Call for proposals: Legacies of Black radicalism in Britain

Ebb Magazine is seeking pitches for essays to be included in a special issue on the topic of ‘The legacies of Black radicalism in Britain’, edited by Azfar Shafi, to be published in late 2023. Pitches of 200-300 words should be sent to editorial@ebb-magazine.com by 31st August 2023.

This special issue will address the ways in which the legacy of Black radical organising, undertaken by African, Asian and Caribbean communities in Britain from the late 1960s, has been misremembered, overlooked, or internationally distorted.

It will seek to recover and reassess the histories of Black radicalism in Britain, its contributions to socialist, labour and anti-imperialist politics, and contemporary debates over the eventual march of Black politics into the institutions under Thatcher years – best symbolised by the formation of the Labour Party Black Sections in 1983. 

While there has been a renewed interest of the histories of African, Asian and Caribbean organising in Britain during the 1960-80s, much of this has – with notable exceptions – functioned to retrospectively validate the shift away from autonomous Black community organising and towards a Black ‘civic’ politics centred on electoral politics, ‘representative’ bodies and professionalised antiracism over the course of the 1980s and 90s.

Often presenting Black radicalism as merely a prelude to the state multiculturalism of later decades, these retellings of Black radicalism also serve to bolster the credentials of both Black political figures and institutions of the British left who contributed to and benefitted from this civic turn. In doing so, the potent Black radical critiques of British trade union economism, labourism, imperialism, and the limits of the post-war welfare state are dismissed.

This issue intends to correct the record on Black radicalism in Britain by critically engaging the prevailing narratives of Black radicalism and multiculturalism, recovering the theoretical and practical contributions of Black radical organising on its own terms – both during its height and during the transition period of the 1980s.

We are looking for essays on the following, non-exhaustive list of subjects

• Black worker struggles in, outside of, and in conflict with trade unions

• Black communities’ antifascist organising and their engagement with white-led antifascism

• Third World solidarity and anti-imperialism of Black radicalism and engagements with political organisations in the Global South

• Black radical engagements with and articulations of socialism and Marxism

• Black radical perspectives on the Labour Party, Labour Party Black Sections, and Municipal Socialism

• Black feminisms, women’s organising, and their trajectories

• Debates on the path forward for Black politics under Thatcherism

• Profiles on Black radical organisations and organisers

• Pitches on other related topics would be welcome.

Final contributions are expected to be in essay form, from 2500-5000 words, though different lengths can be discussed with editors. Profiles may be shorter.

Please email a summary pitch of 200-300 words to editorial@ebb-magazine.com by 31st August with the email subject ‘Black radicalism in Britain issue’. Any questions can be sent to the same address.

Please note any previous writing or organising work that may be relevant to the topic, if applicable, in your pitch.