Rock Against Racism (RAR) was formed in 1976, prompted by ‘music’s biggest
colonialist’ Eric Clapton and his support of racist MP Enoch Powell. White Riot blends
fresh interviews with queasy archive footage to recreate a hostile environment of anti -immigrant hysteria and National Front marches. As neo -Nazis recruited the nation’s youth, RAR’s multicultural punk and reggae gigs provided rallying points for resistance.
As founder Red Saunders explains: ‘We peeled away the Union Jack to reveal the
swastika’. The campaign grew from Hoxton fanzine roots to 1978’s huge antifascist
carnival in Victoria Park, featuring X-Ray Spex, Steel Pulse and of course The Clash,
whose rock star charisma and gale-force conviction took RAR’s message to the masses.
Winner Best Documentary at the BFI London Film Festival; Special Mention for the
Generation 14+ Crystal Bear, Berlin Film Festival
Also voted top film at the ICO Spring Screening Days – March 2020
White Riot
Dir. Rubika Shah | 80 mins | UK | 2019
Writers: Ed Gibbs & Rubika Shah (Let’s Dance: Bowie Down Under 2015)
Featuring: Red Saunders; Roger Huddle; Kate Webb; The Clash; Steel Pulse; Tom Robinson; Poly Styrene; Sham 69; Alien Kulture
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