This Friday at 8.00pm (BST), we’ll be joining Spiritland and Everyman Cinemas for a special preview event of WHITE RIOT + panel discussion hosted by author Daniel Rachel with Rubika Shah (director), Bengi Unsal (lead programmer for Meltdown Festival) plus performances from Gary Powell (The Libertines), DJ and journalist; Bill Brewster & UK reggae artist and former member of The Slits; Hollie Cook.

Rubika Shah’s energising film charts a vital London protest movement. Rock Against Racism (RAR) 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 queasy archive footage to recreate a hostile environment of anti-immigrant hysteria and National Front marches.

As neo-Nazis recruited the nation’s youth, RAR’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 Hoxton fanzine roots to 1978’s huge antifascist carnival in Victoria Park, featuring X-Ray Spex, Steel Pulse and of course The Clash, whose rock star charisma and gale-force conviction took RAR’s message to the masses.

From now until  21 June you can watch WHITE RIOT on Modern Films’ virtual cinema platform* – click below to watch ahead of Friday’s event. (*Closed captioning available.)

Then tune into the Birds’ Eye View Facebook Channel on Friday for the panel discussion – if you’d like to ask Rubika or a member of the panel a question, post a comment below the broadcast post (click here for the link).
Live captioning will also be available for the talk too, follow the instructions on the video link to access.