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Ash Sarkar

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Ash Sarkar
Sarkar in 2021
Born
Ashna Sarkar

1992 (age 31–32)
London, England
Alma materUniversity College London (BA, MA)
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • academic
  • activist
Political partyLabour (2019–2021)
RelativesPritilata Waddedar (great–great–aunt)

Ashna Sarkar (born 1992) is a British journalist and libertarian communist political activist. She is a senior editor at Novara Media and teaches at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam. Sarkar is a contributor to The Guardian and The Independent.

Early life and education

Ashna Sarkar was born in London in 1992.[1][2][3] Her great-great-aunt, Pritilata Waddedar, was a Bengali nationalist who participated in armed struggle against the British Empire in 1930s Bengal.[4] Her grandmother is a hospital carer.[5] Her mother is a social worker[5] who was an anti-racist and trade union activist in the 1970s and 1980s,[4][6] helping to organise marches following the racially motivated murder of Altab Ali.[6]

She attended Enfield County School, an all-girls comprehensive school, before moving to the Latymer School, a selective grammar school for sixth form education.[5] She has both an undergraduate and a master's degree in English literature from University College London.[7]

Career

Sarkar is a senior editor at Novara Media[8] and teaches at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam.[9] In 2017, she taught global politics at Anglia Ruskin University as an associate lecturer.[5]

She is a contributor to The Guardian[8] and The Independent.[5] She has been a panelist on BBC Question Time and Any Questions?,[10][11][12] and is a frequent panellist on BBC Radio 4's Moral Maze.[13]

Sarkar appeared in the 2019 BBC documentary series Rise of the Nazis to "illuminate the context and perspective of Ernst Thälmann, the leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) from 1925 to 1933, who died in a concentration camp in 1944".[14]

In July 2021, Bloomsbury said it would publish Sarkar's debut book, Minority Rule.[15]

In 2023, Sarkar was ranked forty-fifth on the New Statesman's Left Power List, described by the magazine as "one of the left’s most ubiquitous commentators".[16]

Writings and commentary

Ash Sarkar
Sarkar in December 2019

In her writings and commentary, Sarkar has expressed anti-imperialist,[4] feminist,[17] anti-fascist,[6] and libertarian communist[7] views. She has taken part in anti-racist, anti-fascist and anti-Trump protests[18] and in 2018 backed a hunger strike to protest against the detention of asylum seekers at Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre.[19] She supported the Stansted 15's actions against deportation flights.[20]

After a clip of her telling Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain that she was "a communist" went viral, Sarkar clarified her views as libertarian communist, a "long termist" who supports the former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn's anti-austerity policies.[7][21][22] Sarkar has described her view on communism as being "about the desire to see the coercive structures of state dismantled, while also having fun. It's not about driving everybody down to the same level of abjection, but making aesthetic pleasures and luxuries available to all."[7]

After joining the Labour Party during the UK general election campaign in late 2019, Sarkar became closely associated in the media commentary on Corbyn's democratic socialist project.[11][23][24] Sarkar announced that she had left the Labour Party in September 2021.[25]

In September 2018, Sarkar defended anti-Zionist activist Ewa Jasiewicz, who, together with Yonatan Shapira, had painted "Free Gaza and Palestine, liberate all ghettos" onto a wall of the Warsaw Ghetto. Jasiewicz was scheduled to speak at a Momentum conference that was running alongside the official Labour conference. Sarkar wrote on Twitter that Jasiewicz and Shapira's words were anti-racist, not anti-semitic. In 2019, Sarkar said that, on reflection, she should have "drawn a line between defending Ewa, criticising the coverage and being more critical of the action itself which I don't think was well thought out".[26][27]

In a 2018 interview with Teen Vogue, Sarkar described herself as being a "fierce critic" of the prison industrial complex, military industrial complex, the expanded use of drone warfare and the expansion of deportation under both Barack Obama and Donald Trump. She said the loss of jobs due to automation could give rise to fascism as a way of controlling the "surplus disposable population". Alternatively, the extra time created by automation could liberate people to "imagine different ways of living" and "pursu[ing] your passions".[28]

Defamation and harassment case against Julie Burchill

On 16 March 2021, Sunday Telegraph columnist Julie Burchill was ordered to pay 'substantial damages' to Sarkar after writing posts alleging that Sarkar sympathised with fundamentalist Islam and that she "worship[ped] a paedophile" in the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Burchill also wrote a sexual poem about Sarkar, 'liked' Facebook posts saying that Sarkar should kill herself and suggested that she was a victim of female genital mutilation.[29][30] Sarkar wrote in The Guardian that the abuse had affected her mental health and that she had been prescribed anti-anxiety drugs for the first time in her life.[31] Sarkar said she had no part in the decision by the publishers Little, Brown to cancel Burchill's book contract. She also wrote: "The media's reporting of the issue ignored the defamation, racism and harassment in favour of framing me as part of the woke mob—and Burchill as its victim."[31] An apology published by Burchill included, "I should not have sent these tweets, some of which included racist and misogynist comments regarding Ms Sarkar's appearance and her sex life" and acknowledged that it was her publisher, not Sarkar, who was responsible for the cancellation of her book deal.[32]

