Difference between revisions 789921515 and 792844312 on enwiki

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{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = 
| name             = Altab Ali
| honorific_suffix = 
| image            = 
| image_size       = 220px
| alt              = 
| caption          = 
| native_name      = 
| native_name_lang = bn
| birth_name       = 
| birth_date       = 1953
| birth_place      = [[Sylhet District]], [[Sylhet Division]], [[East Bengal]] (now [[Bangladesh]])
| death_date       = {{Death date|df=yes|1978|4|5}} (aged 25)
| death_place      = [[Whitechapel]], [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets|Tower Hamlets]], London, England
| death_cause      = 
| resting_place    = [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets|Tower Hamlets]], London, England
| residence        = 
| nationality      = [[Bangladesh]]i
| other_names      = 
| ethnicity        = [[Bengali people|Bengali]]⏎
| citizenship      = 
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'''Altab Ali''' (1953 – 4 May 1978) was a [[Bangladesh]]i [[textile]] worker who was murdered by three teenagers on 4 May 1978 in a racist attack as he walked home after work. His murder took place at St. Mary's Gardens by St Mary's Churchyard, and near the corner of Adler Street and [[Whitechapel Road]] in [[London]]. It provoked the mass mobilisation of the [[Bengali people|Bengali]] community locally and came to represent the self-organisation of the community. Ali became a symbol of resistance against racism and is associated with the struggle for human rights in defence of [[British Bangladeshi]]s. The churchyard he was murdered in was later renamed [[Altab Ali Park]] in his memory.

==Background==
Ali was a 25-year-old mechanic who had recently arrived<ref name="Being Bengali">{{cite book |last=Chakraborty|first=Mridula Nath|title=Being Bengali: At Home and in the World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DUgsAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA178|year=2014|publisher=[[Routledge]]|page=178|isbn=978-0415625883}}</ref> from [[Sylhet District]], [[Sylhet Division]],<ref name="Muslims in British Local Government">{{cite book |last=Tatari|first=Eren|title=Muslims in British Local Government: Representing Minority Interests in Hackney, Newham, and Tower Hamlets |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_4QBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA116|year=2015|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill Academic Publishers]]|page=116|isbn=978-9004269699}}</ref> [[East Bengal]] (now [[Bangladesh]]) and lived in the [[East End of London|East End]] of London.<ref name="UKIA">{{cite web |url=http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/09/381365.html|title=Indymedia: Altab Ali|publisher=Indymedia|date= |accessdate=19 September 2007}}</ref>

==Death==
On 4 May 1978, on [[Tower Hamlets London Borough Council election, 1978|local borough election]] night and against a background of agitation by [[National Front (UK)|National Front]],<ref name="Being Bengali"/> Ali was making his way to the bus stop after finishing work<ref name="Muslims in Motion">{{cite book |last=Kibria|first=Nazli|title=Muslims in Motion: Islam and National Identity in the Bangladeshi Diaspora|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RJeEFctj5PUC&pg=PA86&dq=Altab+Ali&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBGoVChMI-b_J9frsyAIVQrIUCh1ZJgqI#v=onepage&q=Altab%20Ali&f=false|year=2011|publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]]|page=86|isbn=978-0813550565}}</ref> as a textile<ref name="morningstaronline">{{cite news |last=Rashid|first=Harounor|url=http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-ed64-May-Day-Linking-workers-from-east-London-to-Bangladesh#.Vjt2nyucegZ|title=May Day: Linking workers from east London to Bangladesh|work= |location=London|publisher=''[[Morning Star (British newspaper)|Morning Star]]''|date=1 May 2014|accessdate=1 December 2015}}</ref> factory<ref name="Judaism, Christianity, and Islam">{{cite book |last=Gilman|first=Sander L.|title=Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Collaboration and Conflict in the Age of Diaspora|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=d3AfBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA171&dq=Altab+Ali&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBWoVChMIg-vQ0ar6yAIVgrkUCh0gXgg5#v=onepage&q=Altab%20Ali&f=false|year=2015|publisher=[[Hong Kong University Press]]|page=171|isbn=978-9888208272}}</ref> garment worker at a sweatshop in [[Brick Lane]].<ref name="Being Bengali"/> He was chased along [[Brick Lane]] and stabbed to death near [[Aldgate tube station|Aldgate Station]]<ref name="East End Chronicles">{{cite book |last=Glinert|first=Ed|title=East End Chronicles|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=R4kdCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT309&dq=Altab+Ali&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBzgyahUKEwjF0ejOrvrIAhXJwBQKHST7Dss#v=onepage&q=Altab%20Ali&f=false|year=2006|publisher=[[Routledge]]|page= |isbn=978-0141017181}}</ref> in a racially motivated attack<ref name="Education, Racism, and Reform">{{cite book |last1=Troyna|first1=Barry|last2=Carrington|first2=Bruce|title=Education, Racism, and Reform|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=k5DfVXjddHsC&pg=PA30&dq=Altab+Ali+white+black&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAGoVChMIota-qoXtyAIVi-0UCh37LAnn#v=onepage&q=Altab%20Ali%20white%20black&f=false|year=1990|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|page=30|isbn=978-0-415-03826-3}}</ref> at St. Mary's Gardens, the site of the church of [[St Mary Matfelon]]<ref name="After the Cosmopolitan?">{{cite book |last=Keith|first=Michael|title=After the Cosmopolitan?: Multicultural Cities and the Future of Racism|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vMt_AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA144&dq=Altab+Ali&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAmoVChMI-b_J9frsyAIVQrIUCh1ZJgqI#v=onepage&q=Altab%20Ali&f=false|year=2005|publisher=[[Routledge]]|page=144|isbn=978-0-415-34169-1}}</ref> by St Mary's Churchyard, and the corner of Adler Street and [[Whitechapel Road]].<ref name="UKIA"/><ref name="20thcenturylondon">{{cite web |url=http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/server.php?show=conInformationRecord.294 |title=Bangladeshi London|publisher=Exploring 20th century London|date= |accessdate=1 November 2015}}</ref>

