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32-504: Paki is a derogatory ethnic slur originating from the United Kingdom , directed towards people of Pakistani and by extension South Asian (mainly Indian and Bangladeshi ) descent, as well as Muslims or perceived Muslims in general. The references to Paki have been increasingly replaced by the euphemism " the P-Word ". "Paki" is part of the exonym Pakistan . It is derived from

64-524: A key difference is that, whereas the National Front and BNP targeted all British South Asians (including Muslims, Hindus 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. Geddes said that variations of

96-593: A negative way. In December 2000, the Advertising Standards Authority published research on attitudes of the British public to pejoratives. It ranked Paki as the tenth severest pejorative in the English language, up from seventeenth three years earlier. 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

128-621: A number of other local organisations to organise a demonstration about this issue on 18 June 2006. NMP submitted a report to the Metropolitan Police Authority criticising the Metropolitan Police Service's media and communications handling of this incident. Other projects included involvement in organising discussion based events for the local community alongside Newham Bookshop with authors such as Moazzam Begg , Rageh Omaar , Gary Younge , Jocelyn Hurndall, who

160-411: A statement that Bush had great respect for Pakistan. This followed an incident four years earlier, when Clinton White House adviser Sandy Berger had to apologise for referencing "Pakis" in public comments. Spike Milligan , who was white, played the lead role of Kevin O'Grady in the 1969 LWT sitcom Curry and Chips . O'Grady, half-Irish and half-Pakistani, was taunted with the name "Paki-Paddy";

192-545: Is 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 . 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; polls at

224-420: Is listed followed by its country or region of usage, a definition, and a reference to that term. Ethnic slurs may also be produced as a racial epithet by combining a general-purpose insult with the name of ethnicity, such as "dirty Jew" or "Russian pig". Other common insulting modifiers include "dog" and "filthy"; such terms are not included in this list. This term is currently not used. Known since at least

256-735: 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 1968–1970, with two distinct movements that emerged:

288-488: The Reform party used the slur against Rishi Sunak , which the prime minister later addressed and condemned. Ethnic slur The following is a list of ethnic slurs , ethnophaulisms , or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnic , national , or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative , or otherwise insulting manner. Some of

320-659: 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

352-574: The "Paki" racial slur were occasionally used by members of the EDL. The term is also used as a slur in Canada against South Asian Canadians . 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. Americans are generally unfamiliar with

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384-512: The 17th-century when life-sized effigies of Welshmen were symbolically lynched in London, and the 18th century custom of baking "taffies", gingerbread figures made in the shape of a skewered Welshman. Equivalent of yellow (above). Newham Monitoring Project The patron of NMP was the poet and author Benjamin Zephaniah . NMP was formed in 1980 from a community campaign for justice following

416-472: The 1960s and 1970s, with Pakistanis viewed as "passive objects" and "unwilling to fight back", making them seen as easy targets by "Paki-bashers". The Joint Campaign Against Racism committee reported that there had been more than 20,000 racist attacks on British people of colour , including Britons of South Asian origin , during 1985. Drawing inspiration from the African-American civil rights movement ,

448-680: 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

480-477: 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, and by systemic failures of state authorities, which included under-reporting racist attacks, the criminal justice system not taking racist violence seriously, constant racial harassment by police, and police involvement in racist violence. Asians were frequently stereotyped as "weak" and "passive" in

512-577: The black community such as Newham Asian Women's Project , Southall Black Sisters and the United Friends and Families Campaign , other organisations within the anti-racist movement such as the Institute of Race Relations and Campaign Against Racism and Fascism (CARF) as well as organisations working on a broader level for justice such as INQUEST . NMP closed in September 2016 due to lack of funds. NMP

544-559: The existence of institutional racism and how this in turn shaped what it perceived as the societal criminalisation of black people. It also aligned with a series of community campaigns which claimed to be for progressive social change and justice, such as the right to self-defence by members of the black community in response to racist attacks. In 1983, NMP initiated a 24-hour emergency helpline run by trained volunteers to provide immediate assistance to people with complaints of racial violence. Although self-organisation of black communities

