The story of South Asian resistance in the UK by Taj Ali

Come what may, we’re here to stay: The story of South Asian resistance in Britain is the debut book from historian and journalist Taj Ali.

As British South Asians reel from the riots of summer 2024, this book tells the inspirational story of how the community organised against racism in the past and how it continues to fight in the present.

A long history of British South Asian activism

British South Asians have a long tradition of radical political activism. The 1970s and 1980s saw the community grappling with prejudice in the workplace and violence in the streets.

But this history is deeper than you might think. It runs from students agitating for independence at the heart of the British Empire to seafarers organising global strikes on the eve of the Second World War.

In Come what may, we’re here to stay, Taj Ali reveals how successive generations fought for rights, dignity and a sense of belonging while actively shaping the country they now call home.

He shows that British South Asian political life has often been defined less by religious difference than by shared commitments to anti-imperialism and anti-racism. In pursuit of these goals, alliances have been forged with other movements, from Irish republicanism to Black Power.

As racism rears its ugly head again, Come what may, we’re here to stay asks: are we are doomed to repeat the past or will we learn from our mistakes and build a better world together?

About the author

Taj Ali is a journalist and historian. He is the former editor of Tribune and regularly appears as a commentator on the BBC. He also contributes to the Guardian, Al Jazeera English and others.

In 2025 he set up Anti-Racist RADAR, an organisation that monitors and reports on racist attacks in the UK. This is his first book. He has won an RSL Giles St Aubyn Award and is a finalist for The Orwell Foundation 2026 Exposing Britain’s Social Evils Prize.

Featured image via the Canary