Mr. Mohammed Abdus Salam



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Mr. Mohammed Abdus Salam

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Mr. Mohammed Abdus Salam

Age: 49

Interview date: 22 _ Jun _ 06



Interviewed by: Jamil Iqbal

Mr. Salam is the founding member of Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO), which was based at the Robert Montefiore Centre. In the late 1907s PYO took the lead in street confrontations with racist NF and was associated with many distinctive social youth activities.



Mr. Mohammed Abdus Salam

Q: Can you tell us about Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO), we came to know that you were one of the founders of the Progressive Youth Organisation. Why did you think, that sort of organisation was needed for the community?

I am going to give you some of the historical background why was it necessary then. I came from Bangladesh, the then East Pakistan in 1969, with my parents. I had registered in local secondary school which was Montefiore Secondary School. I attended in the school for few months only, couldn’t continue due to racist attacks, racial abuse and street attacks by Skinheads and (White) schoolmates. I joined evening classes then. I need to mention, there was a teacher named Joe Hunt who was the Senior Equality Officer in Toynbee Hall. He kindly gave us a room to run evening classes. It was run by Peter East, who has passed away; David Edger was one of the teachers with the help of Abdul Jabbar who has also passed away.

However, I am coming back to why it was necessary for forming of the Progressive Youth Organisation. I have experience and I have faced racist problems in the school background and the street. Then I realised that life here in this country will be difficult. Subsequently I met some other friends from Brick Lane of similar age. I think beginning in 1970 we were hanging around in Varden Street. We were attacked by a group of White young people, and we had confronted and we fought with them and we stood up. Then we were thinking that, we are here to stay in this country and we have to fight back, how can we fight back, how can we stand on our own feet?



So we all then became student of evening class. We also felt, in order to fight socially and politically, we have to have certain level of education. So we attended evening classes until mid 1970. Our evening class then moved to Ken Burden Primary school [not sure of spelling]. Then one of our veteran teachers who inspired us, his name is Abdul Aziz. He inspired us to prepare for an organisation and so on. He is the writer of the song ‘Hairee Mujib Kandari’. His record became the first in Calcutta during that time. He sold 6000 copies of his song in Trafalgar Square during the Independence rally in 1971. Then gradually we became involved with youth activities. Being young ourselves, we also were taking some responsibility to provide some voluntary activity for other young people down the area. At the same time we were also aware how our parents are coping with this hostile environment we tried to advice about employment the little we knew and provide support going to the DHS office, Police Station and housing and so on. Although our English was also poor but we felt that we will be able to support and to help our older generation. Then around mid 1970s, I think it was 1974 or 1975, our group became little bit bigger and we also felt that we have to be physically tough and intellectually tough. We also believed, we have to prepare our young people to stand on their own feet and to fight back. We then started physical training and kung-fu. I think it was 1972 or 1973 as far I can remember we used to go to Royal Oak far from here once or twice a week organising people and the same time, we were organising ourselves and thinking that we want to form an youth organisation. Finally in mid 1970s, Skinheads were marching throughout Brick Lane, they used to assemble in corner of Brick Lane at Bethnal Green Road, selling their newspaper and from there they used to scatter all over the Tower Hamlet in groups, wherever they find in their terms ‘Pakis’ we were as Bengali they used to beat us up. We organised ourselves to combat as a guerrilla fight hit and run. We knew the police will not help and support, police were always with the White people’s side. So we developed the tactics of hit and run. When they used to march throughout Brick Lane, it was difficult for us to confront hundreds of BNP, we were only handful. I used to live in Brick Lane at that time, when they use to march and scatter around Tower Hamlets and especially Brick Lane area. We then used to confront as a group physically. Because they were hitting our elders, smashing shops and all kind of things, and it was affecting local business. Gradually our group becoming bigger and bigger; one of our community leader Jaffar Khan, who passed away, used to encourage and support us. He used to live in Castle House in Castle Street and in his house we formed the Progressive Youth Organisation. We chose the name because we are changing the system from one system to another in progressive manner. Which was a kind of transforming young people which we did. We formally established the youth organisation, I think in the late 1970s, 1978-1979. We were then given place at (the) Montefiore Centre. Our base was in Montefiore Centre; then Montefiore Centre was a very much White dominated Centre. I think it was around the time of killing of Altab Ali. We were based there and we ran our activities, more advocating and more elders supporting us and so on. We then become affiliated with other national bodies, local authorities and so on. We had a half a dozen of staff. So then our group becoming bigger, we were campaigning against racism, against institutional racism and against police harassment and so on.

