Original subtitles

(PA PLAYS ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA)

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

MAN: Oi! Oi!

(YELLING)

Oi! Oi.

(YELLS INDISTINCTLY)

(CHANTING) Skinheads! Skinheads! Skinheads!

National Front. We're all National Front.

WOMAN: You're all National Front. Why? They're not English! They don't belong here.

Our campaign is a cultural campaign. Therefore, if we're against racism, we're a cultural organisation —

we're against racism in all facets of British life. We're not just interested in...

the fight against the National Front. It's the fight against racism in British society.

The all—round, family British racism. You know what I mean?

# THE CLASH: London Calling

Do you want this country to become occupied

by a load of khaki—coloured multiracial bastards?

# London calling to the faraway towns

# Now war is declared and battle come down

# London calling to the underworld

# Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls

# London calling — now, don't look to us

# Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust

# London calling, see, we ain't got no swing

# 'Cept for the ring of that truncheon thing

# The ice age is coming, the sun's zooming in

# Meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin

# Engines stop running, but I have no fear

# Cos London is drowning, and I live by the river

# London calling to the imitation zone

# Forget it, brother... #

I was involved, as I always had been,

since I first became culturally active on the left —

or an artist on the left — running a studio.

My studio was in Soho, in the West End.

We had an agitprop theatre group called the Kartoon Klowns.

(HARSH MECHANICAL WHIRRING)

WOMAN: Our information now is that there is a strange phenomena on planet Earth —

a ruling class, which is corrupt.

In the evenings, we'd rehearse at my studio — in the day I'd be a working photographer.

I was asked by NME, 'Will you come down and photograph the punk night?‘

Here I am, down the ICA and, suddenly, the Clash come on — and'bangtu

# THE CLASH: White Riot

15 minutes of unbelievable energy and power and volume,

and lyrics about unemployment and youth alienation and, like,

'Jesus Christ'. And then they were gone. They were off.

The economic situation was really bad.

The IMF had moved in —

they were putting pressure on wage cuts and social services cuts.

The whole atmosphere was really dark and hard.

The right—wing press playing the same old tune —

"We're gonna be swamped. We're gonna be mobbed."

To where would you repatriate those immigrants who were born here?

To where they wanted to go.

In most cases, they are the citizens of their countries of origin —

although born in this country.

A person would be physically seized and deported —

like a person being erm... taken onboard

Her Majesty's ships of war at the end of the 18th century.

So where would you draw the line, Mr Powell?

I draw it short of that.

The National Front were growing incredibly.

Webster was a clever organiser.

He started to march in the right places — make the right noises.

They were, as they said, 'kicking their way onto the headlines'.

Keep our country free from invasion

when the invaders have got black, brown and yellow faces!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

ROGER HUDDLE: I was talking to Red in the pub.

We was both really concerned about the rise of the National Front,

erm...especially around my area, in Walthamstow.

(MILITARISTIC DRUMMING)

They was using the usual scapegoats — Asians, blacks...whatever.

And so, we said, 'What we need to do is do a gig.'

A thing called Rock Against Racism.

Also, Bowie was coming out with a load of crap as well at the time.

And then Clapton came out with all that racist shit in Birmingham.

We all know of Eric Clapton as the great blues guitarist —

the God...hero of blues guitar.

And blues that came out of slavery, and here he is supporting the man,

Enoch Powell, who's the greatest supporter of white supremacy

in Britain at that time.

At first, we just didn't believe it.

I was so angry about it,

I just went, 'We've got to do something about this.‘

I have the answer.

(READS)

I just went, 'I've got to send it to all the music press.‘

About two weeks later, it was published.

I saw Red's letter in the NME.

I wrote back to Red quite quickly, and he wrote back to me

and invited me along to a meeting.

One rainy night, I went over to the East End,

and the people in the room were artists

and writers and political activists.

It was immediate — I thought, 'This is a gang I'd like to join.‘

# 999: So Greedy

I was going into the print shop fairly regularly.

There was Syd and Ruth, so they naturally gravitated,

and the energy and the excitement of it, and the potential of it,

was what pulled all these people onboard.

Syd, he'd been a documentary—style photographer in Australia,

so it was quite natural, when he came here to London,

that he would have his camera with him.

Ruth really knew what she was doing — she had the graphic sensibility

and power that sink right in to the punk explosion.

RUTH GREGORY: This photograph comes out of ID Magazine.

I have whited it out, I think, using Tipp—Ex. (LAUGHS)

This is the very first fanzine we ever did.

I'd had the idea of 'Temporary Hoarding'. It said it so well —

It was like a street hoarding, like a rough thing in the street.

Then, purely by accident, the word 'RAR' happened to be in 'Temporary', which was great.

It was very much a cut—and—paste kind of approach.

I found this quote from Rod Stewart. I really liked Rod Stewart.

He says, 'I think Enoch Powell is the man. I'm for him.

This country's overcrowded. The immigrants should be sent home. That's it.'

This is the man who just moved to Los Angeles, you know? I mean, the man's full of shit.

I got rid of all his albums. I haven't listened to him since, which is a great shame.

We were interested in the idea of people being able to express themselves,

and that the expression itself was a political act.

Dr David Widgery, who was one of our great supporters in the early days...

..he wrote these words. It's like a little, mini one—paragraph manifesto.

'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.

