Role of honour

The history that black and Asian service people in the British armed forces is a long and rich one, as Joy Persaud reports

Corporal Bharminder Singh Osahan, 27, grew up in Kenya. A member of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), he has been attached to 4 Regiment in the Army Air Corps for the past eight years. He believes that a British serviceperson is a symbol of the nation’s and its people’s sovereignty.

"I am very proud to be in the REME, and above all the armed forces," he says. "In my unit, each individual has a role regardless of their ethnic origin, but there is a variety of backgrounds from all parts of the world – Indian, Zimbabwean and South African."

The notion that his race or religion could be an issue in the forces is one that Corporal Osahan finds hard to comprehend. "I find it a complete misunderstanding," he says. "People may have encountered personality clashes or arguments with their peers, and this may have been flaunted as a racism case. On the contrary there may be some cases of racism, but I haven’t heard of any while I’ve been serving."

He maintains that there are no conflicts between his religion – Sikhism – and his job, and has found that while some people are curious about his beliefs in a politely inquisitive manner, others don’t seem to notice.

"I personally choose not to wear a kirpan (ceremonial sword), as I have not been baptised yet. However I do wear a turban all the time. I wear a patka, which is a smaller turban when at work, or when I need to wear a helmet, as this doesn’t compromise my safety.

"People may have different approaches and be slightly aware of the difference in me, not knowing how to converse, what to expect, but after the initial barrier is broken, life’s plain sailing."

Such positive talk would likely be music to the ears of those at the Ministry of Defence, which has admitted that it is falling short of its recruitment targets among ethnic minorities.

The percentage of UK forces from ethnic minority backgrounds has risen only slightly recently; as of 1 January 2008, ethnic minorities accounted for 6% of the armed forces compared with 5.8 % at the same point last year.

The MoD stresses that it regards education and awareness of diversity and equality issues as a high priority. It says that annual equality and diversity training, at a level appropriate to rank and responsibility, is mandatory for all members of the armed forces. In addition, the Joint Equality and Diversity Training Centre at Shrivenham delivers a five-day course to unit equality and diversity advisers and a one-day seminar, which is mandatory for senior officers.

The MoD says that is has made ‘great strides’ in improving its record in equal opportunities. It’s hard to argue. After all, it’s within living memory that non-whites couldn’t join the army. They were categorised as ‘aliens’ and fears abounded that they would be ‘too conspicuous on the battlefield’. While such notions were, incredibly, held by 20th century minds, they would shock all but a minority today, which is testament to how attitudes have evolved.

Yet there has never been a shortage of black and Asian people volunteering to fight. During World War I, two out of every 10 service people were volunteers from the Indian Subcontinent, the Caribbean and Africa. In World War II, the figure rose to three out of 10 – this included nearly three million people from the Indian Subcontinent – the largest volunteer army in history.

In fact, more World War I soldiers came from India than from Scotland, Ireland and Wales put together. This commitment has been acknowledged of late. In 2002, the Queen opened the Memorial Gates across Constitution Hill at Hyde Park Corner in London to honour the millions from the Caribbean, Indian subcontinent and Africa who contributed so significantly in World Wars I and II. Without their sacrifices, the world may have been very different today.

As well as the Gates, regional war museums and education services have held exhibitions and published literature that tells the stories of those who eagerly left their sunny homelands and families to fight for Britain, many never to return. And there were, of course, the many service personnel from minority ethnic backgrounds, born within the British Isles.

The Ministry of Defence’s website includes a section entitled ‘We Were There’. It details the personal commitment and professionalism of Britain’s minority ethnic service men and women, aiming to promote understanding by showing how those from all over the world fought alongside British forces. It acknowledges that while it is a positive story, "it should be remembered that over many years some of those who served did experience racial prejudice. Despite this they continued to offer their services to help Britain."

Some accounts of bravery and service have inevitably been lost for good, but others are still celebrated. For example, the story of the first black officer of the British Army – Lieutenant Walter Tull – was unheard until relatively recently.

