Bradford 12: The Asian youth who took on the racists, part 2

Lives Less Ordinary

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.6 • 814 Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

By 1981, Pakistani-born immigrant Tariq Mehmood had endured years of violent racism in Britain. When he heard that gangs of white skinheads – with a history of attacking Asians – were coming to his home in Bradford, Tariq and his neighbours took desperate measures to defend their community. Underpinning their actions was the principle, “self-defence is no offence.” Tariq would end up being arrested, charged with conspiracy to make explosives, and facing life imprisonment. What followed was the landmark legal case of the Bradford 12.

Hand on the Sun, the novel that Tariq wrote in prison over 40 years ago, has been re-released with a new update.

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producers: Maryam Maruf and Lina Chang Editor: Munazza Khan

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one.
0:06.5	I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:11.1	I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects,
0:16.0	relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life. So one day I'll be helping
0:23.8	host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature, and the next looking at how a
0:30.3	podcast connects with its audience, and maybe that's you. So if you like this podcast, check out some
0:35.9	others on BBC Sounds.
0:48.4	In the late 1970s, Darik Mahmoud spent a lot of time talking politics with his friends, but there was a problem.
0:50.0	We said, well, what are we doing?
0:58.9	You know, we're talking about whether the Soviet Union is a degenerated worker state or a state capitalist.
1:05.8	Our houses are on fire. The streets are not safe. The police are not leaving us alone. What are we doing?
1:12.9	So we said our first priority must be to sort our own house out.
1:22.4	I'm Mabinazar and this is the Lives Less Ordinary podcast from the BBC World Service.
1:28.4	If you had part one of my interview with Darik, you'll know he was talking about growing up as a Pakistani teenager in Bradford. His reference to the streets being unsafe extended beyond West Yorkshire
1:35.4	and the rest of Northern England. For non-white people across the UK, racially motivated violence
1:42.2	and abuse were a fact of life.
1:45.3	Two weeks ago, a youth convicted of stabbing and murdering a Pakistani shouted Sieg Heil and gave a Nazi salute as he was led from the court.
1:53.3	Usually you get about gangs 12 to 15 going around late at night, areas of Asians, just tormenting and antagonising them.
2:01.1	People were being killed by gangs of racists in broad daylight.
2:05.9	In response, Tharek co-founded the Asian youth movement,
2:09.5	a politically driven anti-racist campaign group.
2:16.6	By 1981, Tharik, France, national front. National Front is a Nazi flag.
	...

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