Love music, hate racism.‘

It was a scary moment because punk could have gone either way.

Some of the bands did have NF following.

The NF were selling their newspapers outside kids' schools.

They were recruiting on the streets.

Most fights which happen in school are caused by racism, right?

It's not just by jealousy or hate,

or something which crops up between 'em. It's mostly racism.

I just think the National Front wants someone to blame... GIRL: Someone to pick on.

..for what's happening to the country at the moment.

The whole point of RAR...we're trying to put some bit of doubt —

are you really NF? Are you really someone who wants no future?

This isn't martial music — the roots of this are ska. They're black music.

I went down to this club in Peckham, and I was the only white person in the whole place.

And everyone was going, 'Who's this fucking bloke?'

I met this man — Red Saunders. And he was, like, talking sense.

You know, he was like, 'We've gotta get together. We've got to build something that we're all proud of.

We've gotta try and stamp out this ugly demon

that's coming into our community.

And the only way to do it is to bring people together.‘

You don't mind the white kids coming along?

No, well, that is the idea, you see?

Reggae is for everyone, you know? It's not just for black people.

It's for white people, it's for yellow people, green people. It's for people, you know?

which was really lucky for us in RAR because we were fans of all this, and we stepped on the train.

It's like there's a railway station. The train pulls in. The doors open. Punks get on,

and all the reggae bands get on — and 'Bang'.

# C—C—C—C—C—C—Come on, take a bite of the bait

# You can't afford to hesitate... #

This is the first RAR gig,

with Matumbi — Dennis Bovell.

# 999: Obsessed

That was a hell of a line—up that night.

There was a brilliant punk band called 999.

To me, they had the energy of The Clash

and the outrageousness of the Sex Pistols.

The Royal College authorities went bonkers

because people were hanging off the rafters and the balconies.

999 came with white, working—class punks.

Always have black and white bands together to break down the fear

cos the NF is trading on nothing but fear.

That's why it was so important

for RAR to have its own political voice with its own fanzine —

so Temporary Hoarding was able to go a bit further than just antiracism.

And I claim that in the ranks of our Blackshirt legions

march the mighty ghosts of England's past.

(CHEERING)

In this country, in 15 or 20 years' time,

the black man will have the whip hand over the white man.

COLIN PRESCOD: Britain, mother of the Empire, has had to welcome in her children and to allow them to settle.

They have not been allowed to settle in a dignified manner.

And because the blacks have refused to accept indignity and victimage,

Britain is stuck with a rebellious black presence in its centres.

RUTH GREGORY: We challenged ideas of empire —

the subjugation of people all over the world,

Partition in India, the attitudes of the British as a dominant force —

a superior race.

RED SAUNDERS: My dad worked for the Crown Agents of the old British Empire.

I was brought up as a kid in West Africa — in Nigeria.

I remember the extraordinary nature of white supremacy

with the European clubs.

I mean, there was a sort of unofficial apartheid running through the entire system.

My dad had reported the Prague Spring in 1968,

when a lot of writers and artists had tried to take on the Soviets.

And my mum had come from America — had been involved in the civil rights movement.

We emigrated to Australia in 1960.

Some of that time I spent on an island called Palm Island.

It was a situation of complete apartheid.

We didn't go to school with the aboriginal children. They had their own school.

On my mother's side of the family, my grandmother was a suffragette.

So I have, at least, two generations behind me of activism.

(CHANTING) La, la, la, la # We're gonna send the blacks back.

# We're gonna send the blacks back, la, la, la, la. La, la, la, la.

# We're gonna send the blacks back, we're gonna send the blacks back

# La, la, la, la. La, la, la, la #

JANET STREET PORTER: The Front believe, as Hitler's Nazis did,

that white Europeans are naturally superior to other people,

and that the white race has got to be preserved.

Britain will be taken out of the Common Market

and new links forged with white Rhodesia and South Africa.

Part of what RAR was doing was trying to think about racism

in terms of — it is a white problem.

And the idea that we were all still living,

consciously or unconsciously, with the legacy of colonialism.

(APPLAUSE)

# That's a plenty's got a beat in it, the rhythm's got a lot of heat in it

# Bet your bottom, ten to five,

# It's gonna get you doing what it's doing to me... #

I've got a sort of knack of talking to these native wallahs.

Get on with that punkahing, you berk! (AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)

I wish to make a complaint against a nig—nog. (AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)

Moved next door, that's what he's done.

What do you mean, 'Is that all?'

(INAUDIBLE)

Extreme racists have become part of balance —

an acceptable point of view within the spectrum of political opinions.

Can you imagine the media displaying the rhetoric of, say, black revolutionaries?

I hope to achieve, through the ballot box, by getting people elected,

first of all, an immediate halt to coloured immigration.

And thereafter, the phased repatriation of all coloured immigrants,

their descendants and dependants from Britain to their lands of ethnic origin.

INTERVIEWER: And if they don't go? They're going to go.

RED SAUNDERS: What would happen if they don't want to go back?

And he said, 'Don't you worry. They're going back.'

Then we enter cattle trains and, you know, we know what that means. Do you know what I mean?

Rock Against Racism was white people finally waking up to the fact

that, 'Oh, my God, there's racism here.‘

Huh? Please. You know, black people were living it.

REPORTER: The Front got their best results in Bethnal Green and Bow,

where they polled 19.2% of the vote,

and in Hackney South, where they took I9%.

