12. Ramamurthy writes of the evolution of a politicised Asian youth in Britain, focussing particularly on how the struggle to make Britain 'home' led to the conception of a broad-based identity inspiring unity amongst all those struggling against racism: 'political blackness'.



Ramamurthy documents how by the late 1980s this broad based black identity disintegrated as Islamophobia became a new form of racism and how in the process the legacy of the Asian Youth Movements has been largely hidden. Black Star retrieves this history and demonstrates its importance for political struggles today.
Acknowledgements

List of Illustrations

1. Introduction

2. The Birth of the Youth Movements

3. The Movement Spreads

4. A Heterogenous Collectivity

5. Campaigning against the Immigration Laws

6. Self Defence is no Offence: The Bradford 12

7. The Later Youth Movements

8. New Organisations and New Identities

9. The Asian Youth Movements and Politics Today

Bibliography

Notes

Index

Sujets

• Ethnic Studies
• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Reino Unido
• United Kingdom
• Great Britain
• Royaume-Uni

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 05 septembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781849649469
• Langue: English

Extrait

Black Star
BLACK STAR
Britain’s Asian Youth Movements
Anandi Ramamurthy
First published 2013 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Distributed in the United States of America exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Copyright © Anandi Ramamurthy 2013
The right of Anandi Ramamurthy to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material in this book. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions in this respect and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN   978 0 7453 3349 6   Hardback ISBN   978 0 7453 3348 9   Paperback ISBN   978 1 8496 4945 2   PDF eBook ISBN   978 1 8496 4947 6   Kindle eBook ISBN   978 1 8496 4946 9   EPUB eBook
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England Simultaneously printed digitally by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, UK and Edwards Bros in the United States of America
Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Abbreviations    
1
Introduction
2
The Birth of the Youth Movements
3
The Movement Spreads
4
A Heterogenous Collectivity
5
Campaigning Against the Immigration Laws
6
Bradford 12 – Self-Defence is No Offence
7
The Later Youth Movements and the Drive Towards State Funding
8
New Organisations and New Identities
9
The Asian Youth Movements and Politics Today   Bibliography and Interviews Index
List of Illustrations
The codes at the end of each caption are references to the catalogue entries in the Tandana archive ( www.tandana.org ).
 
