This article originally appeared yesterday on Open Democracy under the headline ‘The neo-colonial plot to halt Bengalis in Tower Hamlets’. I’m reproducing it here via its Creative Commons Licence.
It is written by Ansar Ahmed Ullah, described on Open Democracy as “a community activist who has lived and worked in the East End of London since the 1980s. He has worked as a youth, social and community worker and has been an active anti-racist campaigner. He is currently involved with the Nirmul Committee, a campaign group set up to challenge the rise of religious fundamentalism.” As a disclaimer, he is also my brother-in-law.
Ansar Ahmed Ullah
Following and prior to the recent 12 June Tower Hamlets mayoral election results, it seems some on the liberal and white left are asserting that racism and Islamophobia were at play. But such well-wishers are in fact colluding, appeasing, empowering and encouraging the most right wing, reactionary and corrupt fundamentalist elements of the Bengali/Muslim community in Tower Hamlets. It seems that there is a group of white leftists, trade unionists & Christian faith leaders who would prefer to keep the Bengali community insular, ghettoized and away from the mainstream. They ignore the history of the Bengalis who came to Tower Hamlets as economic migrants during 1950s and 1960s to better their lives and those of their children, and overlook the history of that community’s stand against ghettoization by the GLC in the 1970s.
These self-appointed saviours talk as though the Bengali community is unable to resist racism. They forget how, following Bengali factory worker Altab Ali’s murder in 1978, it was the Bengali community that fought the racists off the streets of the East End physically almost on a daily basis, dealt with the unannounced arrivals of the National Front and Combat 18, and later the BNP – without the protection of 3,000 police.
For the Brick Lane Bengali community, who were under constant attack from the racists as early as 1975 – 1976, the murder of Altab Ali in 1978 was a turning point, especially of its youth. It led to their mobilising and politicisation. They began to organise youth groups, community and campaigning groups, linked up with other anti-racist movements and groups. The year 1978 saw the emergence of second-generation Bengali community activists who entered mainstream politics in the 1980s to bring about meaningful changes to their lives.
Defenders of Tower Hamlets First ignore the fact that the Bengali community elected Rushanara Ali to represent them at the House of Commons. They also ignore the large number of Labour councillors (including many Tower Hamlets First councillors who were once Labour councillors). Today Tower Hamlets Council can boast the largest number of elected Bengali councillors in any one borough with a total of 25 Bengali councillors. This didn’t happen overnight.
The community had to struggle within a political process for a long 20/30 years to reach this stage. The Bengali community in the 1980s forged alliances between the first and second generation Bengalis. The second generation’s strength was consolidated in the formation of Federation Bangladeshi Youth Organisations (FBYO) in 1980, a national umbrella body that spearheaded campaigns for better housing, health and education and stood up against institutional racism. The Federation was the first truly national campaigning organisation that made a public representation of Bengali interests and spoke for Bengalis across the borough and nationally. At the same time Bengalis also built alliances with activists outside the Bengali community, such as other ‘Asians’ from Hackney, Newham, Camden, Southall & Bradford, and those from the white majority community of the East End.
As a matter of fact Bengali political activism dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. Evidence of the early activism of Bengalis in London can be seen in the formation of organisations such as the Society for the Protection of Asian Sailors in 1857 and the Indian Seamen’s Welfare League in 1943. The Bangladesh Welfare Association was formed in the 1950s, the largest community organisation with a membership of over 40,000. It was activists of the Bangladesh Welfare Association who went on to establish the historic Brick Lane Mosque in 1976. The East London Mosque was built by a very different group of people with outside finance.
As Bengali community activism grew, many activists took prominent roles in community politics. Brick Lane became the center of Bengali activism. Today Brick Lane has become merely a global icon, a branding concept as in ‘Banglatown’ and ‘the curry capital of Europe’.
Supporters of deposed mayor Lufur Rahman and his allies talk about Islamophobia but intentionally or conveniently ignore Islamism, working with Islamists who include those responsible for war crimes and other violence in Bangladesh. Thus these white activists and men of peace are colluding with the most extreme reactionary elements, inspired by fascism and far-right ideology, rehabilitating them and giving them legitimacy.