MAN: The National Front is a Nazi Front! ALL: Smash the National Front!

The focus was then absolutely on the proper organised politics.

# GANG OF FOUR: Damaged Goods

Kate Webb was the youngest person

who came to work full—time in the RAR office.

KATE WEBB: We were absolutely overwhelmed.

We were getting sackfuls of mail,

and Red and the other photographers let me have a desk.

I used to corral gangs of people.

We'd sit there with letters strewn all around the floor —

all of us picking up letters, reading them out aloud

and just writing back as quickly as we could.

# Your kiss so sweet

# Your sweat so sour

# Your kiss so sweet

# Your sweat so sour

# Sometimes, I'm thinking that I love you

# But I know it's only lust...

It was the antiracist enthusiasm —

the commitment to people to the horror of possibility

that we may have a National Front administration.

# Sweat's running down your neck

# Heated couplings in the sun...

I remember getting a letter from a kid in Aberystwyth.

He said, 'My schoolteacher's a fascist.‘

Say — Ted in Bognor Regis. You know, Ted who was 14

and going to school in Bognor Regis. And we would say, 'Dear Ted,

There is no RAR group in Bognor Regis, but you are now Bognor Regis RAR.

# I always knew it would

# You know the change will do you good

# You know the change will do you good

# Damaged goods

# Send 'em back

# I can't work, I can't achieve

# Send me back

# Open the till

# Give me the change you said would do me good...

This was a coup for Temporary Hoarding at that time.

# You said you're cheap, but you're too much

# Your sweat so sour

We're working on Temporary Hoarding. We're working on the next gig.

# But I know it's only lust

# The change will do you good...

The Rock Against Racism banner that's here, and here, is ironed on.

That's the way, you know... It was all hands—on guerrilla activities.

# I'm kissing you goodbye

# I'm kissing you goodbye

# I'm kissing you goodbye

# I'm kissing you goodbye

# I'm kissing you goodbye #

We used to do a gig guide, and it would be instructions to the RAR group,

whether they were in Lowestoft or Leeds, or wherever they were,

'If you're gonna book a gig, this is what you do.

Make sure you control the stage —

At no point do you let anybody else get to the microphone.‘

# ALIEN KULTURE: Roots, Rock, Ratskank

We're opposed to the idea of the National Front,

and we wanna stop it at the beginning, at schools and that.

Come and join the discussion about what we can do

to fight the Nazi National Front in schools.

'See there, we are black, we are white, we are dynamite.

Schoolkids against the Nazis.‘ That's rather good.

I went to a Rock Against Racism gig,

and at the end, there was black and white people with fists like this,

shouting, 'Black and white, unite.‘

I got some literature from a friend,

and I just realised what the National Front were up to.

# Swamp her, better call the rat catcher

# Swamp her with an alien culture

# Swamp her, better call the rat catcher

# Swamp her with an alien culture

# Swamp her, better call the rat catcher

# Swamp her with an alien culture... #

# X—RAY SPEX: Warrior In Woolworths

# Warrior, warri—warrior

# Warrior in Woolworths

# Humble, he may seem

# Behind his servile innocence

# He plots and he schemes

# He's the rebel on the underground

# She's the rebel of the modern town

# He's the rebel on the underground... #

She was one of the very first artists that talked about

things that people never, ever talked about.

PAULINE BLACK: She had fashioned something for herself.

The common way that black females were supposed to present themselves

is with plenty of flesh and, you know,

some exotic ripe berries somewhere.

PAUL SIMONON: The school I went to, right,

all the kids are supposed to, sort of like, be factory fodder,

you know? That sort of stuff. And, like,

the school's sort of built... It's a real depressing school and that.

You go there — you don't learn nothing.

All you're working for is just to go into the factory, which is round the corner.

JANET STREET PORTER: Are a lot of your fans on the dole?

I mean, do they feel the same way?

Well, I mean, if there was jobs, then they wouldn't be on the dole.

And maybe we'd be singing about... love and kissing or something.

ROGER HUDDLE: There's all kinds of historical references within the layout, where thinking was,

partly, to turn them into a gang of outlaws.

You know the famous pictures of the James gang?

So it's partly that — that they're all in their coffins, and they're outlaws —

but also it's a famous reference back to the 1871 Paris Commune

where they lined up all the Communards as they killed them.

Temporary Hoarding was sold mostly at gigs and demonstrations,

and when we had enough money to produce a new issue,

then we'd produce a new one.

Ah.

Me and my beloved.

(CALYPSO MUSIC)

That is Notting Hill Carnival in the year of Heavy Manners,

which must have been 1977.

Temporary Hoarding tried to pick up specific issues.

This is a good one here about sus laws.

At that time, there was a massive amount of police picking up black youth.

There's a great quote here. It says, 'Sus — on a date unknown,

you did conspire with people unknown to rob people unknown.‘

DENNIS BOVELL: All it needed was the police officer's word against yours,

and the magistrate would send you down.

It was used, as my friend Linton Kwesi Johnson says,

'unscrupulously' against us.

You're nicked.

(STRUGGLING AND YELLING)

(INDISTINCT POLICE RADIO CHATTER)

MYKAELL RILEY: You were warned by your parents if you were going out, 'Be in before ten o'clock.‘

If we were going to a club and someone didn't turn up,

the first thing we thought of, 'Let's check out the local police station.‘

Cos that journey between the house and wherever you're going — the venue —

could be intercepted by the police.

