TOM ROBINSON WRITES FOR LMHR ON THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY CARNIVAL
The Carnival Against The Nazis on April 30, 1978 was a day that exceeded
everyone’s wildest expectations. The Tom Robinson Band had been keen
supporters of Rock Against Racism - playing small gigs right from our
earliest days. But when RAR teamed up with the Anti Nazi League to stage
this march and concert,the anti-racist struggle suddenly became headline
news.
We had hoped perhaps many as 20,000 people might march from Trafalgar Square
to Victoria Park in Hackney, and were gobsmacked when an amazing 80,000
people turned up for that memorable afternoon of music and mulitracial
solidarity. RAR had started as grassroots movement in late 1976, in reaction
against the infamous onstage remarks by Eric Clapton at a concert in
Birmingham, when he told the audience that Enoch Powell was right and that
there were too many “foreigners” in Britain.
This from a man who’d made his fortune playing black American blues music in
the 60s and then had a huge hit with Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff”. It
was staggering for him to then turn around and say he didn’t want black
people to live in the same country as him. At the time the National Front
were gaining electoral ground and becoming bolder in their attempts to
intimidate immigrants with marches and violence. So many blues and reggae
fans like myself were appalled to see one of our heroes like Eric Clapton
pouring petrol on the flames.
So a group of music lovers got together and wrote a letter to the NME and
Melody Maker denouncing Clapton’s comments and calling for the formation of
Rock Against Racism. “Who shot the Sheriff, Eric?” they asked. “It sure as
hell wasn’t you!”
From the outset RAR was grass roots movement, avoiding stars and
celebrities. It grew up around the same time as punk rock, drawing on much
of the energy and angry mood of the times - and using similarly strong
graphic images in its posters, leaflets, badges and magazines.
It became a network of local supporters - and the London collective would
send out kits to fans around the country telling them how to put on their
own gigs - and supporting them with posters and lists of band contacts.
Usually the bill would be unknown white punk bands and black reggae bands,
with the reggae bands tending to headline as a matter of course.
A year later with growing popularity and awareness RAR was able to team up
with the Anti Nazi League and transform the whole anti-racist cause into a
mass movement - by staging their momentous march and Carnival in Victoria
Park.
I marched with the crowd from Trafalgar Square so as to share experience of
everyone else in the audience - the march was every bit as important as the
gig. As more and more people thronged in the square everyone had big happy
grins on their faces - there was a great party atmosphere with people waving
lollipop shaped placards and chanting and singing. It took well over an hour
just to leave Trafalgar Square.
Many people thought there might be trouble from thugs along the route - but
there was only one small group of National Front skinheads shouting abuse as
we paraded through the East End. It was pretty brave of them to be honest
because they were massively outnumbered - with no shortage of peope on our
side ready to take them on. But in the event it all passed off peacefully.
At the park the gig was a ramshackle affair. Nowadays outdoor pop concerts
make us think of corporate sponsorship, backstage catering, TV crews, guest
lists, security guards, hospitality and VIP areas. But the Carnival Against
The Nazis had none of that - RAR operated completely outside the showbiz
establishment. Nobody recorded the show for a live album or filmed it for
Channel Four - even the GLC were deeply unhelpful, imposing a strict curfew
of 6pm.
All the money had to come from members and supporters so the whole thing was
being run on a shoestring. There wan’t even a dressing room or any backstage
area - we all had to change on the wooden steps leading up to the stage.
The PA was the best that could be obtained on a limited budget - it would
probably have been fine for the 20,000 people we were expecting, but for the
80,000 who actually turned up it was woefully inadequate. All the faders on
the desk were pushed up to full with the speakers distorting at maximum
volume. At the back people couldn’t really hear what was happening.
There was a certain sense of solidarity among groups like X-Ray Spex, Steel
Pulse and my own band TRB, who’d all been playing RAR gigs since the early
days before any of us were famous. But I remember there being big
uncertainty about whether or not The Clash would actually be joining us on
the day.
The guys in the band itself were great - Mick Jones is a sweet man and had
always been really friendly with TRB. He even got up to jam with us on stage
in the early days. But their manager Bernie Rhodes wouldn’t commit to The
Clash appearing - so their name couldn’t be used on any of the posters.
When it finally became clear this was going to be a major event Bernie did
agree, but only on condition that the Clash should go on last. The Rock
Against Racism collective insisted that they wanted TRB to close the show
because of our long involvement. It was awkward, because we were huge Clash
fans and kind of caught in the middle.
So on the day there was much grumpiness from The Clash camp about going on
before TRB. They were, after all, much more famous than us. Each band had 30
or 40 minutes maximum to allow time for everyone to play before the GLC
curfew at six. But the Clash played five minutes over, then ten - and showed
no sign of stopping - despite desperate signals from the side of the stage
that they’d over-run their time.
But TRB’s manager Tony Howard was an East End boy and every bit as tough
minded as Bernie Rhodes. In the end he told our roadies to pull the plugs
out, the amps went dead and that was the end of Bernie’s plan for The Clash
to hog the whole show.
It left us with a much shorter set, and a reputation as The Bad Guys Who
Pulled The Plugs On The Clash. But in hindsight it a much bigger event than
that kind of petty squabbling. What mattered was the fact that we all took
part in that astonishing celebration of music, fun, justice and the politics
of tolerance.
For me the real stars of that day were the original RAR collective of Red,
Syd, Ruth, Roger and David - and Steel Pulse who are perhaps the most
underrated British band of all time. When they performed their song Klu Klux
Klan dressed in white hoods and robes it was the highpoint of the carnival.
Everyone from the front of the moshpit to the very back of the crowd got the
message of the entire event in that single moment.
As Thomas Jefferson said, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Racism
is certainly much less overt nowadays but it never went away. The struggle
for a more just and civilised society is an ongoing fight that each
generation has to carry forward.
