Worth: $14.00
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Cast:
Red Saunders, Dennis Bovell, Mykaell Riley
Intro:
…could not be more pertinent, even if its treatment is somewhat workmanlike and dry.
RAR (Rock Against Racism) was founded in England 1976, basically in response to the extremely alarming rise of the National Front – and of street attacks by its thuggish supporters. But the catalyst was an appalling statement by Eric Clapton (ironic, given his debt to black music) in support of the racist Tory politician Enoch Powell. This doco – which of course takes its name from the song by The Clash – is about the history of RAR.
We hear a lot from Red Saunders, the organisation’s founder. As he puts it, “Our job was to peel away the Union Jack to reveal the swastika”. There’s also a very brief look back at Oswald Mosley, British colonialism and the like. Then there are interviews – new and old – with people like Tom Robinson, Pauline Black (from The Selecter) and Jimmy Pursey from Sham 69. One obviously unavoidable limitation here is that some of the more potentially interesting interviewees – e.g. Joe Strummer and Poly Styrene from X-Ray Specs – are long dead. Still, there is plenty of archival material, from disturbing film of cops bashing anti-racist demonstrators to happier stuff involving music. The climax is the massive Carnival Against The Nazis concert, which was attended by 80,000 people and had a line-up including The Clash, Steel Pulse and Tom Robinson. Just a pity that there are more still photos than live footage.
At the end of White Riot, the following words come onscreen: “The NF was defeated at the 1979 election. But the fight is far from over.” Four decades on from the events in this doco, this is unfortunately a massive understatement. The film could not be more pertinent, even if its treatment is somewhat workmanlike and dry.