This documentary is an inspiring look at the astonishingly brave activists who took on the National Front in the 1970s and 80s – and changed Britain for the better. It’s full of dark parallels with today
With a prime minister, first minister for Scotland and London mayor all of south Asian descent the UK has changed dramatically in the 50 years since the events of Channel 4’s Defiance: Fighting the Far Right. While anti-British Asian sentiment is still rife – and you only have to look at the treatment of Britain’s cricket stars or read about the 31% pay gap between white men and Pakistani women to realise that we don’t live in a post-racial utopia – the progress made in the decades since the events of the programme is still staggering. Increased tolerance is not something that naturally evolved, however, and this three-part documentary shows how the British Asian community stood up to the racism that sought to destroy it – and fought for their right to live with dignity.
This series – produced by Riz Ahmed’s production company – covers the period between 1976 and 1981 when the population in Southall, west London, was 50% Asian and the area was targeted by the National Front. It begins with the stabbing to death of the teenager Gurdip Singh Chaggar. His murder shook his community but was met by indifference by the police – and led to a bone-chilling threat from the former National Front chairman John Kingsley Read: “One down, one million to go.” When the people of Southall took to the streets in protest they found themselves confronted by far-right thugs and a police force uninterested in protecting them from the wave of violence.
