The Specials To Perform At Hastings 'Rock Against Racism' Tour

The Specials will headline a special concert to launch a Rock Against Racism exhibition in Hastings on Saturday, August 27.

Fun Boy Three singer Neville Staple will join them, as well as Dub Pistols and local all-girl punk group Hot Wax.

The Rock Against Racism Exhibition, co-curated by original RAR graphic designer Ruth Gregory will feature a selection of photographs, memorabilia, posters and magazines. 

The St Leonard’s resident said she was delighted at being able to launch the exhibition with such a stellar line-up:

“We are thrilled that Neville is still supporting the RAR movement," she said, “and very honoured that he will be headlining the launch.”

“At a time when refugees and migrants are again under attack, racism and sexism are surfacing in various ugly forms across the world, it is no surprise that we wish to re-ignite the legacy of Rock Against Racism (RAR) 1976-82, when musicians and fans armed only with imagination, courage and tenacity, gave birth to a movement which inspired a generation.”

Event background, by Ruth Gregory:

Rock Against Racism (RAR) emerged in reaction to an alarming rise in racist attacks and murders on the streets, and support for the neo-Nazi National Front at the ballot box. Mainstays of the UK pop scene such as Eric Clapton and David Bowie – white musicians capitalising on black music – made statements that further inflamed racial tension.

A letter to the music press, written by Pete Bruno, Red Saunders and Jo Wreford was signed by a group of fans, voicing their horror at such hypocrisy and quickly gained widespread support. The first RAR gig took place in 1976, with black and white musicians performing together, and soon people were organising their own local RAR gigs and clubs throughout the country.

On Sunday 30 April 1978, 100,000 people gathered in Trafalgar Square, and danced their way through the East End to Victoria Park in Hackney for the first joint RAR/Anti Nazi League Carnival. Musicians and fans, armed only with imagination, courage and tenacity, gave birth to a movement which inspired a generation.

It is hard to imagine now, but mixing up reggae and punk bands and the fans of both genres was a radical idea in 1976. Until RAR formed it was almost unheard of for black and white musicians to share a stage let alone form bands together.

Jerry Dammers from the Specials has said that RAR helped to inspire Two-Tone. Black artists, some of whom were the children of the ‘Windrush Generation,' were routinely undervalued by the major labels. Just as women taking up instruments and forming groups was almost unheard of until Punk and Rock Against Sexism.

The exhibition, and the events around it, emphasise that RAR was a cultural/political movement with a do-it-yourself punk ethos and a celebration of our multi-toned nation, which gripped the imagination of young people across the country, inspiring them to form bands, organise gigs, set up RAR groups, design their own printed material and express their opposition to racism and fascism in myriad creative ways.

Fabulous posters, photographs, copies of the legendary RAR-zine, Temporary Hoarding, justly famed for its provocative articles, memorable photos and groundbreaking design, joined the dots between radical politics and culture; letters from supporters; leaflets,  badges, stickers and other artefacts will be on display in the Crypt at St Mary's in the Castle.

RAR is a living story of past, present and future - we highlight how young people today are using culture – music, spoken word, new media – to express personal and political resistance to the forces of repression, and to consider the long-term legacy of RAR. SCSQ will continue to collect filmed interviews with people who were involved or inspired by RAR.

The event will run from 6.30pm until 11pm at St Mary's in the Castle, 7 Pelham Crescent, TN34 3AF, with exhibition continuing until October 17.