Rock Against Racism: The Movement That Inspired Rebels, Revolutionaries, and Rastas 1976-1981
Rachel Cathie Cathie 1
Table of Contents Pages
Introduction………..…………………………………………………………..2-5
Chapter 1: How It All Began …….…………………………..…………….....6-21
Chapter 2: Rise of the National Front.....………………………………….....22-29
Chapter 3: The Members of Rock Against Racism………...... …………….....30-44
Chapter 4: Playing Favorites……………....………………....……………...... 45-58
Chapter 5: Conclusion……………...………………………………………….59-67
Bibliography…………...………………………………………………………68-71
Cathie 2
Introduction
In the 1970s, Britain was suffering from inflation and high unemployment rates,
especially among the youth. This was due to the oil crisis, coupled with a stock market crash,
which left the economy devastated. As the UK attempted to rebuild their country from the World
Wars, the government enacted policies that enhanced the economic crisis and caused stagflation.
This left citizens disenchanted with their government and resulted in strikes and protests, as
people struggled to find employment or earn a livable wage. As tensions grew, much of this
resentment shifted towards immigrants and minorities. Many people saw immigrants as a threat
to stability, as they felt that the country could not support the influx of more foreign people.
Moreover, they believed that immigrants were a threat to the British national identity. The result
was the rise of far-right radical parties like the National Front. One of the reactions to this turn
towards the right was the emergence of the punk movement.
Race relations and punk music has been studied isolated from each other in the past, but
very few historians have placed an emphasis on how punk music was used as a tool to mobilize
people in the fight against racism. I found the relationship between the punk subculture and
racism more complicated than I expected, which is why I have chosen to write my Distinction
Thesis on a movement that has often been overlooked or forgotten: Rock Against Racism
(RAR). The thesis question I am posing is: “Did the participants of the 1970s Rock Against
Racism movement in Britain, comprised of the central committee members, punk rock
musicians, fans, and members of the Anti-Nazi League, successfully support the anti-racist rhetoric they espoused by utilizing demonstrations and musical concerts to protest the racial injustices minorities were facing, or did the objectives of these three groups not align, causing Cathie 3
tension and disunity within the movement?” This topic is important because when reflecting
back on history, it is easy to glorify and praise a movement when its goal was to simply “stop
racism.” Eliminating racism in society is a cause that many people today would support. Without
taking into consideration the context of the 1970s, it is easy for us to look back and say that
everyone who supported the National Front or Enoch Powell was full of hatred and ignorance.
However, this is not a completely true statement. People are typically more complex and are very
rarely wholeheartedly “for” or “against” something. That is not to say that there were not a large
amount of racist people, but many were just scared of immigration because they were suffering
from the poor economy conditions, and feared minorities were taking their only opportunities to
work. Out of fear, these citizens used immigrants as scapegoats for their problems. Rock Against
Racism began as a response to these racist sentiments, and the contentious political atmosphere.
The founder, Red Saunders, wanted people to realize that immigrants were not the sole source of
their problems. This movement was far from perfect though, and there were many who
participated that did not care for the plight of immigrants at all, but rather, sought to further their own agendas. I wanted to analyze and dissect the different elements of this movement to show that although most members of RAR may have had great intentions, it had its faults which
should not be overlooked. RAR fits into a broader picture, as it shows that a movement with a
great cause can easily be admired, but one has to delve deeper to truly understand if the
organization was a competent one.
The question I am posing is difficult to answer since “success” is objective, and therefore,
hard to measure. After thorough research though, I have come to the conclusion that success can be determined by whether those involved with RAR were able to achieve the goals they set for the movement. I conclude that the RAR committee members, punk rockers, and members of the Cathie 4
Anti-Nazi League did have differing beliefs that put strain on the movement, but it did not cause
enough conflict to inhibit them from coordinating effective protests and musical shows which
they used to promulgate their message of anti-racism. However, Rock Against Racism, as its
name implies, began as a campaign to reduce racism, but the focus of the organization was
shifted to anti-fascism once the Anti-Nazi League became involved. As RAR evolved, those
involved saw the neo-fascist National Front as the biggest threat to English society, and sought to
abate their influence. The RAR members believed that by diminishing the power of the National
Front, there would be a direct reduction of racism as well.
Research
Over the course of five chapters I utilized a diverse array of both primary and secondary
sources. The two sources I relied heavily on are the books White Riot, edited by Max Trembley
and Stephen Duncombe, and Walls Come Tumbling Down by Daniel Rachel. White Riot is an
anthology of different interviews and articles by experts and bands that were integral to the
movement. I also interviewed Max Trembley to seek his expert opinion on how minorities were represented within punk music and this movement. He made the point that punk musicians were
partial to West Indians, but did not actively try to alienate other minorities. Since RAR utilized
punk music to garner support, it appeared that the movement favored Blacks, but this was not
always the fault of the organization itself. This topic was also broached in Walls Come Tumbling
Down. This book is an aggregate of interviews and accounts from those who were directly
involved in the movement. Both sources offered detailed insight into punk subculture and the
operation of the Rock Against Racism movement. Since Walls Come Tumbling Down featured
the central RAR committee members and others who comprised the movement, it was a great
resource for understanding the operation of the movement. However, it was a bit biased and very Cathie 5 subjective. In order to analyze every facet of RAR I needed to use impartial and equitable sources as well. In this case, I relied on authors Simon Firth and John Street’s analysis of RAR as well as sociologist Paul Gilroy. Firth and Street conclude that the movement fell short in a myriad of ways, but was still important in the destruction of the National Front. Paul Gilroy saw the merit in RAR, but thought it did not reach its full potential as it could have done more to encourage anti-racism. Additionally, I used fanzines such as Sniffin Glue and Temporary
Hoarding to learn about RAR and punk music from the punk fans’ and musicians perspective.
Although the sources I used were helpful and comprehensive, there were still gaps in my research. There were not a plethora of sources about this topic. Due to the lack of material, I had to form a conclusion based on the research I did find, and from my own interpretation of the movement.
Cathie 6
Ch. 1 How It All Began
On August 30, 1976, racial tensions within Britain came to a head. It was a day designated to commemorate the annual Notting Hill Carnival, a celebration of West Indian culture, which had been celebrated for over ten years without incident. This year, however, was different. What began as an innocuous festival, later erupted into a massive riot, concluding with over 100 police officers and 60 carnival attendees hospitalized, while 66 people were arrested for misconduct.1 There are various accounts of the events that took place that day; some claim that the police were only doing their due diligence by preventing pick pocketers from targeting unsuspecting victims, whereas others believed that the police were racially profiling black youths by accusing them of crimes in which they were innocent. Although there were large discrepancies in the stories reported, the one that made the biggest and most lasting impact, was that young Blacks were being harassed by a blatantly racist police force. When journalist Robert Elms attended the Carnival, a cop stopped and asked him why he was at the festival, since it was “just full of niggers.”2 This was not uncommon behavior exhibited by the police, as they had a long history of targeting minorities, predominately people of West Indian descent.
This day harkened back to the race riots that occurred in the same place, on the same day,
18 years prior. Darcus Howe, author of the article “Carnival In a Strange Land,” said that the first Carnival signified a time period when “the West Indian community had fought off the racists” by putting up “a major resistance to police brutality, and, in so doing, established itself
1 "BBC ON THIS DAY | 30 | 1976: Notting Hill Carnival Ends in Riot," BBC News, August 30, 1976, accessed March 27, 2018, http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/30/newsid_2511000/2511059.stm. 2 Daniel Rachel, Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge, 1976-1992 (London: Picador, 2017), 103. Cathie 7
as a major bridgehead in the struggle of black people in Britain.”3 That is why Notting Hill was chosen as the sight for the Carnival, as it was considered “liberated territory” by the West
Indians, who had protested in 1958. However, these feelings of liberation were diminishing in
1976, as over 500 white residents in the Notting Hill area protested the festival, and petitioned the Chief Superintendent to remove the Carnival from the area.4 As a precaution to ensure that
violence would not ensue, members of the Black People’s Information Centre, a group which
was in charge of running the Carnival, wrote to the police commissioner “warning of an
impending explosion should there be too many police officers on the streets” as tensions between
the black and white populations were already at an all-time high.5 Unfortunately, this did not
persuade the Commissioner. He decided to increase the amount of security from the 200 officers
of the previous year to nearly 1,600. This dramatic increase resulted in “a mood of anger and
resentment which grew over the two-day event.” In addition to heightened security, the police
introduced a “stop and search” policy which allowed police to rely solely on their own discretion
and stop anyone they deemed suspicious. This policy was allegedly employed to stop the group
of “hard core” Black youths who suspected of “pick pocketing,” which caused both Black and
White people to ascend on the police in the suspects defense.6 This sparked the violent protests,
and as author Alwyn Turner points out in his book Crisis, What Crisis?, the “riot that ensued was
Britain’s worst racial conflict” since World War II, with over 456 people injured, and the Notting
Hill area suffered from massive destructions.7
3 Darcus Howe, The Road Make to Walk on Carnival Day: The Battle for the West Indian Carnival in Britain, ed. . Sarah White (London: Race Today Collective, 1977), “Carnival In a Strange Land,” 3. 4 Howe, 5. 5 Ibid, 6. 6 Jon Savage and Johnny Marr, Englands Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock (London: Faber and Faber, 2016), 233. 7 Alwyn W.. Turner, Crisis ? What Crisis ?: Britain in the 1970s(London: Aurum Press, 2008), 216. Cathie 8
If significant political action had been taken to counteract racial tensions, it could have prevented the wave of riots that erupted in the late 1970s. There was legislation passed in 1976 prohibiting discrimination, and introducing the Commission for Racial Equality, an organization that was meant to promote equal opportunities and foster good relations between all racial group. This did little, however, to prevent the slew of violent riots and strikes that continued to take place across Britain, such as the riots in Lewisham (London), in Ladywood (Birmingham), or the
Grunwick Dispute in Dollis Hill and Willesden (London).8 As the government continuously failed to enact effective policies to reduce racism, it became clear that widespread intervention was necessary if change was ever going to occur.
The 1976 Notting Hill Riot marked a significant shift within British society. It was now apparent that minorities were no longer going to accept the racial injustices they were facing, and were adamantly pursuing equality. Some white people who were present at this event and witnessed the struggles of the West Indian population decided to show solidary and join their protests. It was a harbinger of future events and became the catalyst for the Rock Against Racism movement, one of the most important movements against racial inequality in history. An early and influential supporter of the RAR movement was a punk band that had been present during the Carnival, The Clash. They were so profoundly affected by the riots, that they released a single titled “White Riot” in March 1977, in which they called for “white people to show a similar passion for change and action as the black youths at Notting Hill.”9 The riots played an integral role in their music; pictures of the them appeared on their record sleeves and were used in various backdrops, and it “also woke them up further to the power of that weekend’s
8 Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style (Place?: Routledge, 1979), 87. 9 Kris Needs, Joe Strummer and the Legend of The Clash(London: Plexus, 2005), 45. Cathie 9
soundtrack,” which was reggae music10 The Clash saw how reggae was important to the West
Indians at the Carnival since it was their form of protest music, and some connected with it on a
spiritual level. Their lead singer, Joe Strummer, grew fixated on reggae, and incorporated the
genre into their own music, with songs such as “I Fought the Law,” “(White Man) In
Hammersmith Palais,” and “Police and Thieves,” which they covered from popular reggae artist
Junior Murvin.11 As a popular punk band, The Clash were able to bring reggae into the mainstream, and make it “cool” to a punk audience. Although they integrated reggae into their own sound, they did not try to fully emulate or appropriate West Indian culture by following the
Rastafarian lifestyle. As Strummer commented on their cover of “Police and Thieves,” “there’s a difference between a rip off and bringing some of our culture to another culture.”12 He implied
that these cultures are equals, and both deserve the same respect as musical art forms. He held
reggae in high esteem, and wanted to combine it with punk music in order to represent a
completely different culture from the young, lower class, white crowd, that punk typically
attracted.
The Clash were one of the first bands to bridge the gap between fans of punk and fans of
reggae. It was not long, however, before other punk musicians such as The Stiff Little Fingers,
The Slits, The Ruts, and the Dead Kennedys, began infusing reggae into their music as well.
Unlike the new wave band The Police, who had reggae inspired songs but paid little mind to the
plight of the West Indians’ situation, these bands wanted their music to make an impact on the
public, and send a message of protest. To accomplish this, these groups needed a platform to
share their ideologies, and rally their fans behind their cause. Shortly after the Notting Hill riots,
10 Ibid, 45. 11 Ibid, 45. 12 Greil Marcus, Ranters & Crowd Pleasers: Punk in Pop Music, 1977-92 (New York: Anchor Books, 1994), 7. Cathie 10
the Rock Against Racism (RAR) movement was formed, allowing musicians of the punk, new
wave, and reggae persuasion, to play in front of enormous crowds of eager fans, giving them the
platform they needed to espouse their anti-racism message.
