Credit: Women Unite Against Racism oppose the electoral rise of the British National Party, 1993. Unknown photographer.

Exhibition Opening:
Thursday 1 October, 6.30 - 8.30pm 
 

Solidarity on the Streets documents East Enders’ enduring resistance to racial hatred and intolerance. 

On the eve of the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, this exhibition explores a century of collective action against racism, fascism and exclusion.

London’s East End has been a refuge for migrant communities fleeing poverty and persecution for over 500 years, from Irish migrants and French Huguenots to Eastern European Jews and South-Asian Bengalis. 

On 4th October 1936, the people of East London stopped Oswald Mosley’s fascist Blackshirts from marching at the 'Battle of Cable Street'. Jewish residents, Irish dockers, and anti-fascists united against hatred with the slogan 'They Shall Not Pass'! Forty years later, young Bengali activists mobilised against National Front racist violence. By the 1990s, a new generation were campaigning against discriminatory immigration and housing policies, overturning the election of the first British National Party (BNP) local councillor. 

Today, the East End is again a target for far-right, Islamophobic, and populist forces, from Tommy Robinson to the UK Independence Party. Solidarity on the Streets marks its anti-racist legacy, and seeks inspiration for our own troubled times.

The exhibition includes photographs by Paul Trevor, David Hoffman, Lloyd Gee, Mayar Akash, and others, alongside archive film footage and documents. Five short films, created by local residents, are shown alongside.

With many thanks to the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust, Tower Hamlets Trades Council, Tower Hamlets Archives and Bishopsgate Institute Special Collections and Archives.

Exhibition events 

Coming soon!