Coconuts & CocoNOTS: Police Racism, Protest, and the Right to Satire

Who has the right to police your language? In a world where racism is alive and well, regulations against discrimination are a necessity. But what if these same regulations are used to silence Black and Brown people? Join us as we explore the case of political activist Marieha Hussain. In November 2023, Marieha was arrested for displaying a placard labelling prominent exponents of the then-Tory government as “coconuts” during a pro-Palestine protest. According to the charges put on her, the term coconut is equivalent to a racist slur. Yet, Black and Brown activists have historically used it to call out members of their communities who aligned with colonial powers and white supremacists. Marieha will be in conversation with SLRC Senior Legacy in Action Research Fellow Dr. Fatima Rajina, lawyer Rajiv Menon, and Dr. Bisi Akintoye to unpack the ambiguous relationship between political power and language.

This event is part of the Black History Months event series sponsored by De Montfort University and was realised thanks to the generous support of the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity Early Career Research Network.