Tariq Ali Claims BFI Has Frozen Him Out of Multicultural TV Season
The editor of a groundbreaking Channel 4 show has claimed the British Film Institute has frozen him out of an upcoming season dedicated to multicultural television, alleging the organisation is presenting a skewed vision of the programme.
Tariq Ali, who served as series editor for the global current affairs programme Bandung File during the 1980s, said he was shocked not to be invited to participate in the BFI's new season, Constructed, Told, Spoken: A Counter-History of Britain on TV.
No Contact from BFI
"They never contacted me," Ali told the Guardian. "The first I saw was in the BFI programme that they had an evening of Bandung File stuff, but the choices suggest that there doesn't seem to be a knowledge of what the programme was."
The season includes a dedicated evening in March where it will screen episodes of Bandung File, which took its name from the 1955 meeting in Indonesia between newly independent Asian and African states.
Groundbreaking Programme
Bandung File was part of a wave of programmes made by, and primarily for, black and south Asian audiences during the 1980s. Ali served as series editor alongside Darcus Howe, while the show was commissioned by Farrukh Dhondy, Channel 4's editor for multicultural programmes.
The programme ran from 1985 until its cancellation in 1989 and was seen as a step change from previous multicultural shows on Channel 4, which were often magazine formats such as Eastern Eye and Black on Black.
Internationalist Scope
"The whole thing about Bandung File is that we did it in a way which unified the West Indian and South Asian communities, while looking outwardly as well," Ali explained. "50% of the viewers were white and 50% non-white. Our philosophy was that white people also needed to be educated."
The show had a harder edge and was internationalist in scope, ushering in a new type of Channel 4 series such as Black Bag, which took on serious issues with investigative rigour.
Journalistic Successes
Bandung File achieved several journalistic successes during its run, including:
- Exposing a vote-rigging scheme in Roy Hattersley's constituency of Sparkbrook, Birmingham
- Uncovering the Greater London Council's decision to fund a far-right Hindu political group
- Securing an interview with Salman Rushdie amid the controversy over The Satanic Verses
The programme also spotlighted everything from the realities of apartheid South Africa to the fallout from Rushdie's book publication.
Contemporary Relevance
Ali, who wrote about his experiences on the show in his memoir released last year, said he wanted the programme to be presented correctly and placed in the right context.
"When I show Bandung File to students today, the first question I'm asked is: 'Was this actually on British television?'" he said. "They don't believe it because of the output they see today. It shows what television can do if it's sustained and properly supported."
BFI Response
A spokesperson for the BFI said: "We recognise how vital Tariq was in shaping Bandung File under his editorship with Darcus Howe. It was always our intention to include Tariq in the season and we hope to get him involved."
"The process of making contact with him has been delayed slightly due to sourcing his details, however it is not unusual for us to confirm guests once our brochure and season comms have been published, and we are in the process of confirming additional contextual contributors to events throughout this season."
Season Details
Constructed, Told, Spoken: A Counter-History of Britain on TV looks at multicultural TV departments in the UK that emerged in the 1980s. It will run throughout February and March and includes screenings dedicated to the impact of Stuart Hall and the black gay television series of the 1980s.
Ali expressed concern that a programme such as Bandung File would never be commissioned or succeed in today's television landscape, citing contemporary restrictions on coverage of international conflicts.
