"Without unity we're fucked..." Red Saunders
As Tommy Robinson's supporters march down our streets, whipped up by Boris Johnson, UKIP and, in the US, by Donald Trump, back in the 1970s things looked equally as grim, with Margaret Thatcher going on about being 'swamped by an alien culture' and the nazi National Front making huge gains around the country. Something had to be done....
...To counter the racist and fascist threat, the Anti Nazi League (ANL) was born, together with Rock Against Racism (RAR). While the ANL countered the nazis on the streets with huge counter demos, RAR fed into the movement by reinventing youth culture, with grass roots gigs featuring reggae and punk bands, and stunning images and graphics via badges and its flagship megazine Temporary Hoarding.
It all culminated in 1978, with huge national Carnivals Against The Nazis, and here in Manchester, with the Northern Carnival Against Nazis. Held on 15th July, the event began with a march from Strangeways to Alexandra Park where bands, including the Buzzcocks and Steel Pulse, performed to around 40,000 people. It was a defining moment, 'the day it became cool to be anti-racist', as joint Carnival organiser Bernie Wilcox recalled.
Forty years on from the Northern Carnival, earlier this summer there was an anniversary event at Central Library in Manchester featuring films and a panel discussion (see previous Salford Star article ? click here), and, on Monday 3rd September an exhibition is opening, running until 22nd September, at NIAMOS, formerly the Nia Centre, in Hulme.
Titled We Are Dynamite - after the chant back in the day, 'We are black, we are white we are fucking dynamite!' ? the exhibition, organised by the Manchester District Music Archive (MDMA), will feature previously unseen photos of the Carnival, plus posters, badges and other artefacts, as well as collecting people's memories of the event.
A special Anniversary Hoarding has also been produced by the original RAR team to commemorate the forty years, packed with a timeline of events and the names of every band who played a RAR gig
...But even more than this, organisers state that the exhibition 'will highlight the passion and excitement of the day and inspire visitors to reflect upon a new era of challenge for people opposing messages of racism and diversion across the world'...
Last week, one of Rock Against Racism's original founders, Red Saunders, was at the Peterloo Massacre commemoration event in Manchester promoting his current Hidden Project of photo tableaus from working class history (see previous Salford Star article ? click here), and he spoke to the Salford Star about the incredible counter culture movement that was RAR, and the connotations for the now...
"Myself and Roger Huddle have recently done a book, Reminiscences of RAR, which had I think had 68 people's reminiscences, and every time I read them I'm stunned" said Red "An enormous amount of them go 'I was 14 or 15 and Rock Against Racism changed my life'; and I go 'What? We didn't set out to change people's lives, we had no idea'.
"...So it was quite a shock, but then when you look retrospectively with a teaspoon of sociology, you see 'Wow, multiculturalism and anti-racism was trumpeted by us'" he added "In a weird way it was an incredibly simple idea ? put black and white musicians on stage together, mix music with political ideas to challenge racism.
"There was David Widgery's wonderful manifesto quote in the first Temporary Hoarding which was something like 'We want now music, crisis music, music that breaks down people's fear of one another', and that was it" Red recalled "You add to that David King, who was a brilliant designer. I got him to do the RAR star, and a year later he did the Anti Nazi League arrow, so you had these amazing flags and symbols that are so important in struggle.
"It breaks my heart to see what rubbish the left symbols are now; there's no great flags or images, it's really disappointing" he decided "But those things, with the writing and bringing together reggae and punk bands was unique."
Indeed it produced a fun DIY punk/political culture that did indeed inspire young people to create their own local scenes and to have confidence in their own ability. Make no mistake, without RAR the Salford Star would not be in existence now, such was the lasting cultural fall-out...
"Back in the day, we'd get a letter from a kid in Aberystwyth and she'd say 'My history teacher is a nazi, what can I do? I read your letter in Melody Maker'; and I'd write back and go 'Great you are now Rock Against Racism Aberystwyth...it's up to you'..." Red explained "It was that spirit of punk and DIY that was so brilliant and so unique sociologically, you know. When's that happened before? What an extraordinary period of vitality, creativity, the ability to feel that you could do a song that was four chords, you didn't need to learn to play the guitar or anything, and so on."
Which brings it back to the present day, and attempts to counter the far right threat of Tommy Robinson, the Football Lads Alliance and the whipping up of racism and fascism by the likes of Boris Johnson and UKIP...
Red Saunders was amongst the signatories of recent letter by the original founders and supporters of RAR and the ANL - including Peter Hain, Paul Holborow, Roger Huddle, Jerry Dammers of The Specials, Tom Robinson, Carol Grimes and Mykaell Riley of Steel Pulse - backing a call by Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell for a new ANL/RAR type cultural and political campaign to counter the far right
"All of us who are committed to a tolerant, multiracial and multicultural society face a growing and serious challenge from the racist and fascist right in the UK, encouraged by Donald Trump and his close associate Steve Bannon, and now boosted by the release from jail of former EDL leader Tommy Robinson" the letter stated
"The storming of the socialist bookshop Bookmarks and the disturbingly large mobilisations on the streets of London, Leeds, Manchester and elsewhere underline the scale of the threat" it added "Boris Johnson's recent remarks are a calculated bid to appeal to the same audience and can only give them further confidence.
"...We need a broader-based, imaginative and vibrant campaign that unequivocally opposes all forms of racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism" it explained "...This will involve applying the ANL's tactics of mass propaganda, unrelenting opposition to the racists and fascists wherever they organise, and the cultural appeal that ANL/RAR pioneered, with large-scale music and similar events asserting the values of our multiracial and diverse society.
"We believe this needs to done with the utmost speed" the letter concluded "Developments in Germany, Austria, Hungary and Italy highlight how urgent this is. Echoes of the 1930s are all too real. Whatever our other political differences, we believe the time to come together against the poison of racism and fascism is now."
While Red Saunders signed the letter, he emphasised that they were calling for the spirit of forty years ago to be reinvigorated but "something new has to happen, you can't have us lot doing it...I'm 72, I know fuck all about contemporary music. But the spirit of it, yes...
"We've got a massive task re Robinson, UKIP and Johnson" he added "We've got to find energy and a way but I can't lay down a plan. It's got to come from somewhere... is it a kid in Capetown or Buenos Aires? The world is global music and culture and there is incredible stuff going on. Who knows what the fuck is going to happen but something has to happen...
"There's enough anger about what is going on around the world and about the depravity of capitalist exploitation which has gone beyond it now" he explained "You look at the news ? 300 dead in Bangladesh floods and Trump got off the Paris Climate Accord; this is all obvious shit. We know what's going to happen and it's a complete nightmare. Something is going to happen from somewhere, history tells us that. Today's version of the Levellers and the Diggers, they're going to come from somewhere."
Indeed, last week, the Football Lads Alliance was chased out of Didsbury by Stand Up To Racism and Unite Against Fascism, as they intended holding a rally by the mosque...
"There's the beginnings, but we have to get the trade union movement behind us as well as the multi-racial youth around the country" Red concluded "Without unity we're fucked..."
We Are Dynamite! Northern Carnival 40th Anniversary Exhibition
Opening Monday 3rd September 6:30pm-8pm, and then until 22nd September
NIAMOS (former Nia Centre)
Chichester Road, Hulme, Manchester M15 5UP
Entry is free.
For more details and to reserve a free ticket for the opening see the We Are Dynamite Facebook event page ? click here
For further details on MDMA ? click here
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