RAR not only developed a loyal and large following, but it grew far more massive than the creator, David “Red” Saunders, had originally anticipated. Red Saunders was a freelance photographer for the Sunday Times; he formed this movement as a reaction to the vitriolic statements Eric Clapton had directed towards West Indian immigrants during his concert at the
Birmingham Oden on August 5, 1976.13 While drunk onstage, Clapton complained to the
audience that “Enoch was right,” “I think we should send them back,” as he was fearful of
Britain becoming a “black colony.”14 Clapton had been referring to Conservative politician
Enoch Powell’s famous 1968 “Rivers of Blood Speech,” in which Powell stated that the country
would be overrun with immigrants, and “in fifteen or twenty years’ time the black man will have
the whip hand over the white man.” This image had “filled” him with “foreboding,” and he
believed that if this were to come to fruition, the streets of Britain would be like “the River Tiber
foaming with much blood.”15 He thought that allowing people to immigrate, particularly those
who were unwed or had dependents, would be akin to “watching a nation busily engaged in
heaping up its own funeral pyre.”16 Clapton’s support and praise for Powell angered and shocked
thousands of fans, as he had built his career on appropriating Black Caribbean culture. Clapton’s
music would not have been as successful without the reggae components. He had benefitted
13 Sarfraz Manzoor, "1978, the Year Rock Found the Power to Unite," The Observer, April 20, 2008, , accessed March 27, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/apr/20/popandrock.race -Rock against Racism. 14 Ibid 15 "Enoch Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' Speech," The Telegraph, November 06, 2007, accessed March 27, 2018, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3643823/Enoch-Powells-Rivers-of-Blood-speech.html. 16 Ibid Cathie 11
tremendously from his recent cover of Bob Marley’s song “I Shot the Sheriff,” yet he was
supporting one of the most notorious white supremacists in Britain at the time.17
Saunders wrote a letter in response to Clapton’s comments, which was published in the
magazine New Musical Express (NME). In this letter, he pointedly states that Clapton was
“rock’s biggest colonialist,” and would be nowhere without R&B and “black music.”18 He
concluded the letter by calling for a “rank-and file movement against the racist poison in rock music” and urged anyone who was interested to address their letters to the P.O. Box named
“ROCK AGAINST RACISM.”19 This letter, seemingly inconsequential as it was not written by anyone famous, became highly significant due to the thousands of supporters it garnered immediately. Saunders had expected a few responses, but within two weeks had received over
500.20 This motivated him to form the RAR movement, together with other avid anti-racist supporters, such as Roger Huddle and Peter Bruno.
It was not long after Clapton had made these inflammatory statements, that David Bowie told Playboy magazine that he believed that Adolf Hitler was “one of the first rock stars,” and he
admired Hitler as a “media artist.” He praised how Hitler could command the attention of a
room, which he called a true “rock ‘n roll experience.”21 He expressed his sympathy for fascism, as he believed it was only a “very extreme form of nationalism.” Bowie was exhibiting blatant ignorance since fascism was more than just nationalism; it was an ideology that led to the mass genocide of millions. He touted moreover that he “might have been a bloody good Hitler”22- and
subsequently he was photographed at Victoria Station in London on May 2, 1976 giving a Nazi
17 Who Shot the Sheriff, dir. Alan Miles, Online (Great Britain, 2005), DVD. 18 Rachel, 6. 19 Ibid, 6. 20 Ibid, 14. 21 Ibid, 14 22 Savage, 167. Cathie 12
salute to the crowd.23 Although there is speculation on whether this picture is an accurate representation—he was most likely only waving to the crowd— it was enough to make many of his fans incensed.
In 1970, before Clapton and Bowie made these obtuse statements, Rod Stewart had told
International Times that “Enoch is the man. I’m all for him. This country is overcrowded. The
immigrants should be sent home.”24 Saunders’ letter had drawn attention to racism within the
music industry, which many had not noticed prior to Clapton’s and Bowie’s comments. Despite
their racist remarks, Stewart, Bowie, and Clapton still had a large and loyal fan base, especially
David Bowie, as he was “the first rock artist to speak directly of the chaos that was modern
Britain, to admit the failure of post-war dreams of progress and to offer instead an escape into
fantasy.”25 These artists would have had the opportunity to use their platform to send positive
messages, or at least keep their opinions to themselves, during a time that was tumultuous and
trying for many. Instead, they chose to fuel the fears of the public and to alienate minorities.
Their music did not appeal to everyone though, and for some of the working and middle class
youth who were suffering from the worsening economic and social conditions, they wanted
music that could reflect their feelings of hopelessness. Many of them turned to punk as a way to
revolt against the “establishment,” and to express their resentment, since they felt that popular
music was not capturing their sentiments, or giving them the outlet for their anger. However,
there were musicians and fans within the punk movement who saw the potential of punk to be
used for more than just a means to vent their frustrations. Their music could be used to actually
protest injustices, and support worthwhile causes. There were bands such as The Damned who
23 Rachel, 15 24 Ibid, 16 25 Turner, 25 Cathie 13
had no desire to use their music as a platform for societal change, but many other punk bands
like The Clash and the X-Ray Spex abhorred the racist statements being made by popular
musicians, and the overt racism they were witnessing in society. Although small in comparison
to Bowie, Clapton, and Stewart, these punk bands also had a loyal fan base. Many of them
genuinely wanted to promote equality within Britain. Once they saw Saunders’ letter they began
joining RAR, and became a vital component of the movement.
Saunders, Huddle, and the other original RAR committee members did not intend for
punk music to be the catalyst for change within the movement. Their primary goal was to gain
avid supporters of the cause, but punk music was considered to be “hostile,” and “nihilistic,”
which were not characteristics that promoted inclusivity.26 Punk musicians and fans were looked
upon as anarchists and unruly savages because of the violence that erupted during their shows,
and their lewd and controversial style of dress. For instance, punks wore S&M paraphernalia,
and fascist and Nazi regalia, such as swastikas, as they wanted to appear as repulsive and radical
as possible to “remind society of the atrocities it permits.”27 With songs like “Anarchy in the
UK” by the Sex Pistols, and “Oh Bondage! Up Yours!” by the X-Ray Spex, punk rockers wanted to be rebellious and controversial to distance themselves from the norms of British society. The provocative nature of punk music made it seem like the unlikely choice for an organization that was endorsing a message of equality and anti-racism. Yet although insensitive in some regards, punk music was not necessarily inherently racist. The majority of the fans that wore these racist symbols did so for the shock value, not because they actually believed in the ideologies behind them.
26 Savage, 196 27 Tricia Henry Young, Break All Rules!: Punk Rock and the Making of a Style (Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Books on Demand, 2004), 2. Cathie 14
The 1970s in Britain was a turbulent time comprised of high inflation, unemployment, and
political instability. It was young, white males of lower socioeconomic status who suffered the
brunt of these conditions. In the mid 1970s, the unemployment rate for those under 25 exceeded
25 percent.28 They had lost faith in the political system, and rejected political parties, whether it be the Conservative, Liberal, or the Labour Party. British youth felt that all of the political groups only made empty promises and that none of these parties could produce any real solutions
for the problems that affected them.29 Punk music gave these young people a sense of control, as they felt they were actively rebelling against the establishment, which they deemed responsible for the lack of jobs and the impoverished state many were facing. Although most punk music
touted themes of anarchy, and having “no future,” there were bands like the Subway Sects who
entered the punk realm in order to instill fans with feelings of hope, and influence them to take
charge of their situation, rather than solely focus on rebellion. In an interview for the fanzine
Sniffin Glue, lead singer Vic Goddard said that he did not subscribe to anarchist tendencies like
other punk bands; he believed that “rather than go around with ‘ANARCHY’ written all over
yourself, you should do something...get involved with things.”30 Although the punk genre may
have started as a way to vent about economic conditions and British society as a whole, it soon
morphed into so much more. It became a platform to protest all injustices, especially the plight of
minorities and immigrants, who were being mistreated, undermined, and violently targeted.
The punk subculture may have appeared salacious and crude, but RAR relied on it
heavily in order to get supporters for their cause. Punk was rooted in what many scholars like
Dick Hebdige and Jon Savage refer to as a “do-it-yourself “mentality. This term was used
28 Ibid, 68 29 Turner, 2. 30 Mark Perry, Sniffin Glue and Other Rock N Roll Habits: The Essential Punk Accessory (London: Omnibus, 2009), Issue 5, 6. Cathie 15
because punk fans were encouraged to directly participate in the punk movement by creating
their own music, and contributing to the culture through fanzines and new, inventive fashions.
Saunders wanted RAR to have the same grassroots foundation that punk had. In order to achieve
this, he knew he needed influential bands like The Clash to help encourage as many people as
possible to come together and protest. As Simon Firth and John Street wrote in their article
“Rock Against Racism and Red Wedge: From Music to Politics, from Politics to Music,” punk
music was “the medium for political statement; it had created a new culture of street protest,
through the do-it yourself magazines the market stall clothes sellers, the front room recording
studios, the slogans, and the politics of gestures generally. Punk allowed cultural autodidacts to
live out their theories. It became the backbone of the movement, and was described as the ‘child
of punk’.”31 The Clash, Sham 69, and John Lydon of the Sex Pistols, showed solidarity with
minorities; they developed an affinity for reggae and West Indian culture in particular. They saw
themselves as marginalized and not fitting into the social fabric of British society, which helped
them identify with Rastafarianism, as it was a paradigm of rejection to modernization and
Western culture. These artists wanted to mimic this aspect of Rastafarianism through their own
music. Once Red Saunders was able to garner enough support from punk musicians and fans, he
organized the first RAR concert. It was held on December 10, 1976 at the Royal College of Art
with Carol Grimes, Matumbi, and Limousine headlining.32 The event was well-attended, but it paled in comparison for what was to come.
After this first event, Rock Against Racism became a legitimized movement among the punk fan base. Fans began writing hundreds of letters to the campaign, asking how they could
31 Simon Firth and John Street, "Rock Against Racism and Red Wedge: From Music to Politics, from Politics to Music," in Rockin' the Boat: Mass Music and Mass Movements (South End Press, 1992), 68. 32 Rachel, 18. Cathie 16 lend their support, and become more active within the organization.33 There was not much of an organization at this point, as it was only a small group of people who wanted to invoke positive change for the minorities within Britain, but did not have any real direction on how to do so.
With the success of the first concert, it became apparent that RAR needed to become a cohesive, organized movement. The central RAR committee was made up of people from a variety of different backgrounds, including Roger Huddle, Kate Webb, Clarence Baker from the band
Misty in Roots, the reggae band Aswad, photographer Syd Shelton, and graphic designer Ruth
Gregory. In conjunction with two journalists, and members of the Socialist Worker’s Party
(SWP), David Widgery, and Lucy “Toothpaste” Whitman, the committee worked together to create a fanzine that was centered around the Rock Against Racism mission.34 They named this fanzine, Temporary Hoarding, and it was used to propagate anti-racist views, disseminate information about upcoming RAR shows, coordinate protests, interview musicians, and provide commentary on British society as a whole. In the first issue, Widgery wrote “we want rebel music, street music. Music that breaks down people’s fear of one another. Crisis music. Now music. Music that knows who the real enemy is. Rock Against Racism. LOVE MUSIC HATE
RACISM.” This became one of the main slogans of the movement.35 Widgery and Lucy became the primary writers of Temporary Hoarding, and developed the political direction of RAR.
Some participants, such as Syd Shelton, believed that although members of the SWP made important contributions to the cause, it was imperative that RAR remained autonomous from any political affiliation, as the organization was “not trying to effect a revolution. We were trying to change people’s attitudes about racism, sexism and Northern Ireland. We were also trying to
33 Ibid, 30. 34 Ibid, 29. 35 Ibid, 35. Cathie 17
defeat racism in the police and the National Front.”36 Kate Webb echoed these same beliefs, and
hailed RAR as “a resistance against authoritarian politics and dogmatic leftism.”37
Unfortunately, it was not possible to completely distance RAR from politics, as it was only a
matter of time that the Anti-Nazi League (ANL), a branch of the SWP, became heavily involved.
The founding tenets of the Rock Against Racism movement were to create an
organization founded upon inclusivity for people of all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds,
while rejecting political affiliations. The members wanted to combat racism, but not through a
revolution. Instead, they chose to utilize music to send the public positive messages about race.
