The Challenge Before Us: Moving From a Politics of Identity to a Politics of Solidarity - Free

Professor Chinmoy Banerjee Memorial Lecture in Anti-Racism

The annual commemorative lecture is cohosted by the Institute for the Humanities, the Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation, West Coast Coalition Against Racism (WCCAR), and South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD).

Drawing on 40 years of feminist and antiracist activism, Pragna Patel’s presentation will reflect on her work in giving voice to some of the most marginalised black and minority women and girls in the UK.

Touching on material realities and everyday struggles of these women and girls against gender-based violence at home and on the streets, the lecture will discuss the contradictions and tensions that have arisen in the course of our attempts to forge a politics of resistance in the face of renewed and growing support for the religious and far right with a corresponding rise in racism and nationalism in the UK and elsewhere. It will argue that we have not been immune to the dangers of regressive forms of identity politics where questions of class and other forms of structural inequality are increasingly eschewed.

The central question is: how did we come to descend from a promising and progressive politics that emphasised universalism and unity to a regressive politics that emphasises identity and generates division and authoritarianism amongst ourselves. In the wake of a resurgent politics of the right, our failure to build a politics of solidarity, within and between communities, has weakened our resilience and collective resistance to growing oppression and disparities in wealth and power. It spells profound dangers, not only for the most vulnerable women whose lives are literally on the line, but also for the very survival of a democratic and progressive anti-racist and feminist politics of transformation. If we are to overcome those dangers, we have to find ways of connecting to the lived reality of solidarity, protest and resistance across boundaries, mounted by the most vulnerable everywhere – not least the women and girls whose strength and resilience in their struggle to survive in the face of utmost adversity remains an unending source of strength and hope as we strive towards a better future for all of us.

About the Speaker

Pragna Patel is the co-founder and co-director of Project Resist, an organisation focused on work with marginalised and vulnerable women and girls throughout the UK. She is the former director and founding member of the Southall Black Sisters (SBS) advocacy and campaigning centre for black and minority where she worked from 1982 to Jan 2022 with a break in 1993 when she left to train and practice as a solicitor. Over those 40 years, she led on some of SBS’ most important cases and campaigns on gender-based abuse including the landmark case of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, involving a South Asian woman who was convicted of the murder of her violent husband. The case eventually led to a reform of homicide law and created greater societal awareness of domestic abuse and the lack of effective state responses. She was also a founding member of Women Against Fundamentalism, and has written extensively on race, gender and religion.

About the Moderator

M.V. Ramana is Professor and Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA), University of British Columbia. He is also Graduate Program Director of the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs (MPPGA) program. He is the author of Nuclear is not the Solution: The Folly of Atomic Power in the Age of Climate Change and The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India.

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