Come what may, we're here to stay

The story of South Asian resistance in Britain

Taj Ali

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9781526177582
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526177575
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Modern British History
• Index: History

As British South Asians reel from the riots of summer 2024, this book tells the inspirational story of how the community organised against racism in the past and how it continues to fight in the present.

British South Asians have a long tradition of radical political activism. The 1970s and 1980s saw the community grappling with prejudice in the workplace and violence in the streets. But this history is deeper than you might think, from students agitating for independence at the heart of the British Empire to seafarers organising global strikes on the eve of the Second World War.

In Come what may, we're here to stay, Taj Ali reveals how successive generations fought for rights, dignity and a sense of belonging while actively shaping the country they now call home. He shows that British South Asian political life has often been defined less by religious difference than by shared commitments to anti-imperialism and anti-racism. In pursuit of these goals, alliances have been forged with other movements, from Irish republicanism to Black Power.

As racism rears its ugly head again, Come what may, we're here to stay asks: are we doomed to repeat the past or will we learn from our mistakes and build a better world together?

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Prologue
• 1 The Highgate revolutionaries
• 2 Punjabi pioneers
• 3 Seafarer struggles
• 4 Early struggles in post-war Britain
• 5 Black Power
• 6 Finding home
• 7 Fighting back
• 8 A national movement
• 9 Self-defence is no offence
• 10 Solidarity
• 11 Rushdie, rioting and religious divides
• Epilogue
• List of interviewees
• Notes
• Acknowledgements
• Index