“If Cable Street has taught us anything, it is that we can and should rely on each other for our collective protection.”
Apsana Begum MP spoke at the demonstration commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street on October 4th. You can read her speech published below:
For 90 years, this part of London and much beyond has been shaped by the Battle of Cable Street.
The bravery of those tens of thousands of women, men and children has been passed down from generation to generation.
When we’ve seen our communities mobilising for their collective self-defence in the decades that followed, we know that legacy lives on.
Whether through the Battle of Brick Lane, with the Bangladeshi community and socialist and trade unionist allies mass mobilised for their rights, chanting here to stay, here to fight.
Or in the 1990s, the Bangladeshi community and working class allies defeating the BNP on the Isle of Dogs.
And in more recent years, when East Enders stood up and stood together shoulder to shoulder against the EDL and UKIP thugs that have attempted to march into our neighbourhoods.
East Enders who have come together to protect themselves and each other against racism, intolerance and division.
East Enders who know that solidarity is not solidarity if it doesn’t extend beyond borders from Kashmir to Palestine, Sudan to Congo and more.
Because every street is Cable Street.
I look around, and I know that this is the living inheritance of Cable Street, of those Jewish and anti-fascist protesters who stood shoulder to shoulder 90 years ago and declared, No Pasarán! They shall not pass.
Had they listened to the warnings of the police and the political establishment at that time, they would have stayed at home, and the fascists would have overrun East London.
But they did not.
They organised on factory floors and the dockyards, in synagogues and churches and more.
And they kept organising long after the 4th of October 1936.
Comrades and friends, this is what we all must do against the rise in hate crimes, against the rise of Islamophobia and antisemitism, and the rise of the far right that’s gaining ground on the streets and in the polls, and against the targeting of refugees and asylum seekers.
Today, people of all backgrounds, multicultural, multiracial, from all faiths and none, from all walks of life and from all around the world, are sending a message to all those seeking to sow division in our area: not in our streets, not in our communities, not anywhere.
If Cable Street has taught us anything, it is that we can and should rely on each other for our collective protection.
Racism and fascism will be defeated from Cable Street, East London.
And yes, every street once again: solidarity.
- This article is a published version of the speech given by Apsana Begum MP at the demonstration commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street on 4th October.
- Apsana Begum is the MP for Poplar and Limehouse and a regular contributor to Labour Outlook. You can follow Apsana on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram and Tik Tok.
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