S2 E2: Migration, Marginalisation and Mobilisation: Leicester's South Asian Diaspora and Labour Rights Activism
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Release Date: 03/31/2025
S2 E2: Migration, Marginalisation and Mobilisation: Leicester's South Asian Diaspora and Labour Rights Activism
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Leicester is home to a large South Asian community and often praised for being one of the most diverse cities in the UK - presented as a model of multicultural integration. However, labour exploitation strongly impacts the poorer demographics in the city, especially people with a recent history of migration that are employed in garment manufacturing. In May 2024, we dedicated an episode of our podcast to the Imperial Typewriters Strike of 1974 to mark the 50th anniversary of this seminal event in the political history of the South Asian diaspora in the UK and of Leicester’s trade union...
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S2 E1: The Imperial Typewriters Strike of 1974: The South Asian Diaspora in the UK, Trade Unionism, and the Struggle for Social Justice
Race and Racism in our Modern World
This episode is dedicated to the memory of Shardaben Chandarana, the leader of the 1974 Imperial Typewriters Strike. The Imperial Typewriters Strike was a major and iconic event in the history of South Asian Trade Unionism in the United Kingdom. It comes within a broader history of struggle for recognition and social justice, racial discrimination, and attempts towards integration and dialogue. In this episode Dr Fatima Rajina is joined by Amrit Wilson and Professor Sundari Anitha as they discuss the Imperial Typewriters Strike of 1974. More information on the strike, as well as visual...
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S1 E4: Greenwich Echoes: A Mother-Daughter Perspective on the Murder of Stephen Lawrence
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Content warning: May contain examples of extreme racist violence and language. When Stephen Lawrence was murdered in 1993 to what extent did the media or academic scholarship explore or acknowledge the grief of Doreen Lawrence and other black mothers who were once again reminded of how unworthy society perceived them and the lives of their children? This episode led by Rayann Bryan will explore the impact of Stephen’s murder on black mothers who may have felt some proximity to the grief and anguish of Baroness Lawrence. Claire Davis and her mother talk about their experience living and...
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S1 E5: Place and Space in the Making of Race and Racism "Part One"
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Content warning: May contain examples of extreme racist violence and language. In part one of this episode, Yusef is in conversation with Brixton residents Valcie, Hurley and Patrick. The discussion draws on experiences of life in Brixton. Juxtaposing this with Rayann’s episode on life in Eltham in the UK, we hear about a neighbourhood where Black cultures are shared and celebrated, but also how racisms and inequalities have restricted access to housing, security and opportunity. When listened to in conjunction with the rest of the series this episode helps us to understand the...
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S1 E6: Place and Space in the Making of Race and Racism "Part Two"
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Content warning: May contain examples of extreme racist violence and language. In part two of this episode, Yusef is in conversation with Brixton residents Valcie, Hurley and Patrick. The discussion draws on experiences of life in Brixton. Juxtaposing this with Rayann’s episode on life in Eltham in the UK, we hear about a neighbourhood where Black cultures are shared and celebrated, but also how racisms and inequalities have restricted access to housing, security and opportunity. When listened to in conjunction with the rest of the series this episode helps us to understand the...
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S1 E7: Solidarity with Suresh Grover, Shabna Begum and Karis Campion
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Content warning: May contain examples of extreme racist violence and language. Our bonus episode is a collaboration with our friends from the Sociological Review and our former colleague Dr Karis Campion. This episode was first released on the Sociological Review podcast in May 2023 In 1993, Black British teenager Stephen Lawrence was murdered in a racist attack that sparked a long fight for justice and led the UK to ask questions of itself and its institutions. Three decades on – with The Runnymede Trust’s Shabna Begum, and Suresh Grover of The Monitoring Group – Karis...
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S1 E3: Race and Racism in the 1990s "Part Two", with Gus John and Adam Elliott-Cooper
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Content warning: May contain examples of extreme racist violence and language. In part two of the first episode, the conversation continues with Professor Gus John and Dr Adam Elliot Cooper joining SLRC Legacy In Action research fellow, Dr Fatima Rajina, to discuss the way Stephen Lawrence’s death stirred the nation in a way that changed the entire landscape of conversations around race relations throughout the 1990s. The most intriguing aspect of it all was how it was covered in the media, primarily print media. The discussion for this podcast focuses in on different clippings...
