Rock Against Racism
Rock Against Racism | |
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Genre | Punk, reggae, etc. |
Years active | 1976–1982 |
Rock Against Racism (RAR) was a political and cultural movement which emerged in 1976 in reaction to a rise in racist attacks on the streets of the
History
Originally conceived as a one-off concert with a message against racism, Rock Against Racism was founded in 1976 by
When I read about Eric Clapton's Birmingham concert when he urged support for Enoch Powell, I nearly puked. What's going on, Eric? You've got a touch of brain damage. So you're going to stand for MP and you think we're being colonised by black people. Come on... you've been taking too much of that Daily Express stuff, you know you can't handle it. Own up. Half your music is black. You're rock music's biggest colonist. You're a good musician but where would you be without the blues and R&B? You've got to fight the racist poison, otherwise you degenerate into the sewer with the rats and all the money men who ripped off rock culture with their chequebooks and plastic crap. Rock was and still can be a real progressive culture, not a package mail-order stick-on nightmare of mediocre garbage. Keep the faith, black and white unite and fight. We want to organise a rank-and-file movement against the racist poison in rock music – we urge support – all those interested please write to:
ROCK AGAINST RACISM,
Box M, 8 Cotton Gardens, London E2 8DNP. S. "Who shot the Sheriff", Eric? It sure as hell wasn't you!
At the end of the letter, they called for people to help form a movement called Rock Against Racism, and they received hundreds of eager replies from fans who recognised the hypocrisy and wanted to proclaim the black roots of the music they loved.[3]
At this time other well-known rock musicians also made inflammatory statements, including
The first RAR gig took place at the Princess Alice pub in Forest Gate in London's East End in November 1976; Carol Grimes and Matumbi were the main acts.[11][12] At the end of the gig the bands took part in a jam, something which was to become a signature of RAR's gigs at a time when it was still rare for black and white musicians to perform together. In the same year RAR launched its revolutionary fanzine, Temporary Hoarding, going on to produce 15 issues over the next five years. By 1977 local RAR groups were springing up all over the country, including in Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, Hull, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Sheffield, Cardiff, Swansea, Bristol, and across London. Eventually there were more than 200 throughout the UK. Across the globe, several RAR groups started in the United States, in New York, San Francisco and Chicago, and also in Ireland, France, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Denmark, South Africa and Australia.[citation needed]
Musicians not only played for RAR, many took part in organising gigs and clubs. For instance, in Leeds,
Carnivals Against Racism
With support for the movement growing, in 1978 RAR organised two national Carnivals in London in conjunction with the
Further Carnivals were organised by local RAR and ANL groups, often with the help of sympathetic councils and trade unions. The biggest of these, in August, attracted 40,000 to the
In 1981, Leeds RAR organized the last RAR Carnival at Potternewton Park in Chapeltown. Bands who played included The Specials, Aswad, Au Pairs and Misty in Roots.[citation needed]
Militant Entertainment
This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2020) |
In the run-up to the
In 1978 a sister organisation, Rock Against Sexism (RAS) was founded by a group of women concerned about sexism in the music communities. Lucy Toothpaste from RAR became a lead organiser, and the south east London RAR group became an RAS collective. There was significant overlap between the two groups, with the larger, more established RAR sometimes providing security and other assistance at RAS events.[20]
Also in April 1979, a demonstration organised by the Southall Youth Movement against the National Front, who were standing candidates in the upcoming general election, was attacked by the police. This resulted in the death of schoolteacher Blair Peach, and dozens of injuries including the head wounds suffered by Clarence Baker from Misty in Roots, which left him in a coma for several months. RAR quickly organised two benefit concerts at The Rainbow Theatre in North London, called "Southall Kids Are Innocent". The Clash, Pete Townshend of The Who, The Enchanters, The Pop Group, Misty in Roots, Aswad, The Members and The Ruts all performed.
