This month’s Over The Edge Open Reading in the Galway City Library on Thursday, October 31 is a non-fiction and poetry Brexit special, featuring the poet Martin Hayes, the political columnist Eoin Ó Murchú, and Jerry Fitzpatrick, a leading light in the iconic Rock Against Racism movement.
Fitzpatrick was born in Britain to Irish parents and now lives in Cavan where he is married to poet and fiction writer Kate Ennals. In the 1970s Jerry was national secretary of the Anti-Nazi League and carnivals organiser for Rock Against Racism. As Beating Time magazine said: "Jerry could organise everything from a riot to refreshments for 100,000."
At Over the Edge, Jerry will read a piece he has written about his work with Rock Against Racism and, ahead of his Galway visit, he talked with me about those turbulent, exciting, days and what lessons they might hold for countering the resurgent racism in today's society.
Born in 1949, Jerry grew up in Sheffield where his Monaghan father was a trade unionist, a republican, and staunch supporter of the British Labour Party. His own political activity began in 1968 with the London branch of Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, alongside a young Eamonn McCann. He then went into the trade union movement and was employed by British Actors Equity where he met and worked with Margaretta D’Arcy and John Arden on campaigns for Irish prisoners’ rights.
He recalls the political atmosphere of the time: “There was a rise of racist organisations and sentiment in the 1970s. In August 1976 Eric Clapton gave a ‘wogs out’ speech in the middle of a concert in Birmingham and that sparked the formation of Rock Against Racism which was geared toward engaging bands to take a stand against racism.
'Lewisham was a turning point because after that the National Front never had another major provocative demonstration'
"In the 1977 Greater London Council election, the National Front got 119,000 votes - 110,000 more than they had secured just four years earlier. That was a wake-up call; and not only were they getting electoral support they were undertaking provocative racist marches through communities that had significant black populations, like Brixton and Lewisham. There were also a number of serious racist attacks by NF activists on the streets.”
The National Front’s growing strength galvanised left wing opposition culminating in the ‘Battle of Lewisham’ in August 1977, in which more than 100 people were injured, including 56 police officers. There were 214 arrests. It also saw the police use riot shields for the first time outside Northern Ireland.
"We mobilised that march to prevent a National Front parade through black areas,” Jerry notes. “That was a very powerful moment because the demonstration by the NF was effectively stopped and broken up. Yes, to be candid, it was sharp and furious but it was important because the black community had felt defenceless and they were now being joined by activists from political parties and the trade union movement to make a stand. It was equivalent to the 1936 Battle of Cable Street, in the East End, when Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists was stopped from marching. Lewisham was a turning point because after that the National Front never had another major provocative demonstration.”
'The Clash were instinctively anti-racist but their idea of translating that into action and appearing for free on a major outdoor stage was a crossover which took some time for them to process'
In the aftermath of Lewisham the Anti Nazi League, with Jerry as its National Secretary, was founded and it was quickly working hand in glove with Rock Against Racism. “It was a twin track approach,” he explains. “One was to build an anti-racism message through music, particularly rock and punk music, and at the same time under the banner of the Anti Nazi League, to take the message to the streets and confront NF demonstrations. Equally important as the street encounters of that era was the fact that Rock Against Racism flowered from a group of activists meeting in a back room to a mass movement where we were able to put on Carnivals against the Nazis, the biggest ones being in Victoria Park in April, 1978, and Brockwell Park, in Brixton, that September.
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“It galvanized reggae bands and punk bands but the main mover who really shifted the dial was The Clash,” Jerry says of the Carnival. “The Clash coming on board was absolutely critical because it moved the dial from us expecting to mobilise 10,000 to getting 80,000 people at Victoria Park. That massive turnout made it suddenly become cool to be anti-racist and anti-Nazi. Rock Against Racism, combined with the Anti Nazi League, were pivotal in arresting the growth of youth joining fascistic parties and also pulling in the mainstream of youth culture at the time. The Clash were the pinnacle of that. They were the real representation of that transformative mood amongst youth. It was very exciting, dynamic and vibrant.”
As one of the main organisers of the Carnivals, Jerry describes his input: “I was the person who had to book Victoria Park and work with others to book the bands. That required a bit of persuasion. The Clash members were instinctively anti-racist but their idea of translating that into action and appearing for free on a major outdoor stage was a crossover which took some time for them to process.
"Mick Jones was the key in the Clash and Joe Strummer was influential. Because of my background working with Equity, I knew the connections and how the connections needed to be translated from sentiment into action. That was my role and I tried to acquit it. Obviously there were hundreds of other people involved in organising as well.”
'The Brexit dreferendum pointed to mass disillusionment with the establishment. The far right latched onto it and they have an audience. Boris Johnson exploits that also'
Recent years have seen a resurgence of racist and anti-immigrant sentiment in Britain, and Jerry concludes with his perspective on this toxic trend: “In the seventies and eighties there was Enoch Powell and the National Front and they were eclipsed. That is not to say that racism and was eradicated, of course it wasn’t, but the mass movement attempt to build an anti immigrant far right was knocked back.
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"There is absolutely no doubt that in the current period you’ve got, again, a rise of anti-immigrant feeling that was behind the growth of UKIP and Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party and the far right British National Party and Tommy Robinson and other groups that use social media quite effectively. They are still not at the scale of the National Front but they have a turnout at demonstrations. It is a febrile atmosphere and the Brexit decision in the referendum pointed to that mass disillusionment with the establishment and the far right latched onto it and they have an audience. Boris Johnson exploits that also. We are at a critical crossroads but I wouldn’t want to exaggerate it – it is not as strong as Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party in France or the League in Italy. We do need to be very alert that we don’t get a resurrection of a violent, fascistic current.”
The Over The Edge: Open Reading in the Galway City Library is on Thursday October 31 from 6.30pm to 8.00pm. It will include an open-mic after the main readings, and new readers are welcome. The winners of the 2019 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition will also be announced. Admission is free.