The concerts showcased reggae artists directly alongside punk bands. This was demonstrating
that even if their music was different stylistically, they also shared many similarities; both genres
were imbued with lyrics of protest, and “punk’s concern to expose the oppressive nature and
boredom of everyday life under capitalism resonated with reggae’s antipathy to commodity
forms, its emphasis on ‘roots’ and its faithful documentation of topical issues and current
events.”38 Reggae was unique, as it was an artform and culture, with music comprised of intense,
passionate lyrics, and a “commitment to improvisation,” which made those who were tired of the
“predictable musical products of mainstream rock and pop culture” excited.39 Reggae and punk
music were a microcosm for how RAR wanted society to view race. The punk and reggae genres
may have differed musically in many ways, but artists in both genres promoted messages about
mistrust of authority and rebellion against oppressive circumstances. Having white and black
36 Ibid, 31. 37 Ibid, 32. 38 Simon Jones, "Black Culture, White Youth: The Reggae Tradition from JA to UK" (2011), in Black Culture, White Youth: The Reggae Tradition from JA to UK (London,: Macmillan Education, 1988), 219, White Riot: Punk Rock and the Politics of Race. 39 Ibid, 219. Cathie 18
artists perform together on stage, was a sign of solidarity; it showed how much the shared,
despite their differences in skin color.
Members of RAR were under no illusion that they could completely eradicate racism, and
did not try to do so. Rather, they felt it was more important to rally the youth to support their
cause, and target racist organizations such as the National Front. Instead of trying to enact a
rebellion or revolt against the government, they fought to defeat racism on smaller scales, such
as attempting to change the minds of individuals. What set Rock Against Racism apart from other protests, was not the number of participants that were active within the movement, or the presence of widespread political change, but the fact that they disseminated an important message to the public. This message was that racism should have no place in Britain. No one was turned away from the RAR movement, and there were sects of people from all corners of society that wanted to defeat racist organizations, and prevent fascist ideals from permeating the government. Many showed their support for the cause by creating their own communities within the movement, such as Vegetarians Against the Nazis, Students Against the Nazis, and Teachers
Against the Nazis, in addition to over 40 other subgroups.40
When Saunders, Widgery, Whitman, and the rest of the RAR central committee received letters from people in need of support, they did not sit idly by, they responded right away. This movement was sympathetic to the plight of all minorities; even the Catholics from Northern
Ireland felt a connection to the Black population in Britain, and argued that they were undergoing a similar experience of discrimination. The staff of Temporary Hoarding reacted by publishing the letters they received which included correspondence from the Northern Irish
Catholics, the Jewish punks that feared a resurgence of fascism, the Pakistanis, and many other
40 Rachel, 118. Cathie 19
groups facing prejudice and inequality. By making these letters public, it allowed their readers to
gain a better understanding of the discrimination that was happening all throughout the UK.41
RAR prided itself on being a proactive organization that did not rely on government to enact
change, but instead, held concerts, or “gigs” featuring punk and reggae musicians, to create
change themselves.
In August of 1977, RAR held a gig at the Hackney town hall, featuring Billy Idol’s punk
band Generation X, and reggae band, the Cimarons.42 A month later, RAR launched the “Nazis
Are No Fun” campaign, and held a show at the Royal College of Art, which featured punk
groups 999, the Members, punk poet John Cooper Clarke, and the reggae band Misty In Roots.43
These events were very well attended, but the RAR committee knew that if they were going to
make a real impact, they needed a large scale event that would reach a wide audience. Therefore,
on April 30, 1978, the Rock Against Racism members, alongside those of the Anti-Nazi League,
held a large concert called the Victoria Park Carnival. Fans had been expected to march seven
miles from Trafalgar Square to Hackney, where a wide array of bands, namely The Clash, X-Ray
Spex, Tom Robinson, and Steel Pulse, were to perform.44 Saunders expected a few thousand at
most, but instead, more than 80,000 people attended, making it one of the largest protests in
British history.45 It was not only the sheer amount of people who attended that made this
Carnival so unique, it was the enthusiasm of the crowd, and dedication of the protesters to the cause that made it so successful. These supporters were willing to trek over seven miles, protesting all along the way, because they firmly believed that this cause was worth it.
41 Paul Gilroy, There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack (Uwin Hyman, 1987), 170. 42 Rachel, 47. 43 Ibid, 45 44 Rachel, xx. 45 Ibid, 134. Cathie 20
Filmmaker Gurinder Chadah, reminisced about attending the event in an interview for Alan
Miles’ documentary Who Shot the Sheriff , as she recalled:
I remember seeing bands sort of lining up and everyone getting ready, and then this noise
started...I never heard anything like it...around the corner I saw these hoards coming into
Victoria Park...this crowd kept coming, it just didn’t stop. For me, a sort of young, Indian
girl, at that time, to see all these people of all different nationalities coming together
under a banner that was opposed to what had been making my life, and my parent’s life
so miserable, was really moving.46
This Carnival proved that thousands of people had a desire to eliminate inequality, and that it was not an unattainable goal. Not long after the Carnival at Victoria Park, another carnival in
Manchester was held in July, headlined by the Buzzcocks, and another in Brockwell Park, where
Sham 69 and new wave artist Elvis Costello played.47 RAR gigs continued to grow in popularity as the 1970s wore on, but its existence would consistently be challenged and undermined by the
National Front, and the Conservative, Labour, and Liberal parties.
Rock Against Racism was a movement that was formed because the founder, Red
Saunders, was disheartened by the racist comments of Eric Clapton. What began as a tiny organization, later became a widespread and global movement. By using punk music, and with the help of the Anti-Nazi League, RAR was able to attract well over 80,000 people to their first
Carnival, and continued to grow their member base exponentially over the 1970s. Although it is hard to measure the success of this organization, it is clear that it did make an impact on British
46 Miles 47 Savage, 484. Cathie 21 society, as it brought awareness to racial inequality, and undermined the presence of the National
Front. It was revolutionary, as RAR gigs were the first to have black and white artists perform together side-by-side as equals, and gave minorities a platform to share their beliefs and music to audiences that might have been ignorant to them previously. Rock Against Racism may not have ended racism or eliminated fascism completely, however, it was still an important movement in the fight for equality.
Cathie 22
Ch 2: Rise of the National Front
Tensions in Britain between minorities and whites had been brewing long before the
1976 Notting Hill Carnival. Animosity towards minorities predates the 1950s, and in 1948, when
the Empire Windrush boat brought over 500 migrant workers from the Caribbean to England,
much of the English population was dismayed.1 After World War II, Britain was in need of
laborers, and these immigrants replenished the workforce Britain lost during the war. For the first
time, the British government was encouraging those from the Commonwealth to live and work
within England, rather than recruit people solely from other European nations. Eventually, in
1968, an influx of Asians, many who were refugees fleeing from oppressive conditions in Kenya,
Uganda, and a large percentage from India, found safe haven and work in Britain. In fact, by
1971, the immigrant population number had reached over three million, “171,000 who identify
themselves as Jamaican origin, 313,000 from India and 676,000 from Ireland.”2 Immigration had
been a boon to the economy post World War II, but in the 1970s, many saw it as a detriment to
society as the economy was declining. Racist sentiments began growing as many British
unemployed workers viewed immigrants as the enemy that was taking their jobs, and abusing
their welfare system.
Media and television shows played an integral role in indoctrinating the public with
discriminatory and prejudice viewpoints. For instance, beginning in 1972, there were “mugging
scares” led by the tabloids, which targeted West Indians, claiming they were the primary reason
for a rise muggings, and crime in general.3 These lies perpetuated by the media added to the
1 "IWonder - How Has Immigration Changed Britain since WW2?" BBC, , accessed March 27, 2018, http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/zxm6pv4. 2 Ibid. 3Jon Savage and Johnny Marr, Englands Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock (London: Faber and Faber, 2016), 109. Cathie 23 acrimonious atmosphere, which helped neo-fascists, and extreme Conservatives like Enoch
Powell garner more support, as their platform was based around stopping immigration. This led to a 1975 ”March Against Mugging,” in which the neo-fascists, led by the political party the
National Front, protested West Indian immigrants with the slogan ‘Stop the Muggers. 80% of muggers are black. 85% of victims are white.”4 In Paul Gilroy’s book There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack, he points out that these falsified statistics were significant “not simply for its open defiance of the laws on incitement to racial hatred and the new tactic of provocative marches through black areas but for the convergence it represented between the official, respectable politics of race signal led by the authoritative official crime statistics.” The neo- fascist groups had “seized the issue of black crime and begun to refine it into a populist weapon which could prove the wisdom of their distinctive solution to Britain’s race problems – repatriation.”5 A large percentage of the population began to believe in this misinformation, as the media was fearmongering.
People were frightened about the state of the economy, their unemployment status, and rise in crime, which made immigrants a suitable scapegoat for these conditions. According to a
1976 article in The Times, Enoch Powell had made a speech at Cambridge in which he blamed the rise in mugging on “racial shifts” in British cities. This was proven false however by the director of the United Kingdom Immigrants Advisory Board, John Ennals. Ennals said the increase in crime was due to “the social conditions in which many of our young people are living, whatever their colour, whether white or black. It arises from the kind of bad housing conditions, old schools and lack of employment opportunities for teenagers which leads people
4 Paul Gilroy, There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack (Uwin Hyman, 1987), 155. 5 Ibid, 155. Cathie 24 to irresponsible behavior”6 In fact, according to author Des Wilson, the West Indian community had been the primary target of prejudice, but one of the most “undeserving of criticism.” They had been accused of “coming to Britain to live on the dole, yet proportionately more West
Indians are employed than people born in Britain. West Indians take proportionately less from the social services and the supplementary benefits. They are sometimes accused of being the cause of community troubles when in most cases they are the victims.”7 Although this viewpoint is sympathetic and partial towards immigrants, Wilson was not inaccurate when saying that a large percentage of West Indians were employed. Although there was another argument that minorities suppressed wages, they still made less than the white worker within the same industry, and this did not change much over the course of the late 1970s and through the 1980s. Economist
Barry McCormick found that within this time frame, the average white workers earned 12.6 per cent more than Asian workers who in turn earned 5.2 per cent more than the West Indian workers.8 It was understandable that people would want to believe this erroneous information since it provided reasons for why they were facing poor economic conditions. People wanted a reason for why they were unemployed, and if immigration was the root cause, then this was something they felt could be remedied. This gave them a them a sense of control over a situation that was uncontrollable, as it would take much more than protesting and discriminating against immigrants to ameliorate the economic troubles Britain was undergoing.
The media was not the only institution in Britain that racism permeated; it affected television, the police, and the judicial system. Although there were shows on television that
6 "Mugging 'not racial' expert tells Mr Powell." Times. April 13, 1976, p. 7. Accessed April 6, 2018 http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/6GXRD2. 7 Des Wilson, “West Indians in Britain," Illustrated London News, October 27, 1973, p. 63 Accessed April 6, 2018 http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/5g4q86. 8 Barry Mccormick, "Evidence About The Comparative Earnings Of Asian And West Indian Workers In Great Britain," Scottish Journal of Political Economy 33, no. 2 (1986): 102, doi:10.1111/j.1467-9485.1986.tb00265.x. Cathie 25
featured mixed race or all black casts, such as The Fosters, Mixed Blessings, and The Tomorrow
People, there were still a lot of popular shows that were discriminatory. Many people were not
receptive to having minorities on T.V., and shows like Coronation Street were “fearful that the
mere presence of black people on the screen would somehow raise ‘issues’ that would be
incompatible with the domestic dramas of Weatherfield.”9 Another show that echoed this same sentiment was Love Thy Neighbour, in which one of the main characters, Eddie Booth, had a
“continual stream of racist abuse” towards his next-door neighbors.10 The minority communities were not ignorant to this, as black comedian Sammy Thomas even joked in his stand up shows that the BBC stood for “Ban Black Comics,” because “the BBC...showed little enthusiasm for putting black faces on television.”11
Minorities were not represented fairly on television, but more importantly, they were
oftentimes treated unfairly in the criminal justice system. The police force, like many other
institutions at the time, were heavily influenced by the ideals of Enoch Powell, and those of the
National Front political party. In a 1979 interview with the newspaper the International Times, a
London CID detective revealed that “his greatest concern about what was happening in Britain’s police force was, surprisingly, not the effects of the exposure of widespread corruption and frame-up practices, but the strength of racist attitudes in the force.” He was worried about “how the National Front literature is freely handed around in the police stations and how OST polices officers are, almost by nature, racist in their dealings with black people.”12 That is not to say that
all police officers were racist or biased and purposely targeted minorities. Instead, many had
9 Alwyn W. Turner, Crisis ? What Crisis ?: Britain in the 1970s(London: Aurum Press, 2008), 206. 10 Ibid, 207. 11 Ibid, 206 12 "Who Polices the Police?" International Times (London), May 1979, accessed April 6, 2018, http://www.internationaltimes.it/archive/. Cathie 26
insufficient training, and were unaware on how to properly handle volatile situations before they
escalated.13 Whether the police were inherently racist or not, minority groups mistrusted them.