Out of the three attackers, two were white and one was black.<ref name="Being Bengali"/> Ali's killers were Roy Arnold (aged 17) of Limehouse, Carl Ludlow (aged 17) of Bow and an unnamed mixed race male from Poplar (aged 16). It was the 16-year-old who committed the stabbing and when police asked him why, his reply was "for no reason at all". He stated, "If we saw a Paki we used to have a go at them. We would ask for money and beat them up. I've beaten up Pakis on at least five occasions."<ref name="Muslims in Motion"/>

==Aftermath==
[[File:Altab Ali protest.jpg|220px|thumb|left|Protest march by Bangladeshis to [[Downing Street]] with murdered Ali's coffin, 14 May 1978]]
At the time, right-wing extremism was on the rise in [[east London]], with the National Front standing for election in 43 council seats.<ref name="standard">{{cite news |last= |first= |url=http://www.standard.co.uk/arts/architecture/new-park-life-whitechapels-altab-ali-park-6368641.html|title=New park life: Whitechapel's Altab Ali Park|work= |location=London|publisher=''[[London Evening Standard]]''|date=16 November 2011|accessdate=1 November 2015}}</ref> Ali's murder mobilised the Bangladeshi community. Demonstrations were held in the area of Brick Lane against the National Front.<ref name="After the Cosmopolitan?"/>

On 14 May 1978, 7,000 people took part in a demonstration against racial violence and marching behind Altab Ali's coffin from Adler Street, where Ali died, to [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]], [[Trafalgar Square]] and [[Downing Street]], to demand police protection for the Bengali community and to protest against the National Front and its campaign.<ref name="standard"/><ref name="lrb">{{cite news |last=Sandhu|first=Sukhdev|url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v25/n19/sukhdev-sandhu/come-hungry-leave-edgy|title=Come hungry, leave edgy|volume=25|number=19|work= |location=London|publisher=''[[London Review of Books]]''|date=9 October 2003|pages=10–13|accessdate=19 September 2007}}</ref><ref name="Racial violence in Britain">{{cite book |last=Panayi|first=Panikos|title=Racial violence in Britain in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries|year=1996|publisher=Leicester University Press|page=200|isbn=978-0-7185-1397-9}}</ref><ref name="Struggle in Babylon">{{cite book |last=Leech|first=Kenneth|title=Struggle in Babylon|year=1988|publisher=Sheldon |page=86|isbn=978-0-85969-577-0}}</ref><ref name="Violent Racism">{{cite book |last=Bowling|first=Benjamin|title=Violent Racism: Victimization, Policing, and Social Context|year=1988|publisher=Clarendon Press|page=48|isbn=978-0-19-826252-7}}</ref> It was described at the time as "one of the biggest demonstrations by Asians ever seen in Britain".<ref name="Muslims in Motion"/>

