Resistance to Rebellion' An Exhibition on Asian and Afro-Caribbean Struggles in Britain Produced by the Institute of Race Relations 'You wonder why we uprise Politically unstabilised Economically destabilised People dehumanised Youth criminalised Mentally vandalised Housing ghettoised Politically unrecognised And you wonder why we uprise' (LEROY COOPER, Liverpool 8) RARELY IS the history of the Black community in Britain considered an integral part of working class history as a whole. Indeed, the history of the labour movement has been and continues to be so distorted as to not only exclude women, but to render almost invisible the enormous contribution Black people in this country have made to the fights of our class. When trade union struggles come to mind, we are more likely to look to Warrington or to the miners strike as examples of workers in struggle than the Stanmore Engineering occupation, Imperial Typewriters or Barking Hospital. And when we remember the campaigns in the women's movement in the past, it is with NAC (National Abortion Campaign), Greenham or Women Against Pit Closures who we identify with — not the struggles of Black women against the immigration laws, police violence, virginity tests or their militancy and strength in the numerous strikes they have led.
The new exhibition, 'From Resistance to Rebellion' is a record of 'Asian and Afro-Caribbean struggles in Britain' over the last forty years. It is a shocking reminder to us of what has been forgotten or ghettoised and pushed to one side. Based on the essay of the same name by A. Sivanandan (Race & Class, 1981), the Institute of Race Relations has produced more than a visual history. It is in many ways a celebration of the multiple forms of organisation and struggle in which the Black community has participated, illustrated through an impressive collection of photographs, newscuttings, leaflets, posters and pamphlets.
The exhibition traces the changing nature of racism in Britain, from the racialism of the 'colour bar' in the 1940s, INIERNAIKONAL No. S fly/Alpust 1986,
the relegation of Black people into the
worstjobs and housing, fascist and police
attacks, the immigration laws, criminalisation of the Black community and into the eighties to state-institutionalised racism. It explains how the Asian and
Afro-Caribbean communities were racially divided - a legacy from British colonialism resulting in Asian workers being concentrated in textile mills and factories and the Afro-Caribbean worBRITAINS kers in the service industries (transport, health and hotels). This inevitably led to different priorities in the fight against racism and different areas of struggle.
But there were common experiences giving rise, in particular, to the fight for etter housing. The exhibition describes the variety of issues Black people have organised round in the community: the racism of the education system (from 'bussing' to the stereotyping of Black children as 'educationally subnormal' to the fight against Honeyford) and health care. Discimination in health, housing and education above all led to the formation of political groups, the setting up of self-help projects, bookshops, advice centres, extra Saturday schools and health campaigns.
'From Resistance to Rebellion' is uncompromising in its account of the racism within the trade unions and Labour Party. It recounts the white dockers marching in support of Enoch Powell in the early 1960s, the alliances workers, trade unions and the bosses have made to defeat and exclude Black workers lat Imperial Typewriters for instance) and the refusal of the unions to support Black workers in their fight against discrimina-
tion and racialism at work. Added to this, we see over the years the passing of ner laws on immigration, policing and hous Ing mainly aimed at the Black community, which the Labour Party has connived in or itself enacted when in government (for example the 'Kenyun Asian Act of 1968 which barred free entry into Britain of British citizens in Kenya, and the Race Relations Act of 1976).
Facing discrimination in the workplace and the sell-outs of the trade unions, Black workers relied more on support from their own communities and or ganised their own workers associations. which were either involved in political trade unionism or became social in! welfare clubs (the Indian Workers, Ass ociation, West Indian Workers Associa tion and Pakistani Workers Association were born from this need of self organisation). The racism and attacks inflicted on whole communities meant that Black people set up their own clubs bars, churches and their own pulitical organisations and women's groups, de veloped their own music, poetry and ail
The exhibition documents the political parties that were built, the alliances that were made - naming far too many organisations to mention here, but they include the Pan African Congress Mine ment (1940s), the Racial Action Adjust ment Society (RAAS), Black Peoples Alliance, Black Socialist Alliance, Cum paign Against Racial Discrimination Organisation of Women of Asian uni African Descent (OWAAD).
'From Resistance to Rebellion explors that anti-colonialism, ant imperiulisin and internationalism have always played an important part in the politics of the Black community who were informed by the struggles against racism and culo nialism' in India, southern Africa and thie: Caribbean and who have organised in solidarity with Vietnam, Grenada, Cuba and the liberation movements in souther Africa.
