Tariq Mehmood encountered the far right early – at primary school. It’s not one organisation, it’s a mass movement.” I think it’s likely those kids used another word for “black people” but I can’t quite find the stomach to ask. Mehmood is speaking to me on a video call from Beirut, where he teaches at the American University.
Now 70, he migrated, in 1967, from Pakistan to Bradford, where his grandfather and uncles worked in the textile mills, and immediately experienced racism. The AYMs were a network of anti-racist groups demanding equal rights and a fairer world as well as defending their communities against attacks from groups such as the National Front (NF) and the British Movement (BM). Following disagreements within the AYM, Mehmood was part of a splinter group, the United Black Youth League, that broke away in 1981.
When you’re organised, often they will flee and you don’t have to fight. We couldn’t trust the police; either they were incapable, or they didn’t care, or they harassed us.” When they learned that a lot of fascists were planning to go to Bradford, they got ready. We said we’d arm ourselves if need be.
Some of us made petrol bombs.” The petrol bombs require some context. That was a reality, and we said no, we will defend ourselves.” In summer 1981, 12 members of the UBYL, including Mehmood, were arrested after a police raid discovered 38 milk bottles filled with petrol. The Bradford 12, as they became known, were charged with conspiracy to cause explosions and endanger lives.
They didn’t deny making the molotov cocktails, but said it was a precaution for self-defence. In jail, awaiting trial, Mehmood discovered another weapon: the pen. He wrote his first novel, Hand on the Sun, about a young immigrant experiencing racism.
I wanted to share with future generations that we were proud industrial workers, we weren’t just going to have crumbs, we were politically conscious and had hope. I still have that hope.” After an active campaign and a lengthy trial, on 16 June 1982 Mehmood and the rest of the Bradford 12 – who had argued self-defence – were acquitted by a jury. The situation with the far right is no better today, he says.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
