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This International Workers’ Day Liverpool will be rocking against fascism

LOUISE RAW spoke to Robin Banks and Richard David, founders of the Resistance Street cultural fightback group, about the event and the group’s aims

IN THE 1970s Rock against Racism’s gigs and carnivals confronted a home grown fascist menace that was largely on the streets.

Now that the far right is back with a firm grip on mainstream politics, two men who were central to the ’70s and ’80s scene are confronting it again.

Robin Banks and Richard David, founders of Resistance Street, not only have rock and roll anecdotes to die for, but are both bona fide working-class intellectuals, with a wealth of political knowledge.

Banks, a charming, softly spoken man with a wry sense of humour, was a boyhood friend of the Clash’s Mick Jones. The legendary song Stay Free is about their long friendship and Banks’s occasional “misunderstandings” with the law.

In the early ’70s, Banks and Jones traversed the country, hitching and jumping trains to follow bands like Mott The Hoople and The Faces.

Banks hasn’t been idle in fighting oppression since his punk days. In 2003 he was part of the Human Shield action in Iraq, putting his life on the line to help protect civilians in Baghdad.

I ask him about Resistance Street’s May Day event in Liverpool, with an incredible line-up of speakers and bands.

“We’re delighted to have Jeremy Corbyn speaking in Liverpool. The city’s such an important bastion of resistance to right-wing political energies and ideology. Liverpool obviously has a fantastic musical and cultural history, and people there have stood up against the right over the last 50 years — not just opposing Tory regimes but defending their city steadfastly from far-right agitation. We’re proud to launch our regional programme of live music events there.”

Resistance Street began on Facebook, a group to connect socialist music fans around the world. Incredible things came from it: in the US, member Dan Gniewecki is helping unionise Starbucks branches, while alliances of Clash fans forged through the group have also worked to support Mexican members bringing unions into workplaces there.

The founding of the group had a very particular initial trigger point: Boris Johnson’s claim that the Clash were one of his favourite bands. To genuine fans, this was stomach-churning; to Banks and David, a total an insult to the Clash’s legacy.

After all, frontman Joe Strummer had nailed the band’s colours to the mast in his first-ever NME interview: “We’re anti-fascist, we’re anti-racist and we’re pro-creative. We’re against ignorance.”

This informal manifesto remains diametrically opposed to anything Johnson, whose government has gleefully facilitated a return to the open, flag-festooned racism of the 1970s, could be said to stand for.

Something had to be done. As Banks put it: “When The Clash, Steel Pulse and others took to the Rock against Racism stage in 1978, it was a really important moment, which touched the hearts and minds of a generation. Today, with the legitimisation of racism and ever more authoritarian government policies and Bills, the situation is even more serious. Radical culture has to make a stand again.”

Back in the day, anti-fascist musicians did more than sing about it. One iconic photo from the time shows members of Steel Pulse, the Pistols and the Clash outside the home of NF leader Martin Webster’s house, with placards reading “sounds for integration” and “black and white unite.”

Just as the heroes of Cable Street in 1936, the 43 Group after World War II and the 62 Group in the ’60s all had their fascists to deal with, in the ’70s a new generation understood that the murderous bootboys of the National Front must be challenged: the “punky reggae party” of musicians and fans was ready to take them on.

In 1977 black and white activists came together to confront the NF in south-east London, at what would later be dubbed the Battle of Lewisham.

Its commemorative mural, unveiled 40 years later, incorporates bold swipes of colour — punk pink as well as the green and yellow of the Jamaican flag — to highlight the role played by anti-fascist music fans.

In 1979, members of the police Territorial Support Group attacked anti-fascists in Southall who were protesting at a National Front meeting. New Zealand teacher Blair Peach was killed — 14 witnesses saw Peach, a member of the Anti Nazi League, being struck over the head by an officer, but no-one has ever been charged.

What’s less well known is that Clarence Baker, manager of Misty in Roots, almost died too. Baker was beaten into a coma by police; no medical aid was given to him. Instead, his unconscious body was left on the steps of a police training centre. Local band the Ruts, who worked with Misty, recorded Jah War about that terrible day; Linton Kwesi Johnson wrote Reggae Fi Blair Peach.

Thanks to a friend who found him and his own strength, Baker survived — but when he awoke from his coma, Margaret Thatcher was prime minister. Thatcher had fuelled racism the year before, with her notorious comment about people fearing being “swamped by people with a different culture.”

In 2021, 43 years on, Banks and David began producing a 90-minute documentary film, On Resistance Street, with Montaj Media Village.

Filmed in London, Belfast and New York, it’s a powerful, evocative story of our times and contemporary “culture wars,” featuring famous rock and roll faces, artists, writers and academics.

Co-producer Mark Vennis, who has produced acclaimed films about the Slits and Don Letts, is looking forward to filming in Liverpool: “With its solid history of resistance, we know Liverpool will give us another powerful section for the film.”

I’m proud to be speaking in Liverpool, alongside luminaries like Corbyn, John McDonnell, Anna Rothery, Jo Bird, the FBU’s Matt Wrack, Howard Beckett and Chantelle Lunt of Black Lives Matter.

The Resistance Street London gig last year was one of the friendliest, most enjoyable events I’d spoken at in a while — and both David, a charismatic, articulate life-long activist and writer and Banks — know the gigs act as vital candles against the darkness: “People need events and gatherings like this, where music and politics combine, for solidarity and inspiration in these deeply worrying times,” says Banks.

“On top of all that we now have a war, with grave possible consequences for the whole world. It’s our privilege to provide this timely platform for people to come together in Liverpool.

“The discourse on the Ukrainian war has been appalling with the Western media seemingly intent on amplifying the insane appetite for military escalation from out political leaders. It’s beyond belief that in this era we are not seeing the maximum efforts from Western governments to negotiate a peace at the earliest possible moment.”

The May Day event will launch a year of regional anti-fascist and anti-racist live music events, Banks continues: “It will act as a blueprint for future events in Glasgow, Manchester, Brighton, the Midlands and London.”

Andy Walsh of the national Football Supporters Association will also speak, as will Liverpool-based Rick Blackman, author of the critically acclaimed Babylon’s Burning.

Top Liverpool bands, musicians and DJs will play through to midnight — join us for this very special May Day.

Liverpool Resistance Street event ticket line: 07751 837 704.

Louise Raw is the organiser of the Matchwomen’s Festival, this year in Bow, London on July 9 — visit www.mstar.link/Match22 for tickets.

 

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