Anti-Racist Alliance 30th anniversary marked tomorrow with screening of iconic films

by: SKWAWKBOX (SW)

The ARA protesting against racist murders

A special film screening to raise funds for The Liberation Movement will mark the 30th anniversary of the founding of its predecessor the Anti-Racist Alliance (ARA) tomorrow at the Rio Cinema in Dalston.

Film directors Zak Ové, who made the award-winning Wonderful World for the ARA, and Orson Nava, maker of The Protector for ITV and a short film on Hackney’s Groundbreaking Hackney’s Diverse Curriculum the Black Contribution – all of which will be screened at the event, will take part in a Q&A chaired by Dr Margaret Busby CBE, former chair of the Booker Prize.

Dr Busby will steer what promises to be a galvanising conversation on the political and cultural shifts that have occurred over the last thirty years, and the current need for new partnerships and political collaborations.

Dalston’s Rio Cinema

Guests at this important cultural and historical event will be special forces-trained close protection officer Glen Dinnal-Allen, who stars in The Protector, and Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, Deputy Mayor and cabinet member for education, young people and children’s social care for Hackney Council, who founded the ground-breaking Hackney Black Curriculum – The Black Contribution, and the Improving Outcomes for Young Black Men project.

ARA founder Marc Wadsworth, who is curating the event, said:

Nava’s film is a gripping observational documentary that follows the special forces-trained close protection officer Glenford Dinnal-Allen who kept me alive after I was put on a “death list” by fascist paramilitary group Combat-18 in the 1990s.

My high crimes, in their twisted minds, were to have led campaigns to shut down the British National Party “nazi bunker” of a headquarters in south east London and fight racist murders like that of black teenager Stephen Lawrence. I’m still here and Combat-18 leaders are either dead or in jail. More importantly, the BNP’s Welling HQ was closed and two racist thugs were jailed for Lawrence’s murder.

I have fond memories of the Malcolm X-tribute ARA fundraiser held at the Rio in the 1990s, so it’s extremely fitting for the gig for its successor organisation, The Liberation Movement, to be held. Hackney had one of the most active ARA branches in the country, fighting racism in all its forms, which doubly makes it the right place for this screening of historically and culturally significant films associated with the campaign, which grew to become the largest Black-led movement in Europe. Its achievements included helping Stephen Lawrence’s parents to set up their justice campaign and introducing them to Nelson Mandela.

This event is part of the Hackney Black History in the Making season – the borough’s extended Black History season which runs from September – December. Proceeds from the event will go towards The Liberation Movement‘s vital anti-racism work.

Book tickets visit for the film screening here.

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