Junior Rashid

Jani Rashid

Johnny Rashid

Junior Rashid was born in Bradford in August 1963 to a Malaysian mother and Pakistani father. His father was a self-employed tailor on Victoria Road, Manningham and his mother was a housewife. His father owned a shop, and his family lived in the same property.

As a child, he was ‘bussed’ to Undercliff Middle School, where the majority of pupils were white. In an interview with the Bradford Heritage and Recording Unit, Rashid recalled one of his school reports which stated that he could not speak English, despite it being the only language he knew. During his time at Belle Vue High School, Rashid became interested in politics and activism. On 24 April 1976, Rashid witnessed a violent clash between the National Front and South Asian activists in Bradford. The event occurred after a counter-demonstration against the National Front, who marched through Bradford on the same day. Organizations such as the Indian Workers’ Association, Bradford Gays Against Fascism and Leeds Anarchists marched with Bradford’s South Asians. The police’s flawed planning meant that both marches met on Manningham Lane and violence ensued. Rashid happened to see this unfold and learned later that the violence was so extreme that homes in Belle Vue were turned into makeshift hospitals by activists. Around this time, the Asian Youth Movement Bradford (AYM) was being formed.

Rashid’s political interests were heightened when his father died in 1977 and he learned about his political exile. Rashid’s father was a militant activist in the fight for Indian independence and, to escape prison, he went to Malaysia, where he met Rashid’s mother. Soon after, he joined the British Army, changed his name and moved to Bradford, all with a view to hiding his identity.

Rashid was encouraged to join the AYM by his older brother, who was a member. His brother thought this would be an ideal place for Rashid to practise his debating skills, given that he had won prestigious public speaking competitions. Soon after joining, Rashid became a member of the executive committee when he was 14 years old. Rashid was involved in the AYM’s self-defence actions against fascists, which included fighting them on the streets. Despite having hundreds of members nationally, the AYM was negatively received by some elders in the community and liberal organizations such as the Community Relations Commission, which characterized their activities as militant and ill considered.

In 1979, aged 16, Rashid became the chairman of AYM Bradford, a role he occupied until 1983. A lack of finances, combined with high rates of unemployment among young people, meant the organization was significantly strained. The AYM’s work focused on anti-deportation campaigns, such as the cases of Anwar Ditta and Nasira Begum, as well as refining the AYM’s constitution as part of a broader effort to realign their activities to reflect the organization’s purpose, which derived from the Black Power Movement. This included self-reliance and self-defence.

Rashid was chair of the AYM when twelve United Black Youth League (UBYL) members – a splinter group of AYM Bradford – faced life imprisonment after being charged with the possession of thirty-eight petrol bombs in 1981. Rashid was the general secretary and national co-ordinator of the Bradford 12 defence campaign, named the July 11th Action Committee, which began in the summer of 1981. He was officially designated this role after the first campaign leader, Courtney Hay, was ousted from the committee in October 1981. The University of Bradford became an important base for campaign co-ordinating. Whilst his personal relationships with some of those arrested were fraught given their criticisms of AYM, the injustice of the arrests galvanized collective action, which resulted in AYM members being on the defence committee with UBYL members and representatives of organizations such as the Indian Workers’ Association. As a committee leader, Rashid worked full-time for the campaign as support groups and speaking events were organized across the country to raise money.

From 1981 until the mid-1980s, Rashid was the national co-ordinator of AYM, the only national position at this time since each AYM was largely independent. His work included travelling nationally to visit AYMs, co-ordinating joint efforts related to issues of national importance and building alliances with national organizations such as the Anti-Nazi League. In 1983 Rashid stepped down as chair of AYM Bradford to attend Middlesex Polytechnic, where he was elected as the student union’s governor. He was encouraged to attend university by his friend and councillor Mohammad Ajeeb. Despite stepping away from his leadership position, Rashid remained heavily involved in the activities of AYM Bradford.