lines co-editor, Ahilan Kadirgamar interviewed activist-intellectuals
Dr. A. Sivanandan and Nirmala Rajasingam in London. Dr. Sivanandan
is Director of the Institute of Race Relations and editor of ‘Race
and Class’. He has written works on Black struggles in Britain
including ‘Communities of Resistance: Writings on Black Struggles
for Socialism’ and ‘A Different Hunger: Writings on Black Resistance.’
He is also the author of a novel ‘When Memory Dies’ and a book
of short stories ‘Where the Dance Is’. Nirmala Rajasingam was
an activist in Sri Lanka who became an active supporter of the
LTTE’s political wing in the early stages of the Tamil militant
movement. She was also active in Tamil drama and the Tamil literary
circles. She went to prison in 1982 charged with harbouring wounded
Tiger militants. Nirmala Rajasingam broke jail two years later,
but left the LTTE soon after that and migrated to the UK in 1986.
She is the sister of Rajani Thiranagama, leading human rights
activist and co-founder of the University Teachers for Human Rights
(Jaffna). Rajani Thiranagama was assassinated by the LTTE in 1989.
Dr. Sivanandan and Nirmala Rajasingham, both exemplify a tradition
of dissent, critical activism and a commitment to their local
communities, be it in Sri Lanka or the UK. As evident from the
interview, their activism has traveled with them from Sri Lanka
to Britain. However, they are from two different generations of
Sri Lankan activist-intellectuals and have been engaged in a variety
of politics. Both interviews began with issues surrounding race
politics in Britain, but each interview took a life of it own.
Interview with Dr. A. Sivanandan
AK: Your writings, both your non-fiction as well as your fiction
have been a great source of inspiration for many from New York
to Colombo. Your work has shown the links between race and class,
the ways in which the exploitation of minorities and immigrants
is linked to the global economy and the Third World. From anti-globalization
activists to anti-Hindutva activists to those fighting police
brutality, you have inspired a whole range of activists. Nevertheless,
even those activists in places like New York maintain a strong
South Asian identity as opposed to a Black identity or a Colored
identity. I was wondering whether it is the strong colonial link
that had facilitated resistance under a Black identity in the
UK among South Asians like your self.
AS: Absolutely. If you are to be historically specific then of
course the colonial period is very important in understanding
the genesis of a Black-qua-Black politics in Britain. This is
unique. Nowhere else in the world has Black become a political
color. I am asked why I am here, and I reply that I am here because
you were there. That is the circuit of capitalism. The labor was
there and the capital was in Britain. Most of the workers who
came to Britain were from the ex-colonies. Secondly, we came in
as citizens of the Commonwealth and, therefore, of Britain. And
because we were citizens they could not deport us. Unlike in Germany,
where the Turkish immigrants are not citizens but 'guest workers',
we fought because we were able to fight. The whole range of immigration
acts that came into being after 1962, was a way of de-citizenizing
the commonwealth. With the racist immigration acts came the end
of citizenship. Thirdly, we all had a common language in English.
Of course some of the working class who came from India did not
speak fluent English, but we had enough to communicate with each
other. That is what we had in common - citizenship and language.
But what separated us was the colonial division of labour. The
Indians went to the steel mills and textile mills, the Afro-Caribbeans
to the service sector as transport workers, nurses etc. In the
early post war years the discrimination was undifferentiated,
whether we were Asians, Afro-Caribbeans or Africans. We couldn't
find housing so we all lived in the inner city ghettos. So, although
we could not fraternize with each other on the factory floor,
we fraternized with each other in the community. We had our own
little shops, self help groups. The churches and Temples were
important places of education and organization. And, even though
the trade unions were very racist, Black workers were able to
set up their own Unions and help each other. That brought the
Asians and West Indians together. As a people and a class. And
as a people for a class and that was the birth of Black! And Black
became the color of our politics. We were influenced by the post-colonial
struggles taking place in Africa. And culture became important.
Culture not as multi-culturalism,(i.e. custom, habit) but culture
as a site of struggle. The state tried to break up Black, into
its constituent parts because it became threatening. In 1981 the
Black youth burned down the inner cities, because of racism and
the impossibility of their living conditions. And multiculturalism
came to be institutionalized as government policy - to alleviate
the disadvantages of the second generation. The thinking was that
there was really no racism in our society, it is only that we
don't understand each other's culture. Multiculturalism began
with the schools and, funded by local authorities and government,
it spread to housing, employment and so on. And that is how Black
was broken into its constituent parts. So, the Asians said we
are Asians and the Afro-Caribbeans said, we are not Africans we
are Caribbeans and the official terminology now referred to them
as Asians and Blacks.