Tull’s father was the son of slave who arrived in England from Barbados in 1876, marrying a local girl. When his mother died, Walter was just seven, and he and one brother were sent to an orphanage when their father’s new wife couldn’t cope with the large family. Tull went on to be one of Britain’s first black professional footballers. He played for both Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton Town. When the World War I was declared, Tull, like many players, joined the Football Battalion.

He was promoted quickly to Sergeant, and in 1916, he fought in the major Somme offensive. Although he developed trench fever and had to return to England, Tull had so impressed his senior officers that they sent him to Scotland for further training and, despite rules stating that no "negro or person of colour" could exercise "actual command" as officers, he was commissioned in 1917.

The 29-year-old and his men returned to France but, on 25 March 1918, in no-man’s land near Favreuil, a German bullet hit Tull in the head. His body was never recovered, despite the efforts of several of his men, who risked heavy machine gun fire to retrieve him.

Another life that is celebrated is that of Subadar Khudadad Khan. He was the first Indian to receive the Victoria Cross. Khan was a 26-year-old Sepoy in the 129th Duke of Connaught’s Own Baluchis, British Indian Army, during World War I. On 31 October 1914 at the front line in France, Khan was in charge of one of two machine guns. The British officer in charge was wounded and the other gun was put out of action by a shell, but Sepoy Khan, although badly hurt, continued to operate his gun after the other five men of the detachment had been killed. Eventually, he was left for dead, but was able to crawl back to his unit. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery in helping to prevent the German Army reach crucial ports.

Such accounts can be found, if you look, but they can’t negate the bad press that surrounds the treatment of some servicemen and women. At the time of writing, the struggle of the Gurkhas is in the headlines (See News, page 57). Many have handed back hard-won medals and honours to the Government to highlight the fact that pension allowances are less than those of British-born soldiers, as well as that veterans can’t stay in the country for which they helped to secure freedom.

The plight of the Gurkha veterans, who have been awarded an unparalleled 26 Victoria Crosses, has touched many who were previously unaware of the disparity in the way these soldiers are being treated. But while members of the public at least instantly recognise Britain’s strong connections with the Gurkhas – past and present – the same cannot always be said for Indian, African and Caribbean forces.

Hav Major Rajindar Singh Dhatt, 85, (pictured, right) who holds a Burma Star, is a member of the Undivided Indian Ex-Services Association. He says that until recently television coverage never mentioned the Indian Army – instead they would talk about America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. "They ignored us. So, we decided to fight for our recognition and acknowledgement. In 2002, when the memorial was built, it was the best day of all of our lives. What we were struggling for we achieved. We were happy to get that in our lifetime."

While Major Dhatt acknowledges that British officers have "done a lot to help us get these Memorial Gates", he laughs gently as he recalls the differences between the way the Indians and the white British were treated. He doesn’t complain, he simply recounts the disparities in a factual manner. "We played hockey, football, volleyball and basketball and when we mixed with them, we were just like them. But there were differences between our uniforms, living standards and living quarters. We were living in mud-baked huts, and they were in very nice pukka barracks, they had ceiling fans and we had windows – the wind coming through was meant to be enough for us. "Rations were not bad but it was inferior to what the British were getting. So, sometimes we did feel the differences, but at that time they were ruling us."

He also acknowledges that the British officers were "happy if you did mix with them and they were trained in how to behave and about the religions and languages. They were prepared and were trained to do the right thing when they went to India."

Another ex-serviceman is West Indian AC1 Airman First Class RAF, Arthur Leigh, who joined up from Jamaica. He says that things have changed enormously since his days in the forces. The 85-year-old member of the West Indian Ex-Servicemen’s/Ex-Servicewomen’s Association UK (Wiesa) says he doesn’t see the point of dwelling on the negative experiences that some may have had more than 60 years ago.