However, the courts and judicial system were even more biased as “the prison service was
widely considered to be...institutionally racist, and few were comforted by the knowledge that
the NF was actively recruiting prison officers.”14 Since minorities could not rely on these institutions, Rock Against Racism became something many of them could put their faith into.
The biggest opponent to RAR was the National Front (NF), a far right fascist political party that arose during the late 1960s. There are many factors to the rise of the NF, most importantly, it was due to the “post-war ‘golden era’ of capitalism,” ending, as there was the
1972 oil crisis, rolling power cuts, petrol rationing, and growing unemployment that “surpassed
one million in 1977.”15 People wanted a radical change, and the NF was promising this change.
In 1967, the National Front was formed, and it was an amalgamation of different nationalist
extremist groups like the British National Party, Racial Preservation Society, and the League of
Empire Loyalists.16 It was founded by A.K. Chesterton, who had originally created another
National Front party in 1945, “which united minor groups with policies that included building a
strong ‘national and Empire economy’, preserving Christian traditions and finding ‘an
honourable, just and lasting solution’ to the ‘real Jewish problem.’17 With the resurgence of the
party in the late 1960s, the leaders had shifted their focus from solely targeting the Jewish
population, to blaming all foreigners for the crisis Britain was undergoing. They concerted their
13 "Mugging 'not racial' expert tells Mr Powell." Times. April 13, 1976, p. 7. Accessed April 6, 2018 http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/6GXRD2. 14 Turner, 218. 15 Ibid, 277. 16 Ryan Shaffer, "The Soundtrack of Neo-Fascism: Youth and Music in the National Front," Patterns of Prejudice 17, no. 4-5 (October 1, 2013): 462, accessed April 6, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1080/0031322X.2013.842289. 17 Ibid, 461. Cathie 27
efforts to gain supporters by focusing on demographics they believed were directly affected by
“growing youth unemployment, ill-conceived urban redevelopment and notable levels of
immigration combined with wider economic problems” such as London’s East End, parts of the
West Midlands and Yorkshire.18 In 1972, John Tyndall took over as chair, and under his
tutelage, the NF grew tremendously as a political party, while gaining monumental support from
the general public.19 Part of what contributed to the success of the party was the expulsion of
Asians from Uganda. Idi Amin, former president of Uganda, announced that Asian residents in
Uganda with British passports were to be expelled from the country as a process of
Africanization.20 This led to over 28,000 Ugandan Asians to flee Africa and arrive in Britain.21
The NF used this opportunity to exacerbate the fears of the public, and by the 1974 general
elections, the party had 54 candidates running in the election; within the same year, this number
grew to 90 candidates, and the party received 77,000 votes.22
The National Front rose to prominence in the mid-1970s. In the May 1974 local
government elections, they averaged “nearly 10 per cent of the poll in several districts of London
and in a by-election at Newham South,” they “beat the Conservative candidate,” taking “11.5 per
cent of the total votes cast.”23 By 1976, they were the fourth largest political party in the country,
as they were concentrating their “efforts on a campaign in the run-up to the general election which involved making its presence felt in areas of high non-white populations a series of high- profile street-marches.”24 In the 1977 GLC elections they garnered 119,000 votes, knocking the
18 Matthew Worley, "Oi! Oi! Oi!: Class, Locality, and British Punk," Fight Back: Punk, Politics and Resistance, 2018, 42. 19 Shaffer, 463. 20 Turner, 215. 21 Ibid 22 Shaffer, 463. 23 Gilroy, 153. 24 Roger Sabin “‘I Won’t Let That Dago Go By’: Rethinking Punk and Racism” in White Riot: Punk Rock and the Politics of Race (Verso, 2011), 59. Cathie 28
Liberal Party into fourth place in 31 out of the 92 constituencies.25 Although the Conservative
and Labour party might not have been the most accepting of minorities, the National Front was
blatantly racist. John Tyndall had referred to Mein Kampf as his doctrine, and Martin Webster, a
NF leader and candidate, had said they were busy “building a well-oiled Nazi machine” in
Britain.26 Additionally, John Kingsley Read, who was a former member of the Conservative
Party, as well as an ex-chairman of the NF, had made a speech in 1978 in which he had referred
to minorities as “niggers, wogs and coons.” Also, when commenting on the murder of an Asian
man in Southall he said “One down, a million to go.”27 These ideas were dangerous to the safety
and security of minorities, and the NF was militant in their mission to be rid of them.
The National Front may have been inherently racist, but this was not indicative of
everyone who joined the party. There were many supporters who, similar to supporters of the
punk movement, were simply disenchanted by the already established political parties and
wanted a change. In an article published for the Aberdeen Evening Express titled “Not Only
Racists Vote For National Front,” Dr. C.T. Husbands, a sociology lecturer at Bristol University,
was quoted saying that the “‘National Front vote, as indeed the Liberal vote, comes from people
who wish to protest.’” He believed that not everyone in the NF was a hard-core racist as many
supports were “‘those who are disaffected with the social and economic malaise and the racially
motivated voter’” who felt a “sense of competition from his coloured neighbor over hosuing and
jobs,” therefore using his “‘coloured neighbour as a scapegoat.’”28 The NF was exceptional at persuading people to join their cause, and knew exactly what fears to prey upon to gain the
25 Rachel, 115. 26 Ibid 27 Turner, 216. 28 “Not Only Racists Vote For National Front,” Aberdeen Evening Express, May 15, 1975, Accessed April 26, 2018, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000445/19750515/154/0006?no ouch=true Cathie 29 support they needed to become a viable political party. They used falsified statistics, imbedded themselves in various communities, and infiltrated the media in order to earn people’s trust, and exploit their ignorance.
With the exponential growth of the National Front, Red Saunders, Roger Huddle, Kate
Webb, and the other RAR committee members decided to make it part of their mission to prevent this party from gaining any more popularity and winning elections. They wanted to ensure that the NF’s racist ideals did not become widespread, as they knew immigrants were not the primary cause for the economic downturn and did not deserve all the blame for it. Although the influx of immigrants may have placed somewhat of a burden upon the economy, it was not to the extent that the NF and far right Conservative parties were implying.
Cathie 30
Ch 3. The Members of Rock Against Racism
RAR had a decent following, but it was nowhere close to being influential enough to
compete against the NF. There were millions who bought RAR badges, thousands who wrote to
RAR and expressed interest in attending shows and protests, and hundreds who attended the first
few concerts; yet this was not enough of a support base to even attract the attention of the NF,
nevertheless, to reduce racism.1 Huddle, as stated previously, did not want to engage in politics,
since this organization had no intention of enacting a revolution. However, they knew the only
way they would be able to reduce racism and help minorities gain equality was through
undermining the National Front, and Conservatives such as Powell. In order to do this, Saunders
was aware that they needed the resources of a larger organization. It just so happened that the
Socialist Worker’s Party (SWP) wanted to expand their platform to appeal to the youth, and
wanted RAR to help them achieve this goal. The SWP could provide resources such as printers,
man power, and more funding, which is what RAR needed to expand their organization. Above
all though, they needed structure. The SWP was a cohesive party that successfully organized
protests, and these coordination skills are something that the RAR committee lacked. This is not to say that RAR was completely unorganized. The musician Tom Robinson mentioned in an
interview with the Observer that the committee would make and send out kits to people who
wanted to host a gig. These kits provided detailed explanations on hosting a gig, and covered
everything from how to handle promotion, to poster placement in the venues. They also “made
the point that you should always pay the artists” as they were professional musicians, and this
gave them a feeling of respect, which was important when creating a loyal member base for the
1 Daniel Rachel, Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge, 1976-1992 (London: Picador, 2017), 45. Cathie 31
organization.2 Overall though, RAR needed help with creating and organizing larger shows, and
the SWP could provide the resources necessary for these gigs to come to fruition. In exchange
for the SWP’s aid, RAR would help the SWP gain support from the youth, as they were the primary members of the RAR movement. In 1977, RAR and the SWP formed an alliance with the intentions of defeating the NF, and through this defeat, they hoped to ultimately reduce racism.
The Socialist Worker’s Party began as the International Socialists, a Liberal party rooted in the ideas of Trotsky and Marx.3 They changed their name, and realigned their focus from
enacting a broad revolution, to supporting trade unions and workers. They did not begin as an
anti-racist organization, and although “the fight against racism was an increasingly vital aspect of
the SWP's work,” they did not necessarily “identify RAR as its main focus for this activity.”4
Until late 1977, the Right to Work Campaign was one of the main bearers of the SWP's anti-
racist message, chiefly because this opened a route into the workers' movement.5 Although the
SWP was well established and had a loyal following, the members of this party needed a way to
appeal to the youth masses, and the best option was by “reclaiming popular music as a
progressive force,” which led them to form a coalition with RAR.6 The SWP knew that in order
to successfully entice the youth to support worker’s rights, it would require different strategies
and a larger platform. To accomplish this, they formed a separate wing of their party, which they
called the Anti-Nazi League (ANL). The ANL became the political wing of the Rock Against
2 Ed Vulliamy, "Blood and Glory," The Observer, March 04, 2007, accessed April 27, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/04/race.otherparties. Sponsored by Hewlett Packard Enterprise 3 Simon Firth and John Street, "Rock Against Racism and Red Wedge: From Music to Politics, from Politics to Music," in Rockin' the Boat: Mass Music and Mass Movements (South End Press, 1992), 70. 4 Ian Goodyer, “Rock against racism: Multiculturalism and Political Mobilization, 1976–81,” Immigrants & Minorities, 22:1 (June 21, 2010): 49, accessed April 6, 2018. 5 Ibid 6 Worley, 42. Cathie 32
Racism movement, and as the lead founder and former Labour Party Member of Parliament,
Peter Hain commented: “RAR knew they couldn’t deliver without us, and we knew that RAR
was absolutely indispensable to us because otherwise we were a conventional political campaign.
We didn’t have the ability to break through to the world that wasn’t interested in politics.”7
Similarly, Red Saunders believed that ”you’ve got to link RAR and the ANL together. One
wouldn’t have had the mass impact without the other.”8
The ANL was the entry point the SWP needed to become involved with the anti-racist and anti-fascist campaign.9 By choosing the name “Anti-Nazi League,” it made their organization more approachable and easier to identify with. People from all backgrounds could get behind a movement that vowed to defeat fascism, but supporting trade unions and worker’s rights like the SWP had focused on previously, did not appeal as well to the masses. One of the earliest supporters of ANL was the investigative, anti-fascist magazine, Searchlight, created by
Gerry Gable.10 Searchlight was an important ally to have because they had a wide reaching
audience and a reputable reputation. A large percentage of their readership was Jewish, which
made this magazine an asset to ANL, as they were the liaison between ANL and this minority
population. Additionally, the Indian Worker’s Association also supported ANL and coordinated
protests with them. This association was an extremely large political organization at the time,
and had branches all over England. With the backing of this organization, and Searchlight, ANL
was able to grow in influence, and quickly expand their member base. The youth was the only demographic they did not have a link to, which is why they needed the assistance of RAR.
7 Daniel Rachel, Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge, 1976-1992 (London: Picador, 2017), 125. 8 Ibid, 124. 9 Goodyer, 49. 10 Michael Higgs, "From the Street to the State: Making Anti-Fascism Anti-Racist in 1970s Britain," Race & Class 58, no. 1 (July 1, 2016): , accessed April 26, 2018, doi:10.1177/0306396816643040. Cathie 33
It was not until the Lewisham riots of 1977, also known as the Battle of Lewisham, that
those who opposed the National Front realized they needed a more cohesive political
organization to rally behind, as the power of the NF was growing rapidly. The National Front
decided to hold a demonstration where they attempted to march from New Cross to Lewisham.
They were quickly met with opposition and counter protests, resulting in 110 people being
injured, 50 of which were police officers, and 214 arrested.11 Lewisham was a turning point as
“up until Lewisham, opposition from the Front had come almost entirely from students of the far
Left,” but for the first time the National Front candidates and supporters were being “confronted
by opponents form all sections of the community including the ethnic minorities themselves. For
the racial balance and the growing electoral strength of the front was finally convincing people
that something had to be done.”12 Lewisham was a terrible event that took place, but it did show
that cohesion between the left wing political groups like the SWP, ethnic minorities, and people
who were genuinely opposed to fascism had to happen if the NF was going to defeated. The
Anti-Nazi League became the organization that could unite these groups, and with the help of
RAR, was able to garner enough supporters to become a contender against the NF electorally and
ideologically.