One such war criminal, who was recently found guilty by a Bangladesh War Crimes Tribunal, got a clean slate by a Christian activist with utter disregard for Bangladesh’s judiciary. He called him a man of integrity! A man found guilty of the killings of Bengali intellectuals by aiding the Pakistani military in setting up killing squads. Another Christian faith leader even posed the question ‘What is Islamism?'(!) Far from challenging or distancing themselves from the fundamentalists they are colluding in the name of ‘engaging with neighbours’, for a quick gain of access to large ethnic audiences.
To highlight this point let’s revisit the general election that took place in 2005, when the local Islamists switched sides from the Labour Party and aligned themselves with George Galloway’s Respect Party which came out of the Stop the War coalition, a front organisation of the SWP. The SWP/Stop the War Coalition built up relationships with Islamists during the anti-Afghanistan/Iraq war demonstrations. Galloway used the religious sentiments of the local Bengali Muslim community in the East End of London for his own personal political gain. In his quest to challenge New Labour at the general election, he went into an un-holy alliance with the SWP and local fundamentalists, who went against their fellow Bengali Muslim candidates.
During the election campaign the sitting MP for Bow & Bethnal Green at the time, Oona King, felt the justified anger of the electorate because of her support for the war in Iraq. Talking to a journalist she said there were other, less legitimate reasons for her unpopularity, too. “When you graft racial stereotypes and bigotry and religious stereotypes on top of everything else…We have a huge amount of Islamophobia in this country, and possibly as a response to that we have a huge amount of anti-Semitism.” Bizarre rumours kept surfacing during the campaign that she wanted to ban halal meat. “And this was on top of the usual, exaggerated Jewish conspiracy theories. A similar thing happened in 2001, when there were rumours spread that I was funded by Mossad…”
The white liberal left leadership has refrained from condemning the Islamists. These whites are themselves showing a colonial mentality and playing a dangerous game of divide and rule by fostering divisions within the community by supporting one section against the other. The community can do without these self-appointed spokespersons for the Bengali community. The 81,000 Tower Hamlets Bengalis can and have looked after themselves without the patronising intervention of white advocates.
Trial by Jeory 
So is he saying that we need all politicians and activists to unite and condemn radical islamists whilst allowing regular muslims and bengali’s to engage freely (as with other groups) with the political system of this country?
having read the article i am not really sure where he stands? Happy to be enlightened by someone more intelligent than myself!
Not sure what his point is but a couple of things…
He says:’Today Tower Hamlets Council can boast the largest number of elected Bengali councillors…’ but he ignores that fact that most of them were elected by corrupt and illegal means.
He goes on to say: ‘Supporters of deposed mayor Lufur Rahman and his allies talk about Islamophobia but intentionally or conveniently ignore Islamism…’ They also ignore the fact that Rahman was a lying and corrupt politician. Race had nothing to do with it.
Not all Jay Kay, some. His point, I think, about the number of elected Bangladeshi politicians is to show that claims of racism, institutionalised or not, in relation to the election of ethnic minorities aren’t true. There are parts of the country where ethnic minorities are over represented. Apart from Tower Hamlets there are parts of Birmingham and the west midlands and the former mill towns of the north west.
Asian communities are drawn to politics as others aren’t. Hence the lack of Chinese and Vietnamese as well as Turks and Kurds in areas where they are a large part of the population such as Hackney and Harringay.
The largest Chinese population of any local authority area is, in fact, Tower Hamlets. A bit of a surprise. There have been Vietnamese and are currently Turkish and Kurdish cllrs in Hackney. One is seeking selection for the GLA elections next year.
I too find it a little confusing. I agree totally about Galloway and the SWP as that was as clear as the nose on your face. As a long term white resident of LBTH what I observe are entrenched tribal lines of living and voting in general. Most communities do that to a certain extent. The big overlay here is the corruption, again nothing new in that except for its breathtaking brazeness. Oh and for such a well integreated group, the human rights of Bengali women still seem in pretty short supply on the streets of London. We all have a long way to go before this borough is at peace with itself I think.
