50 Years On: Anti-Racist Defiance Then & Now

The summer of 1976 witnessed a new wave of resistance against racism in the UK. At the centre were the youth rebellions triggered by the racist murder of teenager Gurdip Singh Chaggar in Southall, the epic workers struggle at the Grunwick factory led by Asian women workers; and the response of the local Black community to policing at the Notting Hill Carnival. Anti-racists took to the streets to defend oppressed communities and built solidarity between working class communities. Over decades this legacy has shaped modern Britain.

Today racism is on the increase again and the far- right poses an existential threat to progressive and anti-racist politics. It has been solely driven by the political class along with mainstream media who instead of standing up to the far- right has consistently adopted its language and political positioning especially on immigration and authoritarianism.

The toxic combination of extreme right figures like Tommy Robinson demonstrating on the streets of Britain and the far-right MPs in parliament is a dress rehearsal for more turmoil to come with the likelihood of far- right Reform UK becoming the largest party in Parliament after the next general election.

How do we read our struggles from 50 years ago? What should we do to build resilience and resistance against racism and the far- right in the current climate? Our event will explore how we meet these challenges and how we build real solidarity in a fractured UK?

Conference speakers include:

Gurdip Singh Chaggar family

Laxmiben Desai – former Grunwick striker

Taj Ali - journalist and activist

Harsev Bains - Indian Workers Association of GB

Janpal Basran - Southall Community Alliance

Dr Shabna Begum - Runnymede Trust

Mukhtar Darr - KIngshill ant racist group, Birmingham

Liz Fekete - Institute of Race Relations

Alex Gordon - former National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers President

Suresh Grover – National Coordinator and Founder, The Monitoring Group

Rahila Gupta - Southall Black Sisters

Sam Gurney - London Region Trade Union Congress

John Hendy KC

Professor Gus John

Kirk Master – former local councillor and advisor on the Leicester Violence Report

Saj Mohammed - Himmah Centre, Nottingham

Raj Murian - Indus Legacy, Newcastle

Balraj Purewal - Ex -Southall Youth Movement

Kareena Rippingale -  Anti-racism Advocacy Officer, The Monitoring Group

Claudia Webbe - Former UK Member of Parliament for Leicester East

This conference is organised by The Indian Workers Association of Great Britain and the Monitoring Group and is supported by Platform Southall.

*For further information please contact office@tmg-uk.org