Readers might know Kenan Malik best from his weekly Observer column discussing everything from migration to religion and technology. But his background lies far from the pages of the liberal media.

Born in India and brought up in Manchester, Malik was intensely involved in the political campaigns of the 1980s. Whether it was fighting deportations, organizing street patrols against racist violence, or taking part in the Newham 7 and Colin Roach campaigns, his introduction to politics came at the coalface. He spent much of the decade active in an array of Marxist and revolutionary organizations.

He is more widely known today, however, as a campaigner for freedom of expression and secularism, and a critic of multiculturalism and contemporary identity politics. His latest book Not So Black and White: A History of Race from White Supremacy to Identity Politics interrogates race and its relationship to class struggle today, tracing the rise of identity politics alongside the decline of the labor movement and universalism.