This article makes a lot of good points. Thank you for that. However, you also make the same errors that you (rightly in my opinion) criticise others for making in East End politics when you tar “Christian faith leaders” as a single group.
I know several people who could be described as Christian faith leaders, who have got involved in Tower Hamlets life. Some are part of the problem, but many others (the majority in my experience) are doing incredible work challenging corruption, nurturing neighbourliness, addressing poverty issues and building healthy links between people with very different backgrounds in our borough. Several of these people would describe themselves as community organisers like yourself. They are not helped by you not naming and shaming those who have said and done deeply unhelpful things.
Why can’t mankind in these scientifically aware times, simply abolish all religions ? The world would be a more peaceful and safer place.
As a bonus Tower Hamlets elections might be focused on the borough’s issues not on a version of a religion interpreted by politically interested locals.
Curious Cat.
All religions CC, or just the ones you don’t approve of?
I reiterate ALL.
I do hope I am not a hypocrite like so many Labour (and about to be seen over Heathrow, Conservative) politicians. I really do try to be honest and say what I mean.
As you seem to be much more political than me, especially in the Labour camp, you may remember the words …… .
Wikipedia shows the original language version as “Die Religion … ist das Opium des Volkes”
Richtig. Genau. (Leider kann ich sehr wenig Deutsch)
CC.
Definitely 2,000% pro-EU.
Haven’t got the foggiest idea what he’s going in about. I do know that many of these “self-appointed spokespersons for the Bengali community” are determined to get Sharia Law into TH. So folks, do your maths on population growth, get your crystal balls out and imagine TH in 10 years time. I’m gay so I will be stoned in public, probably in Watney Market! (or tomatoed to death)!
You would need to know something about Tower Hamlets bobmop and clearly you don’t.
Moderate Muslims I know despise women’s all black robes and head coverings. Some Muslim friends who live in North Africa call these people “extremists”.
Moslem extremists must be stopped and that includes all attempts to legalise Sharia Law.
P.S. Homosexuality is inherited from genes passed to the baby by his/her mother.
P.P.S. If you are serious ill and need urgent medical help, do you really care if the doctor and nurse saving your life is “gay” ???
Curious Cat.
I agree with this article completely. I am shocked to see some people from the left are so ignorant in their believe and abandoned principles to adopt unholy alliance with ‘Islamist group’ for their own self interest. For example: Ken Livinston, Cristine Showcroft and so on. They are in Labour Party, however they support the people who are expelled from the party. For example: George Galloway, Lutfur. If they like them so much, why not resign from Labour Party and perhaps join ‘Respect’ or Tower Hamlets First and test their popularity in the election, Like Glyn Robbins!
I’m glad you mentioned Glyn Robbins, he was so concerned about supporting Rabina he has spent more than a month traipsing around the USA researching housing conditions. I think he got three hundred votes or something.
All in all not a bad article but because the writer wasn’t in the country at the time he has got a completely wrong take on the so called Ghetto plan of the GLC. There is a large amount of literature on the subject which I will give links to later which Ansar should know about and have read.
He should also have spoken to the many activists of the Bengali Housing Action Group whom he knows who would have enlightened him. He has however chose to go along with the standard left/liberal view of the whole matter that the GLC concocted the ghetto plan and that it was defeated by a community both Bangladeshi and white that rejected it. That view isn’t just a distortion of history it is a downright lie.
The demand for safe areas came from his own community in response to attacks and a murder to which he makes reference. When the GLC was won by the Tories in 1977 they were faced with a Bangladeshi squatting movement about two thousand strong in, mostly, GLC owned properties. As far as the Tories were concerned it was an inner city Labour problem and if Bangladeshis wanted to live in certain areas they could, it was no skin off their nose.