Altab Ali murder is one of the incidents. We were happy the way we demonstrated. OK we managed to gather thousand of people. This demonstration had an impact politically, but it would not give a direct benefit of Brick Lane. We realised that, we knew from our own intelligence that White racist were planning of attack Brick Lane when we were off to the demonstration to the West End. Members of Progressive Youth Organisation did not participate in the demonstration up to the West End. Not because we didn’t like it, because we knew when everybody would go to the West end, the White packs will come and attack and they did because we had our own intelligence. They attacked Brick Lane and we defended them because we knew they will find Brick Lane empty and they will run over. They will rampage as small groups and they did and we confronted. We might not (have) succeeded hundred percent, but we confronted physically, and fought. That deterred them; that Brick Lane is not completely empty, there are people who can fight back and can defend. This is the beginning of our fight, and there on it continued. Every Saturday and Sunday we took on lead. People used to say to us the ‘side bag boys’. We used to have our side bags, because of the training and so on. They were coming in Tower Hamlets and they were offering us in Brick Lane and people were complaining because of our fight and struggle had affected their local business. But at the same time they were sympathetic and supporting us, the so called businessmen.



So it continued, from then to 1980s and I think Progressive Youth Organisation was one of the instrumental group and then there were other groups; Youth Movement, Youth Front and Youth League. They had joined with the struggle, but Progressive Youth Organisation took the lead on the street confrontations and social youth activities then. At the end of 1970s and the beginning of 1980s, we were very much with the young people. We knew, that we have to prepare our own young people; intellectually, socially and politically. We also felt, in the beginning of the 1980s, education is one of the principle thing for any development. So we felt that our parents, our elders were not able to cope with the educational institutions, they had not much idea or we were not equipped enough to help our own kids at home. Nor they had sufficient accommodation for home work. We knew there was a big gap; still today there are many, many parents who are not able to understand fully the target level, the achievement and attainment level etc. Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4. I have considerable amount of idea, because I was a governing body member of Smithy School. So in 1980s, we were thinking specifically on education, how can we help our young people, being young ourselves. There was a lacking, there was a big gap. When kids come from the school, there bring bag of home works; at home there is no scheduled place, nor anyone to help. So this is one of the reasons, our kids were failing very much, from mid 1970s to mid 1980s and up to 1990. We then from Progressive Youth Organisation; established for keen students home work support class. Kamal Ahmed was the youth officer in the Youth Service, who was one of my colleagues in PYO, as youth worker. He was the youth officer and he was also of like minded. He was thinking in the same way. He put few of us together and said, “Look, let’s kick on, let’s set up an educational project, specifically supporting home work support class”. So we established Keen students’ supplementary school, in mid 80s. I am a member of the committee. It was based in PYO youth club in Davenant Centre, with six students on the first day. Now about 700 students are registered with it. Hundreds of pupils went to Cambridge, Oxford and other local universities. Because we were aware, youths were failing and education was the prime aspect in order to develop any community in a society. Youth were failing for only 2, 3, or 4 marks or only on the borderline of Bs and as and so on. So I think we have achieved that to some extent, not fully, it will take another half a century and so on. This is what I feel proud, we are still involved with keen students from the beginning. Once the Education Minister came down to our school few years back, in a celebration party, and she said, “If she was living in Tower Hamlets she would have been sending her kids to the school”. She being the Education Minister then consulted with Blair [Prime Minster] to pump in money with the local schools to set up after school evening class. And provide money for the schools for the education support in schools. It is a kind of campaign going on all over the country. This is one of the reasons why Tower Hamlets is catching up with the League Table. May be it will take another quarter century to become place like other Boroughs. So this started from there, from Progressive Youth Organisation.

