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Events

From Sylhet to Spitalfields: Bengali Squatters in 1970s East London by Shabna Begum

Friday May 19th 2023
7.00 - 8:30pm GMT
Brick Lane Bookshop

Author Shabna Begum in conversation with Denise Jones and Jumanah Younis.

Hosted by Brick Lane Bookshop, 166 Brick Lane, London E1 6RU. Tickets £5.00.

‘Bengali squatters challenged the narrative about who belonged in the East End and, through their refusal to be dispersed and dispossessed, refused to accept whiteness as a proxy for belonging.’

Faced with institutional discrimination in council housing and the existential threat of the National Front, hundreds of Bengali families in 1970s East London decided to squat, taking over entire streets and estates. With the support of the Race Today collective, squatters formed the Bengali Housing Action Group (BHAG), which organised support and vigilante groups to keep the community safe.

Using oral history interviews and archival research, From Sylhet to Spitalfields looks at the Bengali community’s contribution to this little-known episode of East End history, and how it can inform present-day housing struggles.

‘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

Shabna Begum is Head of Research at the Runnymede Trust, the UK’s leading race equality think tank. 

Jumanah Younis is books editor at Lawrence Wishart and a trainee therapist.