The National Front’s popularity grew rapidly in the mid-1970s, especially between 1974 and
1976. They increased their street presence tremendously by distributing five million leaflets per year, and spray painting buildings throughout inner cities with their ubiquitous “NF,” symbol.13
However, the Anti-Nazi League and the RAR committee members were proactive in reducing
their influence. They too utilized methods of propaganda by distributing over nine million of
11 Who Shot the Sheriff, dir. Alan Miles, Online (Great Britain, 2005), DVD. 12 Ibid 13 Turner, 277. Cathie 34
their own leaflets, and over 750,000 badges between 1977 and 1979.14 RAR, in conjunction with the ANL, continuously held gigs that had high attendance throughout the late 70s, and by 1979,
Temporary Hoarding was selling well over 12,000 copies, showing that “RAR’s educational effects were plain.”15
Racism is rooted in ignorance, so the RAR members felt it was important to try and educate
the public. They did so by providing a platform for people to come and experience black culture
in a more familiar setting. Punk fans were used to reading fanzines and attending shows, which made these ideal formats to expose them to different cultures. This is why Temporary Hoarding and music gigs were utilized as recruiting tools. Temporary Hoarding followed the fanzine
format, and RAR’s gigs were focused on showcasing the music of different cultures rather than
on politics. This made it easier for people to better acclimate to these new cultures instead of
outright rejecting them based on prejudicial preconceived notions they might have had. They
were able to accept West Indian culture through something they could all understand, and music
was this commonality. In fact, Wayne Minter, who was a central RAR committee member, said in an interview that “we wouldn’t have direct political speeches on stage. There was always a stall at every gig, and the politics was in Temporary Hoarding.” Red Saunders when introducing the bands before each show “might make the odd comment but he certainly wouldn’t preach to people from the stage.” He believed that you did not need to “educate young people politically by debate necessarily. You educate them by example and by feeling.”16 Whereas the NF took a more abrasive, militant approach, RAR preferred to rally the youth through mediums they could better understand and become invigorated over.
14 Ibid, 277 15 Firth, 171. 16 Rachel, 126. Cathie 35
Although RAR and ANL worked well together, it was not always harmonious. Not everyone
within the Rock Against Racism movement shared the same beliefs or desired the same
outcomes from the movement. Unlike the RAR committee, who opted to use uplifting messages
like “unity” and “solidarity” when advertising, the ANL utilized scare tactics. They printed
leaflets captioned with “Never Again” referring to Nazi Germany, and “remember Hitler’s
Germany?”17 They did this because they wanted to beat the National Front politically, whereas
RAR wanted to “crush fascism through music and culture.”18 RAR was ideological since they
desired to defeat racism in the hearts and minds of the British people, but ANL wanted to defeat
the NF solely in the polls. RAR was more rooted in idealization than practicality as they did not
have a well-structured campaign on how to reduce racism, but instead, held these musical gigs in
the hopes that by experiencing the music of reggae artists, people would change their minds.
This was more wishful thinking than rational since they wanted to decrease the racist rhetoric
and intolerance towards minorities, but offered no concrete solutions on how to do so. The ANL
however, had a more strategic approach to accomplishing their mission. For instance, once they
discovered when the NF would be holding meetings, they would coordinate protests and
demonstrations at their meeting locations to undermine them.19 They did not only talk about
defeating fascism, but had actual strategies on how to do it. Additionally, the ANL had a more
clearly defined agenda than RAR. Paul Gilroy points out that “as the League’s name suggests, its
aims were simpler and more straightforward than RAR’s heterogeneous concerns. It was a
single-issue campaign modelled on the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and centered
17 Paul Gilroy, There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack (Uwin Hyman, 1987), 171. 18 Ibid, XX. 19 Higgs Cathie 36 on electoral politics whereas RAR’s critique of Labour had fused with punk’s anarchic and cynical analysis of parliamentarism.”20
Combating racism was a secondary concern of ANL. They believed it was more important to ensure a fascist party did not exist rather than focus their efforts on helping minorities achieve equality, which was RAR’s central mission. ANL had a harder time relating to the youth and apolitical people who wanted to be involved and help end racism, but did not want to get mired down in supporting a particular political party. The ANL knew that this is where RAR was extremely beneficial to the success of their organization, yet RAR members did not want to turn their movement into a political campaign. RAR wanted to retain some of their grassroots foundation, and if they began endorsing certain candidates and parties, then they would become part of the political establishment they were protesting. The committee was not looking to enact policies or political reforms, but instead, they took a bottom up approach and focused their efforts on changing the minds and attitudes of individuals. This was in direct opposition to the
ANL’s approach. They wanted to win in elections so they could create political policies within the government to enact change.
Saunders, Huddle, Webb, and the other RAR central committee members knew their audience, and the best way to reach them. Roger Huddle has described RAR as “the cultural wing of ANL” and Kate Webb has seconded this notion as she believed “the ANL was not RAR.
The Anti-Nazi League was a political mobilizing organization: a mainstream anti-fascist organization. It had none of the cultural aesthetic stuff;” however she did admit that RAR was
“much more anarchic and we needed their structures and organizing capabilities.”21 Even though
20 Gilroy, 171. 21 Ibid, 126. Cathie 37
the ANL and RAR relied on each other, RAR knew it was important to remain autonomous, as
they were still rebelling against the “British way of life,” which those who were part of the ANL
did not completely identify with since they wanted to alter British society, not completely rebel
against it.22 It was difficult to keep ANL and RAR’s beliefs totally separate as Saunders pointed
out that “it was inevitable that as it went on and it grew there was more and more of an element
in the supporters of RAR who didn’t like the revolutionary socialist element. Some band
members would be, ‘What is all this fucking left-wing shit?’ Some of them hated politics.23
Members of the RAR movement did not always agree with the viewpoints of the ANL, and some did not want to be associated with them. Critics thought the ANL was somewhat disingenuous and were extremists who “sought to exploit race relations not in the interests of coloured people, but in their own interests.”24 As Roger Sabin argues in his article “I Won’t Let
that Dago By; Rethinking Punk and Racism,” the Labour Party, from which the SWP stemmed,
“was far from non-racist and made little effort to tackle racism in other organs of the state
(Especially in the police and the courts) or indeed in the employment market and in schools.” 25
Although partnering with RAR was supposed to remedy this discrepancy in their platform, many
of the RAR members and musicians did not think the ANL did enough to support the movement.
The Anti-Nazi League relied on this movement to make politics enjoyable and more accessible.
However, RAR activists were able to find a balance between being politically involved, while
never losing sight of their original goal; to spread Afro-Caribbean, Irish, and Asian cultures to the masses, and through this introduction, be an impetus of change by helping to reduce racism
22 Rachel, 126. 23 Ibid, 124. 24 "Front Rally Called Off," Aberdeen Press and Journal, April 25, 1979, accessed April 7, 2018, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk 25 Sabin, 59. Cathie 38
within the UK. The ANL was not as invested in this cause, and RAR central committee member
John Dennis put it best when he said:
There were always stresses and strains between Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi
League. They had a political agenda. It was not a cultural organization. We wanted a cultural
movement that had a political relevance. The ANL had one mission, which was to stop the
National Front being elected, and quite rightly focused on that: ‘You may be a racist but
you’re not a Nazi. Don’t vote National Front.’26
Similarly, there were militant members of the Socialist Worker’s Party who did not like working with Rock Against Racism. There was some tension between these two groups as they did not consider RAR a serious organization, and thought it detracted from their party’s platform.27 This
was primarily because they relied heavily on punk music to attract the youth demographic, and
punk was seen a juvenile by much of the public. However, the ANL needed RAR as even the
name “Rock Against Racism” itself had power and merit. This name conjured up feelings of
protest, and if the concerts had been called the “Anti-Nazi League” concerts, only ANL activists
would have been in attendance.28
A very integral component of the Rock Against Racism movement was the involvement of punk musicians and fans. However, not all punks cared about politics, and there were some who only joined because it was “cool,” turning it slightly into a bandwagon movement. Although
there were people who deeply cared about ending racism, there were many punk music fans, who
26 Rachel, 126. 27 Ibid. 28 Rachel, 224. Cathie 39 were typically young and apolitical, that joined the movement because their favorite bands were supporting it, and they wanted to be a part of an important cause. As Peter Hain recalled, he met
“punks and skinheads who were becoming openly political and saying, ‘I was on the point of joining the National Front and then RAR and ANL came along. I went along to see my band and
I suddenly started thinking, “What am I doing? Do I hate black people?...No, I don’t, actually’…The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers and others getting involved to support us brought the audience in contact with the political message.”29 Author Maxwell Tremblay pointed out that bands like the Clash “had all the earnest intentions in the world,” but some punk musicians may have had “an advantageous opportunity to sniff out the way the cultural winds were blowing, and ride that wave,” as participating in the RAR movement would have given them more exposure, and therefore, increased their popularity.30 The Stranglers’ guitarist Hugh Cornwell, thought the
RAR gigs were useless as they believed they could “achieve more” through their own music
“than by attending Anti-Nazi rallies.” The Stranglers’ bassist, JJ Burnel, even described the
ANL protests as “a little Sunday march with half the people not knowing what it’s all about.”31
There were a large amount of young punk fans who did not necessarily know a lot about politics, or why they were protesting, but still continued to contribute to the movement. RAR mobilized and actively engaged punk fans in politics by appealing to their rebellious and anarchist nature.
The ANL activists were able to convey to them that if they were not aware of politics, then politics could control them. Punk fans did not like being controlled, so they joined a movement that they believed was propagating a powerful message.32
29 Ibid. 30 Maxwell Tremblay Interview 31 "Backside of the Stranglers," Melody Maker, June 3, 1978. 32 Rachel, 226. Cathie 40
Although the majority of punk musicians and fans supported RAR, there were some who joined the National Front and formed the Youth National Front (YNF). The NF tried to compete with RAR by creating their own fanzine titled the Bulldog, which they utilized to initiate an unsuccessful “Rock Against Communism” movement.33 They realized that punk music had a powerful impact among the youth by fostering social cohesion, and they wanted to exploit this by recruiting punk bands of their own such as the Dentists, Tragic Minds, and Skrewdriver.34
They created their own record company called White Noise Records, and attempted to appropriate the Skinhead and Oi! subgenre for their own.35 At RAR gigs, the YNF showed their contempt by disrupting the shows through inciting violence and spewing racist commentary.
They continuously attempted to undermine the anti-racist message, and bands such as Sham 69 and Stiff Little Fingers attracted many of these National Front supporters due to songs they sang that could be misconstrued as “white nationalist” anthems. For instance, Sham 69 sang “Cockney
Kids Are Innocent,” and “If the Kids Are United,” while Stiff Little Fingers attracted a right- wing following that would even Sieg-Heil at shows.36 Richard Swales, guitarist for the Poison
Girls, believed that “most of the ‘right-wing’ kids of the late seventies had no more idea of the politics of the National Front than I had of Maoism when I was sixteen and trying desperately to appear cool.”37
The National Front’s efforts at weakening RAR were unsuccessful however, as not all
Skinheads were racist, even if they had been portrayed that way. In fact, through music, there was a symbiotic relationship between skinheads and Black immigrants and in many cases,
33 Gilroy, 176. 34 Sabin, 64. 35 Worley, 45. 36 Rachel, 101. 37 Ibid. Cathie 41
“skinheads embraced the reggae music of Jamaican performers like Desmond Dekker as their own.” A subgenre called “skinhead reggae” was formed, helping to jump-start the careers of many Jamaican performers within Britain.38 Although the short hair, fascist regalia, and cut up clothing became ubiquitous of the skinhead subculture, their “outward appearance never corresponded 100 percent to political viewpoint” as on a “most basic level” being a skinhead was more about adopting a style, rather than political viewpoints or a specific ideology.39 Many of the skinheads only wanted a movement to belong to, and the National Front provided one that seemed to align with British “nationalism,” which was something many skinheads could support.
As punk was being used as a recruiting tool for the far right, it was more of a matter of who reached the youth first, and could appeal to them more.40 Fortunately, Rock Against Racism was able to make it so far right punk was a minority, as their attempts “to deny a safe haven to racists and fascists within popular culture is analogous to the intention, on the part of the ANL and others, to deny them the freedom to mobilize on the street.”41
Although the Stiff Little Fingers and Sham 69 did not actively turn away members of the far right because they believed in having an “open door policy” for the youth, the RAR committee members were adamant about not allowing the YNF to undermine their cause, just as the ANL would actively prevent the NF from having successful protests and gatherings. In a New
Musical Express interview with Sham 69’s lead singer Jimmy Pursey, he divulged that:
half these kids that are so-called National Front are not National Front. And that's why
38 Timothy Brown “Subcultures, Pop Music, and Politics: Skinheads and ‘Nazi Rock’ in England and Germany” in White Riot: Punk Rock and the Politics of Race (Verso, 2011), 123. 39 Ibid. 40 Maxwell Tremblay Interview 41 Goodyer, 53. Cathie 42
I'm fighting, that's why I'm talking to 'em, and that's why I want 'em there, to say: hang
around a minute, when reggae and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and all them type
of bands were playing, nobody was going 'ah fucking 'ate black men.' They were going
dum-de-dum-de-dum...down the ol' discos; yet they are the kids that are saying it now.
