Director Rubika Shah's energising film charts a vital protest movement. Rock Against Racism 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 archive footage to portray the hostile environment of anti-immigrant hysteria and National Front marches.
As neo-Nazis recruited the nation's youth, Rock Against Racism'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 fanzine roots to 1978's huge antifascist carnival in Victoria Park, where the sounds of the 70s coupled with rock star charisma brought gale-force conviction in taking Rock Against Racism's message to the masses.
A relevant history lesson for our times.
- Words by
- Joe Harris