Revision 855948234 of "Altab Ali" on enwiki

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix   = 
| name               = Altab Ali
| honorific_suffix   = 
| image              = 
| image_size         = 220px
| alt                = 
| caption            = 
| native_name        = আলতাব আলী
| native_name_lang   = bn
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1953|2|15|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Sylhet District]], [[Sylhet Division]], [[East Bengal]] (now [[Bangladesh]])
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1978|5|4|1953|2|15|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Whitechapel]], [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets|Tower Hamlets]], London, England
| death_cause        = Bleeding due to [[stab wound]]s
| resting_place      = [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets|Tower Hamlets]], London, England
| residence          = [[Wapping]], [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets|Tower Hamlets]], London, England
| nationality        = [[Bangladesh]]i
| other_names        = 
| citizenship        = 
| education          = 
| alma_mater         = 
| occupation         = 
| years_active       = 
| employer           = 
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| agent              = 
| known_for          = Victim of racist murder
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'''Altab Ali''' ({{lang-bn|আলতাব আলী}}; 15 February 1953 – 4 May 1978) was a [[Bangladesh]]i [[textile]] worker who was murdered by three teenagers on 4 May 1978 in a [[Hate crime|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 mechanic who had 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> in London with his uncle<ref name="opendemocracy">{{cite news |last=Rosenberg|first=David|url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/shinealight/david-rosenberg/remembering-altab-ali|title=The racist killing of Altab Ali 40 years ago today|work= |location= |publisher=''[[openDemocracy]]''|date=4 May 2018|accessdate=1 June 2018}}</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]] in 1969.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news |last1=Nye|first1=Catrin|last2=Bright|first2=Sam|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-36191020|title=Altab Ali: The racist murder that mobilised the East End|work= |location= |publisher=''[[BBC News]]''|date=4 May 2016|accessdate=1 August 2017}}</ref> Ali moved in with his cousin and started working in the rag trade.<ref name="Curry Life">{{cite news |last1=McCann|first1=Robert|last2=Gilmore|first2=K.|url=http://currylifemagazine.com/|title=Altab Ali|work= |issue=53|location= |publisher=''[[Curry Life]]''|date=April 2015|accessdate=1 June 2018}}</ref>

Ali returned to Bangladesh for five months in 1975 and got married. When he came back to England, his wife stayed with his parents In Bangladesh. The plan was that she would join him later but she never did.<ref name="opendemocracy"/> Ali 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> and had recently moved to [[Wapping]] before his death.<ref name="opendemocracy"/>

==Death==
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title         = Murder of Altab Ali
| partof        = 
| image         = 
| image_size    = 
| image_upright =
| alt           = 
| caption       = 
| map           = 
| map_size      = 
| map_alt       = 
| map_caption   = 
| location      = St. Mary's Gardens, [[Whitechapel]], [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets|Tower Hamlets]], London, England
| target        = 
| coordinates   = {{Coord|51.5163|-0.0686|type:event|display=inline,title}}
| date          = {{Start date|1978|5|4|df=y}}
| time          = 19:47 [[British Summer Time|BST]]
| timezone      = [[UTC+01:00]]
| type          = [[Stabbing]]
| fatalities    = 
| injuries      = 
| victim        = Altab Ali
| perpetrators  = Roy Arnold<br/>Carl Ludlow<br/>unnamed male 
| assailants    = 
| susperps      = 
| weapons       = Knife
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| dfens         = 
| motive        = [[Hate crime|Racist attack]]
| inquiry       = 
| coroner       = 
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}}

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"/> formed in 1967, ran in every [[Tower Hamlets London Borough Council]] ward that year, and gained nearly 10% of the vote.<ref name="opendemocracy"/> 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<ref name="Being Bengali"/> in [[Hanbury Street]], off [[Brick Lane]].<ref name="opendemocracy"/> 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.com/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><ref name="theguardian">{{cite news |last=Ramaswamy|first=Chitra|url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/mar/06/brick-lane-in-the-80s-before-it-became-banglatown|title=Brick Lane in the 80s: before it became Banglatown|work= |location= |publisher=''[[The Guardian]]''|date=6 March 2017|accessdate=1 June 2018}}</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.com/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> Ali was stabbed in the neck, then staggered a few metres before collapsing.<ref name="bbc"/> Ali was dead on arrival at London Hospital (since renamed the [[Royal London Hospital]]).<ref name="opendemocracy"/>