"There were good times and bad – but we came through. I’ve listened to men giving their version of what happened to them during the war, in the Army, Navy and RAF, and they tend to highlight the negatives of the past. In those days you were put into a flight squadron and told to get on with the job.

"I have no regrets – that’s why I am here in England. If I had any regrets, I wouldn’t be here. I don’t agree with those who have come back and are living here comfortably and are griping about the experiences they had in 1945."

Unsurprisingly, Leigh says he would encourage young people to go into the services, saying that they would gain "discipline and straightening out", adding that the forces offer opportunities in various fields.

Major Dhatt echoes this. He and members of his association visit schools and Sikh temples to tell young people about the war. He describes them as being "very attentive" and curious about their treatment and daily lives.

"When we are interviewed or asked, we always say to the young boys that this is their country, they have to live here and where they live, they have to defend that country. You should join the Army or police. We say they should not just become doctors, lawyers or engineers – don’t miss out the armed forces.

"Some people say there is too much discipline in the Army or discrimination – but we tell them that all these things you have to face. Keep high-spirited and you can be successful.

"We used to go and see [lots of people] but now some of us are housebound and we can’t afford transport. We would like to carry on this duty so that if someone calls us, we can tell them about this country and encourage young people to join the Army."

Corporal Osahan agrees. "I would encourage strongly anyone who wishes to experience a lifestyle out of the ordinary, which is testing day to day, to join the forces," he says.

"If I did ever encounter racism, then the immediate point of contact is my chain of command. If that fails there is an equal opportunities officer I could report to. I am confident that if any such incidents occurred then they would be dealt with appropriately."

But maybe the fact that there needs to be training programmes and specific recruitment drives to attract black and Asian people indicates that this is still an area of concern. Perhaps in the future all service men and women will be able to echo veteran Arthur Leigh, who says: "Of course there were problems but there is absolutely no point in me repeating them. They were the problems of the day and they were resolved."

And perhaps those who remain ignorant will realise that the major conflicts of the last century were – in every sense – world wars and will happily acknowledge the sacrifices made by the millions who came running from distant lands when the mother country called.

Legion Magazine

Tories hit back at BNP village campaign

Conservative politicians in Orsett have responded to the election efforts of BNP to associate itself with village traditions.

BNP candidate Derek Beackon caused a furore last week when he posted a newsletter through village letterboxes which featured a picture of himself outside the Whitmore Arms pub and restaurant, an award-winning village landmark.

Landlady Margaret Orman was outraged and slammed the BNP, with Mr Beackon then issuing a veiled apology. He said: "said: "It's just a local landmark that everyone knows. You can have your photo taken anywhere. However, looking back on it I'm not surprised she is upset. Its her livelihood and I can understand that she doesn't want to be associated with us. We were not trying to say she or the pub is associated with the BNP."

However, local Conservatives, including election rival and sitting councillor Diane Revell said the BNP have no place in the village.

Councillor Revell said: "Members of my family fought in two world wars to prevent the spread of this type of party. Some of them died. Fascist parties have no part to play in local elections here in Orsett. There are national concerns on immigration but locally the clearest problems we have are with anti-social behaviour and above all the threats posed by the infra-structural changes about to be imposed on us by the government's Thames Gateway Development Corporation. Clearly their candidate has no idea of what village life is about and has nothing to offer. Leave us to sort out our own problems within the community."

Her husband and fellow councillor Mike Revell said: "Thurrock is twinned thorough its children to a Polish town of Plocke. It is the size of Thurrock. In a period of just two years in the 1940s, 1.5 million people were sent from the ghetto in this town to the gas chambers. Within the centre of the town is left the empty area that once was the walled ghetto. It is still a chillingly cold place in which to stand. It happened because, earlier in the 1930s, nice respectable Germans made their protest votes for a xenophobic, ultra nationalist party, the Nazis."

