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From Sylhet to Spitalfields
Shabna Begum
£16
This important and inspiring book recovers the radical history of the Bengali squatters’ movement active in Tower Hamlets in the 1970s. Through sparkling vignettes of the individuals involved, Begum provides deep insights into the forms of solidarity that sustained the movement and the political differences that also characterised it. It’s a powerful contribution to working-class and multicultural histories of Britain.
– Gurminder K. Bhambra, Professor of Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies (Global Studies), University of Sussex
From Sylhet to Spitalfields captures how the battles for housing of British Bengalis and their allies were, in different ways, framed by anticolonial imaginations and the Bangladesh Liberation War.
– Georgie Wemyss, Co-Director, Centre for Research on Migration, Refugees and Belonging (CMRB) at the University of East London
For too long, Britain’s postcolonial migrants have been neglected by histories of squatting and housing campaigns. Begum’s moving accounts and sharp analysis are crucial for understanding how the right to housing is bound up with freedom from racism.
– Adam Elliott-Cooper, author of Black Resistance to British Policing, Manchester University Press, 2021
The struggle for equality took place with the backdrop of far right nationalism; Begum’s record reminds us how hard won some civil rights are.
– Dr Halima Begum, CEO Runnymede Trust
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