Activities

The anti-racist activists of the 1970s had always observed the day to remind themselves of their experience during that time. In 2010 these activists formed the Altab Ali Foundation (AAF) to observe this day in a formal way and to send messages of anti-racist solidarity to the whole community.

The Bengali community and their anti-racist allies campaigned hard for resources to establish the Altab Ali Park. Now the park has an Arch to commemorate the brutal murder of Altab Ali. The park has also been ornamented by the Bengali Martyrs Monument of the language movement to celebrate the history of Bengali settlement, heritage and culture in the East End of London.

Since forming the organisation, AAF has always organised various programme of activities without any resources. Some of these are:

• Observing the Altab Ali Day on 4^th May each year
• Publishing the Altab Ali Day Pamphlet
• Appearance of the Committee members on the Bengali Television broadcasts on talk shows and publishing articles on "Altab Ali and the Battle of Brick lane 1978" in the Bengali news papers.
• Jointly sponsoring the 75^th Anniversay celebration of the "Battle of Cable Street 1936", in 2011, and establishing a link with the "Battle of Brick Lane in 1978"

The AAF members feel that it is their duty to make sure that the future generations do not forget the importance of this day so that they can always avoid facing similar problems in future. The committee members also felt that launching of this website will highlight the contribution of Bangladeshis and other anti-racists activists and leaders in the struggle against racism and fascism not only in the east End of London, but throughout the UK.

The AAF committee members also felt that in future this organisation should get involved organising a history archive, a nation-wide essay competition for the younger generation and develop an oral history project for long term benefit of the community.