Today we are witnessing a tent, ig increase in racist attacks in the inner cities which is backed up by the state, polic and media while labour's leaders remuin silent. The exhibition illustrates these attacks are nothing new, though with greatly increased powers, the police: (11e: now a law unto themselves. Distinctions between the police, facists and the state: were broken down in the rebellions of Handsworth, Brixton and Broudwater Farm, led by Black (and white) youth from the inner cities — the 'never employed'
This wealth of information is produced on 55 panels - so get hold of this exhibition. Organise showings for you Labour parties, trade unions, schools and community centres 29
The struggle for health
PAUL STERN David Sanders with Richard Carver, Medicine and the Politics of Underdevelopment, Macmillan 1985 £2.95 (paperback); £12.00 (hardback). I READ David Sanders' book with great pleasure. This is no ordinary text on the
problems of the suffering third world, but is about the nature of health care in a social political world having been the victim of colonialism and imperialism. The underdeveloped world is underdeveloped not just from accident of history, but because of the growth of international capital and the ravages of western industrialisation.
He describes the development of the health services in Britain, linking social advancement to the struggles of working people. For the masses living in dire circumstances in the slums around industrial conurbations, the prime health needs were for clean water, hygienic sewage disposal and adequate nutrition. Improvements in health followed the struggle for workers' rights generally, due to the growth of the Labour Party and trades unions, many of which started as triendly societies tor the protection of their members' health. The tactors which made this possible were the agricultural and industrial revolutions, which increased the production of food and commodities and forced workers to organise to protect and defend their interests. For most people the contribution of specific medical advances has been relatively minor.
The book is filled with beautiful graphs, and informative tables. Death rates from infectious diseases - the major killer of infants and children - fell impressively from 1860 to 1925, some 20 years before effective anti-infectious drugs became widely available
The practice of medicine developed with the growth of modern capitalism, 'doctoring' being the possession of gifted individuals, shrouded in mystique and not communicable to others who were not part of the magic circle. The art and not much science of healing was available only to those who could pay. In reality, for most people the contribution of specific medical advances hasbeen relatively minor.
The same analysis applies to the underdeveloped world. By and large the problems that cause early death and high illness rates are the same problems that afflicted the developed world. Poor nutritional status and low resistance to disease are the root causes of high death rates especially among the young in the 30 underdeveloped world. Many of these
Mother trained to nurse her own children in Mozambique are aggravated by colonialism and imperialism.
Some specific diseases were introduced to which indigenous popula. tions had no natural immunity; smallpox, measles and typhus. However, the greed of imperialism for raw materials and cheap labour ensured the continued depression of living standards, and often aggravated precarious supplies of food from subsistence economies to starvation where cash-crops replaced staple foods.
Imported with the economic and political effects of colonialism went the dominant ideology; the position of western technology and the ned to 'curé' patients rather than to prevent disease Like the 'inverse care law' in the developed world - where there is the greatest need there are the fewest facilities — so too the 'three-quarters rule' in underdeveloped countries. Three-quarters of the population live in rural areas, yet three-quarters of the spending on medical care is in urban areas where three-quarters of the doctors (and other health workers) live. Three-quarters of the deaths are due to conditions that can be prevented at low cost, yet three-quarters of the medical budget is spent on curative services, many of them at high cost. Ihe colonizers initiated medical care in their own image; doctors prefer to work from 'disease palaces' rather than help serve people at a local rural level.
Sanders discusses the role of multinational drug companies in the distortion of health care, big business, private medical care, and how these affect the nature of services provided in both developed and underdeveloped countries. A critical review of different kinds of health care, such as that provided in China and Cuba, the nature of 'bare-foot doctoring' and Mao's shrewd observation that changing doctors' views of themselves (working and living in the countryside) would help them to become better doctors serving the needs of the people. The real advances contributed by the Chinese experience
Carlac Guan Ratles lies in its ability to eradicate large public health problems by mass actions - the burying of snails to eliminate bilarzia is one example.
Sanders is an advocate of the Village Health Worker concept which has emerged in many underdeveloped countries. This is an attempt to tailor the delivery of health care appropriate to and under the control of the local community served by the VHW. The VHW differs from the 'auxiliary' in several fundamental respects: S/he should be selected by the people themselves, and responsible to them; should be part-time and therefore subsist by working in the community perhaps with a subsidy trom the local community or the national health service; and may be someone who has already been a 'traditional' healer and trained in the community in