THE GATHERER

Southall gripped the nation’s attention in 1979. Immigrants, mainly from the Indian subcontinent, huddled together to repel anti-immigration political party, National Front. It was one of the frequent race-riots of that era. Blue plaques with names of Gurdip Singh Chaggar and Blair Peach hang on the Town Hall’s brick wall to remind you. And footage of the street altercations, with the police either dispersing protestors or aiding the far-right group, depending on who you ask, survives on YouTube. But to assume that story a leitmotif for the area is to misunderstand what’s beginning to happen in this west London borough. Pakoras and jalebi still constantly sizzle in hot oil behind kiosks of street food vendors. And rows of shops displaying groceries, sarees, and more Asian wedding accessories under frontal  awnings   have grown longer in all directions. With HSBC bank, Poundland and Gregg’s appearing like aberrations here. Yet, change has occurred. Testament to that is, despite

So much was this trend that I was almost disappointed when 2018 ended without UK Girlguiding transgender row blowing up on  Damore-esque  scale. Perhaps, surfeited with Brexit, there was little room over Yule for the UK political-right to adopt that controversy as another spurious evidence of Britain  (indeed ‘the West’) slowly mirroring Saudi Arabia with the immediate condemnation of anyone who abhors ‘ legitimate concerns ’, whether it be over immigration, feminism or LGBTQ issues. Under guise of ‘free speech’ and allegation of ‘identity politics’ (a phrase that quickly disintegrates under scrutiny), the political-right have successfully triggered a proletariat angst across the West. The proletariat are now, of course, patriotically defending their societies, echoed in chants of ‘take back control’ in the UK and ‘drain the swamp’ in the United States.  That the human identity is fragmented, and the fragment of our identity we choose to prioritise differs individually, seems to e