But at the same time we were continuing with other issues, by that time there were lots of other youth organisations had been established, and then we felt that there should be a big forum, then the Federation of Bangladeshi Youth Organisations (FBYO) was established. Subsequent after that BENTH [Bengali Educational Needs in Tower Hamlets] was established. These were some of the things started by us educationally, socially and politically. Of course there were lots of other groups were doing the same things but we were taking the lead. One of the reasons, why I personally become strongly involved with these activities, was because we felt then in Bangladesh, when we go back to Bangladesh, we face problem, we get beaten up in the airport, facing problems in homes and villages and towns. There was a sort of short of security. Then when we come back here, we face Skinheads and National Front. Then we caught in between this two. Then we said, now we are here and we have to fight and we are here to stay. And our generation have to make our own platform, because we are the citizen of the country, so that personally gave me more determination, because I was in Bangladesh and I faced harassment in airport and in village in Sylhet, because of lots of corruptions. Then I came back, and I was thinking, “I am here, I might go to Bangladesh for holiday, but this is our country, UK. We have to stay here and we have to stay with dignity and right and everything like other citizens”. So that gave me determination, and the group was known in the borough and other parts of the country. We were unfortunately known as extremists to the other politicians in Tower Hamlets. That gave us a lever to some extent. In order to fight back, if we were being called extremists, I don’t mind. You cannot ask, you can give slogans in Brick Lane ‘I want peace, I want peace’. No, peace has to be achieved through fight, what ever fight it required, political fight, mental fight, physical fight and when we were beaten up by White young people, police used to come and say, “You prove it, that you were been beaten up by White young people”. He hit me and left, he went away, how can I prove it? That is the remark from the police officer and they don’t take notice of it, they take no count. We knew, and then we said alright, we become more determined, the more we faced struggle, the more we become determined. It becomes more strength. That’s led up to 1990s, then we all becoming councillors, kind of a trend of becoming councillor. We Progressive Youth Organisation people have now become adults, our priority is to educate young people. Now we have to start with something positive. We didn’t become councillors. Let the other fight for council issues but we were aware of the issues of housing and homelessness and education and so on. In order to fight and tackle, you have to have some kind of understanding. You have to have mental ability. So our aim was to educate young people. We used to provide non-curricular activities massively. We have established few youth organisation in the Tower Hamlets then. We established the Phoenix Youth Organisation in Bow, now it has run out of business. We established a youth organisation in Shoreditch, a Bengali mother tongue project. We initiated the project. We initiated and we invited the local people who took part in the project were able and trained, we let them, the local people, take the responsibilities. So far I know Mr. Chunnu Miah is still running.

Our main objective was to train and prepare young people, make them aware about the issues and so on. When we used to work within Progressive Youth Organisation, we were making young people education activities to other countries. We used to get money from the local authority and so on. We used to spent lot of money to give them the sense of responsibility and new ideas and new aspirations. We used to these activities to different countries, inviting other European countries. We were able to build up a network throughout the European countries. That gave young people social and educational advancement. We believed in transformation. We believed in openness. In late 1990s, PYO was handed over to other subsequent young groups. It was based in Davenant Centre 5-6 years ago, unfortunately there was a dispute between two groups and one group lost it and went to the court, therefore 5-6 years ago, Progressive Youth Organisation is not there anymore. But we the people, the Progressive Youth Organisation was established by us and we were still based in Davenant Centre because the PYO was there, and they lost the case. They moved out. I am one of the person involved with PYO, legally the name, the power is lost due to the court case. But we were still in Davenant Centre.



Q: Where did you used to get the funding for Progressive Youth Organisation in the initial stage? 
Initially we used to get funding from ILEA Youth Service budget. Then we got some funding from GLC. Then gradually we used to get funding from local authority. We used to get funding from charitable organisations, trusts. The funding was not exactly regular but we were able to manage it.

We had about half a dozen staff. And the end of 1980s and beginning of 1990s we had 3 or 4 staff. We were providing advisory service to the local youth and the local people.



Q: Were you physically abused by the racist? 
Many, many times, we were the group as a whole, many times in Brick Lane and Spitalfields and so on.

Personally I was attacked by a group of White young people, Almighty Allah saved me. I was attacked by individual young people with screw driver and everything. The question is how I am alive and saved. I think due to my awareness, I am still alive with the blessing of Almighty. I knew, and I think I was able to read their mind particularly. I knew because we were targeted in this little area. They knew that I was one of the trouble makers, I am one of the group members who is around Brick Lane and other parts of the borough. So they used to follow up and chase and they tried to run over me by car. One day I was standing in front of the Naz cinema hall, and a group of young people who were driving a car tried to run over me. I just jumped aside. Another time they attacked with the screw driver, they were asking me directions, how could you not help someone when asking directions and is a question of morality if you don’t help. I was convinced and was I was trying to tell them the directions and they tried to hit me with the hammer. I just moved back in time and saved.