576-511: The fabric of British society, as shown by the recent anti-terrorism legislation and stop and search powers, which disproportionately affect black communities. It maintained that the experiences of its individual cases reflect the broader reality of racism, therefore campaigns rooted in this way have a real base within the black community and are able to mobilise support in a way that high-profile but largely media-focused campaigns cannot. NMP has supported other active campaigns such as that led by

608-475: The family of Jean Charles de Menezes , an innocent Brazilian man shot to death by police in 2005 during an anti-terror operation for which no individual officer has ever been charged. It has worked with the families involved in the near fatal 2 June 2006 Forest Gate raid , standing alongside the local community in condemning the actions of the police and calling for a full and fair independent investigation and for officers to be held accountable. NMP worked with

640-529: The first episode, which in contrast was not edited out in repeats. The word was also used in Rita, Sue and Bob Too  – set in Bradford , one of the first cities to have a large Pakistani community. In the 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody , Freddie Mercury , who was Indian Parsi , is often addressed derogatorily as a "Paki" when he worked as a baggage handler at London Heathrow Airport in 1970. In 2009, Prince Harry

672-530: The murder of a local teenager, Akhtar Ali Baig, in East Ham , East London. NMP's initial purpose was to monitor racist attacks and the response of statutory authorities such as the police or local authority. Shortly after its formation, the organisation extended its remit beyond monitoring racist attacks to include reports of police harassment and misconduct within the local the black community. NMP began documenting case examples and published yearly reports that argued

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704-509: The new country after the 1947 partition of India and independence from the British Raj . 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 may seem like it would only be directed towards Pakistanis , it

736-500: The show intended to mock racism and bigotry. Following complaints, the BBC edited out use of the word in repeats of the 1980s sitcom Only Fools and Horses . Columnists have perceived this as a way of obscuring the historical truth that the use of such words was commonplace at the time. It was also regularly used in EastEnders in the 1980s referring to the owners of a local food shop including

768-441: The slur " nigger ". 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. However, other British Pakistanis see use of the word as unacceptable even among members of their community, due to its historical usage in

800-528: The term Pak ( پاک ) which means "purity" in Persian, Urdu and Pashto. There was no "Pak" or "Paki" ethnic group before the state was created . The name Pakistan (initially as "Pakstan") was coined by the Cambridge University law student and Muslim nationalist from then British India Rahmat Ali , and was published on 28 January 1933 in the pamphlet Now or Never , eventually becoming the name adopted by

832-521: The term "Paki" as a slur, and U.S. leaders and public figures have occasionally had to apologise for using the term. In January 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush said on India–Pakistan relations that "We are working hard to convince both the Indians and the Pakis that there's a way to deal with their problems without going to war." After a Pakistani American journalist complained, a White House spokesman made

864-404: The terms listed below (such as "gringo", "yank", etc.) can be used in casual speech without any intention of causing offense. The connotation of a term and prevalence of its use as a pejorative or neutral descriptor varies over time and by geography. For the purposes of this list, an ethnic slur is a term designed to insult others on the basis of race , ethnicity , or nationality . Each term

896-587: The time showed that Powell's anti-immigrant rhetoric held support amongst the majority of the white populace at the time. "Paki-bashing" peaked during the 1970s–1980s, 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

928-463: Was central to its founding aims, it worked with white people who defined as 'anti-racists' in order to align its work with wider demands for social justice. NMP was associated with justice campaigns such as those of the Newham 7 and Newham 8, Stephen Lawrence and many involving deaths in police custody such as Ibrahima Sey and Shiji Lapite . It also worked alongside many other organisations working with

960-530: 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. In the twenty-first century, some younger British Pakistanis and other British South Asians have attempted to reclaim the word, thus drawing parallels to the LGBT reclamation of the slur " queer " and the African American reclamation of

992-461: Was one of only a small number of independent community organisations providing specialist casework support around racial discrimination in the UK. Research indicates that independent community groups provide avenues of support not available from racial equality councils, housing departments or police, to the black community to combat racist incidents. The organisation publicly argued racism remains rooted in

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1024-452: Was publicly admonished when he was caught on video (taken years before) calling one of his fellow Army recruits "our little Paki friend." In 2015, the American film Jurassic World was mocked satirically by British Asian comedian Guz Khan for using "pachys" (pronounced "pakis") as shorthand for the genus Pachycephalosaurus . During the 2024 UK General Election campaign, a canvasser for

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