Lecture – 1984 – The Year of Anti-Racism: Then and Now
Saturday 8 March 2025, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm GMT, London, UK
In 1984, the Greater London Council declared the Year of Anti-Racism. Join us as we commemorate the 40th anniversary with a day of engaging talks. Activists, artists, and academics will reflect on this pivotal decade and the impact of municipal activism. Hear from those who experienced it firsthand and those who now delve into the archives to better understand our present-day challenges.
Talks:
Parminder Vir OBE
Parminder will discuss the transformative work undertaken from 1979 to 1986, a defining period for Black and Asian creativity in the UK. Amidst the political and social tensions of the 1980s, this decade saw significant efforts to challenge racial discrimination in the arts. Key to this was the GLC’s Anti-Racism Year in 1984 a groundbreaking initiative aimed at confronting racism within mainstream arts institutions and promoting race equality.
This will be followed by a short Q and A with Sarah El-Taki
Tim Joubert
Under the leadership of the ‘new urban left’, the 1981-1986 GLC embarked on a transformative agenda to reshape life in London. The 1984 Anti-Racism Year is just one characteristic example of the left GLC’s efforts to bring the politics and campaigning energies of new social movements into municipal policy-making. This paper presents some reflections on how this wider encounter between radical politics and local government unfolded in practice — in the everyday work of politicised councillors and officials and their experiences navigating the constraints of municipal bureaucracy, the legal system, and local government finance, all while trying to balance their political commitments with professional responsibilities. Revisiting those experiences helps us see a more dynamic interplay between political activism and the local (and central) state, and form a more complete picture of how the successes and failures of progressive urban transformation took shape in the GLC.
Sarah El-Taki
Sarah will present an overview of her doctoral dissertation, which examines the history of state-led and municipal anti-racism initiatives. While much of anti-racist history has focused on representational politics, it has often overlooked the visual materials created by anti-racist organisations. This presentation will illuminate the campaign posters produced by the Greater London Council (GLC) in the 1980s, exploring how public images—particularly those from the 1984 Year of Anti-Racism—were designed to shape ideas of citizenship and belonging. Drawing on correspondences found in the London Archives, Sarah reveals public reactions to the evolving visual landscape in London during this period.
Biographies of Speakers:
Parminder Vir OBE’s commitment to empowering Black and Asian creativity in the UK began with her pioneering work at the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1982 to 1986. As the Ethnic Arts Officer and later Head of the Race Equality Unit, Vir led a transformative grant aid programme that supported a wide range of Black and Ethnic Minority artists and organisations, many of whom have since achieved international acclaim. She developed groundbreaking programmes for Black and Ethnic Minority arts, established training initiatives, and spearheaded race equality policies that ensured representation in mainstream arts institutions. Her early experience in Arts Administration included work with the Minority Arts Advisory Service and the Commonwealth Institute, where she programmed the first Festival of Black American Independent Cinema in February 1982. An award-winning film and television producer with 30 years of experience, Vir has produced for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and more.
As CEO of the Tony Elumelu Foundation and Advisory Board Member from 2014 to 2021, based in Nigeria, she designed and led a groundbreaking entrepreneurship programme impacting over 10,000 entrepreneurs across 54 African nations. She remains a passionate advocate for entrepreneurship as a catalyst for Africa’s social and economic development. She continues to offer strategic guidance to African enterprises, promoting structured approaches to entrepreneurship through writing, speaking, and mentorship. She is currently writing a memoir that interweaves these many facets of her career.
Tim Joubert is a scholar and activist based in Leeds, with a background in urban geography and political and social sciences. His PhD from the University of Leeds revisited the politics of the 1981-1986 GLC in relation to contemporary debates on radical ‘municipalism’, where local government and urban social movements meet.
Sarah Samira El-Taki is a British scholar specialising in visual culture, currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark. She has submitted her PhD thesis at the University of Copenhagen and is set to defend it in early 2025. Sarah holds an MA in Visual Culture from Lund University, Sweden, and is affiliated with the Sarah Parker Remond Centre at University College London (UCL). Her research focuses on the history of photography, Black British visual culture, and the dynamics of British multiculturalism.
Find more information and book your place here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1984-the-year-of-anti-racism-then-and-now-tickets-1088677326189
This event will be held at The London Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London, UK.