Anti-Racist Activism in London; Exploring Multidirectionality at Commemorations of the Battle of Cable Street and the Murder of Altab Ali

ABSTRACT

The paper examines the multidirectional character of commemorations of racist and fascist violence in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. It does so by studying commemorative events taking place in Altab Ali Park in the borough between 2016 and 2018 to address contemporary political issues. Specifically, the study documents the 80th anniversary of the Battle for Cable Street in 1936, celebrated as a local victory against fascist organisations, and the 40th anniversary of the 1978 racist murder of a Bengali textile worker called Altab Ali. Combined, these events illustrate how Holocaust remembrance, anti-fascist movements and anti-racist initiatives are interconnected and draw on one another in meaningful ways. The paper evaluates the value of applying Michael Rothberg's concept of multidirectional memory in understanding commemorations by drawing on textual analysis of local histories and use these to more fully understand commemorative practices. Such an approach reveals both the value of multidirectional characteristics of memory practices to address contemporary issues, while pointing to the difficulties that arise as a result of the selective character of memory practices that may reduce the possibilities of bringing to light the linkages, in the cases discussed between colonialism, the Second World War and contemporary racism.

KEYWORDS:

• Multidirectional memory
• Battle of Cable Street
• Altab Ali
• racism
• fascism

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on Contributor

Jacco Visser has recently completed his PhD at the Department of English at Aarhus University. His PhD project investigates how the Bangladesh War of 1971 is memorialised in London. His research interests include transnational memory and the politics of memory, especially in and between Britain and South Asia. He previously studied Social and Cultural Anthropology (MA VU University Amsterdam) and Asian Studies (MA Lund University, Sweden) and has published on migration and mobility experiences among indigenous students in Bangladesh, as well as Bangladeshi transnational political networks.

Notes

1 In the process ignoring race riots, such as the anti-Irish riots in Spitalfields in 1736, the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots of 1780. As well as anti-Jewish protest in the 1930s and racial violence targeting Bangladeshi youths in the 1970s and 1980s.

2 The march was stopped by the police, but is often portrayed as a victory of local residents against fascism in contemporary narrations of the battle. For more information about different narratives of the Battle of Cable Street Daniel Tilles’ British Fascist Antisemitism and Jewish Responses, 1932–40. See also Tony Kushner and Nadia Valman's Remembering Cable Street: Fascism and Anti-Fascism in British Society.

3 Razem is a left wing Polish political party founded in 2015.

4 See also Wemyss’ ‘The Invisible Empire; White Discourse, Tolerance and Belonging’ for a more detailed account of the enduring presence of a white colonial discourse in East London.