And then the challenge was to get them out of the police station

because staying overnight in the police station was also a dangerous affair.

I was a radiographer at that time. I was stuck in the back of a car.

I was taken to the local department store and, to this day,

I always wonder what would have happened if the two white women

who came to look at me through the window had said, 'Yes. That's her,' how my life might have evolved.

The police came to a club where I was having a soundclash.

They were coming out of the toilets, so they say, with a prisoner that they had arrested in the toilets,

and the audience saw fit to free the prisoner.

They then accused me of standing on the stage with a microphone

saying, 'Get the boys in blue.‘

At the end of six months' trial at the Old Bailey,

I was sentenced to three years.

After six months in Wormwood Scrubs, my appeal comes up, and I win.

And I'm told, 'Off you go, and think yourself lucky that you didn't have to spend three years in prison.'

INTERVIEWER: For something you didn't do. Absolutely.

Webster, being a clever bastard, designed a march to go right through

an area of immigrants and ethnic minorities, you know —

a black area of London.

We arrived quite early that morning.

You went, 'Wow, this is a community that's gonna defend itself.'

(DRUMMING)

There was a lot of messing around, where people didn't really know who was where or what.

There was these continual things, 'They're coming. Everybody get ready.' 'Oops, no, they're not.'

'Yes, they're coming now. Right.‘ It was very, very frightening.

MAN: The only chant today is 'National Front' — nothing else.

Take orders from the police. No backchat with the opposition.

No leaving the column to fight,

and no chanting except for 'National Front'.

Have you got that?

(CHEERING AND SHOUTING)

(CHANTING) National Front, National Front!

National Front, National Front!

National Front, National Front, National Front!

And it was only an hour later when — 'Wap'.

(SHOUTING)

(CHANTING AND SHOUTING)

When the Front came up with all the Union Jack banners,

the honour guard, suddenly, there was this amazing onslaught.

And I looked across, and I saw all these kids steaming into them.

It was the Cypriot youth who all just went straight in,

'Fascists off our streets.'

(CHANTING) Nazis go! Nazis go! Nazis go!

We stopped them going through to Catford.

We dealt the Nazis the biggest defeat they've suffered so far!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(CHANTING) The workers united will never be defeated!

REPORTER: Unknown to the demonstrators,

the National Front had been diverted

before reaching the Clock Tower area of Lewisham.

They were routed down Cressingham Road and into a small car park,

where they were allowed to hold a rally.

MAN: (WITH MEGAPHONE) Before we start the meeting,

we have a debt of gratitude to pay to the police today.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

As we usually do, I want you to show your appreciation

for the unfortunate police who have had to stop us today

by giving them three rousing cheers for the police.

Hip hip... ALL: ..hooray!

Hip hip... ALL: ..hooray!

Hip hip... ALL: ..hooray!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(SCREAMING AND SHOUTING)

MAN: Let him go! Let him go! This is our borough!

MAN: Some people are saying, 'No, I don't think the police would do that.'

But they did. They just came in, and that was what took me by surprise.

I didn't think they was gonna start poking at my eyes

and kicking me in the crutch and things like that.

But they did. Yeah, they did.

MAN: (OVER POLICE RADIO) ..all the trouble is coming from

the northbound carriageway where there's no policemen...

That was the first time, ever since the Second World War,

that the British police broke out the riot shields.

Webster always used to say,

'You won't believe the amount of senior police officers who support the National Front.'

Well, you did see it at Lewisham.

I feel that the National Front isn't a problem you can forget about,

and it'll go away, because it is a problem,

and if you do leave it, it'll grow and grow.

It's like a cancer.

There was a massive, massive explosion of solidarity,

from black militants, like Darcus Howe,

to Jewish businessmen saying, 'I don't like your politics, but...

we'll do anything to help fight the NF.'

I was surprised it got covered. We weren't superheroes —

we were just ordinary people. We were ordinary, antiracist citizens.

Everybody from Aberystwyth to Plymouth — youth were reading the NME

and the Melody Maker and all these papers.

When they became really clear of the fascist nature of the National Front,

and they put their full support behind it —

well, the level of RAR support went up 5,000%.

# One, two, three, four! First generation, illegal immigrants

# Second generation, juvenile delinquents

# Torn between two cultures...

RUTH GREGORY: Alien Kulture were part of our RAR committee in London.

# (COUNTS IN URDU)

# We're taught how to pray five times a day

# But that's not what we're about

# We just want to live out our lives...

PERVEZ BILGRAMI: It's about sending a message out to people that we're not that different.

This is the problem we have as Asians —

live in this culture, but come from this culture. So we have a culture outside,

which is punk gigs and politics.

We have a culture at home, which is Bollywood films

and, maybe, watching for the only Asian programme at the time.

# All we need is understanding to be happy and content...

The thing to do is organise more — get involved in outside organisations with white people,

with black people. The only way we can do it is together.

# ..culture crossover... #

We have to get our message out there, somehow.

Asian parents are concerned about the detrimental effect

they feel white culture will have on their children.

A lot of Asian youths go to discos and play in bands,

and erm...they're not actually rejecting their Eastern culture,

but their parents think they are just because they are doing what they are doing, you know?

