Saffiyah Khan

Saffiyah Khan (born November 27, 1997) is a political activist, English singer and model of Pakistani and Bosnian origins.

She became an icon of passive resistance in 2017 after being photographed facing a member of the English Defense League (EDL), a far-right group, during an anti- Muslim demonstration in Birmingham.

In 2019, she appeared on the Encore album, by the British ska band The Specials.

Biography

Khan is from Birmingham, West Midlands, and is of Pakistani and Bosnian origins.[1][2]

On April 8, 2017, aged 20, she was photographed standing up to Ian Crossland, the leader of the English Defence League (EDL), a far-right group, during an anti-Muslim demonstration organised in Birmingham the day after the Westminster bombings.[3][4] Having come to observe the demonstration in order to support the “people they harass and attack”, Saffiyah Khan stepped in to protect a veiled woman, Saira Zafar, taken to task by several demonstrators.[5][6]

The photograph, taken by Joe Giddens, of the Press Association agency was relayed by many British media including The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mirror and the BBC before the story took on an international dimension.[7][8][9] It resonates with other shots illustrating recent resistance movements. On May 1 , 2016, Simon Lindberg photographed Tess Asplund facing neo-Nazis in Borlänge, Sweden. Three months later, Jonathan Bachman captured Ieshia Evans face-to-face with police during a Black Lives Matter protest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.[10]

Music

Khan was noticed by members of the Specials because she was wearing one of their T-shirts in the images shot the day of the demonstration. She was invited by singer Lynval Golding to one of their upcoming [11] concerts. In 2019, she participated in the album Encore, performing a revised version of Prince Buster's 1965 hit "Ten Commandments of Man".[12]

She performed the track with the band at London's 100 Club in February 2019, subsequently touring with, and DJing for, the band.[13][14][15]

Modelling

In the spring of 2017, Khan took her first steps on the catwalk during the fashion show of Turkish designer Dilara Findikoglu. She then engaged with the modeling agency Elite and its Collective division which represents talents rather than professional models[16]

References
  1. "Saffiyah Khan". Fred Perry. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  2. "The Big Read – The Specials and Saffiyah Khan: "What we said has reached people – and that's the only important thing"". NME. 2019-04-05. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  3. "La situation des droits humains dans le monde". Amnesty International Belgique (in French). Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  4. "En Angleterre, la photo d'une jeune femme défiant un leader d'extrême droite devient virale". Konbini - All Pop Everything : #1 Media Pop Culture chez les Jeunes (in French). Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  5. "Cette manifestante devenue une icône anti-extrême droite a rencontré celle qu'elle avait défendue". Le HuffPost (in French). 2017-04-11. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  6. "Saffiyah Khan meets woman she defended at EDL demo". the Guardian. 2017-04-11. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  7. Hervaud, Alexandre. "Derrière la photo virale de Birmingham". Libération (in French). Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  8. Match, Paris. "Saffiyah, celle qui a tenu tête aux extrémistes de l'English Defence League". parismatch.com (in French). Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  9. "La photo d'une manifestante défiant un extrémiste fait le tour du web". L'Obs (in French). 2017-04-10. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  10. "Comment la photo d'une manifestante contre un groupe d'extrême droite anglais est devenue virale". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2017-04-11. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  11. "Saffiyah Khan: From EDL viral photo to The Specials". BBC News. 2019-02-08. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  12. (en-GB) «  », BBC News,‎ 8 février 2019 (lire en ligne, consulté le 26 octobre 2021)
  13. "Saffiyah Khan: From EDL viral photo to The Specials". BBC News. 8 February 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  14. Arabpour, Reza (2 April 2019). "Saffiyah Khan, The Specials and the tale of Mike Horseman's Organ". Brum Radio. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  15. "Saffiyah Khan's Tour Diary". The Face. 17 April 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  16. "From anti-EDL protest to the catwalk: the rise of Saffiyah Khan". the Guardian. 2017-09-27. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
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