Last month I went to the launch of Taj Ali's excellent and timely new book 'Come what may, we're here to stay: the story of South Asian resistance in Britain'. The launch took place at Marsh House in Luton, the town where both Taj, like myself, grew up.
The book gives a fascinating overview of South Asian activism in the UK, starting with anti-colonial fighters for Indian independence in early 20th century London and working through the workplace struggles of migrant workers to the fight back against police and far right racism. Where possible Taj has supplemented archive research with interviews with people involved.
I consider myself fairly well informed about some of this but the book made me realise how many stories have never been fully told. I had no idea for instance that the Indian Workers Association was first established in this country during the Second World War.
The Asian youth movements of the 1970s and 1980s are at the heart of this book and are clearly a model from which Taj has taken inspiration:
'The Asian youth movements often supported families on outlying housing estates who were vulnerable to racist violence. In an era without social media, they were able to connect with activists and victims of racist violence up and down the country. Their resourcefulness at a time when Asians had few resources is inspiring. Today, when there are much greater resources among British South Asians both in terms of wealth and technology, what might our resistance look like? Who is doing the work of connecting communities up and down the country? And how do we navigate new challenges in the form of religious divides and the growing number of South Asians being influenced by far-right narratives about newcomers?'
In the context of a recent upsurge in racist attacks, he asks what kind of movements we need today, based around a 'plurality of tactics' and 'a strategic approach to anti-racist organising' able to 'prioritise time, energy and resources based on where the real threat is. It's easier to mobilise in diverse urban areas, but what about the smaller, more isolated Black and Asian communities'? Above all he is clear that 'Racism will not be defeated from above. It will only be defeated by us - ordinary citizens who refuse to look away'
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| Glen Jenkins (Marsh House Outreach) welcomes the panel, left to right - Taj Ali, Shemiza Rashid, Suresh Grover. |
The audience was perhaps a cross section of what a successful anti-racist movement might look like in 2026. The starting point for such a movement would surely be to be rooted in the communities most directly affected, draw upon existing relationships of friends, neighbours and families. It would be outward facing, connecting with other communities and making the best use of people's different skills and positions - e.g. from those confronting racists on the streets to faith leaders doing multi-faith community work. It would have a strong sense of place and of history, but also not be confined to local areas or stuck trying to uncritically replay a template from the past.
The book's conclusion quotes Fahim Qureshi of the early 1980s Luton Youth Movement: 'Come out and organise. Take up the baton. We're sleepwalking into disaster if we don't organise ourselves and confront racism. It's only because we confronted racism in the streets and politically that there were changes made at that time; we need to do the same thing now.'
Luton Pride
I was pleased to see the short lived but lively Luton Youth Movement referenced in the book, with interviews with a couple of its leading activists. As I've written here before, I was involved in some of these events though as a quite weedy Luton Sixth Former wasn't much use as an anti-fascist streetfighter.
There was a lot of civic pride at the book launch, people are sick of Luton being associated with racism due to the antics of Tommy Robinson (sadly also from the town) and want it to be known as a town - and ideally a city - known for its multicultural diversity and conviviality. So it is with some dismay that I read about the latest ill-informed attack on Luton, this time at the Conservative Party 2026 conference where Shadow Home Office Minister Blake Stephenson, the MP for Mid Bedfordshire, claimed that 'There are parts of that town – and unfortunately the police will tell you this – it can be a very dangerous place. There are parts where white people won’t go. They are like no-go zones'. This is nonsense. It may be true that there are parts of Luton - in fact the whole town - where racists won't go, presumably because they don't like seeing black and brown people in any numbers. But there are no areas where white people can't go, or are under any threat. The historic heart of the South Asian community in Bury Park is probably one of the safer areas, not to mention one where thousands of white people regularly go to see Luton Town play at Kenilworth Road.
Meanwhile the real Luton moves on, part of quite a Beds cultural renaissance that includes Imran Perretta's touching coming of age film 'Ish', set in Bury Park and the debut album from Ahadadream (I know he grew up in Sandy rather than Luton, but hey it's Bedfordshire!).
There have been South Asians in the Luton area since at least 1918, when five 'Indian subjects' were reported to be working at the Blows Down Lime Works (Luton Reporter, 28 January 1919) and as Taj mentions in the book there were members of the IWA in Luton as early as 1946. Larger numbers from Pakistan and elsewhere arrived from the late 1950s in search of work, and faced racism from the start.
People were making similar ill-founded arguments to Blake Stephenson even then so let's give the last word to Zafar Iqbal Qureshi of the Pakistani Welfare Association writing in the Luton News on 28 June 1962 in response to a previous racist letter in the paper: 'As regards the Dunstable Road area being full of "gipsy looking Pakistanis creeping about" well, physically and mentally, as well as in looks, we Pakistanis can hold our own against any people on earth. There is nothing debased in our characters, or defective in our looks, that we should creep about like insects. We Pakistanis, by the grace of God, walk erect, dignified, and hold our heads high everywhere we go'.
