10. We can grasp our rights

Question 1

Key dates

Answer 1

1991 - The civil war in Somalia began

Question 2

Describe the impact Altab Ali’s murder had on the Bengali youth in Spitalfields

Answer 2

• For Bengalis, Spitalfields was no longer a place they would be in for a time before moving on, it was a home they had fought for
• In the 1980s younger Bengalis became politically active, and they immersed themselves in UK politics
• Bengali youth and community organisations such as the Bangladesh Youth Movement became highly organised and adept at getting funding for their activities

Question 3

Explain why housing was such a problem in Spitalfields in this period

Answer 3

• The problem was the ‘ladder’ systems of allocations which favoured long term residents
• Most council housing was still overwhelmingly white
• Furthermore, Tower Hamlets Council was not building new houses
• The Liberal council tried to actively prevent family reunion
• Their ‘sons and daughters’ policy gave housing to the children of those already in council flats, which aimed to make it even harder for Bangladesh families to be housed
• Families were being farmed out to appalling conditions in hotels in north and west London

Question 4

How was the housing problem partially solved in the 1980s?

Answer 4

• There was also a battle with the GLC, the main housing provider in Spitalfields
• A 1988 report was damning about racist allocations policy being carried out by officers
• In a mass meeting at the Brady Centre, the GLC leader Ken Livingstone was challenged about racist allocations and agreed to set up a new Race and Housing Action Team which lasted until the GLC was abolished in 1986
• The growth of housing associations and housing cooperatives meant that more and more houses were being built in Spitalfields

Question 5

Why did the ladder system of housing allocation seem fairer to many white residents, while allocation according to need seemed fairer to Bengali residents?

Answer 5

• Bengali residents who would return back home to Sylhet and were away for more than three months would lose their place completely and could not apply for another year. This means that they were always at the bottom of the list as the ‘ladder’ system favoured long term residents
• Other white residents, some of whom had been waiting for years, saw allocation according to need as unfair queue-jumping by newly arrived families