30th April 1978: Rocking Against Racism in Victoria Park,East London. Still relevant

30th April 1978: Rocking Against Racism in Victoria Park East London. Still relevant

46 years ago this week a march made its (lengthy way) from Trafalgar Square via Bethnal Green Rd to Victoria Park in East London to protest against racism and fascism and in particular the National Front.

It probably wouldn’t be the route you’d take today designed as it was to confront the (considerable) support for the Front in Tower Hamlets and Hackney with a mass show of anti-racist strength. Of course there are still racists in East London but not so many currently.

In those days my preferred footwear were Doc Martens and leaving the house you’d always be on the look-out for a Fronter coming the other way. Eventually I moved to a (then) obscure part of Tottenham to feel safer but even now there is a bullet hole in the (fortunately double glazed) front window to mark where a passing fascist took a pot shot.

The Victoria Park Carnival marked what Victor Serge might have called the ‘birth of our power’. We didn’t expect 100,000 and while the Front had been physically confronted at Wood Green and Lewisham the year before in 1978 mass mobilisation proved an effective way to marginalise them.

Building the Carnival required a lot of work on the ground. No social media or mobiles then. It required mass flyposting and leafleting often in areas where the Front had support.

The paper mache heads of fascist leaders Tyndall and Webster that accompanied the march were designed by Fluck and Law (of Spitting Image). The posters were by the late David King.

Thousands of people (myself included) marched six miles from Trafalgar Square to Victoria Park where yet more thousands had gathered to hear X Ray Spex, Steel Pulse, Tom Robinson and the Clash.

It’s part of history now, but also part of our present as the fight against racism and fascism continues, as does the celebration of our music and our culture-the kind the Tories & unfortunately many currently at the top of the Labour Party have never heard of.