{"id":14875,"date":"2026-08-22T11:46:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T11:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culturalleft.org\/cl\/2026\/08\/22\/looking-back-at-rock-against-racism-with-hope-for-the-future-reviews-culture-socialist-worker\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T11:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T11:46:16","slug":"looking-back-at-rock-against-racism-with-hope-for-the-future-reviews-culture-socialist-worker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culturalleft.org\/cl\/2026\/08\/22\/looking-back-at-rock-against-racism-with-hope-for-the-future-reviews-culture-socialist-worker\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking back at Rock Against Racism\u2014with hope for the future Reviews & Culture – Socialist Worker"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The\n

The Buzzcocks at the Manchester Rock Against Racism carnival in 1978 (Pic: John Sturrock)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What was Britain like when you set up Rock Against Racism (RAR) in 1976?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roger Huddle:<\/em> There was a swell of racist filth following the expulsion of Asians from Malawi in east Africa. Many of them had British passports and wanted to settle here. The reaction of the press was horrific, and racist MP Enoch Powell resurfaced with talk of repatriation.<\/p>\n

In June, 18-year-old student Gurdip Singh Chaggar<\/a> was murdered by racists in Southall, outer west London. And in late August, cops viciously attacked the Notting Hill Carnival\u2014and black youth fought back. The Nazi National Front (NF) was using the panic over immigration, and disillusionment with the Labour government, to push racist hate.<\/p>\n

Geoff Brown:<\/em> What seemed like endless prosperity for 30 years had come to a shattering end. There was a global financial crash, and a humiliated Britain had to call on the International Monetary Fund for help.<\/p>\n

There was a feeling\u2014particularly among young people\u2014that the future had been taken away. And you had this astonishing explosion of anger that found an expression in music, both punk and reggae, in particular.<\/p>\n

And the one thing that all frustrated young people connected with was music.<\/p>\n

Why did you decide to bring people into the anti-racist movement with music?<\/strong><\/p>\n

RH:<\/em> In August, guitarist Eric Clapton had spewed racism from the stage at his gig in Birmingham. He ended it with a call to \u201cKeep Britain white.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was what set the ball rolling for RAR. We had already discussed how to use our love of music to combat the NF. The fascists characterised all popular music as \u201cjungle music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Red Saunders, co-founder of RAR, and myself had both come through the 1960s counterculture, campaigned against the Vietnam War, cheered the French May \u201968 events and the workers\u2019 upturn in the early 1970s.<\/p>\n

Red, who is a photographer, actor and cultural warrior, wrote a letter to the music press about Clapton\u2019s racism and asked me to sign it too.<\/p>\n

I was working at the Socialist Worker printshop and asked if we could use the paper\u2019s PO Box for replies to our call for a movement to fight racism in music.<\/p>\n

We had hundreds of replies within days.<\/p>\n

RAR was born. Its slogan was, \u201cReggae, soul, rock \u2019n\u2019 roll, jazz, funk, punk\u2014our music.\u201d<\/p>\n

GB:<\/em> Nothing captures the explosion of generational anger<\/a> more strongly than the Sex Pistols\u2019 record, \u201cGod Save the Queen.\u201d Complete with its description of the monarchy as a \u201cfascist regime,\u201d it was released during the queen\u2019s Silver Jubilee in May 1977.<\/p>\n

We launched the Anti Nazi League<\/a> (ANL) in November as a sister organisation to RAR. It brought together black and Asian youth, socialists, trade unionists, students, school students, members of the women\u2019s movement and LGBT+ people for the single task of stopping the NF.<\/p>\n

I was the ANL organiser in Manchester. We sent around 40 coaches down to London for the first RAR carnival in 1978.<\/p>\n

So, over 2,000 people went down, and they came back to Manchester with such an incredible experience. Everybody, I mean everybody, wanted to organise their own carnival.<\/p>\n

In that moment hope and horror combined.<\/p>\n

Tell us about organising the carnival in Manchester?<\/strong><\/p>\n

GB:<\/em> So many people were wowed by the RAR carnival that it was incredibly easy to get volunteers to make one in Manchester.<\/p>\n

But anybody who\u2019s ever organised anything knows that it\u2019s not simple. But the sense of possibility meant that we had the confidence to be bold.<\/p>\n

Bernie Wilcox was the main RAR organiser in Manchester. He pinned down the Buzzcocks to headline our carnival just as the band were nearing the height of their fame.<\/p>\n

All kinds of people offered to help in the fight against the NF, not just the bands and the fans. We roped in people in the Labour Party and serious figures in the unions too. This was a real united front.<\/p>\n

Having people on board who were politically to the right of my Socialist Workers Party, with sufficient political weight, meant we could get things like parks, money and equipment for the carnival.<\/p>\n

How did you keep organising people after these big events?<\/strong><\/p>\n

GB:<\/em> There was a lot going on. Almost everybody thought there was going to be a general election in October 1978, though it was pushed back to 1979.<\/p>\n

The NF said it was going to put up 300 candidates. There were lots of local anti-fascist initiatives. But the idea of a national organisation really took off. The ANL could combine the anger of the youth with others in the working class, the labour movement, MPs and so on. It meant everybody could do something.<\/p>\n

It starts with having the ability to make things happen on the ground, at a local level, and using that to convince people that we can do something bigger.<\/p>\n

There was a similar mood around the massive Together demonstration earlier this year. But the danger anti-racism faces now is not being bold enough.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got to use flair, we\u2019ve got to use imagination.<\/p>\n

How does the knowledge that we\u2019ve beaten the far right in the past help us now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

GB:<\/em> I think we\u2019ve got a new generation that can make it happen. That\u2019s what gives me confidence. We are clearly aware of how racism is being used in the most vicious way.<\/p>\n

And yet, the reaction to Professor Jason Arday\u2019s death\u2014the 30,000-strong vigil<\/a> in London\u2019s Trafalgar Square, for example\u2014is inspiring. It showed that we are able to organise for a better future.<\/p>\n

Today the bastards will continue to use every dirty trick they can. But we know we have numbers, talent and imagination on our side.<\/p>\n