black liberation in Britain

Bradford 12: Self-Defence is No Offence

Submitted by Ed on Feb 21 2019 16:06

Anandi Ramamurthy's history of the Bradford 12 trial, in which twelve members of the United Black Youth League were arrested on conspiracy charges for preparing to defend their community from fascists. Ramamurthy places the trial in the context of the urban riots which swept Britain in the summer of 1981 as well as detailing the solidarity campaign, their bold legal defence and eventual acquittal.

Emerging conflicts in the Asian Youth Movements

Submitted by Ed on Feb 17 2019 16:43

Anandi Ramamurthy analyses the emerging divisions within the Asian Youth Movements around the issue of state funding. One faction opted to accept and was slowly absorbed into the functioning of the local state apparatus as individuals made careers for themselves in the Labour Party. Meanwhile, the other faction split off to form the United Black Youth League, opting instead for a more militant path.

Women and the Asian Youth Movements

Submitted by Ed on Feb 13 2019 17:45

Demonstration of the Anwar Ditta Defence Campaign.

Anandi Ramamurthy analyses the involvement of women within the Asian Youth Movements and how the groups engaged (or didn't) with issues of gender, sexism and women's liberation both within the organisation as well as in their activism.

Trade Unionism and the Asian Youth Movements

Submitted by Ed on Feb 11 2019 23:19

Asian Youth Movement poster in solidarity with the 1984-85 miners' strike.

A look at the engagement of Asian Youth Movement activists with workers' struggles and the British trade union movement.

Strikers in Saris - The Grunwick Strike

In 1976 South Asian women workers who had made Britain their home, led a strike against poor working conditions in a British factory. Lakshmi Patel was one of the South Asian women who picketed the Grunwick film-processing factory in north London for two years

Black liberation organisations in Britain: the 1970s and 1980s

Submitted by Ed on Jan 28 2019 22:19

Overview of the array of black liberation organisations active in Britain during the 1970s and 1980s, which included a range of workplace, community and black women's groups as well as bookshops, newspapers, advice centres, supplementary schools and hostels for black unemployed and homeless.

Asian workers' associations in Britain, 1956-1980s

Submitted by Ed on Jan 24 2019 22:36

Ron Ramdin on the history and development of autonomous Asian working-class organisation in postwar Britain, their activities and their relationship with both the broader black liberation and working-class movements.

The Courtaulds Red Scar Mill strike, 1965

Submitted by Ed on Jan 17 2019 22:55

Article on Courtauld's Red Scar Mill strike in the Lancashire Evening Post.

A short history of the unofficial strike at Courtauld's Red Scar Mill in Preston, 1965, the first of what would become a long list of significant 'migrant strikes' (such as Mansfield Hosiery in 1972, Standard Telephones and Cables in 1973, Imperial Typewriters in 1974 and, of course, Grunwick in 1976).