And I tell you why. Because of the Sun, the Daily Mirror, People, and all that. They're
the ones plugging it down the kids' throats.42
Pursey had the foresight to realize that the majority of punks, especially the far-right youth, did
not necessarily believe in the organization they were fighting for, but instead, did it because they
thought it was the exciting thing to do. This is why the NF ultimately failed in their recruitment
process. They were too mired down in politics to focus on the cultural element that actually
appealed to the youth. Also, punks loved to riot, rebel, and hate the establishment, and the NF
represented an even worse establishment than what Britain had in the 1970s. Many punk
musicians and supporters were not racist and did not hate minorities, they just wanted better
situations for themselves. RAR provided a sense of hope that the YNF could not.
From the outside, it appeared that RAR ran exceptionally well without much conflict.
However, delving deeper into this movement, it was apparent that there were slight tensions
between the Anti-Nazi League, the RAR central committee members, and the punk musicians
and fans. The Anti-Nazi League’s militant supporters, who were members of the Socialist
Worker’s Party, did not agree with the Rock Against Racism movement wholeheartedly, and the
RAR members did not want to become politicized or too dependent upon the ANL. Additionally,
42 Penny Reel, "Sham 69 & The Cimarons: The West Country Invasion Starts Here," New Musical Express, November 18, 1978, , accessed April 7, 2018, https://www-rocksbackpages- com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/Library/Article/sham-69--the-cimarons-the-west-country-invasion-starts-here. Cathie 43
there were many punk fans who did not necessarily care about the cause, but instead, wanted to
join the movement because it was thrilling, new, and their favorite bands supported it. There
were many punk fans who did want racism eradicated, but it was not on the forefront of
everyone’s minds. Punk fans themselves were complicated, and a prime example of this is the
skinheads. They were not all the racist, violent, and untamed individuals that they were
constantly portrayed as, but rather, many of them desired an organization to belong to, and the
YNF gave them this place to belong. There were in fact skinheads who joined with RAR, as they
thoroughly enjoyed reggae music and West Indian Culture.
Despite their differences, the ANL, RAR, and punks had a fairly reciprocal relationship
that worked well together. They all relied on each other to expand their membership bases, and
garner more support for the anti-fascist and anti-racist cause. There were punk bands that used
RAR as a way to amass more fans, while the RAR committee used the ANL for their resources,
and in return, the ANL used RAR to reach the young and apolitical crowd. They were a unified
organization, and this unification was demonstrated on St. George’s Day in April of 1979. On
this day, the ANL and the Indian Worker’s Party had coordinated a mass peaceful sit-in at the
Southall Town Hall where the National Front was holding a meeting. 3,000 people from the
ANL and IWP congregated to protest this meeting. Unfortunately, this peaceful event turned
violent rather quickly.43 When the Metropolitan Police’s Special Patrol Group (SPG) arrived to
stop the sit-in, they began attacking protestors. Out of the 3,000 protestors, 40 people were injured, and 300 arrested.44 They injured Clarence Baker, the manager for the reggae band Misty
in Roots, rendering him comatose, and also killed protestor, and well known anti-fascist
43 Rachel, 194. 44 Ibid Cathie 44 campaigner, Blair Peach.45 This infuriated ANL and RAR members, and in response, reggae artist Linton Kwesi Johnson wrote the song “Reggae Fi Peach.” Johnson said the meaning of the song was meant to express how:
…a lot of people in the black and Asian communities were moved by the killing. It was
an expression of solidarity with the family and comrades of Blair Peach because he was
an important activist in the struggle against racism and fascism. Yes, he was a Trotskyite
but ideology wasn’t a consideration. Blair Peach could easily have been a black or Asian
man.46
The ANL and RAR members may have experienced tensions between them, but this song showed that despite the differing viewpoints between these two organizations, there was still an alliance between them. Ultimately, although RAR, ANL, and punks’ beliefs did not always align, they were able to overcome their major differences to remain a cohesive, and influential organization throughout the 1970s.
45 Higgs 46 Rachel, 197. Cathie 45
Ch. 4 Playing Favorites
Rock Against Racism was more complex than it may have appeared. Without investigating further, it could romanticized as a movement that inspired thousands of people, and turned the tides of racism. On the surface this was true, but as one delves deeper, it was apparent that there were underlying problems within the movement that have not always been addressed.
For instance, although utilizing punk was a great recruiting tool to garner youth support, it was also a genre of music that was seeped in fascist and racist sentiment. It was hypocritical, as the
Sex Pistols and Siouxsie and the Banshees came out in support of RAR, but continued to wear
Nazi symbols, and spew inflammatory statements about minorities. In an interview conducted for the punk fanzine ZigZag, the drummer of Siouxsie and the Banshees, Kenny Morris, commented that:
People who think we’re Fascists are stupid for believing the press. Nazi salutes and
swastikas are just gestures-very emotive symbols-but they’re not intended to be Fascist.
It’s the intention behind the symbols that matters not the symbols themselves. It’s
important that the kids realise that a swastika is just a device used in our case to shock-in
the case of the Nazis it was used for political ends. The danger lies in people not
understanding the reasons why we’re doing these things.1
Morris had a salient point when saying that many punk rockers only used fascist symbols, and sang songs with offensive lyrics, as a way to rebel. However, this thought process also demonstrates how the punk movement was a bit sophomoric. It was ironic that there were punk
1 Steve Walsh, "Interview with Siouxsie and the Banshees," ZigZag, October 1977. Cathie 46
fans who wore the swastika and talked about “blitzkrieg,” while supporting a cause that was intrinsically anti-racist and whose main mission was to promote equality. Their ignorance to what these symbols signified undermined the RAR cause.
It was hard to take the RAR movement seriously when a large percentage of the people partaking in it were walking contradictions. They dressed and acted acting against the very cause they were meant to be protesting. Lucy Whitman, one of the main writers for Temporary
Hoarding, thought that “punk’s flirtation with Nazi imagery was very dangerous and needed to be challenged.”1 She also wrote later in her own fanzine, JOLT, that it was imperative punks
paid attention to their actions and way of dress, as “punk isn’t going to change the world but
punks might-one day.”2 It detracted from the message RAR was promulgating, and people were
outright offended by it. Some of the people displeased by these symbols were directly involved
in the punk movement. For example, lead singer of the Poison Girls, Frances Sokolov, took
offense to the usage of Nazi symbols as his family were refugees from World War II. He wanted
to rid the punk movement of fascist paraphernalia. As a statement, he and his band would burn
the Nazi flags hanging in the venues where they were performing.3
The attraction to these rebellious tendencies started primarily because of Malcolm
McLaren. McLaren was the Sex Pistols’ manger, and owner of the clothing shop “Sex,” which
was located on the ubiquitous King’s Road in London. Although he was Jewish himself, he knew
he could monetize this style of dress. According to former editor of NME, Neil Spencer, “a lot
of those early punks were really racist” which was due to the “irresponsibility of Malcolm
1 Daniel Rachel, Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge, 1976-1992 (London: Picador, 2017), 24. 2 Ibid 3 Ibid, 25. Cathie 47
McLaren and the whole conundrum of the Jewish rag trade shopkeeper flogging swastikas on
King’s Road,” which people were “seduced by and bought into the bullshit.”4
As the punk genre grew and developed, the majority of these fans did not care about the true meaning behind the symbols. Most of the kids who dressed this way did not even know the ideologies behind the symbols they were wearing; this was apparent since some of them would wear swastikas, coupled with a Karl Marx shirt, just as a way to shock the establishment.5 Lester
Bangs, an American music journalist/critic, had a similar viewpoint as Maxwell Tremblay about the actions taken by punks. He wrote in his article “The White Noise Supremacists,” that many punks did not join the fight against racism until it seemed “cool,” and pointedly stated that even within the Rock Against Racism movement, punk was never completely free from racism.6 He said that although many kids wore swastikas solely to “get a rise out of their parents,” there was still a sect of racist skinheads who targeted the Jewish population, and punk bands did little to denounce this behavior. Once popular bands began supporting the Rock Against Racism movement they did stop wearing swastikas. However, not all of them directly denounced the racist attacks Jews were facing at the time. Punk music was clearly contradictory, and even though the majority of fans supported a noble cause, it was still a flawed movement.
Due to the abrasive nature of punk, it took time for people outside the punk “community” to accept it. Dotun Adebayo, a musical journalist, said “at the 100 club you would see a group of guys going ‘Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil.’ I didn’t know whether punks were racist or not, and with tunes like The Clash’s “White Riot” it wasn’t altogether clear,” because the lyrics sounded
4 Ibid, 24. 5 Ibid, 25. 6 Lester Bangs “The White Noise Supremacists” in White Riot: Punk Rock and the Politics of Race (Verso, 2011), 105. Cathie 48
similar to something a member of the NF would say.7 Joe Strummer acknowledged that the
lyrics to “White Riot” could be interpreted as a rallying cry for white people to fight against
minorities. He knew it would take time for the West Indian community to recognize that punk
was more about rebelling against the status quo than about joining the NF. The song was
actually meant to show respect for the way Black people were pushing back against the injustices
they were facing; albeit, the outcomes may not have always been desirable for the West Indians,
it was still admirable that they were trying to remedy their situation instead of remaining passive.
The Clash felt that White people were not actively protesting their problems, so this song was meant to mobilize the White working class youth to emulate the way West Indians were fighting back.
Strummer was adamant about defending minorities and “was extremely clear in interviews about his anti-fascism and that the National Front were Nazis.”8 The Clash were
eventually able to earn the respect of a large percentage of the West Indian youth, but Don Letts
played an even more integral role in bridging the gap between the punk and West Indian
communities. Letts was a DJ for the Roxy Club, where he introduced reggae music to a wide
array of audiences, but more predominately, to punk and new wave artists. Artists such as the
Sex Pistols, The Clash, Debbie Harry of Blondie, Chrissie Hydne of the Pretenders, among
others, were exposed to reggae because of Letts. This inspired many of them to incorporate the
reggae genre into their own music.9 Congruously, he also introduced punk music to prominent
reggae artists, such as Bob Marley. Marley later created the song “Punky Reggae Party” to
7 Rachel, 25. 8 Ibid, 26. 9 Cian Traynor, "The Countercultural Manifesto of Rasta Punk Don Letts," Huck Magazine, August 15, 2016, , accessed April 15, 2018, http://www.huckmagazine.com/art-and-culture/art-2/this-is-diy/rasta-punk-don-letts- counterculture-interview/. Cathie 49
commemorate the newfound relationship formed between punk and reggae audiences. Letts had
the foresight to see the similarities between punk and reggae, and knew they could have a
reciprocal relationship. He addressed this relationship in an interview with Huck Magazine: “it’s
easy to see what punk got out of the fusion: basslines, the anti-establishment stance, musical
reportage. What reggae got in return was exposure. That was all it needed. But there were uneasy
and suspicious bedfellows on reggae’s side.”10 These suspicions arose because many reggae
artists were a bit wary of RAR’s intentions, and some did not think the punk and reggae
communities could work amicably together.
Prior to Steel Pulse’s involvement in Rock Against Racism, member Mykael Riley
thought that “reggae and punk were oil and water. We were busy learning our instruments to be
proficient as possible and they were going, ‘just pick it up and play’…punk was a revolution that
we couldn’t engage with the mindset at all.”11 Once he began to participate in the RAR gigs
however, he realized that the committee members and the punk musicians supporting the movement were genuinely trying to make a difference. He thought that “for punk to embrace reggae it was taking a risk and going against what traditional pop musicians did,” and when “The
Clash did ‘Police and Thieves’…that confirmed there was an audience, before that they were just
another punk band.”12 Once more punk musicians embraced reggae, and the RAR members were
able to prove they were not looking to exploit reggae artists, but rather, give them the exposure
they needed and wanted, the committee was able to recruit more notable reggae artists like
Matumbi and poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. With this participation, RAR was able to facilitate a
better and more unified movement.