# Asian youth, oh, where you been?

# Asian youth, you wanna be seen

# Asian youth, you dunno who to turn to

# Oh, Asian youth... #

I'd grown up listening to Beach Boys, Bruce Springsteen,

Neil Young, Bob Dylan. You'd rather hear The Jam.

You'd rather hear The Clash, Tom Robinson Band, the Sex Pistols —

because, in a sense, they belonged to you.

Tom Robinson really appealed, you know?

Songs like Winter Of '79 — they were of the time.

# TOM ROBINSON BAND: Winter Of '79

KATE WEBB: I went to see the Tom Robinson Band, who were playing at the ICA.

And I became, immediately, a really big fan.

# They done in Dave and Dagenham Ron in the winter of '79

# When all the gay geezers was put inside...

I think I wrote to Tom — a fan letter — and he wrote back.

He introduced me, through his letters, to a load of people, and I got to know them.

There's a photograph here of Tom. This is me.

This is Karen, who was a secretary,

and the two Jewish schoolgirls from Camden

who went by the name of 'Scruf' with one F and 'Scruff' with two Fs.

And we formed a kind of band,

embarrassingly called the Robinson's Rats,

and we followed them up and down the country.

# When all the gay geezers was put inside

# And coloured kids was getting crucified

# A few fought back and a few folks died... #

At a gig, you'd be dealing with antiracism. Here, you're taking it further.

Here we're looking at the war in Northern Ireland.

NEWSREADER: British troops, once hailed as peacemakers,

are now the object of hatred of the Catholic minority —

accused of allowing the Protestant government to oppress at will.

We were being held in the grip of fear — fear, in our communities, of the gunman.

(GUNFIRE)

This was about a rape by a soldier

of a young woman, who told her story in Temporary Hoardings.

With Temporary Hoarding, we might introduce the politics of the wider movement continuously into it.

So it was a... It also had a purpose as educator.

We were able to test out ideas.

We were able to move to broader areas.

In those days, there weren't that many people who were making the connection

between oppression of lesbians and gay men, and racism and fascism.

The first article I wrote for Temporary Hoarding

was a piece called 'No more normals'.

I wanted to point out the way heterosexual people

and behaviour and relationships were regarded as the norm,

and lesbians and gay men were totally invisible in the media.

Obviously, an important part of Temporary Hoarding was interviewing bands.

There's an interview here with Adam And The Ants —

'Wouldn't you like to rip him to shreds?'

which is done by Lucy Toothpaste, and I did the design.

He was determined to say that he was anti—fascist,

but he still insisted on his right

to use imagery which came from Nazi Germany.

What we used to do in our interviews

was really challenge and continue the debate.

It was a way to put both sides of these arguments

and hear what people had to say.

Our world was a world without any social media.

Forget social media — there was no mobile phones.

You had to put four pennies in a bloody box and press a button.

Our world was the underground. The underground press was street posters —

London was covered in them.

The Clash were one of the most amazing bands,

so we've taken the lyrics...

and printed the lyrics of White Riot — 'I want a riot of my own.'

This could get stuck up as a complete individual poster,

and that really was the whole spirit of Temporary Hoarding.

TOPPER HEADON: The right wing hijacked White Riot as a song

because it was 'White' Riot.

They didn't listen to the lyrics.

White Riot is about the fact that...

wish the white people would riot like the black people do

because, you know, we're not happy either.

You can get all the Rolls Royces, all love dough,

all the country houses... all the servants you want.

And I just think there's nothing at the end of that road —

no human life or nothing.

And that's why I just don't wanna go that way.

That's why I think that it's all of us or none.

MAN: (WITH MEGAPHONE) The National Front is a Nazi Front.

ALL: Smash the National Front!

The National Front is a Nazi Front. ALL: Smash the National Front!

The National Front is a Nazi Front. Smash the National Front!

(CHANTING AND SHOUTING)

RED SAUNDERS: If you met somebody who was just a confused racist,

not a full—on Nazi, you could win 'em away sometimes.

But full—core Nazis — no. I never met any of the...

I wouldn't have sat and debated. There was none of that.

JANET STREET PORTER: The National Front celebrating

its tenth anniversary by launching a youth section.

When we do start sending the blacks back, it's not gonna hurt them,

and they'll be given financial aid and assistance.

We think a lot of them will go back willingly

without starting kicking up a fuss, and violence and that.

You'll get the odd one, perhaps.

There were attacks to RAR groups in different areas of the country.

People in Manchester describing people climbing through the windows —

trying to smash the gigs up.

Shut up! Shut up.

(SHOUTS AT CROWD)

They had to instruct people, when they left the gigs, to take all their badges off

because Nazis would float around where they knew the gig was and jump people.

A lot of fans were British Movement...National Front.

They were real white—suburban white flight —

they were very hostile to black kids.

You look at that up fucking Bristol — 200 niggers. You should have shoved 200 skinheads up there

to kick the fuck out of 'em. The Old Bill didn't, they fucking ran away — bunch of cunts.

BOY: They — the NF and the British Movement —

they go to the gigs to cause trouble.

In the front, there was a couple of skinheads banging this guy's head against the scaffolding.

Every time he came up, there was blood — more and more.

It's just a bad image, really. That's what gets the image.

It's just the skinheads, innit?

