Image credit: New Road, Whitechapel, London, June 1976 by Paul Trevor

Battle for the East End

Wednesday 7th October 2026 at 6:30 PM

See here for tickets

David Rosenberg, Nurjahan Julie Begum and Taj Ali join us to discuss the enduring legacy of resistance to racism and fascism in the East End, from the battle of Cable Street to the Bengali activists of 1978, and Women Unite Against Racism in the 1990s.

As part of our Solidarity on the Streets  exhibition (2 Oct - 31 Oct 2026) Four Corners is hosting events to discuss the legacy of the Battle of Cable Street and activism against racism, fascism and exclusion.

Speaker Biographies:

Taj Ali is a journalist and historian. He is the former editor of Tribune Magazine and author of Come What May, We’re Here to Stay: the Story of South Asian Resistance in Britain.

David Rosenberg  is an educator, writer, and tour guide of London’s radical history. He is the author of Battle for the East End (2011) and Rebel Footprints (3rd edition 2026), and has written widely on London’s social history.

Nurjahan Julie Begum has worked locally in youth and community settings, and taught English to refugees and asylum seekers, and in adult social care. She has written about the Bengali Language Movement, The World in the East End at the V&A Museum of Childhood, and a bi-lingual play The Altab Ali Story, which was dramatised in the Season of Bangla Drama. In 2000 she helped set up the Swadhinata Trust, a Bengali heritage organisation. In 2017, she received the Award for Outstanding Service to the Community. 

There will also be the opportunity to view the current exhibition Londoni Memoirs, in the main gallery.