United Kingdom The use of the term "Paki" in English was first recorded in 1964, during a period of increased South Asian immigration to the United Kingdom. At this time, the term "Paki" was very much in mixed usage; it was often used as a slur. While it might seem likely that it would only be directed towards
Pakistanis, it has also been directed at people of other
South Asian backgrounds (mainly Indians and Bangladeshis) as well as people from other demographics who physically resemble
South Asians.
"Paki-bashing" Starting in the late-1960s, and peaking in the 1970s and 1980s, violent gangs opposed to immigration took part in attacks known as "Paki-bashing", which targeted and assaulted South Asians and businesses owned by them, and occasionally other ethnic minorities. "Paki-bashing" became more common after
Enoch Powell's
Rivers of Blood speech in 1968; "Paki-bashing" peaked during the 1970s1980s, with the attackers often being supporters of
far-right fascist,
racist and
anti-immigrant movements, including the
white power skinheads, the
National Front, and the
British National Party. These attacks were usually referred to as either "Paki-bashing" or "skinhead
terror", with the attackers usually called "Paki-bashers" or "
skinheads". "Paki-bashing" was partly fuelled by the
media's anti-immigrant and
anti-Pakistani rhetoric at the time, Drawing inspiration from the
African-American civil rights movement, the
Black Power movement, and the
anti-apartheid movement, young
British Asian activists began a number of
anti-racist youth movements against "Paki-bashing", including the Bradford Youth Movement in 1977, the
Bangladeshi Youth Movement following the murder of
Altab Ali in 1978, and the
Newham Youth Movement following the murder of Akhtar Ali Baig in 1980. The earliest groups to resist "Paki-bashing" date back to 19681970, with two distinct movements that emerged: the
integrationist approach began by the Pakistani Welfare Association and National Federation of Pakistani Associations attempted to establish positive
race relations while maintaining
law and order, which was contrasted by the
autonomous approach began by the Pakistani Progressive Party and the Pakistani Workers' Union which engaged in
vigilantism as
self-defence against racially motivated violence and police harassment in conjunction with the Black Power movement (often working with the
British Black Panthers and
Communist Workers League of Britain) while also seeking to replace the "weak" and "passive"
stereotypes of Pakistanis and Asians. Divisions arose between the integrationist and autonomous movements by 1970, with integrationist leader Raja Mahmudabad criticising the vigilantism of the latter as "alien to the spirit and practice of
Islam" whereas PPP/PWU leader Abdul Hye stated they "have no intention of fighting or killing anyone, but if it comes to us, we will hit back." It was not until the 1980s and 1990s that academics began to take racially motivated violence into serious focus, partly as a result of black and Asian people entering academic life.
Peterborough businessman Abdul Rahim, who produces merchandise reclaiming the word, equates it to more socially accepted terms such as "
Aussie" and "
Kiwi", saying that it is more similar to them than it is to "nigger", as it denotes a nationality and not a biological race. Several scholars have compared
Islamophobic street violence in the 2000s and 2010s to that of Paki-bashing in the 1970s and 1980s. Robert Lambert notes that a key difference is that, whereas the National Front and BNP targeted all British South Asians (including Muslims and Sikhs), the
English Defence League (EDL) specifically target
British Muslims. Lambert also compares the media's role in fuelling "Paki-bashing" in the late 20th century to its role in fuelling Islamophobic sentiment in the early 21st century. The term migrated to Canada around the 1970s with increased South Asian immigration to Canada. In 2008, a campaign sign for an
Indo-Canadian Alberta Liberal Party candidate in
Edmonton was defaced when the slur was spray painted on it. == Notable uses ==