Timeline

1976

1976 went down in (our) history as a year of punk and anti-racism. But it wasn’t like that for everyone. It was also the year Enoch Powell proposed voluntary repatriation to remove the so-called ‘alien wedge’ from Britain, the year of the racist murder of Mohan Dev Gautam, a 60-year-old woman, and police attacks on the Notting Hill carnival – plus, unforgettably, Eric Clapton ranting about migrants at the Birmingham Odeon gig to “send them all home”. But it was also the year the Sex Pistols first appeared on TV, and Rock Against Racism was launched with a letter to the NME, Melody Maker, Sounds and Socialist Worker and its first gig in East London. [Read more…]

1977

In 1977, the National Front won almost 3000 votes in Birmingham, and they held marches across the country in their thousands – famously opposed by 4000 anti-racists in the Battle of Lewisham. Rock Against Racism was growing quickly, with groups springing up in Newcastle, Middlesborough, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Swansea, Bristol, Glasgow, Bradford, Deptford and Ealing, and more than 200 gigs around the country. [Read more…]

1978

By 1978, racism was still front-page news, but now so was RAR. Gigs and carnivals were organised by anti-racist music fans all across the country, including two London carnivals with Stiff Little Fingers, Sham 69, Steel Pulse, The Clash and X-Ray Spex amongst many others. Several editions of RAR’s DIY magazine Temporary Hoarding were put together, and the Dutch version, RARe Tijden, was launched. [Read more…]

1979

In 1979, Margaret Thatcher was elected as the UK’s Prime Minister, but it wasn’t all bad news: the Southall Black Sisters group was also set up to support black and Asian women, and RAR held its first tour in Ireland. News reached Temporary Hoardings about RAR gigs and activities in Cambridge, Leeds, Birmingham, Leicester, Middlesbrough, Canterbury, South Shields, Islington, Liverpool, Brent, Newport, Edinburgh and South East London. There was also news of the first RAR gig in Holland, plus contact from the USA, Sweden and Belgium. [Read more…]

1980

In 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected as US President and the Reagan-Thatcher international was really underway. In the music world, disco peaked, mainstream rap/hip hop arrived, and New Wave and post-punk bands started to appear. RAR held ‘Rock Against Thatcher’ gigs with The Jam, UB40, the Au Pairs and others, and also released the Rock Against Racism LP. [Read more…]

1981

1981 saw the tragedy of the New Cross Fire in which 13 black teenagers died in South East London. The New Cross Action Committee organised a ‘Black People’s Day of Action’ in which 20,000 marched from Fordham Park to Hyde Park, London against a backdrop of rising unemployment and inflation. A Leeds RAR carnival hosted The Specials, Aswad and Joolz the Poet. [Read more…]

1982

In 1982, RAR was winding down. There were no more Temporary Hoardings, and in March, as far as we know, the final Rock Against Racism gig was held in Hull. RAR as a grassroots movement ended here, but its effects were felt for much longer, from our base assumptions to our basslines. [Read more…]