Everyone thought all skinheads were Nazis,

which, of course, was utter rubbish. They weren't.

But a lot of skinheads were.

You didn't bother to stop and debate the point.

When we played London, we knew what we were going to get.

Wednesbury is an area I'd never heard of.

We went walking down, turned the corner where the hall was,

and there were 30 skinheads standing outside there.

We just looked at each other and thought, 'Oh, God. Not again.‘

Our job was to peel away the Union Jack...

to reveal the swastika.

Sham 69 had a really confusing relationship with fans.

(DISTANT CHEERING)

His fan group, quite a lot of who were working—class kids

involved in the National Front or on the fringes of it...

He had a strong respect for who he thought these kids were

and how they were left out of most decisions in the world.

He didn't want to be somebody who said, 'You should think like this.'

JIMMY PURSEY: They're all moving down the same conveyor belt.

They're all being subjected to, 'You do this, son.

You come from there, son, so you have to do that.'

If you come from a tower block in the East End,

you are subject to either working at the docks or so on, so on, so on.

'No, you mustn't go out. No, you mustn't leave London

and be someone else because that's wrong.

You're not born to do that.'

I went down to see Jimmy and his mum and dad

because I wanted to ask them if they were prepared to support RAR.

Why not do something really clear and do a gig with a black band?

We put on this gig with Sham 69 and Misty In Roots.

Misty In Roots and Sham were all backstage.

I was doing a bit of compering and backstaging, and a bit of everything.

Misty started playing dominoes... and the tension in the room

as they started to whack down the dominoes on the table —

it was as if they were saying, 'Come on, then.'

You know what I mean? 'We're here. We're not going anywhere.‘

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

# There's gonna be a borstal breakout

# I'm sitting in this cell, yeah, for something I didn't do

# And all I can think of, baby, I think of you...

The British Movement got in — dozens of 'em.

'What have we done?' You know? I started to really doubt the whole idea.

I was a real nervous wreck that night.

People were freaking out, 'If they get on the stage,

retreat — defend the PA system.

If they get to the PA system, turn it off.'

# And now I'm getting out, I'm coming back for you

# There's gonna be a borstal breakout

# There's gonna be a borstal breakout

# There's gonna be a borstal breakout

# There's gonna be a borstal breakout #

(YELLS INDISTINCTLY)

(CHANTING) Skinheads! Skinheads!

You see that?

MAN: Get on with it!

(SIGHS) Yeah. I dunno what to do now. What can I do?

(CHANTING) Skinheads! Skinheads! Skinheads! Skinheads!

I preach peace. I go on there, and I do my best.

And that's all I can do — is do my best

Across the country, there must have been several thousand people

from minority communities who just got shit and piss

through their letterboxes with regularity.

People couldn't go one—to—one to school. They had to go in groups of ten.

I mean, listen to the stories from Bengali communities in East London.

I would say they are shit—scared to walk around the streets.

It's not gonna stop them from staying in this country.

You'd been spat on, people had thrown bottles at you,

you'd regularly been called 'paki' — so it was quite normal.

REPORTER: This Asian shopkeeper, who spent three years in a Japanese prisoner—of—war camp

after fighting for Britain in the last war, describes the attack.

All these skinheads...throw these stones and break my whole windows.

And, all of sudden, one is coming here. I break my teeth in here.

Do you mind if I ask you... why is it that the police have, apparently, not been successful

in protecting some Asians and, in fact, also some English people

from what is, clearly, racial violence?

It's speculatory to suggest that all attacks on Asians,

or any other minority, are motivated by racial motives. I'm not suggesting that all of them are.

I'm saying it looks as though we've got a new phenomenon of people,

and they may be organised or they may not,

but actually going out and hunting for people of particular groups.

We have no evidence... that they are organised.

ROGER HUDDLE: In 1977, there were 7 —

in and around Brick Lane — racist murders.

RUTH GREGORY: This is when Altab Ali was murdered in the East End.

We got firebombed at one point, and we did...we moved offices.

We had to get into all that stuff

where you have to block up your letterbox.

Where you wipe your feet, you put sand down in case petrol comes through.

I, quite often, was terrified.

Just after our daughter was born, we got a bullet in the post.

I just hid it away, straightaway.

People said, 'Oh, go to the police.' 'Are you fucking joking?‘ You know?

(CHUCKLES) No, because we knew, like Webster said,

the police weren't gonna be helping us. Every demonstration we went on, they hindered us.

It was our people got arrested and kettled. It wasn't the Front.

This was a gang of street thugs. They were out to terrify you.

(CHANTING) Black and white, unite and fight! Smash the National Front!

MAN: I wanna hear it louder! ALL: Black and white, unite and fight!

When RAR and the ANL came together, that's how vital the campaign was —

it was life and death for many, many people.

(CHANTING) ..unite and fight! Smash the National Front!

JANET STREET PORTER: I asked Red Saunders, one of RAR's founders,

what he saw as the difference between RAR and the Anti—Nazi League

(SIGHS) It's a difficult question, Janet.

Erm... I mean, RAR and the ANL are completely separate organisations,

but they work in unity together

on the cultural fight against racism and fascism.

We were united in the fight with them against the National Front.

Whereas we were more specifically cultural, and into militant entertainment,

they were into the political election fight.

