Come What May, We're Here to Stay: The Story of South Asian Resistance in Britain- Book Launch with Author Taj Ali

Join Glasgow Trades Council for the launch of Taj Ali's new book 'Come What May, We’re Here to Stay': The story of South Asian resistance in Britain.

Taj Ali will be in conversation with Laura Webster, Editor of The National. Their conversation will be followed by an audience Q&A and then a book signing.

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.

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 are doomed to repeat the past or will we learn from our mistakes and build a better world together?

Taj Ali is a journalist and historian. He is the former editor of Tribune and regularly appears as a commentator on the BBC, as well as contributing to the Guardian, Al Jazeera English and others. For his work on hate crime and Islamophobia he was chosen as a finalist for the 2026 Orwell Prize.

Description supplied by the event organiser.