Film Number

7678

Title

A. SIVANANDAN MEETING - AUDIENCE RESPONSE

Producer

WFA

Date

1987

Gauge

U-matic LB

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Running Time

59 mins 54 secs

Description

A public meeting at the Ascension Church in Hulme, Manchester, the sanctuary for Viraj Mendis under threat of deportation to Sri Lanka. The meeting is organised by Black People's Action Group (BPAC) with the guest speaker Ambalavaner Sivanandan, the editor of Race and Class and Director of the Institute of Race Relations in London. Siv (as he is popularly known) having finished his talk, people from the audience respond. Raises discussion about media and government, use of migrant workers in nuclear plants, importance to reconstitute black as a political colour, police authoritarianism, sanctuary as a movement in the context of liberation theology and Christianity, and the dynamics of race and class. Followed by Steve Randall from BPAC who speaks about Viraj Mendis' case, the threat of his deportation and how his campaign is symbolic of what the community can do. Viraj Mendis then speaks about his situation and is followed by contributions from Paul Okojie about the legal battle, and Kath Locke about history from the eyes of an older woman, the negative aspects of urban aid and her worries about the ghetto and attacks being made on it.

[Catalogued as part of 'Revitalising the Regions' a Screen Heritage UK project, 2011]