Legacy
Starting in 1979, German anti-fascists used the banner Rock gegen Rechts as the motto of concerts and festivals held irregularly against far-right politics as a form of political demonstration in Germany and Austria.
In 1988, the militant anti-fascist organisation Anti-Fascist Action formed a musical arm, Cable Street Beat (named after the Battle of Cable Street, a 1936 confrontation between fascists and anti-fascists), on similar principles to Rock Against Racism.[21] Cable Street Beat launched a magazine, Cable Street Beat Review, in early 1989.[22] Among the artists who performed for early Cable Street Beat events were Blaggers ITA, Angelic Upstarts, Attila the Stockbroker, The Men They Couldn't Hang, Forgotten Sons and Blyth Power.[23]
In 2002, some music fans,[
In 2019,
Further reading
- Beating Time by David Widgery (1986)
- Rock Against Racism by Syd Shelton (2016)
- Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge by Daniel Rachel (2016)
- Reminiscences of RAR: Rocking Against Racism 1976-1979. Edited by Roger Huddle and Red Saunders (Redwords, 2016)
See also
- Arsch huh, Zäng ussenander
- Birlikte
- List of historic rock festivals
- List of punk rock festivals
- Love Music Hate Racism
- Rock Against Communism
- Rock Against Racism Northern Carnival
- Rock Against Sexism
- Rock gegen Rechts
- Stop Murder Music
References
- ^ a b Manzoor, Sarfraz (20 April 2008). "The year rock found the power to unite". The Observer. London. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
- ^ Vulliamy, Ed (4 March 2007). "Blood and glory". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
- ^ a b Huddle, Roger; Billingham, Lee (June 2004). "Anti-Fascism: That Was Then, This is Now". Socialist Review. No. 286. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
- ^ "Clapton's shocking rant – When popstars talk politics – Pictures". Virgin Media. 18 February 2009. Archived from the original on 18 February 2009. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
- ^ Bainbridge, Luke (14 October 2007). "The ten right-wing rockers". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 9 April 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ a b "Standing by the Wall: The Quotable David Bowie". 28 June 2001. Archived from the original on 28 June 2001. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
- ^ "David Bowie Criticizes MTV for Not Playing Videos by Black Artists". MTV News. 1983. Archived from the original on 14 November 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2016 – via YouTube.
- ^ Christian, Margena A (9 October 2006). "Why It Took So Long For MTV To Play Black Videos". Jet. p. 17.
- ^ Loder, Kurt (12 May 1983). "Straight Time". Rolling Stone. No. 395. pp. 22–28, 81.
- ISBN 978-0-306-80854-8.
- ^ Huddle, Roger; Saunders, Red, eds. (2016). Reminiscences of RAR: Rocking Against Racism 1976-1979. Redwords.
- ^ Olende, Ken. "40 years since the birth of Rock Against Racism: rebel music that broke down fear". Archived from the original on 6 May 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
- ^ "Love Music Hate Racism Carnival 2008". Archived from the original on 21 April 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
- ^ "Rock Against Racism". Tom Robinson Band. 1 April 2009. Archived from the original on 1 April 2009. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
- ^ OCLC 70850190.
- ^ "Rock Against Racism". Virtual Festivals. Archived from the original on 5 May 2004. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
- OCLC 49798077.
- OCLC 52990890.
- ^ "The Anti Nazi League/Rock Against Racism Rallies". UK Rock Festivals. Archived from the original on 2 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
- ISBN 9781351383905.
- ^ "Anti-Fascist Archive". Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
- ^ Cable Street Beat Review no.1, 1989 Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Cable Street Beat Review no.5 Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ "ROCK AGAINST RACISM!". NME. 8 March 2004. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
- ^ Kenny, Glenn (15 October 2020). "'White Riot' Review: When Punk's Stars Banded Against Racism". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
External links
- 40 years since the birth of Rock Against Racism: rebel music that broke down fear, Unity, 17 (September/October 2016) - interview with Red Saunders
- Original RAR Crew 1976-1982
- Hull Rock Against Racism