Across three hour-long episodes this week, ‘Defiance: Fighting the Far Right’ on Channel 4 examines how Britain’s South Asian community was targeted with a campaign of violence and murder as National Front racist activity became increasingly prominent between 1976 and 1981.
Filmmaker Rajesh Thind, who grew up in a Punjabi household in west London as an eyewitness to some of the violence, was determined to bring the stories of the British Indian community’s fightback to life and spotlight their courage and resilience in the face of brutal anti-immigrant rhetoric and attacks.
He said: “I believe that it's crucial that British people understand that the history of the battles British Asian communities fought to establish themselves in the UK is an integral part of our collective history. If we don't know our history, then how can we map out our future?
“My father was born near Ludhiana (Punjab) and my mother was born in Tanzania. Ever since I was a child witnessing those events of the late 1970s and early 1980s, I have wanted to tell these stories of how we British Asians fought back against the National Front and other racist and fascist organisations.
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“While I was only small, I grew up watching kids just a few years older than me standing firm and strong in the face of the most terrible threats and violence, both from racist thugs but also – too often – from authorities who themselves were indifferent, or worse, to the suffering of minority communities.”
The series, which investigates seminal events such as the Southall protests, is created by Rogan Productions, Left Handed Films and GroupM Motion Entertainment using a cache of archive footage and compelling new testimony from key figures on the frontline at the time. It was commissioned by Shaminder Nahal, Channel 4 Head of Specialist Factual, who believes it is a timely documentary at a time when Britain has its first Prime Minister of Indian heritage in Rishi Sunak and Scotland also has a First Minister of South Asian heritage in Humza Yousaf.
Nahal said: “I couldn’t be more excited to have been able to commission this series, which feels like it will be the first of its kind.
“At a moment when we have a British Asian Prime Minister, and an Asian First Minister in Scotland, it is incredibly powerful to be able to tell the stories of everyday British Asians fighting to make their way in this country and to be heard.”
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Executive Producer for Rogan Productions James Rogan said: “A comprehensive telling of the extraordinary experiences of a generation of Asian refugees and migrants who came to Britain and faced unprecedented wave of racial violence, stood their ground and turned the tide, is long overdue.
“In the hands of a brilliant creative team, this will be a landmark documentary packed with jaw-dropping stories and thrilling tales of resistance, breaking new ground on stories long overlooked forgotten.”