10 Ibid 11 Rachel, 57. 12 Ibid, 63. Cathie 50
Although it is difficult to say whether Rock Against Racism truly made an impact, one
could discern that the organization would not have been nearly as popular if reggae artists had
not been featured. If only punk musicians had played at gigs, then those who attended never
would have fully grasped the message RAR was attempting to propagate. Their phrase “Black
and White Unite and Fight,” would not have had the same significance behind it if only
predominately white bands had played. By introducing a punk band like the X-Ray Spex into the lineup, whose lead singer Poly Styrene was half Somalian and half white, RAR was showing diversity. However, this one band was not enough to be impactful. It would not have been the same without Steel Pulse singing their protest laden songs like “Jah Pickney,” which became an anthem for RAR with its lyrics:
Rock against Racism, smash it
Rock against Fascism, smash it
Rock against Nazism, me say smash it I've
I've come to the conclusion that
We're gonna hunt yeh yeh yeh
The National Front - Yes we are
We're sonna kunt, yeh yeh yeh
The National Front
Cause they believe in apartheid
For that we gonna whop their hides Cathie 51
For all my people they cheated and lied
I won't rest till I'm satisfied13
As Rock Against Racism grew, so did the appreciation for West Indian culture amongst the movement’s supporters. However, this begs the question as to whether this appreciation was at the detriment to other minorities. Maxwell Trembley, while undergoing research for the book
White Riot, found that “certain minorities were fetishized above others, for instance, the punk rock appropriation of Rasta culture.” He thought that this appropriation “was pretty pervasive, almost to the exclusion of other races” as even RAR’s slogan “Black and White Unite and
Fight,” clearly singled out Blacks. Black people were not the only ones facing discrimination.
Asians, Jews, and even the Irish had also been experiencing racism during this time. Tremblay did mention that punk may have been favorable towards West Indians, primarily Jamaicans, but that does not necessarily mean punk was not inclusive towards other races.14 Punks were following a trend they thought was “cool,” and reggae music was the new and interesting fad.
Although punks might not have intentionally excluded other minorities, it seemed as if
West Indians were prioritized. In many ways, RAR fell short when supporting all racial minorities, as Southeastern Asians were the largest minority population within Britain at the time, but were underwhelmingly represented within the movement. There were almost no punk bands or musical acts comprised of Asians. Once the RAR committee members noticed the absence of Asian supporters, they tried to remedy the situation to no avail.
13 "Steel Pulse – Jah Pickney - R.A.R.," Genius, , accessed April 15, 2018, https://genius.com/Steel-pulse-jah- pickney-rar-lyrics. 14 Maxwell Tremblay Interview Cathie 52
It is hard to prove why there was a lack of Asian participation in punk music, but the
punk musicians and fans were not solely to blame for this absence. It is possible that there may
not have been a significant amount of young Asians interested in punk music, and therefore,
punks could not support bands that did not exist. Many Indians, Chinese, Pakistanis, among other
Asian minorities, may not have seen the appeal of this music, as their experience with
discrimination was different from that of the West Indians. David G. Pearson wrote in his article
“The Politics of Paradox: Community Relations and Migrant Response in Britain,” that although
Indian and Pakistani migrants may have shared similarities to their Caribbean counterparts as they both have a British colonial past, there were also many “important distinctions to be made between ‘Asian’ and ‘West Indian’ patterns of social organization, which greatly influence their respective structural positions in Britain.”15 For example, “Indians and Pakistanis have historical
traditions within which colonial contact with Britain is merely an important but transitory phase
in the development of their civilizations.”16 Pearson thought that because there was an absence
of slavery and a “purely colonial existence,” meant that Asian migrants did not “suffer from the
unique form of cultural ambivalence which typifies West Indian societies. Asians are migrants,
not guests or colonial sons and daughters returned to their ‘homeland.’ Most Indians and
Pakistanis had few illusions about their acceptability before or after their arrival in Britain.”17
Pearson’s argument is essentially that Asian immigrants knew what to expect when migrating to
Britain, and were not under any false pretenses as to what their social status would be, unlike the
West Indians. Asians did not have the same experience being enslaved by the British, which
meant their history was not as deeply rooted in racism as it was for the Caribbean people.
15 David G. Pearson, "The Politics of Paradox: Community Relations and Migrant Response in Britain," Social Policy & Administration 10, no. 3 (1976): 174, doi:10.1111/j.1467-9515.1976.tb00635.x. 16 Ibid 17 Ibid, 174. Cathie 53
This is not to say that Asians did not have a difficult time, but many were able to overcome their prejudices because they more easily integrated into British society. They accomplished this by overlooking their religious, cultural, and linguistical differences, in order to form cohesive bonds between the different minority groups. Instead of each minority remaining insular they formed a larger, more inclusive Asian community; the West Indians were less apt to do this, and as a result, they remained in fragmented communities. Also, Asians preferred to either try and assimilate, or keep to themselves, rather than protest. Leaders within their communities, such as director of the Indian Advisory Council for the UK, Dr. Dhani Prem, had urged them to “begin to think and act British.” He thought this was a better tactic than “acting boldly in housing, employment and local community projects.” He believed that “politicians had concentrated on immigration control because only that delivered votes.”18 He was advocating for
Asians to remain quiet and join British society rather than repel it, as he believed this would lead to more beneficial outcomes for them in the long term. If they flew under the radar, or showed that they were trying to integrate, then there was hope that they would not be targeted by politicians when it came to their immigration policies. There were many Asians who respected and heeded the advice of these influential people. Roger Huddle acknowledged that Rock
Against Racism was “never able to build the bridges” between their organization and Asian community since “there wasn’t Asian youth music in the same way as reggae came out of Black youth, because it was much more difficult for them to break from their community leaders.”19
The majority of Asians, although only marginally, earned more than West Indians. On average, they earned 5.2 per cent more, and within the engineering and manufacturing industries,
18 "Front Rally Called Off," Aberdeen Press and Journal, April 25, 1979, accessed April 7, 2018. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk 19 Rachel, 192. Cathie 54
they earned 9.1 per cent more than their Caribbean counterparts.20 This does not seem
significant, but the slight increase in pay may be a reason as to why Asians felt less inclined to
protest as vigorously as the West Indians. Ruth Gregory believed that “the Asian population was
targeted. But where Black people would fight back, the Asian community was set apart because
they hadn’t been here that long.”21 However, this might not have been the case at all, and it is
possible that there were Asians who wanted to be vocal, but their protests were eclipsed by the
West Indians’ protests. The lack of Asian support might not have been because of their
unassertive nature. It could be that RAR did not foster an inclusive atmosphere, and without this
acceptance, they did not feel compelled to join the movement.
British Asians were subjected to as much racism as African American individuals. There
were firebomb attacks, and other forms of violence exhibited against them, including “Paki
Bashing,” which were brutal assaults predominantly done by members of the NF and racist punk
fans. To some, it appeared that RAR neglected to recognize their plight, as they did not always
vocalize their denunciation of these attacks. There are several reasons for this, and Roger Sabin’s
conclusion is that there could have been “...ambivalence, or even hostility, towards Asians,”
which is why punks did not want to take action. It was more likely that “it was because the issue
wasn’t a ‘hip’ one,” since “Asians simply didn’t have the same romance as Afro-Caribbean
youth-especially in terms of the latter’s reputation for being confrontational with the police-and
that was equally problematic, they had no music comparable to reggae with which punks could
20 Barry Mccormick, "Evidence About The Comparative Earnings Of Asian And West Indian Workers In Great Britain," Scottish Journal of Political Economy 33, no. 2 (1986): 102, doi:10.1111/j.1467-9485.1986.tb00265.x. 21 Rachel, 191. Cathie 55
identify.”22 It was not only the Asians that were overlooked, as the Irish and Jewish faced discrimination, but were not mentioned or featured at RAR gigs nearly as frequently as Blacks.
The 1970s were an especially turbulent time for the Irish. This was due to the bombings and violent attacks committed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Britain. There were many
Brits who became skeptical of the Irish living in England, and “when the Birmingham bombings happened every Irishman was suspected of being in the IRA;…it was dangerous walking around town…Black and Irish were both oppressed by the English.”23 These bombings led to animosity,
and in retaliation, innocent Irish citizens’ homes and English pubs run by Irish landlords were
attacked by petrol bombs.24 This bombing was startling, and the English realized they could no longer ignore the internal conflicts brewing in Ireland. The Irish would continue to be targeted within England for some time after the bombings, and signs like “No Blacks. No Dogs. No Irish” became even more prevalent in places like Notting Hill.25
The Irish punk band, Stiff Little Fingers, was adamant about protesting these prejudicial
actions through songs like “Alternative Ulster” and “White Noise.” Neil Spencer pointed out that
they “articulated a suppressed aspect of British society,” since these countries were supposed to
be part of a United Kingdom, but were clearly very divided.26 The lyrics to “White Noise” are
comprised of racial slurs directed at the Pakistanis and Irish. The point of this was to show that
some of the British were discriminatory towards all minorities regardless of skin color.
22 Roger Sabin “‘I Won’t Let That Dago Go By’: Rethinking Punk and Racism” in White Riot: Punk Rock and the Politics of Race (Verso, 2011), 62. 23 Rachel, 155. 24 Robert Millikin, "Every Briton Now a Target for Death," The Sydney Morning Herald, December 1, 1974, accessed April 15, 2018, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZXxXAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UvEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1156,450835. 25 Rachel, 155. 26 Ibid, 159. Cathie 56
The RAR committee members realized the importance of organizing a tour in defense of the Irish, so they created the “Rock Against Repression” tour in Belfast. Wayne Minter, one of the RAR members involved in this campaign, said the intention of the tour “was to campaign against the British military presence in Northern Ireland and to focus attention on the harassment and cultural isolation and deprivation of youth sections of the Irish community. The gigs were declared as non-sectarian and ‘open to all.’”27 This was the first time RAR was standing up for the Irish as they did for the Black youth, however, the ANL did not partake in this tour. They were not associated with this tour as they did not help to organize or endorse it like they had in the past for other RAR shows.
This lack of participation shows that their objective was to take down the National Front, and they were less concerned with helping minorities fight back against discrimination. They were willing to fight for equality as long as it aligned with their political agenda. Although they were an integral part of RAR, they chose what causes were more beneficial to the success of their mission, and supporting a tour in Ireland was not one of them. Since the National Front was in England, they were focused on garnering English support for upcoming elections, so helping the Irish in Ireland would do nothing to further their cause. Their absence from this tour made them appear disingenuous and opportunistic as they only supported RAR when it was advantageous to them. That being said, they were always transparent about their agenda, and always made it known that their first priority was to win in elections, not to end racism.
Whenever they issued advertisements, or printed posters, the ANL was synonymous with slogans like “Smash the National Front,” and “Just Say No to Nazis,” unlike RAR’s “Love Music, Hate
Racism.” This reveals the slight schism between the two groups, which became a source of
27 Ibid, 157 Cathie 57
tension. Nonetheless, English punk bands and the central RAR committee members still went to
Northern Ireland to lend their support, even if not everyone in the Rock Against Racism
movement participated.
To some, RAR appeared partial to West Indians, almost to the point of exclusion of other
races. The lead singer of the punk band Alien Kulture, Pervez, told the Guardian that he felt their
“story of being second-generation Asians was not being heard," and "there was no one else
saying what we wanted to say,” which is what drove them to form their band.28 Although some
Asians felt they were forgotten in this fight against racism, that does not mean punk musicians
completely excluded them, or other minorities, even if the movement was more favorable to
those who were Black. Due to the punk musicians infatuation with reggae, and the fact that the
RAR movement was primarily comprised of punk fans, it was inevitable that West Indians
would be more revered. There were many RAR members who did not see favoritism within the
organization at all, as Ruth Gregory commented that ”it has been asserted that RAR was racist
towards Asian people. It’s a bit silly when you look at the history of it. ‘Black,’ to us, meant
‘not-white.’”29 When Kate Webb was told by an NME reporter that having no Asian bands
proves they were racist, Webb commented that “putting Black bands and white bands
together...in a public space and bringing people together; it was a conscious act to break down
the spread of fear and alienation and let people get to know each other through a shared love of
music.”30 Webb’s point was that it was not necessarily about the amount of different minorities
that were represented, but rather, that minorities were represented at all; by including Black,
28 Sarfraz Manzoor, "Alien Kulture: The Asian Punk Rebels, 30 Years on | Feature," The Observer, January 10, 2010, , accessed April 16, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/jan/10/alien-kulture-asian-punk-band. 29 Rachel, 193. 30 Ibid, 49. Cathie 58
Irish, Asian, and Jewish musicians together on the same stage, they were sending a message to the public about equality.
Many of the punks involved viewed RAR as a community that was bonded together through music. Co-manager of Misty and the Roots, Chris Bolton, summed up this sentiment in an interview for the book Walls Come Tumbling Down:
No one noticed where people were coming from. That was the beautiful thing. You didn’t
think, ‘Oh, there’s an Asian punk.’ It wasn’t seen that way. People were people.
Everyone was on the same level. You left all those prejudices behind for the moment.
