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Events

From Sylhet to Spitalfields: The Bengali squatters’ movement and organising today

Thursday May 4th 2023
7.00 – 9.00pm GMT
Online (Zoom) event

‘Claiming the city, claiming a home.’

Join Shabna Begum in conversation with expert panellists, relating this radical hidden history to the realities of organising today.

This free event is hosted by The Ella Baker School of Organising.

Shabna Begum’s new book From Sylhet to Spitalfields explores the hidden history of the Bengali squatters’ movement in London’s 1970s East End. Confronted by state and street racism, the squatters’ movement refused dispersal and dispossession, and rejected whiteness as a proxy for belonging. Connected to a long history of empire, colonialism and migration, the activists and home-makers who created this radical hidden history secured a victory whose legacy ripples out to today.

To contribute their invaluable insights, we will be joined by:

  • Shabna Begum – author of From Sylhet to Spitalfields and Runnymede Trust Head of Research.
  • Samuel Burgum – researcher of urban movements, occupation, squatting, and trespass.
  • Sem Moema – London Assembly Housing Committee member and Hackney Councillor.
  • Maymuna Osman – organiser at Migrants Organise, with asylum accommodation focus.
  • Tasnima Uddin – Save Brick Lane organiser and co-founder of Nijjor Manush.
  • Amina Ali – Tower Hamlets Councillor.
Old image  of children in street
Image courtesy of the George Padmore Institute and Darcus Howe Legacy