{"id":3005,"date":"2016-11-29T09:50:52","date_gmt":"2016-11-29T09:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journeytojustice.org.uk\/?page_id=3005"},"modified":"2021-06-23T19:07:15","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T19:07:15","slug":"tower-hamlets","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/journeytojustice.org.uk\/projects\/tower-hamlets\/","title":{"rendered":"Journey to Justice: Tower Hamlets"},"content":{"rendered":"

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JtoJ chose Tower Hamlets as our first London site because of its extraordinary history and ongoing association with immigration and struggles for economic and social justice. We are very grateful to the thriving Rich Mix Cultural Foundation for hosting our exhibition. We were welcomed to the borough by schools and arts, youth and community groups whose aims we share.\u00a0 We also ran training days for teachers, youth and community workers and young people.<\/p>\n

Our exhibition told some of the many untold stories of resistance to injustice, including by women activists, thanks to Share UK (share-uk.org) and we held a spectacular celebration launch event on December 10th<\/sup>\u00a0Human Rights Day.<\/p>\n

JtoJ was delighted to welcome Jean Stallings, veteran civil rights and anti-poverty campaigner to join us in Tower Hamlets with her grand daughter Brianna.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been in Tower Hamlets since September 2015 developing partnerships with Rich Mix, the Humanities Education Centre, Idea Store, Swadhinata Trust, Girlz United, the V&A Museum of Childhood, Green Spring Academy and Bow School as well as many other groups and individuals;\u00a0 and with the generous support of Tower Hamlets Council. Thank you all for your interest and support.<\/p>\n

Read about our Tower Hamlets work in the Newham Recorder<\/a><\/p>\n

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When YAV met JtoJ, August 16th 2018<\/h3>\n

We brought young people from three of our partners \u2013 Young Asian Voices in Sunderland, Girlz United in Tower Hamlets and On the Record\u2019s Fighting Sus project \u2013 together in Whitechapel to share stories and learn from each others\u2019 experiences of coming together creatively, standing up in the face of racism and learning from history.<\/p>\n

It was an evening of exploration, connection, solidarity and fun culminating in a meal together on Brick Lane and many shared selfies.<\/p>\n

London\u2019s young people told us of their admiration for their new friends in Sunderland:<\/p>\n

‘It was a privilege to meet the members of Young Asian Voices in Whitechapel… I wish I had access to such a team growing up\u2019(Liza)<\/p>\n

\u2018I was able to see … how living in different cities have shaped our different identities… their methods of activism inspired me to try more adventurous methods with my own activism.\u2019 (Memuna)<\/p>\n

\u2018Mind-blowing and truly inspiring! To see young people fighting for what they believe in and speeding so much love and positive energy only motivates me to do much more.’ (TC)<\/p>\n

\u2018It was really interesting to discuss the differences between London and Sunderland but connect with the similarities and same causes of Fighting SUS and YAV.’ (Jolina)<\/p>\n\n

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Girlz United<\/b><\/h3>\n

Girlz United is a local community group based in Shadwell, who have been working with a diverse group of teenage girls from London and Essex for several years. They host social events, interfaith discussions and residential weekends away, enabling young women to engage with issues of identity, discrimination, other cultures and traditions in a multi-faith community.<\/p>\n

JtoJ invited Julie Begum, Chair of the Swadhinata Trust and a long time Tower Hamlets\/Bengali resident, heritage expert, youth worker, community activist to meet members of Girlz United. She told them how in 1993, The British National Party won its first council seat in a by-election in Tower Hamlets, where their candidate Derek Beackon beat the standing Labour Party candidate by seven votes. The election triggered fear in the Asian community in Tower Hamlets and, as a response, Julie Begum and others set up Women Unite Against Racism (WUAR). WUAR was an organisation partially inspired by the U.S. Civil Rights Movement Voter Registration campaign. Avoiding the cult of leadership seen in other movements, they provided childcare services and made sure the voices of all women were heard. WUAR encouraged and supported women to register to vote and escorted them to polling stations, empowering them to be part of the anti-racist struggle in Tower Hamlets. As a consequence of the work of WUAR and others, the BNP candidate was defeated in the 1994 elections after a Labour landslide in the East End. 23 years later, Julie reflects:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it changed us all and it left a really important legacy to show that it is possible to do things differently.\u2019 \u201cTo remain silent and stand by, it\u2019s just not a part of my nature I think.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 (Quotes from an interview with Share UK,\u00a0Women Activists of the East End<\/i>, 31 March 2016).<\/p>\n