One day I was coming from Stratford after finishing my gym, I got on (the) 25 bus, got off at Brick Lane and half a dozen of young people attacked me and they got me in a circle; police was standing on the opposite side of the road. I was upset and was calling the policeman to see what’s happening here. I was screaming and shouting, as if he is not hearing, as if he is not seeing anything. Then finally he came to rescue me and they just went away. He basically let them go, he didn’t tell them anything. That was the police reactions in mid 1970s and 1980s. If you were beaten up, they can’t do anything. You have to prove. But now the situation is much different, now the legislation has made racial abuse an offence. We knew then, it was an offence, but it was extremely difficult to convince the politicians then.

Q: Tell us about Brick Lane then, and what do you think of Brick Lane now? 
Brick Lane has now become world famous, it has attracted the whole European community, it has become one of the icon of our country. In 1970s Brick Lane was very rundown, there were rundown buildings and apart from couple of restaurants, there was nothing much. There was lots of rag trade and tailoring factories, here and there but now things have changed.

There was the Truman Brewery, producing alcohol and so on. I was young myself, it was difficult to perceive then that after 25-30 years, Brick Lane would be one of the icons in Great Britain and it would be one of the tourist attraction place in the country. 1980s was a much different age. It was dream. Today’s businessmen and today’s community workers, politicians in Brick Lane are enjoying, that is what we have established in 1970s. We knew that there will be time, we will be able to drive the young people and drive away particularly street racism from this part of the world. We may not be successful to drive institutional racism from Tower Hamlets but it would not be possible politically because in the parliament there is more right wing MPs. I think the whole European politics is towards right wing.

However, I think today’s racism is kind of more subtle, institutionally more subtle. Still in Town Hall in Tower Hamlets, the employment and the training sector is not reflecting the community in Tower Hamlets. There should have been a fast track system. There are people coming up, both male and female are coming up with the first class degrees and are not getting jobs in the borough.

Q: What about the ethnic minority graduate programme, they take every year 10-15 students from ethnic minority background. Is it not fast tracking, because most of these guys after the programme end up getting jobs in Tower Hamlets council? 

In regards to the population of Tower Hamlet, the ratio is minus! I saw today in newspaper somewhere, 30,000 people are employed by Canary Wharf, how many people around Tower Hamlets is working in Canary Wharf? only a handful. So there should be a project, where people coming up from the universities with the first class and the second class should be fast tracked and should have massive kind of employment. They should have a monitoring system. How do we know, how many first year senior officers are people from the ethnic minority community, or in five years time, how many professional people from ethnic minority people will have higher jobs in the councils, we don’t know, we don’t have any monitoring system. To have a few teachers, to have a few social workers, it doesn’t reflect the employment situation in Tower Hamlets. Its only possible if radical change comes in politics in Tower Hamlets Council.



Q: What do you think of the young generation now?
The way I think of things is quite disappointing. There are some people coming up with the education from local university and local college. About 30% of the population in Tower Hamlets are of 15 to 16 and is massive population. It is now 2006, and we are not able to engage nor even substantial amount of young people are engaged with any form of non-curriculum activities.

Because, the government didn’t invest money early enough. In case of housing and primary education, if our parents were educated in terms of providing information, or engaged in how school runs, school system, then probably our parents would have been able to understand the school curriculum. Now the second generation are able to go to school, talk to the school teachers, find out what was happening, why he is not doing well, what is the problem? Still there is a gap and lacking, the teacher do not always prepare class in terms of abilities, they do not differentiate. They put young people, students, mentally able children mixed with low calibre students. There might be debate with this issue but I don’t to take the risk, I don’t the experiments done on my kids. My kids, my children not able to learn, not able to improve his or her understanding. If he is joined with low calibre students, he will not able to stimulate, he will not be able to exercise his own talent to improve educationally. So he or she will be marching in the same place.

This is one of the reasons teachers have still lower expectations of our kids. I know it, because I was the governing body member, I know how the school system runs. So still our parents are not prepared fully.

So our kids fail from beginning, fail from primary. When they go to secondary school they are different regime different environment, some pupil can cope, some pupil can’t cope. If kids fail from primary school in year six, he will not be able to cope in year seven. He will be subject to supplying additional support in home and in school. How many of the parents will be able to fight for the children’s special need. We don’t know about the special need. There is nothing wrong with the special need children, the local education has the responsibility to provide adequate facilities for all children. So we don’t know, we don’t know anything about the special needs provision. So the kids are failing from the year six. And gradually he will fail in the year 7, 8 and 9. Some young pupil will go through. Some pupils who fail from the 4th year and 5th year, they are on the street.