The murder provoked a mass mobilisation of the Bengali community locally<ref name="Judaism, Christianity, and Islam"/Riaz |first=Ali |year=2014 |chapter=Being Bengali abroad: identity politics among the Bengali community in Britain |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DUgsAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA178 |editor-last=Chakraborty |editor-first=Mridula Nath |title=Being Bengali: At Home and in the World |url= |publisher=[[Routledge]] |page=178 |isbn=978-0-415-62588-3 |quote=Altab Ali, a 25-year-old mechanic, who had recently arrived in the country from Bangladesh, was murdered ... on 4 May 1978. He was returning home from his job at a sweatshop in nearby Brick Lane ... took place on election night and against a background of agitation by the racist National Front.}}</ref> from [[Sylhet District]], [[Sylhet Division]],<ref name="Muslims in British Local Government">{{cite book |last=Tatari|first=Eren|title=Muslims in British Local Government: Representing Minority Interests in Hackney, Newham, and Tower Hamlets |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_4QBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA116|year=2015|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill Academic Publishers]]|page=116|isbn=978-9004269699}}</ref> [[Bangladesh]], and lived in the [[East End of London|East End]] of London.<ref name="UKIA">{{cite web |url=http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/09/381365.html|title=Indymedia: Altab Ali|publisher=Indymedia|date= |accessdate=19 September 2007}}</ref>

==Death==
On 4 May 1978, on [[Tower Hamlets London Borough Council election, 1978|local borough election]] night and against a background of agitation by [[National Front (UK)|National Front]],<ref name="Being Bengali"/> Ali was making his way to the bus stop after finishing work as a garment worker<ref name="Muslims in Motion">{{cite book |last=Kibria |first=Nazli |year=2011 |title=Muslims in Motion: Islam and National Identity in the Bangladeshi Diaspora |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RJeEFctj5PUC&pg=PA86 |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |page=86 |isbn=978-0-8135-5056-5 |quote=Altab Ali was a ... garment worker who ... was making his way to a bus stop after work, on a day when local borough elections were taking place.}}</ref> at a sweatshop in [[Brick Lane]].<ref name="Being Bengali"/> He was chased along [[Brick Lane]] and stabbed to death near [[Aldgate tube station|Aldgate Station]]<ref name="East End Chronicles">{{cite book |last=Glinert|first=Ed|title=East End Chronicles|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=R4kdCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT309&dq=Altab+Ali&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBzgyahUKEwjF0ejOrvrIAhXJwBQKHST7Dss#v=onepage&q=Altab%20Ali&f=false|year=2006|publisher=[[Routledge]]|page= |isbn=978-0141017181}}</ref> in a racially motivated attack<ref name="Education, Racism, and Reform">{{cite book |last1=Troyna |first1=Barry |last2=Carrington |first2=Bruce |year=1990 |title=Education, Racism and Reform  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k5DfVXjddHsC&pg=PA30 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |page=30 |isbn=978-0-415-03826-3}}</ref> at St. Mary's Gardens, the site of the church of [[St Mary Matfelon]]<ref name="After the Cosmopolitan?">{{cite book |last=Keith|first=Michael|title=After the Cosmopolitan?: Multicultural Cities and the Future of Racism|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vMt_AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA144&dq=Altab+Ali&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAmoVChMI-b_J9frsyAIVQrIUCh1ZJgqI#v=onepage&q=Altab%20Ali&f=false|year=2005|publisher=[[Routledge]]|page=144|isbn=978-0-415-34169-1}}</ref> by St Mary's Churchyard, and the corner of Adler Street and [[Whitechapel Road]].<ref name="UKIA"/><ref name="20thcenturylondon">{{cite web |url=http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/server.php?show=conInformationRecord.294 |title=Bangladeshi London|publisher=Exploring 20th century London|date= |accessdate=1 November 2015}}</ref>

Out of the three attackers, two were white and one was black.<ref name="Being Bengali"/> Ali's killers were Roy Arnold (aged 17) of Limehouse, Carl Ludlow (aged 17) of Bow and an unnamed mixed race male from Poplar (aged 16). It was the 16-year-old who committed the stabbing and when police asked him why, his reply was "for no reason at all". He stated, "If we saw a Paki we used to have a go at them. We would ask for money and beat them up. I've beaten up Pakis on at least five occasions."<ref name="Education, Racism, and Reform" />

