The Specials were an outspokenly left-wing band in the late 1970s and early 1980s, signed to the influential 2 Tone Records label. She was still smiling and the black T-shirt she had on under her denim jacket could be seen, bearing the name of veteran British ska band The Specials. There were additional pictures of the police taking Khan away. It signals to us that we all might be braver, that we can stand up and fight, that men who cannot tolerate difference cannot tolerate being laughed at either.”
“Female insouciance against fascism takes a special bravery. The Guardian columnist Suzanne Moore commented on what made the picture so potent. In contrast, Khan, hands in jacket pockets, seems calm and nonchalant as she gazes down at the shorter man.Ĭrossland later described Khan on Facebook as a “dirty unwashed left-wing scrubber … She’s lucky she’s got any teeth left.” With his unshaven chin jutting out, the right-winger appears to be radiating rage. In the picture, a police officer is holding Crossland back. Khan, who is a Brummie of Pakistani and Bosnian descent, stepped in because the police were not responding: “I wasn’t going to let someone who was speaking the truth and being replied to aggressively be put in that position.”Ī photograph of a slightly bemused Khan, serenely staring down the ranting EDL leader, Ian Crossland, went viral. I was alarmed and worried for my safety.” Zafar told The Guardian newspaper after the incident: “They were saying ‘You’re not English’, ‘This is a Christian country, not your country’ and ‘Go back to where you came from’. Far-right EDL members had cornered her and were shouting abuse as they closed in on her. The 20-year-old Khan intervened to defend a woman in a blue hijab, Saira Zafar, at a counter-demonstration in front of the city library. On a Saturday morning two and a half years ago, Saffiyah Khan put on a T-shirt that would change her life.Ī bunch of fascists belonging to the English Defence League (EDL) held a demonstration in the centre of Birmingham, one of the United Kingdom’s most ethnically diverse cities, on 8 April 2017. 9 July 2019: Saffiyah Khan and The Specials perform live at Coventry Cathedral ruins in Coventry, England, during the band’s 40th anniversary tour.
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