(CALYPSO MUSIC)

KATE WEBB: All of us had gone regularly

to the Notting Hill Carnival, and we wanted to pay homage to that,

and what a brilliant, vibrant thing that was every year.

I remember the Anti—Nazi League, who said they would help us with funding,

wanted us to do it off the back of a lorry.

We had completely different ideas.

We were gonna march from Trafalgar Square to Vicky Park.

The NF were getting the 23% of the vote there, so we went,

'Well, that's where we've gotta go — the heart of their territory.‘

ROGER HUDDLE: I think Red wasn't completely sure

that we could pull it off, which was very unusual for Red.

I remember when we first started talking, I thought, 'Bloody hell.'

You know? 'That's huge. I don't know that we can be cut in with that.'

And then once it went, it just rolled, you know?

Get permission from the council — vital stuff.

Get a stage — build it. Then you get the backline.

Then you get the generators. And then, at the same time —

get the bands. Who's gonna be the bands?

We've gotta have rebel reggae music.

We finished up with Steel Pulse cos Handsworth Revolution was out.

At the same time, myself and Roger were going,

'It's gotta be Tom Robinson.‘

Then the debate started about The Clash,

'Gotta have The Clash — absolutely great energy, punk band.'

We had a big row over the running order.

Roger and I argued that, actually, we should have Tom on last.

Not because we necessarily thought he was a better musician or more exciting,

but because it was clear that Tom was the kind of person who,

at the end the gig, would bring people together.

So the decision was, 'OK, well, you go and tell them.

You go and tell The Clash that they're not gonna go on last and get them to agree that.'

All right?

(THEY PLAY GARAGELAND)

# Back in the garage with my bullshit detector...

Bernie Rhodes, their manager, was going on and on and on about —

it was all Woodstock, and we was all hippies,

and they were the real fighters.

They played endless tricks on us and turned the lights on and off

and were trying to feel us out and test us — who the hell we were.

TOPPER HEADON: It was very much a question of us swallowing humble pie to support Tom Robinson,

who had been involved since the beginning so, rightly, he was headlining.

But it went against the grain to support someone.

Er... But the cause was more important than our personal egos.

# I don't wanna go to where... where the rich are going

# I don't wanna know about what the rich are doing

# They think they're so clever

# They think they're so right

# But the truth is only known by... #

Once they'd come onboard, it just exploded.

There were threats.

In the run—up to the carnival,

The Clash went and demonstrated outside the NF headquarters with Steel Pulse.

'They're much too cool to hold placards,‘

is what I think when I look at these photos. (CHUCKLES)

ROGER HUDDLE: We built the stage, I think, on that week before, on the Wednesday.

I'd never been so nervous in my life.

We had a six—month—old baby at home. I was climbing the wall.

But then the Anti—Nazi League slept on the stage,

so it was protected 24 hours.

It had rained almost the whole of the week before.

The park was like a swamp.

We were very anxious. We didn't have mobile phones.

We had no connection to Trafalgar Square.

We had no idea how many people were coming.

I got there, like, 7 o'clock in the morning,

'Oh, my God, nothing's happening.‘

And the weather wasn't very good.

The police were ridiculing us, saying,

'Nobody's gonna come to this.

No—one's gonna march. They're only going for the music.‘

And I thought, 'I'll go up to Soho and get myself a bacon butty

and a cup of tea.'

I came back, and just the first big coaches were arriving.

This coach pulled up and the doors opened, and this haze of smoke

and stuff came, and all these punks tumbled out.

I thought, 'Hello, hello.‘

(CHEERING)

(DRUMMING, CHEERING)

I came down from Glasgow on a coach — travelled overnight.

I don't like the Nazis, and we're here to show that.

We're against them up there too.

They want to bully people into their point of view. I think people ought to stand up for their opinions.

The rise of the NF is probably the worst thing that's happened in this country for years, politically.

We came up here from Hereford simply to show

that there are people from our place who care to try and stop this.

The message of this carnival, not only to the loonies of the National Front,

but to all bigots everywhere,

is 'Hands off our people!‘

(CHEERING)

Black, white, together — tonight and forever.

(CALYPSO MUSIC, CHEERING)

I saw Tom, and he said, 'I've got the whistles.‘

I said 'Great,' and we started throwing out the whistles.

And anyone who was at the carnival will tell you

the cacophony of noise was unbelievable.

The march headed off with all these bands on platforms

and those wonderful effigies of Martin Webster, Tyndall and Adolf Hitler

that were made by the Spitting Image team.

(CALYPSO MUSIC, WHISTLES BLOWING)

(CHANTING) Smash the National Front!

When we came down Bethnal Green Road,

and all the NF were outside the Blade Bone pub,

'Seig Heil! Seig Heil!‘

And then down the road came thousands and thousands of multiracial kids, punks — everybody.

An hour later, the march was still coming, and they were kinda,

'Erm... Seig... Ah, fuck. Let's go and have a drink.'

(LAUGHS) You know? And they just fucking gave up.

This is a multiracial borough, and we want it to stay that way.

Every human being has got the right to live and to have employment,

and shouldn't be treated as less of a human being.

Because I feel really strongly about racial prejudice.

I think it's a slur and a disgrace to this country.

ROGER HUDDLE: Twelve o'clock we was gonna start.

And I know it's a bit Biblical, but the sun broke out.