Imagine the spiritual uplifting that would give to people. That’s why RAR was a very
important part of musical history.31
This might be a fanciful and embellished take on RAR, but there is some truth to
Bolton’s statement. This movement may have had flaws, as reggae and Black artists outnumbered musicians of other minority groups, yet it was still revolutionary to have all these groups included and considered equal within one movement.
31 Ibid, 193. Cathie 59
Ch. 5 Conclusion
As the 1970s came to an end, so did the Anti-Nazi League and the Rock Against Racism
movement. Once Margaret Thatcher was elected in 1979, ANL and RAR’s presence began
receding. By 1981, the ANL was disbanded and RAR’s committee went their separate ways.1
Ruth Gregory, Syd Shelton, David Widgery, along with some other members, all resigned as they believed their mission was over once the National Front had lost the election. Although
RAR and ANL had successfully held many protests and gigs, it was hard to keep this coalition together. Once there was no longer a joint opponent, their differing beliefs eventually caused the organization to splinter. Red Saunders believed that:
RAR was an ad hoc group of people but there was a move to tighten up and get more
organized and that led to faction fighting…but the disagreements very quickly erupted
and RAR fell apart. It’s a reality of political campaigning. Within the rainbow of the
coalition, can you imagine all the different opinions? You’d have hippy-dippy people in
purple loon pants and fucking green hair going, ‘Yeah, man, this is great-let’s get stoned,
man,’ next to hard-line fucking street-fighting organizers. It was such an extraordinary
alliance. That’s why these things don’t last that long. They burn like a meteorite. Five
years and it was all over. The alliance couldn’t hold together once the enemy was
defeated.2
1 Daniel Rachel, Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge, 1976-1992 (London: Picador, 2017), 221. 2 Ibid Cathie 60
However, there were members like John Dennis who thought the movement could have achieved more since “RAR was anti-racist, and that battle wasn’t finished.”3 Dennis did not think ending the NF was enough to reduce racism, and wanted RAR to continue the fight for equality. Those within the ANL did not share the same sentiments as Dennis. The ANL was formed as a counter party to the NF, and once the NF lost the election, there was no reason for them to stay together. By 1979, RAR had a loyal and large member base, but without the ANL they still lacked the organization needed to continue the movement. Without this organization,
RAR began to disintegrate, and lost its momentum.
When reflecting upon Rock Against Racism, it is difficult to ascertain whether or not this movement made a difference within British society. This is arduous to do because “making an impact,” is immeasurable and subjective. There are no clearly defined parameters to determine whether RAR had any effect on British society, therefore, this point is inconclusive. However, one can infer, based off of the millions that supported the movement coupled with the decline of the NF, that RAR did have a positive influence in Britain and was deserving of some merit.
Instead of trying to analyze the effectiveness of RAR, it is more cogent to try and prove whether the organization accomplished the mission and goals that Saunders had set for it. Although there are differing opinions by historians, sociologists, and those directly involved in RAR, the overall consensus is that this movement did in fact achieve its objectives.
When Saunders founded RAR, he did not expect to create a movement per se. He thought there would only be a couple hundred people who agreed with his letter in NME; and out of those people, he could create coordinate some protests to show solidarity with minorities against the discrimination they were facing. There was not much direction at first, but as thousands of
3 Ibid Cathie 61
people began writing in to show support, RAR quickly morphed into something larger. Saunders,
along with other people passionate about stopping racism, formed a committee and turned RAR
into a movement. Although the movement’s objectives might not have been clearly defined,
their main goal was to reduce racism. They wanted to accomplish this extremely broad goal
through “gigs,” or musical concerts, that featured black and white artists side-by-side. Through
these gigs, the committee was giving minorities a platform to share their music, and exposing the
public to cultures they might not have been privy to beforehand.
Another aspect of their goal was to defeat the National Front, and through their
partnership with the Anti-Nazi League, they were able to organize demonstrations and marches protesting them. According to Simon Firth and John Street, RAR had cultural ambitions and if
“it saw itself as having a direct political effect,” then “here one’s judgement of its achievements
must be more mixed,” but “if RAR’s intention was to rid Britain of the National Front, it could
claim some success in doing this.”4 The reason they could partially take credit for the NF’s defeat is because their protests undermined their causes, and the ANL put up candidates in elections that detracted votes from their NF opponents. In fact, “by 1979, The NF was a spent electoral force...and the SWP strategy of street confrontation undoubtedly helped both to deglamorize the NFs appeal to bored white youth and to mobilize black and Asian youth.”5 The
societal landscape had shifted as now black and white youth fought together against their
opponents, such as the police, rather than in 1958 where the fighting was predominantly amongst
themselves.6
4 Simon Firth and John Street, "Rock Against Racism and Red Wedge: From Music to Politics, from Politics to Music," in Rockin' the Boat: Mass Music and Mass Movements (South End Press, 1992), 71. 5 Ibid 6 Ibid Cathie 62
Some critics believed RAR was purely idealistic and an overly ambitious movement comprised of uninformed kids and socialists. Others, like Ian Goodyer, thought that it was a
“politically and culturally sophisticated campaign, which dealt creatively and militantly with
racism.”7 It is impossible to quantify the extent in which racism was reduced, but the counter-
offensive by the RAR was able to disrupt “the potential flow of recruits to the Front, and
grounded the next generation of opinion formers in the basics of anti-discrimination, rendering obsolete at least the worst excrescences of the casual racism so evident in earlier popular culture.”8 This became evident in the 1979 general election. The National Front had over 300
candidates, but there was a significant decrease in votes compared proportionally to the previous
local elections, and the party faced bankruptcy due to lack of financial backing and support.9
Ultimately, they could not amass the same youth support that RAR and the ANL attracted, and
some people were dissuaded from voting for the Front due to their extreme militancy and
radicalism. The NF became associated with violence as their demonstrations often turned into
opportunities for Front supporters to assault minorities. Although there was a large percentage of
citizens who disliked immigrants, the majority did not want to cause them bodily harm. The NF
imploded, and according to former ANL leader Peter Hain, when he sued NF politician Martin
Webster for libel years later, Webster admitted that RAR and ANL had helped lead to their
downfall by demoralizing and splintering the far-right.10
The ANL and RAR were not the only reason for the National Front’s defeat. The rise of a
more moderate, Conservative Party played a large role in its demise. Margaret Thatcher’s
7 Ian Goodyer, “Rock against racism: Multiculturalism and Political Mobilization, 1976–81,” Immigrants & Minorities, 22:1 (June 21, 2010): 46, accessed April 28, 2018. 8 Alwyn W. Turner, Crisis ? What Crisis ?: Britain in the 1970s(London: Aurum Press, 2008), 223. 9 Ibid, 225. 10 Ed Vulliamy, "Blood and Glory," The Observer, March 04, 2007, accessed April 27, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/04/race.otherparties. Cathie 63
policies were able to sway people because they were not so radical that they were alienating, yet
they still focused on a “put Britain first” mentality. Not everyone desired the fascist utopia that
the NF was promising, but they still wanted a better economy and restraints on immigration.
Thatcher was able to attract these people by tactfully exploiting their visceral fear of minorities.
She acknowledged that Britain was being “swamped” by people of other cultures, but did not
partake in any blatantly racist or incendiary speech aimed at minorities. Voters found comfort in
supporting a candidate who acted professionally, and promised stability for the country.
Most of the RAR members were displeased with Thatcher’s victory as Prime Minister in
the 1979 election. They considered her to still be racist, and felt that this is where RAR fell short
in its mission.11 Whether Thatcher was actually racist is debatable, but the societal climate did
change gradually once she was elected. Racism was not obliterated, and inequality still existed,
but there was less tension between minority groups and whites throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
This could be attributed to the influence RAR and ANL had on the youth demographic. As this
younger generation grew older and became active political participants and decision makers, it is
possible that they voted for policies that championed equality rather than promoted
discrimination. This is hard to prove as there are no statistical evidence of how this generation
voted post 1979, but violence towards immigrants was reduced towards the end of the 1980s. In
fact, in the June 1987 general election, four non-white politicians were elected for the first
time.12
The true success of RAR expanded beyond the polls. As John Dennis pointed out:
11 Rachel, 214. 12 "Short History of Immigration," BBC News, , accessed April 28, 2018, http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2002/race/short_history_of_immigration.stm#1980s. Cathie 64
Rock Against Racism had created a confidence in a community and a sense of belonging
which wasn’t one of the boxes to tick on the campaign mission but was a consequence of
it. Racism became identified with the state, institutional racism in the police, not racism
person to person. Elections are quantitative you can see the results, but the qualitative
effect: I think we did achieve more than perhaps we thought….We were not nice people.
We were not anti-racist because we loved everybody. We were anti-racist because we
hated fascists and we didn’t want those bastards in. It was not a moral thing. It was about
class. It was about, whose side are you on?13
Through this quote, Dennis reveals that not everyone in the movement was empathetic and cared
deeply for their immigrant citizens. Some of the members were motivated by their own political
agendas and beliefs while others, such as Kate Webb, really did want to “change hearts and minds,” of individuals when it came to racism.14 This movement was clearly flawed, but that
does not mean it was inefficient in reducing racist sentiment. No one was naïve enough to
believe RAR could usher in an era of peace and equality, but music journalist Dotun Adebayo
believed that “it certainly opened the way for young black men and, to a lesser extent, women, to
be brought into the white musical firmament.”15 Paving the way for mixed racial musical acts
and giving minorities the opportunity to share their music and culture was the most important
accomplishment of RAR. They were the impetus for the creation of 2-Tone music, which was a
blend between ska and punk where band members were of mixed races. Mixed race bands such
13 Rachel, 222. 14 Ibid 15 Rachel, 225. Cathie 65
as The Specials, The Beat, UB40, and Madness were all welcomed into the mainstream music
scene, and even topped the pop charts, especially among the white working youth.16
If a measurement for success is whether this movement’s message was widespread and if
it amassed a large amount of members, then RAR can most definitely be considered a success.
Over the course of five short years, RAR became a prevalent and influential organization
throughout the world. They became a global movement with over “100 groups in the UK, and
active RAR groups across Canada, USA, Sweden, Norway, West Germany, Belgium, and
Holland.”17 Expanding outside the UK was not one of Saunders’ original goals, but RAR’s rate
of growth was rapid as they hosted over 200 gigs and 13 regional Carnivals by 1979.18 Due to
the massive amounts of people that were attending the carnivals, as over 150,000 people were
present at the second Carnival they hosted, the Militant Entertainment tour was created to
disseminate the anti-racist message worldwide. RAR would continue to remain influential
throughout the world even after it was formally disbanded in the early 1980s. It was a movement
that would define the 1970s, but inspired many other global organizations such as Rock Against
Sexism and Red Wedge.19 In 2002, RAR was revived and renamed Love Music Hate Racism.
This movement works in conjunction with the United Against Fascism organization, which is the direct derivative of the Anti-Nazi League.20 Together, they continue to stamp out any fascist or
racist ideals that might threaten to permeate the British government.
David Widgery summed up RAR’s success best when he said:
16 Firth and Street, 71. 17 Rachel, 218. 18 Ibid, 178. 19 Vulliamy 20 "Unite Against Fascism / Rock Against Racism," Bishopsgate Institute, , accessed April 28, 2018, http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/Library/Special-Collections-and-Archives/Protest-and-Campaigning/Unite-Against- Fascism--Rock-Against-Racism. Cathie 66
RAR had taken off because ordinary unfamous people had worn badges, won arguments,
volunteered, raved, hustled and fly-posted. Most of all, musicians- of all waves-had come
good. It was about how black and white people, outside conventional politics, inspired by
a mixture of socialism, punk rock and common humanity, got together and organized to
change things. It was temporary. We didn’t stop racial attacks, far less racism…but the
simple, electrifying idea that pop music can be about more than entertainment has
endured and deepened. For a while we managed to create, in our noisy, messy,
unconventional way, an emotional alternative to nationalism and patriotism, a celebration
of a different kind of pride and solidarity.
Even if RAR did not have a direct political effect, as it did not lead to governmental policy changes or new legislation promoting equality, it was still efficacious. Tom Robinson pointed out in an interview with journalist Bart Mills that even if one less kid had been Paki-bashed or
100 less people joined the NF, then that’s a truly magnificent thing.21 RAR’s focus was on
individuals, and if only 100 out of the 80,000 that attended the first carnival had changed their
minds on racism, then that was considered a success. In conclusion, the Rock Against Racism movement accomplished their goal of reducing racism and helping to destroy the National Front.
Although the movement was imperfect, and the beliefs of the Anti-Nazi League, punk musicians,
and the RAR committee members did not always align, they did not allow these tensions to
impede their progress. In the end, they not only achieved their goal of mobilizing people against
racism, but surpassed their original intentions for the movement.
21 Bart Mills Punk Journalism Collection, #8095. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library., n.d.
Cathie 67
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