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 (slur)|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]]
Ali's murder was symptomatic of the racial antagonism stirred up in the 1970s.<ref name="theconversation">{{cite news |last= |first= |url=http://www.theconversation.com/altab-ali-bangladeshis-in-east-london-reflect-on-legacy-of-a-racist-murder-95810|title=Altab Ali: The racist murder that mobilised the East End|work= |location= |publisher=''The Conversation''|date=3 May 2018|accessdate=1 June 2018}}</ref> At the time, right-wing extremism was on the rise in [[east London]], with the National Front standing for election in 43<ref name="standard">{{cite news |last= |first= |url=https://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> out of the 50 seats in Tower Hamlets.<ref name="morningstaronline">{{cite news |last=Walsh|first=Lynne|url=https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/forty-years-altab-ali-not-forgotten|title=Preview Forty years on, Altab Ali is not forgotten|work= |location= |publisher=''[[Morning Star (British newspaper)|Morning Star]]''|date=15 March 2018|accessdate=1 June 2018}}</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"/> In September 1978, the National Front moved its headquarters from the suburbs to [[Shoreditch]] in east London.<ref name="opendemocracy"/>

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.com/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.com/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"/>

The [[Anti-Nazi League]] and the [[Rock Against Racism]] movement were born out of the events of 1978.<ref name="independent">{{cite news |last=Clarke|first=Hilary|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/life-on-the-lane-1157728.html|title=Life on the Lane|work= |location= |publisher=''[[The Independent]]''|date=23 May 1998|accessdate=1 August 2017}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Entrance, Altab Ali Park.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Entrance to [[Altab Ali Park]]]]
The name Altab Ali became a widely known symbol of resistance against racism generally and is associated with the struggle for human rights, specifically in defence of the Bangladeshis in the UK after Bengali the community mobilised in May 1978 to defend itself against racist attacks that were represented in the murder of Altab Ali.<ref name="UKIA"/> 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"/>

The Altab Ali Foundation was later set up, which holds an annual commemoration to all victims of racism, staged in the former St Mary's Churchyard, which 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?"/> in his memory. Altab Ali Park is London's only park named after a Bengali.<ref name="theconversation"/> 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><ref name="eastlondonlines">{{cite news |last=Spratt|first=Edward|url=http://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2018/05/tower-hamlets-hate-crime-rates-on-the-rise-40-years-after-the-murder-of-altab-ali/|title=Tower Hamlets hate crime rates on the rise 40 years after the murder of Altab Ali|work= |location=London|publisher=''East London Lines''|date=4 May 2018|accessdate=1 June 2018}}</ref> In October 2015, [[John Biggs (politician)|John Biggs]], the Mayor of Tower Hamlets, announced that the borough would host an annual Altab Ali Commemoration Day.<ref name="bbc"/>

Julie Begum wrote a play ''The Altab Ali Story'' about the death of Ali oscillating between a village in Sylhet in Bangladesh and a flat in East London and it dramatises the fateful moment in 1978 when his mother is given the devastating news.<ref name="morningstaronline"/> In April 2015, ''[[Racist Murder of Altab Ali|Racist Murder of Altab Ali: A Bengali East End Garment Worker Murdered in 1978]]'' was published, a book of essays about Ali's murder using first hand accounts to recall the circumstances leading up to Ali's death and its aftermath, edited by Mohammed Nobab Uddin<ref name="Curry Life1">{{cite news |last1=McCann|first1=Robert|last2=Gilmore|first2=K.|url=http://currylifemagazine.com/|title=Altab Ali|work= |issue=53|location=344 |publisher=''[[Curry Life]]''|date=April 2015|accessdate=1 June 2018}}</ref> In March 2018, Azad Konor's book, ''[[The Battle of Brick Lane 1978]]'', was published, the book looks at the struggle against prejudice and hatred which became a defining moment for the Bangladeshi community in Britain.<ref name="eastlondonadvertiser3">{{cite news |last=Brooke|first=Mike|url=http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/heritage/author-azas-konor-relives-the-battle-of-brick-lane-40-years-after-altab-ali-s-murder-1-5488723|title=Author Azad Konor relives the ‘Battle of Brick Lane’ 40 years after Altab Ali’s murder|work= |location=London|publisher=''[[Docklands & East London Advertiser]]''|date=24 April 2018|accessdate=1 June 2018}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[British Bangladeshi]]
*[[List of British Bangladeshis]]
*[[Hate crime]]
*[[Racism in the United Kingdom]]

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

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

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