(BIRDSONG)

I came onto the stage. There was a bloke with a dog,

there was two kids on bikes, and that was it.

And there was Victoria Park — no—one in it at all.

So, X—Ray Spex were gonna open.

RUTH GREGORY: Coming into Victoria Park, and hearing that —

(SINGS) Some people say,

'Little girls should be seen and not heard,' but I think...

POLY STYRENE: ..Oh, bondage, up yours! One, two, three, four!

# X—RAY SPEX: Oh Bondage Up Yours!

# Bind me, tie me, chain me to the wall

# I wanna be a slave to you all

# Oh, bondage, up yours

# Oh, bondage, up yours

# Oh, bondage, up yours...

The security was a complete shambles.

They could defend the stage against the NF,

but how do you defend the stage against 80,000 pogoing 18—year—olds?

(LAUGHS) The defence went down, people collapsed — people were being brought out.

# Oh, bondage, come on

# Oh, bondage... #

This guy said, 'Can I help?‘ I turned round — there's this

70—year—old St John's Ambulance guy with his cap and his uniform.

A little unsung hero of the day.

I told the council that we expected 500 people

cos we didn't wanna get involved in bringing in Portaloos.

The park keeper came,

and we introduced him to Steel Pulse's crew...

..and the last time I saw the park keeper, there was a big cloud of ganja smoke.

So that was the council dealt with.

# TOM ROBINSON BAND: Up Against The Wall

# Consternation in Mayfair

# Rioting in Notting Hill Gate

# Fascists marching on the high street

# Carving up the welfare state...

TOM ROBINSON: Being there, and seeing the numbers coming in through the gates,

hour after hour after hour — the numbers just kept coming.

We had no idea how many people were going to come.

The PA was desperately unsuitable for that gig.

The sound was awful and yet, the thing was —

just being there was the important thing about that.

# Panic in the County Hall

# Look out, listen, can you hear it?

# Whitehall got us up against a wall

# Up against the wall #

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Everyone said to me, 'Oh, Red, you should do the compering.‘

I said, 'Oh, God.' You know? I was really anxious about it.

I used to play this character called Mr Oligarchy

in the theatre, who controlled all the workers, you know?

I wear my Mr Oligarchy's cape, and I ran onstage.

And I screamed out...

..'This ain't no Woodstock —

this is the carnival against the fucking Nazis.‘

And there was a massive roar from the crowd.

And it sustained me throughout the day.

# STEEL PULSE: Jah Pickney — RAR

# Rock against racism

# Rock against fascism

# Rock against Nazism

# It was a tough decision

# Smash it...

MYKAELL RILEY: We go out, and there's 80,000 people.

That audience knew who we were, and we weren't being booed off,

we were being accepted — in fact, they were singing along.

And we got applauded for wearing Ku Klux Klan hoods

to a white British audience,

which was, simultaneously, humbling and hilarious.

To know that we made a big difference, and to see that

there was a lot of people that was against the negativity of racism —

you know, it was a milestone in what we've achieved.

# Rock against Nazism — me say, 'Smash it.'

# I've come to conclusion that

# We're gonna hunt, yeah, yeah, yeah

# The National Front... #

We came away from that thinking, 'Of all the other horrible things which are happening,

this is a mass audience saying that, "You're OK. We support you."'

The best thing of all was the jam at the end.

I do remember the jam. I do remember them all coming on

and Jimmy Pursey coming on as well and joining them.

KATE WEBB: Jimmy Pursey could bring a group of people into the carnival

that we wanted to try and reach.

There are all kinds of dangers involved in that

because you're bringing people who may be involved in fascism,

or maybe are threatening to other people.

TOPPER HEADON: We thought it would be great

if Jimmy could get onstage with us

to nail his colours to the mast as well.

To say to the Sham 69 fans, 'I'm not a racist.'

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

We had no idea how many people were out the front.

And my vivid memory of that day is walking up — cos it was a very high stage —

walked up the stage and saw 100,000 people.

And it was like... (INHALES)

(CHEERING)

(INDISTINCT)

(WHISPERS) It's necessary.

We're gonna play our opener.

(SCREAMS) White riot!

# White riot — I wanna riot

# White riot — a riot of my own

# White riot — I wanna riot

# White riot — a riot of my own

# White riot — I wanna riot

# White riot — a riot of my own

# White riot — I wanna riot

# White riot — a riot of my own

# Black men gotta lot of problems

# But they don't mind throwing a brick

# White people go to school

# Where they teach you how to be thick

# And everybody's doing

# Just what they're told to

# And nobody wants to go to jail

# White riot — I wanna riot

# White riot — a riot of my own

# White riot — I wanna riot

# White riot — a riot of my own

# All the power's in the hands of people rich enough to buy it

# While we walk the street, too chicken to even try it

# Everybody's doing just what they're told to

# Nobody wants to go to jail

(INSTRUMENTAL SECTION)

# White riot — I wanna riot

# White riot — a riot of my own

# White riot — I wanna riot

# White riot — a riot of my own

# (SHOUTS) People just wanna... sell records!

# White riot — a riot of my own #

Yeah!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

MAN: Bring it up, please, for The Clash!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE FADE)

'In this society, we're made to feel powerless and useless,

and that the great and the good should do our thinking for us.

And one of the wonderful things that we did in RAR was to say,

"No, just ordinary people — we can do things. We can change the world."'