White Riot

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source: White Riot

Black Lives Matter has made a huge impact across the world over the last couple of years, this documentary was released less than a year before the movement really kicked into action, but it fits in with the important message very well. Basically, in August 1976, Eric Clapton told an audience in Birmingham he agreed with Enoch Powell that immigrants should be sent home, using the National Front slogan "Keep Britain White". Rod Stewart was also known at this time to make a hurtful and racist comment. In the late 1970s, black people and many from other cultures still faced derogatory public comments and hostility, especially during the anti-immigrant hysteria. In response, Rock Against Racism (RAR) was formed in 1976 when a group of artists united to take on the National Front. It started with public protests, with hundreds of people showing their disgust against the bigots and racists, and to make a point that all lives matter no matter what skin colour, religion, culture, or background you have. There was also the forming of Anti-Nazi League (ANL) going against the neo-Nazi generation. RAR's multicultural punk and reggae gigs provided rallying points for resistance. Photographer Red Saunders was the founder of RAR and recruited typesetter Roger Huddle and office manager Kate Webb to assist his most ambitious headline-making event. A Rock Against Racism carnival was organised in Victoria Park, with a concert featuring punk rock band X-Ray Spex, Birmingham reggae band Steel Pulse, headliner Tom Robinson, and the popular rock band The Clash, along with many multi-cultural artists and musicians to perform on stage. In these days, there was no social media, so the event was only spread by telephone calls, some small journalism and word-of-mouth. However, the organisers were shocked by the response and gathering of both fans of the acts, and supporters against racism. In the end, the carnival was a huge success, attended by 100,000 people. This event certainly made history in Britain and around the world. It would be part of the future change in attitudes towards race and ethnicity. The movement undoubtedly helped the defeat of the National Front were defeated at the 1979 general election, but, as the final text says: "The fight is far from over". This film combines archive footage and photographs taken from the day of the event, and the times leading up to it, and it is shocking to see the racist and horrendously nasty comments made by people at the time about people of colour and other cultures. This film delivers a powerful message, it has some good music obviously, and it shows how one event can make a world of difference, it is an interesting documentary. Worth watching!

This movie took me right back to the time. The killing of Blair Peach by the police SPG, ERIC Clapton's unforgivable racism and the inspiration and hope of Rock against Racism were presented brilliantly. And the wonderful CLASH!

Brilliant. Ordinary people organising to defeat fascism. Without Rock Against Racism how many kids would've been drawn to the NF? If the same sort of energy - associating climate action with music - we're around today, I wonder if we might affect more people?

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White Riot