The controversy was entirely a concoction of the right wing and liberal press, the first story and the use of the word ghetto appeared in The Observer in an article written by a journalist called Craig who admitted that he had got the story from GLC housing staff who hated Bangladeshi squatters and wanted to scupper the rehousing in areas of their choice.
So Ansar, you have fallen into the same trap that you are accusing the left of doing. You have started out with an agenda, a narrative and bent the fact to suit it. More later.
Reblogged this on oogenhand.
To continue this interesting discussion I would like everyone to do some reading. Generally I don’t like academics as they all have an axe to grind of some description, are linked to a political party or persuasion and in the case of The Young Foundation actually fabricate entire books such The New East End.
One academic who is worth reading however is Sara Glynn. http://www.sarahglynn.net and look at her articles on the comparisons between the struggles of the Jews and Bangladeshis in the East End as well as the ones on multi culturalism. This is research at its best as the writer has actually interviewed over a long period of time many of those actually involved. Lots of homework there and lets continue tomorrow. I really would like feedback and a discussion as Ansar has raised some very important issues.
We are now almost twenty four hours since my last post. Was it something I said?
Surely everyone, almost everyone perhaps, is primarily interested in things today not the past, however fascinating that history might be ?
Additionally many are busy having a normal life with great demands on their time, their energy and their enthusiasm. If everyone was still at school, no doubt everyone would have a lot more free time.
Why not list “some very important issues” that, you stated, Ansar mentioned ?
Curious Cat.
I’m not a particularly keen Bob Marley fan, Peter Tosh was much better, but he did say ” if you don’t know your history, you won’t know where you’re coming from”.
Why don’t you list the important issues that you think Ansar raised? I think they are all important, my criticisms of the article are few except that he falls into the very trap that he, quite correctly, accuses the left and others of doing which is to take a particular political point of view and then bend historical facts to fit it.
The title of the piece is informative in that he believes that there is a neo colonialist plot between the white left and Islamists. A plot, I would suggest, is a secret and possibly illegal agreement between a number of interested parties to achieve an objective which, were it to be known, would be strongly opposed by others.
The concept of neo-colonialism is a construct by the left and black Marxists to explain, I use that word in its widest possible context, how it was that the majority of post colonial African countries descended in to social, political and economic chaos quite shortly after independence. It pre-supposes the desire of the former colonial powers to rule their former empires through proxies.
Like pretty much everything Marxist it’s a load of old cobblers! That doesn’t stop otherwise intelligent people believing in it. Opponents of the Left/Islamist/Respect project have sometimes described the attitude of the white left to the Bangladeshis as racist. I don’t think it was in the classical sense but was simply an historical development of their attitude to the working class. As marxists they understood history, the working class didn’t so the masses would have to be led to the barricades and the revolution.
When the working classes failed the marxists by not actually wanting a revolution the professional revolutionaries were slightly knackered for while in finding a mass to lead until the first anti war demonstration in 2003. Suddenly the left, in the form of the Socialist Workers Party, saw the new proletariat. The only slight drawback was that it was Muslim but, well, you have to work with what you’ve got.
I’ll say one thing for marxists and the left in general, and it was said of the Bourbons, they never learn and they never forget. That there will be a mass working class party to the left of Labour is as much a tenet of the left as was the divine right of kings. It can be imagined then how excited all the Trots got at the prospect of what they had been predicting all of their political lives.
Suddenly, Muslim clerics who preached the most obscurantists and reactionary versions of that religion became class conscious workers who had rallied their followers to the most progressive political programme this country had ever seen. There were a few ideological problems that the SWP had but it didn’t take them too long to ditch women’s and gay issues and to stop mentioning female genital mutilation.
The only problem was that although they were the most devious, underhand and generally disgusting section of the left in a field that presents a lot of competition, they were up against Muslims and in particular the Bangladeshi variety who simply ran rings around them. Respect was never the mass movement or, as Ansar postulates, a neo colonial project. It was a coalition of opportunists some of whom were more skilled at manipulation than others.
