REBELLION

Rebellion: Self Defence and the Story of the Bradford 12 is a gripping first-hand account of one of the most important – and forgotten – trials in modern British history.

In July 1981, twelve young Asian men in Bradford were arrested and charged with terrorism. Their crime: making petrol bombs to defend their community against a threatened invasion by racist skinheads. The police called it a bomb factory. The state called it conspiracy. The community called them their sons.

In this powerful memoir, Tariq Mehmood – one of the Bradford 12 – tells the story from the inside: the racist violence of 1970s and 80s Britain, the founding of the United Black Youth League, the dawn raids, the interrogations, the betrayal, and the five-week trial at Leeds Crown Court. He reveals how the police fabricated evidence, denied defendants access to solicitors, and placed a fascist skinhead in his cell. He also shows how a mass community campaign, built on the slogan Self-Defence Is No Offence, helped secure the acquittal of all twelve defendants.

Published alongside the BFI documentary film, Rebellion connects that historic struggle to the present: the rise of the far right, the criminalisation of Palestine solidarity, and the ongoing fight against state racism. As the author writes, this is not a finished story. It is an unfinished one – and you are part of it.

A gripping story about a forgotten episode. The courage of the Bradford 12 who took on racism and police brutality in their city is told here for the first time without any holds barred. It should be read by anyone who is interested in the history of the postwar migration to Britain. And some within the Asian community today might be surprised that none of the Bradford 12 was imbued with religion. I think the jury that acquitted them would agree with this assessment.— Tariq Ali, political activist, writer, journalist, filmmaker, and public intellectual