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S1 E2: Race and Racism in the 1990s "Part One" with Gus John and Adam Elliott-Cooper
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Content warning: May contain examples of extreme racist violence and language. In part one of the first episode Professor Gus John and Dr Adam Elliot Cooper join the SLRC Legacy In Action research fellow, Dr Fatima Rajina, to discuss the way Stephen Lawrence’s death stirred the nation in a way that changed the entire landscape of conversations around race relations throughout the 1990s. The most intriguing aspect of it all was how it was covered in the media, primarily print media. The discussion for this podcast will focus in on different clippings from the newspapers that covered the trial...
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S1 E1: Welcome to the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre Podcast
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Content warning: May contain examples of extreme racist violence and language. To mark the 30th anniversary of the tragic racist murder of Stephen Lawrence on the 22 April 1993, in South East London in the UK, the SLRC have produced a podcast series in collaboration with Weyland Mckenzie-Witter to commemorate the monumental meaning and significance of this anniversary. The SLRC opened its doors in 2019 with the intention of being a uniquely positioned physical space in the UKHE landscape to study the politics of race and racisms in its many forms and guises. The SLRC is the current home of...
info_outlineLeicester is home to a large South Asian community and often praised for being one of the most diverse cities in the UK - presented as a model of multicultural integration. However, labour exploitation strongly impacts the poorer demographics in the city, especially people with a recent history of migration that are employed in garment manufacturing.
In May 2024, we dedicated an episode of our podcast to the Imperial Typewriters Strike of 1974 to mark the 50th anniversary of this seminal event in the political history of the South Asian diaspora in the UK and of Leicester’s trade union movement. The following September, Francesco Sani moderated a roundtable of activists and trade unionists to understand what has changed in the city and what has stayed the same. Drawing from their experience of community and political activism, our guests Kaenat Yussufo (Labour Behind the Label), Shaista Jakhura (Panahghar) and Tom Barker (A Unison trade unionist from Ashfield Academy, Leicester) unpack the major dynamics that have led to the current state of affairs.
For more information on Labour Behind the Label: https://labourbehindthelabel.org. You can read Labour Behind the Label’s 2020 report on Boohoo here: https://labourbehindthelabel.org/report-boohoo-covid-19-the-people-behind-the-profit. For info about the campaigns Labour Behind the Label is currently engaged in: https://labourbehindthelabel.org/good-jobs-for-garment-workers (Petition in support of Leicester garment workers); https://labourbehindthelabel.org/supermarkets-back-leicester (ASDA, Tesco, M&S: support UK garment workers!).
For more info on Panahghar: https://www.safehouse.org.uk
For more information on the history of the Ashfield Academy trade dispute: https://socialistalternative.info/2024/03/20/new-socialist-alternative-publication-how-workers-can-win-lessons-from-the-strike-victory-at-ash-field-academy
The text quoted in the podcast comes from Giulio Palermo, “Counter-power: a Marxist View— An Ontological Enquiry” Cambridge Journal of Economics 48-5 (September 2024), 843–868. For some additional perspectives on political activism, labour rights and decolonisation in the UK context: Preeti Dhillon, The Shoulders We Stand On: How Black and Brown People Fought for Change in the United Kingdom (London: Dialogue Books, 2023); Adam Elliott-Cooper, “Abolishing institutional racism” Race & Class 65-1 (April 2023), 100-118. We also recommend the blog series Decolonising Economics: https://developingeconomics.org/blog-series-decolonising-economics.
Guests: Tom Barker, Shaista Jakhura, Kaenat Yussufo
Host: Francesco Sani
Produced by Weyland McKenzie-Witter at Nello and the People’s Production Ltd
Twitter/X: @weylandmck
Web: weylandmck.com
Web: nelloandthem.co.uk
Music: AyChibs @Aychibs
Image: And Still She Rises by Marcus Dove
Design: Angy Ebrahim
Stay connected with the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre:
www.dmu.ac.uk/slrc
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