Rock Against Racism - Definition and Overview

Rock Against Racism was a music festival event organized in 1976 by the Anti-Nazi League to fight the growing wave of racist attacks in the UK (possibly associated with the National Front and rhetoric of Enoch Powell), and encouraged by musicians David Bowie and Eric Clapton. Over 100,000 people marched six miles from Trafalgar Square to the East End of London (a National Front "hotspot") for an open-air gig featuring The Clash (as seen in the film Rude Boy), The Buzzcocks, Steel Pulse, X-Ray Spex and The Tom Robinson Band. It has recently been reborn as Love Music Hate Racism with a gig at The Astoria in London, featuring Mick Jones, The Buzzcocks, and The Libertines. Other current acts involved are Miss Dynamite and The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster.