Revision 792844312 of "Altab Ali" on enwiki

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = 
| name             = Altab Ali
| honorific_suffix = 
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| 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
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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=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&ved=0CEkQ6AEwCGoVChMI-b_J9frsyAIVQrIUCh1ZJgqI#v=onepage&q=Altab%20Ali&f=false|year=1988|publisher=[[Verso Books]]|page=248|isbn=978-1844678556}}</ref> This began a movement that eventually pushed the National Front out of Whitechapel, and helped affirm Bengali identity there.<ref name="standard"/>

[[File:Entrance, Altab Ali Park.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Entrance to [[Altab Ali Park]]]]
As a response to persistent racial tension, residents began to organise neighbourhood committees and youth groups.<ref name="Muslims in British Local Government"/> His murder was the trigger for the first significant political organisation against racism by Bangladeshis.<ref name="UKIA"/>

Altab Ali Foundation was later set up which holds the annual commemoration to all victims of racism, staged in the former St Mary's Churchyard that was renamed [[Altab Ali Park]]<ref name="eastlondonadvertiser2">{{cite news |last=Brooke|first=Mike|url=http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/altab_ali_s_racist_murder_in_whitechapel_remembered_37_years_on_1_4061835|title=Altab Ali's racist murder in Whitechapel remembered 37 years on|work= |location=London|publisher=''[[Docklands and East London Advertiser|East London Advertiser]]''|date=6 May 2015|accessdate=1 November 2015}}</ref> by [[Tower Hamlets Council]] in 1979.<ref name="After the Cosmopolitan?"/> Altab Ali Foundation soon became a movement against racism around the East End of London. The campaign against racism that took place after Ali's murder influenced the identification and association of the collective social and community image of British Bangladeshis in Tower Hamlets.<ref name="UKIA"/>

Every year since Ali's death an annual commemoration has taken place in Whitechapel in his memory.<ref name="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]]