==Aftermath==
[[File:Altab Ali protest.jpg|220px|thumb|left|Protest march by Bangladeshis to [[Downing Street]] with murdered Ali's coffin, 14 May 1978]]
At the time, right-wing extremism was on the rise in [[east London]], with the National Front standing for election in 43 council seats.<ref name="standard">{{cite news |last= |first= |url=http://www.standard.co.uk/arts/architecture/new-park-life-whitechapels-altab-ali-park-6368641.html|title=New park life: Whitechapel's Altab Ali Park|work= |location=London|publisher=''[[London Evening Standard]]''|date=16 November 2011|accessdate=1 November 2015}}</ref> Ali's murder mobilised the Bangladeshi community. Demonstrations were held in the area of Brick Lane against the National Front.<ref name="After the Cosmopolitan?"/>

On 14 May 1978, 7,000 people took part in a demonstration against racial violence and marching behind Altab Ali's coffin from Adler Street, where Ali died, to [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]], [[Trafalgar Square]] and [[Downing Street]], to demand police protection for the Bengali community and to protest against the National Front and its campaign.<ref name="standard"/><ref name="lrb">{{cite news |last=Sandhu|first=Sukhdev|url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v25/n19/sukhdev-sandhu/come-hungry-leave-edgy|title=Come hungry, leave edgy|volume=25|number=19|work= |location=London|publisher=''[[London Review of Books]]''|date=9 October 2003|pages=10–13|accessdate=19 September 2007}}</ref><ref name="Racial violence in Britain">{{cite book |last=Panayi|first=Panikos|title=Racial violence in Britain in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries|year=1996|publisher=Leicester University Press|page=200|isbn=978-0-7185-1397-9}}</ref><ref name="Struggle in Babylon">{{cite book |last=Leech|first=Kenneth|title=Struggle in Babylon|year=1988|publisher=Sheldon |page=86|isbn=978-0-85969-577-0}}</ref><ref name="Violent Racism">{{cite book |last=Bowling|first=Benjamin|title=Violent Racism: Victimization, Policing, and Social Context|year=1988|publisher=Clarendon Press|page=48|isbn=978-0-19-826252-7}}</ref> It was described at the time as "one of the biggest demonstrations by Asians ever seen in Britain".<ref name="Education, Racism, and Reform" />

The murder provoked a mass mobilisation of the Bengali community locally<ref name="Judaism, Christianity, and Islam">{{cite book |last=Gilman|first=Sander L.|title=Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Collaboration and Conflict in the Age of Diaspora|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=d3AfBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA171&dq=Altab+Ali&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBWoVChMIg-vQ0ar6yAIVgrkUCh0gXgg5#v=onepage&q=Altab%20Ali&f=false|year=2015|publisher=[[Hong Kong University Press]]|page=171|isbn=978-9888208272}}</ref> The protest against the murder politicised a generation of young Bengali activists<ref name="Judaism, Christianity, and Islam"/> and many Bangladeshis were drawn into political activity in the aftermath of the murder.<ref name="A People's History of London">{{cite book |last1=German|first1=Lindsey|last2=Rees|first2=John|title=A People's History of London|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=7BN6m4LSkOQC&pg=PA248&dq=Altab+Ali&hl=en&sa=X&ve(contracted; show full)e="eastlondonadvertiser2"/><ref name="eastlondonadvertiser1">{{cite news |last=Barnett|first=Adam|url=http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/anti_racists_and_bangladeshis_mark_altab_ali_day_in_whitechapel_1_3589309|title=Anti-racists and Bangladeshis mark Altab Ali Day in Whitechapel|work= |location=London|publisher=''[[Docklands and East London Advertiser|East London Advertiser]]''|date=7 May 2014|accessdate=1 November 2015}}</ref>

==See also==
*
  [[British Bangladeshi]]
*  [[List of British Bangladeshis]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
*  [http://www.sublimephotography.co.uk/eastendphotos/whitechapel/photos/big/altabali.jpg Altab Ali Park entrance]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Altab}}
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:Anti-Asian sentiment]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi Muslims]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi expatriates in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:British people of Bangladeshi descent]]
[[Category:English murder victims]]
[[Category:People murdered in London]]
[[Category:People from Sylhet District]]
[[Category:People from Whitechapel]]
[[Category:Deaths by stabbing in England]]
[[Category:Racially motivated violence in England]]