Julie also told Girlz United about the racist murder of Altab Ali in 1978. He was a young Bangladeshi textile worker, who on the 4th<\/sup>\u00a0May 1978, was stabbed to death while walking home from his workplace in Whitechapel. The murder was a random racially motivated attack, and was not the first of its kind. It was the trigger for mass action, sparking fear and fury in the Asian community. Ten days after Ali\u2019s death, 7,000 people marched behind his coffin through central London in protest, asking the Government to address issues of racism in the capital and particularly the East End.<\/p>\n

In July 2016, Journey to Justice teamed up with Girlz United to run a residential weekend at Danbury Outdoor Activity Centre in Essex. The event was attended by members of Girlz United, Hawkwell Girls Brigade, Essex, and Brandon Baptist Church, Camberwell, and was led by youth workers and facilitators: Liz Anderson, Sally Claydon, Parul Motin and Leanne Sedin. Through team building activities and creative writing, the young women learned more about local East End history and discrimination. They also discussed issues of social justice, race, equality and identity, producing a collection of searing poetry in response during a session with JtoJ volunteer Parul Motin.<\/p>\n

In partnership with Journey to Justice, Girlz United have shared their learning all over the UK.<\/p>\n

Girlz United\u2019s presentation was the highlight of our\u00a0AGM event in November<\/a>\u00a0and they ran a workshop at our Youth Training Day. On 10th\u00a0December 2016, Human Rights Day, Girlz United helped to launch the Journey to Justice Tower Hamlets exhibition, talking about their project with JtoJ and performing their dance and poetry. Nadia Ishmail wrote the outstanding poem \u2018Dear Murderer,\u2019:<\/p>\n

\u2018My poem was inspired by the murder of Altab Ali. It is to stand up to racism because it needs to stop. I want my poem to\u00a0<\/i>emphasise<\/i>\u00a0the importance of equality regardless of your skin colour or religion\u2019.<\/i><\/p>\n

Dear Murderer<\/b><\/p>\n

Death is brought upon us all
\nWe don\u2019t know when, where or by who.
\nMy death was cruel.
\nMy death was vicious
\nBy you know who.<\/p>\n

Dear murderer,
\nWhat did I do to endure such a cruel ending?
\nShould I be ashamed of who I am, an Asian man?
\nThe colour of my skin? Orange with a tan,
\nA decent brown man.<\/p>\n

I was murdered at 25 because of who I am
\nThe religion I believed in had no ground to stand.
\nIt was despised.
\nThe stare,
\nThe dagger!
\nThe knife to my neck.
\nYes murderer!
\nThese were your entire actions.<\/p>\n

Bloodshed.
\nBlood gushed out and piercing my veins
\nI could feel the pain through my whole body.
\nI knew it was the very end.
\nI was left for dead.
\nDamaged, dangling on my doorstep.
\nI could hear the sniggering and laughter spraying through their mouths.
\nMy body left for dead.<\/p>\n

How could you commit something like this?<\/p>\n

Dear murderer,
\nI wonder how you feel now?
\nAshamed, ambushed with embarrassment?
\nOf course not \u2013 no remorse. Excused of crime.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re back\u201d lives in your eyes,
\nbleeds on those very hands that ended mine.
\nMindless murderer.
\nYes you are.<\/p>\n

Nadia Ishmail 2016<\/em><\/p>\n

To read all the wonderful poems by Girlz United see\u00a0here<\/a><\/p>\n

In fond memory of Chorouk who sadly passed away in 2019\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

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