AK: Returning to the question of the South Asian community and
Black Identity, what role did the professional classes play? In
the US, the professional classes within the South Asian community
fall into the trap of being used as a model minority.
AS: I came to Britain in 1958 and then except for a few doctors,
most of us could not get a professional job, even if you had the
qualification. The professional classes came into being after
the struggles of the sixties and seventies. It comes into being
partly through immigration, because the voucher system that was
put in place in 1964 took people on the basis of their skills.
The post war reconstruction was over, we cleaned the streets and
dragged the shit and they said right, now we don't need you. Now
we want doctors, nurses and teachers. They took in the skilled
workers. It's only in the late '80s and '90s that we began to
get an indigenous 'colored' professional class and their loyalties
are suspect.
AK: Can you comment on the Sri Lankan community, through the
multiple waves of migrations, beginning with the professionals
in the sixties and seventies and then larger waves after 1983.
What role have they played in British politics?
AS: I don't want to be too critical. But they have been significant
by their absence at the barricades. However, once the struggle
for Eelam erupted, we did see the Tamils on the march, but mainly
in terms of Sri Lankan politics. There have been a few professional
groups like doctors, who took to fighting discrimination in their
profession. But very few have extended their activities beyond
their profession into the streets. That is too much idealism to
ask for from our countrymen and countrywomen. To my knowledge,
more Sri Lankan women have been active than Sri Lankan men.
AK: I was wondering if you could speak a little bit about what
is going on here post Sept 11th in terms of the Muslim community.
Is this different from the racism in the past?
AS: Racism has become open and unashamed. It has become fashionable
now to attack the Muslim community, to attack Islam. And there
has been a massive rise in Islamaphobia. Globalization has made
for a monolithic economic system. Sept 11th has imbued it with
a monolithic political culture. Anybody who is not with America
is a terrorist.
AK: Last year there were uprisings by South Asians in Oldham
and other towns focusing on their economic conditions in these
towns and the provocations by the far Right. Could you tell us
more?
AS: First of all these were mill towns where entire industries
had been wiped out. Some of the Whites however were able to move
into the service sector. In these areas were the last wave of
working class Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Indian immigrants. After
the mills were gone, some of them had started their own little
businesses, like a taxi business or a small family shop or the
rag trade. But they were also agitating for housing. Now, because
of the policies of racism and multi-culturalism, the local authorities
were willing to give them housing as long as they did not move
into White housing areas. So, they became ghettoized. They now
also start to get into local politics, but with that comes a whole
lot of nepotism and therefore the new currency of corruption is
not money but relationships. So, all those things enclosed these
communities. Now the second and third generations rebelled against
all this but the rebellion had nowhere to go. So when the fascist
British National Party took on the cause of so called White sufferers,
all hell broke loose.
AK: In addition to writing fiction, I know you are also very
interested in culture and cultural production. What role do you
see for culture in politics?
AS: I want cross-culturalism not multiculturalism. The only culture
that grows, is dynamic and lives is a culture that comes to terms
with modern existence, with modern challenges. A culture that
lives in the past hangs on to arranged marriages or circumcision
of women, is a reactionary culture. We are doing ourselves a disfavor
if we hold on to old feudal traditions. What the diasporas should
do is breed a new culture of a resistance to old traditions. So,
all culture has to be dynamic it cannot be enclosed. It cannot
look inwards, it must look outwards. Fundamentalism is cultural
inward-looking. The whole question of culture including religion
has to change with the times, it has to modernize, there has to
be a permanent revolution, continual hybridization. The only way
that culture can be progressive and dynamic is through bastardization.
Excerpts of lyrics to "Colour Line"
from Asian Dub Foundation’s "Community music", the voice
and lyrics on the CD are that of Dr. Sivanandan’s.
The IMF, The World Bank, Structural Adjustment Programmes
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade - GATT,
are just a few of the organisations, schemes, projects
which under the guise of developing the third world, plunder
it.
.
.
.
Black is not just the colour of our skins
It's the colour of our politics...
There's no such thing as illegal immigrants,
Only Illegal governments...
Today, the colour line/is the power line/is the poverty line
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