The late 70s saw Britain experience a particularly ugly wave of nationalism, xenophobia, and racism (yes, even worse than today), with the rise of the far-right National Front and the ushering in of 12 years of elitist white-supremacist Thatcherism beginning at the end of the decade. Things got so bad, even Brit pop stars like Eric Clapton, David Bowie, and Rod Stewart felt comfortable enough to express unsavory racial and xenophobic views in public (and a professed fondness for anti-immigrant bigoted politician Enoch “Rivers of Blood” Powell) and never really receive any pushback. Until, that is, a London activist named Red Saunders stepped in and cofounded the ambitious Rock Against Racism concert in London’s Victoria Park as a show of musical solidarity against the far right’s rancorous rhetoric.
This short but relentless documentary deftly chronicles this historic concert and some of the powerful performances of Britain’s leading left-leaning punk bands—the Clash, Sham 69, 999, and Tom Robinson Band, among others—high-energy, hungry young groups at the height of their powers. And as we see, the activist energy of the organizers and the fans in attendance certainly matched the obvious enthusiasm of the bands performing that day. What’s more, it’s also fascinating to behold DIY political activism and concert promotion in the pre-Internet age, requiring much more manual legwork than today’s detached Twitter- and Facebook-driven organizational efforts. The Victoria Park segments of the film make for a heady, invigorating rush of razor-sharp punk-rock noise, and visually it’s hard not to marvel at the unquantifiable vastness of the pogoing punk crowd filling East London’s favorite patch of green space like an army primed for battle. In the end, it’s hard not to be inspired by what Rock Against Racism accomplished: these days with British rockers like Morrissey making ignorant xenophobic and racist remarks on a regular basis, maybe it’s time for Rock Against Racism 2.0? Highly Recommended. Aud: C, P.
Included in our list of Best Documentaries 2021.