1.1
Photograph of AYM members from 1984 taken in Sheffield (courtesy Mukhtar Dar), MD11
3.1
Cover of Kala Tara ( Black Star ) Magazine, 1979, Asian Youth Movement (Bradford) (courtesy former members of AYM Bradford), SC2
3.2
Demonstration to defend the Bolton 7 with the Bolton Youth Organisation. (courtesy Greg Dropkin), GD6
3.3
Picket outside Luton Town Hall in protest at the attack on Luton Mosque which led to the establishment of Luton Youth Movement, 1981 (courtesy Fahim Qureshi), FQ1
3.4.
United Black Youth League members with Anwar Ditta and her children at a demonstration in support of Jaswinder Kaur, 1981 (courtesy Anwar Ditta), AD6
4.1
Leaflet for a public meeting organised by AYM (Sheffield) linking the experiences of police repression felt by Asians, Africans, Irish and Miners, 1985 (courtesy Matloub Hussayn Ali Khan), MH197
4.2
Calendar produced by Birmingham AYM connecting anti-colonial and black struggles in Britain, 1986 (courtesy Matloub Hussayn Ali Khan), MH98
4.3
‘Death to Zionism’, poster produced by AYM (Manchester) for a demonstration in Manchester protesting at the massacre of Palestinians in Lebanon, 1982 (courtesy Tariq Mehmood), TM20
4.4
‘Solidarity with the Miners’, agitational leaflet produced by AYM (Sheffield) in 1984. The image depicted Asian youth protesting in Brick Lane after the death of Altab Ali that was first used in AYM Bradford’s magazine Kala Tara (courtesy Mukhtar Dar), SC128
4.5
A social evening featuring Baba Baktaura, Mahmood Jamal and Raza and Party, organised by AYM (Sheffield) and the Asian Welfare Association. The English language side of the leaflet bills it as ‘Cultural resistance’ (courtesy Mukhtar Dar), MD46
4.6
Membership form for AYM (Manchester). The image was first produced by Mukhti, a London based collective, in 1980 (courtesy Jani Rashid), JR23
5.1
AYM (Bradford) and AYM (Manchester) at Trafalgar Square for the national demonstration against the Nationality Bill, 1979 (courtesy Mohsin Zulfiqar)
5.2
Photograph of a march in support of Anwar Ditta’s case in Rochdale, showing the mobilisation of the community in support of the campaign and not just the production of a media campaign (courtesy of Anwar Ditta, 1980), AD 35
5.3
Collage of immigration campaign posters (courtesy Anwar Ditta, members of AYM Bradford and Matloub Hussayn Ali Khan)
6.1
‘Gagged’ posters exposing the political nature of the bail conditions for the Bradford 12, 1981 (courtesy John Sturrock and Socialist Worker )
6.2
Bradford 12 campaign posters (courtesy Matloub Hussayn Ali Khan and Tariq Mehmood), MH97, TM19
6.3
Later visual resonances of Bradford 12 campaign in leaflets produced by Newham Youth Movement in defence of Newham 7 defendants; Bangladeshi Workers Organisation for a campaign to ‘Stop the Racist Health Service Bill’; Asian Youth Movement Sheffield for Ahmed Khan Defence Campaign. (courtesy Matloub Hussayn Ali Khan), MH58.1, MH6
7.1
Banner for Zafar Defence Campaign, against police criminalisation, Asian Youth Movement (Sheffield). Designed by Mukhtar Dar (courtesy Mukhtar Dar and Matloub Hussayn Ali Khan), MH2
8.1
Covers from Paikaar 1986–87, 1989 (courtesy Tariq Mehmood)
8.2
Photograph of a demonstration to protest against the murder of Tasleem Akhtar, organised by Pakistani Workers Association. (courtesy Matloub Hussayn Ali Khan)
Acknowledgements
Thank you, Tariq, for sharing your experiences of political activism with me throughout the 24 years I have known you.
This book first started life as the development of an archive and I am thankful to all those who shared their materials with me. Matloob, your belief in the importance of preserving history for the future has left documents which are testimony to the activities of activists in Sheffield, Bradford, Birmingham and Manchester. Thank you to Anwar (Qadir), Jani and Marsha for sharing documents from the Saathi Centre. Anwar (Ditta), your need to collect everything as evidence when you found the state unwilling to believe you has left an archive which will keep your struggle alive for the future. Thank you also to Tariq, Mukhtar, Jayesh, Greg, Steve, Fahim and Zulfi for sharing what they had.
Many others gave their time through allowing me to interview them and consult with them. A number of activists who gave me advice and shared their experiences with me have died during the research for this book. I would like to give them special thanks for sharing a past which I hope lives on through the book. They are Saeed Hussain, Anwar Qadir, Quamrul Kabir, Marsha Singh, Vasant Patel, Dave Stark, Geoff Robinson, Steve Cohen. Other people who shared their experiences through interviews and conversations are Jani Rashid, Noorzaman Rashid, Gurnam Singh, Jayesh Amin, Shanaaz Ali, Harjinder Gata Aura, Mohsin Zulfiqar, Nilofer Shaikh, Kuldeep Mann, Anwar Ditta, Matloub Husayn-Ali-Khan, Mukhtar Dar, Jasbir Singh, Anne Singh, Bhupinder Bassi, Balvinder Bassi, Sheera Johal, Naeem Malik, Amrit Wilson, Sarbjit Johal, Balraj Purewal, Ruth Bundey, Francis Webber, Gareth Pierce, Dave Harrison, Paul Kelemen, Mike Loft, Suresh Grover, Bharat Mehta, Ruchi Tandon, Fahim Qureshi, Aki Nawaz, John Boolten, Greg Dropkin, Dilip Parmar and Aleema Svoo.
Thank you also to my children, Neelam, Mishaal and Waris, for putting up with a very distracted mother.
Abbreviations ANL Anti-Nazi League ARA Anti-Racist Action ARAF Anti Racism, Anti Fascism AUEW Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers AYM Asian Youth Movement AYO Asian Youth Organisation BBS Birmingham Black Sisters BCG Black Consciousness Group BCM Black Consciousness Movement BDFC Bangladeshi Divided Families Campaign BYMER Bangladeshi Youth Movement for Equal Rights CADRIL Campaign against Deportations and Racist Immigration Laws CAIL Campaign Against Immigration Laws CARF Campaign Against Racism and Fascism CARL Campaign against Racist Laws CBGB Communist Party of Great Britain CPI (M, ML) Communist Party of India (Marxist, Marxist–Leninist) CRC Community Relations Commission CRE Commission for Racial Equality FBYO Federation of Bangladesh Youth Organisations HCAR Hackney Committee Against Racialism IPYA Indian Progressive Youth Association IS International Socialists IWA (GB) Indian Workers’ Association (Great Britain) KWA Kashmiri Workers Association NALGO National Association of Local Government Officers NAYM National Asian Youth Movement NF National Front NGO non-governmental organisation NMP Newham Monitoring Project OWAAD Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent PFLP Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine PWA (GB) Pakistani Workers Association (Great Britain) RAAS Racial Action Adjustment Society RAR Rock Against Racism RCG Revolutionary Communist Group RCP Revolutionary Communist Party SASG South Asia Solidarity Group SBS Southall Black Sisters SDC Southall Defence Committee SWP Socialist Workers Party SYM Southall Youth Movement TGWU Transport and General Workers’ Union UBYL United Black Youth League UCPA Universal Coloured People’s Association UFFC United Family and Friends Campaign US United States WAF Women Against Fundamentalism ZANU–PF Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front
1 Introduction
Over the last 20 years there has been a transformation in the way in which the South Asian community has been constructed by mainstream public discourse as well as in the way it has seen itself. The primary identity with which South Asians are framed in Britain today is a religious one. Academic scholarship research on South Asians has been focused within religious or cultural identity discourses (Ahmad 1998, Benson 1996, Handa 2003, Maira 2002, Sharma et