T
he last day of April 1978 will be a day long remembered - thanks to Rubika Shah’s exhilarating new documentary,
White Riot.
That day, 100,000 people marched from Trafalgar Square to Victoria Park in London, where The Clash, X-Ray Spex, The Tom Robinson Band and others performed at a concert. Behind it was Rock Against Racism, forged two years earlier in response to British nationalist party, the National Front.
RIOT SQUAD Rock Against Racism brought young people together against a wave of far-right racism.
Shah began researching White Riot five years ago after finishing her short doc Let’s Dance: Bowie Down Under. Sifting through archives, she came across footage of The Clash’s Victoria Park performance, including the band’s seminal track, ‘White Riot’. “The more I started digging, the more interesting I thought this story was, and I couldn’t believe no-one had told the story of Rock Against Racism.”