Ansar’s article does however raise some important points that I had started to deal with a couple of articles ago when Andy Earlam quite rightly blamed Labour for allowing the culture of separatism to flourish not just in Tower Hamlets but in all of the urban areas where ethnic minorities were able to uses their power structures to dominate local politics. Back later.
Dave,
You may be surprised to discover when people drive motor vehicles they usually drive in a forward direction, the same with ships and aircraft and even with space craft and satellites.
A young child crawls in a forward direction.
So why do we so desperately need to know ?
Curious Cat
An interesting article Ted! The unholy alliance between the hard secular left and the religious right that was present in Respect and then Tower Hamlets First divided the community. Given that the last high profile election court case was against Phil Woolas, it is wrong for some to suggest that the court’s verdict was an act of racism and Islamophobia. There should always be the principle of equality before the law; there should not be a moral relativism that turns a proverbial blind eye to wrong doing simply because a defendant is from a particular religious or ethnic group. I still believe that elected mayors may work well at the city wide level but are problematic at the more parochial level as inevitably too much power is vested in one individual and elected councillors are effectively disempowered.
Alex Heslop wrote
….. elected mayors ….. parochial level ……. too much power is vested in one individual and elected councillors are effectively disempowered.
Exactly the problem.
Democracy is effectively absent; accountability is absent; autocracy reigns.
Curious Cat
Many commentators have been writing about this unholy alliance between the hard secular left and religious extremism for many years – try Nick Cohen and the Harry’s Place Blog to name two. Tower Hamlets as others rightly say has its own tradition of this but it is by no means the only place where this alliance can be seen in operation.
Oldflow. Yes, Nick Cohen has been excellent on the corruption of the left in terms of its willingness to do business with any obscurantist reactionaries as long as they opposed ” imperialism”, whatever that is. I would recommend his ” What’s Left” for the cesspit the far left, and the not so far left in the shape of The Guardian, have got themselves into.
CC. I see that analysis, irony and a sense of humour are things that you don’t do! What is the point of your last post except to say that you have nothing to say?
Baffled what ‘last post’ you refereed to
🙂
BTW not commented but v happy that my name sake ( minus the ‘w’) is NOT being sold now. And how much in legal fees did the Council spend on counsels fees trying to establish ownership and then to have it valued all to bolster the coffers to spend on…? Well we can probably take an educated guess.
I am sure many things baffle you CC. Read!
Hi Dave,
I admit to being baffled by things I do not understand 🙂 At least I am honest in that respect and do not pretend to know things I don’t have a clue about.
For example, your retort “CC. I see that analysis, irony and a sense of humour are things that you don’t do! What is the point of your last post except to say that you have nothing to say?” It seems to refer to my comment
https://trialbyjeory.com/2015/07/09/guest-post-by-ansar-ahmed-ullah-a-neo-colonial-plot-between-the-white-left-and-islamists-to-halt-east-end-bengalis/#comment-27244
which finished with “Why not list “some very important issues” that, you stated, Ansar mentioned ?”. You never provided a list of those important issues.
Hope this helps your comprehension 😉
Curious Cat
Curious cat. You are either pissed, stoned or thick. Your select!
Thank you Dave for your significant contribution.
Have a nice day.
Best wishes,
Curious Cat 🙂
Don’t mention it, any time.
An excellent article from your BinL Ted. I certainly can’t disagree from much of his analysis, particularly of the 21st century events. His idealised view of the 1970’s is however(as has been mentioned above) flawed. This piece is an excellent start to a debate about how Islamism can be combated in Tower Hamlets and elsewhere. The lack of integrity shown by the far-left and certain local Christian leaders has to be exposed. The origins of Islamic Forum for Europe in the war crimes of the pro-Pakistani death-squads of the Bangladeshi Civil War likewise. What has been exposed of the corruption at the heart of the THF project is just the tip of the iceberg. Islamism continues to present a threat, radicalising young people, inspiring volunteers to join Daesh, and intimidating the general Muslim population into conforming to its own Fascistic interpretation of society. What is to be done?