Remembering Darcus Howe - film showing of The Mangrove Nine

Darcus Howe (1943-2017) was perhaps the most prominent radical black journalist and activist in the post-war period in the UK. He opened the Mandela Centre on Chapeltown Road in Leeds in 1984. This event will discuss his legacy for international politics today.

Darcus made a huge impact when he defended himself in court in 1971 on trumped-up charges against people supporting The Mangrove restaurant in Notting Hill. He became editor of the magazine Race Today in the early 1970s and co-edited (with Tariq Ali) Channel 4's Bandung File in the 1980s. Later he presented the programme Devil's Advocate and led documentaries on black Britain. He was a columnist for the New Statesman.

At this event a screening of the documentary film The Mangrove Nine (made by his comrades Franco Rossi and John la Rose, 1974) will be followed by a panel discussion led by Arthur France MBE. Arthur was a friend of Darcus's. He was a leading figure in the Black Power movement in Leeds in the 1960s and 70s, a founder of the Leeds West Indian Carnival, and he continues to struggle for black people's rights to justice, equality and education.

Robin Bunce, co-author of the official biography of Darcus Howe, will be on the panel. Details of his book are here http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/darcus-howe-9781849666510/

Darcus, like Arthur, was an advocate for the politics and art of the Trinidad carnival and this event will include a special calypso in tribute to Darcus Howe written by the famous calypsonian Alexander D Great.

The event is free, but a collection will be made. It is sponsored by Leeds Stand Up To Racism, Remember Oluwale, Conversations in Black History (Leeds University) and Leeds TUC.

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