ABSTRACT
The Asian Resource Centre was established in the Handsworth area of Birmingham in early 1977. Since the early 1960s, this inner-city area has been characterised by increasing unemployment and wagelessness, a decaying and depleting housing stock, deteriorating social and welfare facilities, poor educational and recreational provisions and an increase in the level of petty crime. The Asian Resource Centre takes into account the different religions, cultural or political beliefs but also examines the set of common social and historical factors that affect all Asians, and indeed all black people, alike. The involvement of the Centre with young people and youth movements reveals how they express their desire for change in increasingly militant forms. Young people in Asian society in particular are precariously placed at the crossroads of two conflicting cultures, and they must of necessity be included in the forefront in any programme for social action.
