White Riot

DescriptionBlending fresh interviews with archive footage, this energizing film documents a vital London protest movement. Rock Against Racism (RAR) was formed in 1976, during 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 concert in Victoria Park, featuring X-Ray Spex, Steel Pulse, Tom Robinson and of course The Clash, whose rock star charisma and gale-force conviction took RAR's message to the masses.