What I am saying, when we do a business, we have to invest our money first. We have to have our own aims. And at the end we will have some profit. Government, even the Blair government is talking investing money on education. But it is not enough, it was severely less in 1970s and 1980s. Today’s products are 1980s investment. Less investments on education, it will take a century for a return. Today’s investment might give some result after ten years. So there is a gap. This 20 or 30 thousand young people are on the street all the time. Unless massive investment on the community level to the youth service, to training, unless massive outreach work focusing young people, targeting groups, its not an easy job, its not an easy job at all. I am saying, still our parents has to become more involved and sincere. We should spend (more) time. We should not blame the local authorities and the local government only. We must take some responsibilities ourselves as parents, as parents you have moral duty and responsibility to spend some time with your own children, socially at home and at domestic level. We need to build the bridge with our own kids. We need to listen to our kids, no matter how old they are. We must engage them in ‘What he thinks about us’, ‘What he thinks about what happening in the school’, ‘What is wrong, and all kind of stuff’. Then you will feel easy, then he will feel that he has been respected, because you are prepare to listen to him. As parents, we send our kids to school and we wash our hands and that’s it. That’s not right. It is a partnership, without that partnership, there will not be an education for the kids. Failing from parental side as well. We have to invest our time with our own kids and if possible to spend money for private tuitions, or send students to supplementary schools in the evening. We still can take hundred students in supplementary school. It is very sad, it’s very bleak. Some kids are succeeding, some kids will succeed. Vast number of young people are still failing. Because we the parents and the local authority didn’t invest money early enough. We did not become proactive. And we are receiving the result today. Our young are on the street. They are busy with drugs, dope and alcohol. Our parents have to be very aware, and they have to go to the school, doesn’t matter if the kid is in the year 3 or 4, and ask the teacher, find out what is happening, why he is not doing well. What’s the problem. Once you start questioning, they will pay respect. So again, its partnership.

I must say, gradually our young people are doing better, but proportionally it is not enough. We are still in the bottom of the league because this is a highly concentrated borough in the country. And we are not producing high calibre young pupil from the community.



Q: Will you stay here or will you go back to Bangladesh, when you retire? 
It is a fantasy thinking, it is not practical. We made UK our home. We are part of the country, part of the society. It is our home, I believe myself as second generation. My kids are the third generation, they are here growing up, born and brought up. They will marry and extend their family as well. Then obviously you can’t get out. Basically it is our home. Like people who live in Bangladesh, they would not want to come to England for their retirement. They might come to the UK for a holiday, but they will not be away from the whole entire family, only for the retirement. Similarly we here in Britain, we are part of the society and part of the community, we are here. This is our home. Back home obviously we will go to see our fatherland, motherland. Of course we will have to go to Bangladesh, I took my whole entire family to Bangladesh last year. They visited Chittagong, Dhaka and so on. Then we went to India, Calcutta, Delhi and so on. They love to go again, but it is very expensive. So we are here.

That was our aim in 70s, that in order to stay here with some dignity, we have to fight on three levels; socially, politically and physically. We have kept on pressuring the local authorities and still we are not able to achieve the complete solution of the housing problem. Education to some extent has been solved, but there is a big gap, and we have to narrow the gap. And the parents have to become more aware. Otherwise we are in deep trouble.



Before the end of the interview I would like to say a few words in memory of Peter East.
Peter East from evening class, one day he invited us to TOC H. He showed us the facilities, and he gave us the opportunity that we can use his place for a recreational activity. I used to go for training and play badminton and so on. Almost every weekend, we used to go there, we used to cook ourselves, we used to eat and we had fun and discussions and all sorts of things. That continued for a year or two. I used to say this was one of the significant activity which gave us strength and services and opportunity that we needed. We needed a place, we needed a person who was able to encourage us in relation to non-curriculum activities. Peter East was the person who inspired us at the beginning. Peter was the person who worked very hard with the youth services in order to getting registration with the youth service list. Later Youth Service accepted our organisation as a youth group. Since then in mid 70s, they used to giving us some funds for play schemes. Peter East is one of the instrumental persons for the pre-Progressive Youth Organisation times. He gave us foundation at the beginning. We miss him a lot.

Q: Were you a resident of TOC H? 
No, I had my own flat. I used to live in Brick Lane. We used to assemble there at TOC H. I used to live in Princelet Street. We used to gath
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