Keep racism out of music

Letter : Keep racism out of music
The Guardian
September 27, 2008

As anti-fascist musicians and campaigners, we were horrified to read (Report, September 25) of a gathering in Somerset last weekend in memory of Skrewdriver’s Ian [Stuart] Donaldson. Donaldson described himself as a neo-Nazi and Skrewdriver, which raised funds for both the National Front and British National Party, were instrumental in setting up Blood and Honour, a network of bands promoting Nazi ideology through music. The footage of the weekend’s rally on the BBC website clearly shows Nazi flags and members of the audience sieg heiling.

Despite the demise of Blood And Honour [sic — B&H actually organised the gig], the use of music by fascists to spread their ideas is not a thing of the past, with the BNP’s Great White record label being used to produce music targeted at young people. “It’s a great way of getting our message to children,” BNP leader Nick Griffin [performing live on stage in December in Australia] was quoted as saying in a TV documentary about the label shown last year, “because they will listen to songs again and again and pick the words up straight away, whereas maybe one in 100 would bother to listen to a speech.”

We believe racism has no place in music. LMHR has organised over 600 gigs, including our carnival in London’s Victoria Park and an LMHR show, headlined by the Kaiser Chiefs, in Rotherham, where two BNP councillors were elected in May. Our shows stand for unity and a celebration of our multiracial society. Rallies like the one that took place last weekend stand for the ugly politics of racial violence and have no place in Britain.

~ Jerry Dammers (The Specials/2-Tone Records), Roll Deep, Billy Bragg, Jon McLure (Reverend & The Makers), Dirty Pretty Things, Sam Duckworth, Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly, Late Of The Pier, Akala, Drew McConnell (Babyshambles)

If you have a racist friend
Now is the time, now is the time for your friendship to end

GOODBYE

Note that, partly in response to the political pressures placed upon fascist bands in the UK and elsewhere, some minor transformations have taken place in the last few years. On the one hand, B&H continues its propaganda efforts: if much reduced in the UK, it flourishes in fascist hotbeds in Europe. On the other hand, in due recognition of the problems inherent in being a neo-Nazi, a plucker of strings and a thumper of tubs, others have decided to attempt to mainstream their image and their message — in much the same manner as the BNP has. Thus the neo-Nazi ‘English Rose’ is now gigging as ‘Tattooed Motherfuckers’; former members of ‘White Lightning’ (Australia) now perform as ‘T.H.U.G.’; the German label ‘Rock-O-Rama’ has re-established itself as ‘Pure Impact’; Perth band ‘The Quick & the Dead’ (which features Murray Holmes, briefly a member of Skrewdriver) has re-emerged (after a 20 year absence), and Murray himself invited on stage to perform with The Homicides. (The Homicides are also planning a split with T.H.U.G..) Beyond this, while Pure Impact distributes both neo-Nazi muzak and more general musical genres, RAC muzak is available locally through Deadset Music (Melbourne) and Snapshot Records (Sydney). A similar process is at work in heavy metal as in punk and oi!; numerous individuals, formerly sieg heiling twats, are downplaying their (former?) political commitments, and are keen to appear merely reactionary, at worst, or ‘apolitical’, at best.

It’s the same old song…