Personal life

Sarkar lives in North London.[33] She is Muslim[7][34] and she has said: "I pray, I meditate – it's loosey-goosey, pick'n'mix spirituality probably, if I'm being honest with myself; but for me the name I can give to it is 'Islam'."[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Spanner, Huw (11 September 2020). "In-depth interview with Ash Sarkar". High Profiles. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  2. ^ "Ashna Sarkar". Pen Pusher. Archived from the original on 13 October 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  3. ^ @AyoCaesar (21 February 2020). "I was born in 1992, so yes, I do remember. Don't let well-moisturised skin fool you!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  4. ^ a b c Sarkar, Ash (5 February 2018). "My great-great-aunt was a terrorist: women's politics went beyond the vote". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e Fisher, Lucy (4 June 2018). "Meet Ash Sarkar, Britain's loudest Corbynista". The Times. ProQuest 2049477240. Archived from the original on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.(subscription required)
  6. ^ a b c Sarkar, Ash (21 August 2018). "This isn't just a culture war – we need a radical anti-fascist movement right now". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d e Hogan, Michael (22 July 2018). "'That's when I lost my temper': Ash Sarkar on her clash with Piers Morgan". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Ash Sarkar". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 July 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  9. ^ "Shadow Channel". sandberg.nl. Sandberg Institute. Archived from the original on 24 January 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  10. ^ Duncan, Conrad (21 February 2020). "BBC criticised for promoting Question Time audience member's 'vile, unhinged' anti-immigration rant". The Independent. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  11. ^ a b "Thangam Debbonaire MP, Stanley Johnson, Johnny Mercer MP, Ash Sarkar". Any Questions?. 10 January 2020. Event occurs at 31:04. BBC Radio 4. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  12. ^ "Left-wing journalist Ash Sarkar to appear on Question Time". The National. 12 January 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  13. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Moral Maze". BBC. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  14. ^ Welch, Ben (3 September 2019). "Anger at BBC decision to include commentator in new Rise of the Nazis documentary who defended Warsaw Ghetto wall graffiti". The Jewish Chronicle. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  15. ^ Comerford, Ruth (2 July 2021). "Ash Sarkar debut bought by Bloomsbury in 'major' pre-empt deal". The Bookseller. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  16. ^ Statesman, New (17 May 2023). "The New Statesman's left power list". New Statesman. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  17. ^ Sarkar, Ash (8 March 2018). "Let's put the politics back into International Women's Day". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 February 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  18. ^ "Piers Morgan clashes with anti-Trump protester who calls him an 'idiot'". The Irish News. 12 July 2018. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  19. ^ Sarkar, Ash (28 February 2018). "By demeaning refugees, Tories have caused the Yarl's Wood hunger strike". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  20. ^ "Ash Sarkar Meets the Stansted 15". Novara Media. 7 February 2019. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  21. ^ McTernan, John (16 May 2019). "What does the rise of Corbynism mean for the future of Britain?". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  22. ^ Steerpike (17 July 2018). "'I'm literally a communist' T-shirt – literally free market economics". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  23. ^ Chakelian, Anoosh (25 September 2017). ""Luxury communism now!" The rise of the pro-Corbyn media". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 10 January 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  24. ^ Ditum, Sarah (13 December 2019). "How Left-wing journalism failed". UnHerd. Archived from the original on 20 February 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  25. ^ "Cancelled my Labour membership for a variety of reasons, but honestly, the politics of the present leadership being completely fucking boring is prime amongst them". Twitter. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  26. ^ Rifkind, Hugo (11 September 2018). "The shameful silence of Labour's top team". The Times. Archived from the original on 12 January 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  27. ^ "Journalist backtracks over defence of Warsaw ghetto graffiti". Jewish News. 6 September 2019. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  28. ^ Diavolo, Lucy (15 July 2018). "Meet the Communist Who Destroyed Piers Morgan on TV". Teen Vogue. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  29. ^ Bland, Archie (16 March 2021). "Julie Burchill agrees to pay Ash Sarkar 'substantial damages' in libel case". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 March 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  30. ^ Sommerlad, Joe (16 March 2021). "Julie Burchill agrees to pay 'substantial damages' to Ash Sarkar over social media posts". The Independent. Archived from the original on 16 March 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  31. ^ a b Sarkar, Ash (16 March 2021). "Julie Burchill abused me for being Muslim – yet she was cast as the victim". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 March 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  32. ^ Sillito, David (16 March 2021). "Julie Burchill makes 'full' apology for racist abuse of fellow writer". BBC News. Archived from the original on 18 March 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  33. ^ Cafolla, Anna; Alemoru, Kemi (4 July 2018). "Meet the voices resetting the political agenda in the UK". Dazed. Archived from the original on 4 July 2018.
  34. ^ Sarkar, Ash (27 May 2016). "Take it from me as a young British Muslim: Islamophobia is alive and kicking". Huck. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
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