By: Gurnoor Jhajj, Collective Representative
At SFU’s Harbour Centre, British human rights activist and lawyer Pragna Patel delivered the annual Chinmoy Banerjee Memorial Lecture on identity and far-right politics, reflecting on four decades of activism. “We are, in effect, witnessing the rise of right-wing identity politics,” she said, explaining that authoritarian politics are no longer behind political fringes, but have spread into institutions. She linked this rise in far-right politics to the weakening of feminist and anti-racist solidarity, adding that this division threatens democracy.
Patel co-founded the Southall Black Sisters and Project Resist, both of which advocate for women’s rights and fight discrimination against marginalized women. Political Blackness emerged in the 1970s in the UK as an umbrella term to refer to all racialized individuals. It is under this idea of Blackness that the Southall Black Sisters, a feminist collective made up of mainly South Asian women, was formed.
Patel reiterated “self-defence is no offence” (the right to act in self-defence) and recalled how this line of anti-racism evolved into feminist slogans, emphasizing solidarity between women’s rights and anti-racist groups. However, over time, this shifted into different protests representing different communities, rather than a collective cause.
In her lecture, she talked about how “fascism doesn’t just surface through violence on the streets. It surfaces through the way you relate to each other.” She described working with different families who were drawn to far-right marches, where claims of “saving our women from migrant men” were made. Rather than antagonizing migrant men, her group engaged with them by focusing on “the commonalities of their experiences.”
When an audience member asked about bringing communities together in politics, Patel highlighted the importance of empathy. “Politics is very toxic at the moment. We need to return to the language of empathy and compassion and resilience.”
In an interview with The Peak, Patel reflected on the Kiranjit Ahluwalia case. This career-defining case changed how domestic abuse was seen in law. It redefined how the court understood domestic abuse, recognizing years of abuse as a legitimate defence in cases. “It made it possible in ordinary families, not just in the UK, but in India and elsewhere, to actually talk about the issues raised.” She described feminism, religion, and race as a “multidirectional struggle” and that one must challenge all forms of oppression.
She also spoke on US abortion rights: “Look at the struggles it took by women to get to this situation where abortion was legalized, and then who would have realized that it could be changed overnight.” Turning to India, she expressed concern that rising Hindu nationalism is benefitting wealthy elites while leaving most citizens behind. Patel warned that politics built on hatred “starts with those on the fringes and then it moves in.”
Her words for young people confronting this resurgence in extremism and online political hate were to “inject morality back into politics,” she said. “If we cannot uplift every single member of our country and give them the dignity and equality they deserve, then we as a country are failing.”
Patel ultimately concluded that while identities can start movements, solidarity keeps them going. “History has shown that community resistance based on need, and the language of universal rights, compassion, resilience, solidarity [ . . . ] is likely to provide the most effective weapon against authoritarianism.”