Those comments were echoed by Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate Stephen Metcalfe who said: "Clearly people are concerned by excessive immigration. The Conservatives have proposed answers to this based on the Australian point system. But this is a national issue that will have to be addressed at government level. My experience of the few BNP councillors elected in Epping Forest tell us that they have nothing to offer and nothing to say on local issues within their local councils."

The Conservatives also took issue with content in the BNP promotional newsletter.

Councillor Mike Revell said: "Orsett Conservatives are united in the condemnation of the deliberate lie that is being spread by the BNP that "the conservatives are responsible for plans to site a travellers encampment in the village". This is completely untrue. The Council have been asked if they would increase the number of pitches in Thurrock. This has been rejected utterly by the Conservative administration. It is also clear that the BNP are unaware of the cooperation between the police and the local village forums when they speak of crime. Although there are still some problems to address there has been a noticeable improvement in most areas.

"When challenged the BNP spokesman said that all parties lie, but when asked to name one case of lying by the Thurrock Conservative Administration, he was unable to name one instance."

Thurrock Gazette

Exposing the BNP lies: part 99

What is it about the BNP, that they can never tell the truth? Reporting on the BNP's election efforts in Loughton, Essex, Martin Wingfield, editor of the BNP newspaper The Voice of Freedom writes: "Pat Richardson is defending her Loughton Broadway seat".

No she is not. She is standing in Loughton Broadway but has been a councillor for Loughton Fairmead for the past four years. She moved because she thinks she has a better chance in her husband's Broadway seat.

Wingfield continues in similar untruthful vein: "Alex Copland is standing in Loughton Fairmead and hoping to regain the seat formerly held by Pat's husband, Tom". No, Copland is filling the vacancy in the seat Pat Richardson abandoned.

Clearly, Richardson, Copland and Wingfield are banking on Loughton's BNP voters being too thick to notice.

Searchlight

Most pathetic NF demo EVER

Oh dear, it's the National Front

On Saturday the National Front held their annual St Georges day march in Eltham South East London. This ‘national mobilisation’ attracted a mere 22 nazis who were made to march on the pavement by the cops. The Police numbered around 100 (what a fantastic use of everyone’s taxes?) and shepherded the NF from one Eltham train station to another. The locals reacted to the spectacle with either indifference or amusement. Anyone who heckled the parade was surrounded by the bored cops who really did have nothing else to do as they outnumbered the boneheads they were babysitting by about 5-1.

“What are all these pigs here for, haven’t they got anything better to do?” enquires an elderly local man. I reply that our heroes in blue are here to ensure that nothing unfortunate happens to the NF on their St Georges day demonstration. “National Front? National c*nts more like!” he retorts before heading off to find something else to moan about.

You have to wonder why the NF bother these days? Once upon a time they were the biggest and most well known far-right party in Europe. Now the 22 losers assembling at Eltham station look more like they are on day release from a secure mental unit than a serious political party. You also have to wonder why St George is such an important annual event for them? One thing that most historians seem to agree on is that if St George did exist then he was almost certainly Turkish or Syrian, definitely not English. Perhaps somewhere in Damascus the smallest and most irrelevant grouping of Syrian nationalists is having a march in honour of King Alfred?

The demo itself is really sad. The chanting is so weak its barely audible and most of the demo is conducted in complete silence. I had never realized that Eltham was a hotbed of Irish Republican activity. At least that why I assume that they are yelling “No surrender to the IRA” down the high street? Either that or they have not read any papers or watched the news fore several years?

The rally at the end of the demo is equally devoid of any inspiration for the nationalist cause. First speaker is deranged bonehead Stuart Hollingdale [above, left] who spends most of his ‘speech’ pleading with the 17 remaining marchers to bring a mate to the next activity. Well that would double their numbers to an enormous 34. Stuart you may remember has a special affinity with Eltham. A few years ago he heroically attacked the Stephen Lawrence memorial with a hammer in the dead of night. This courageous piece of direct action was caught on camera so he then found himself in jail, housed on the protected wing with all the most unpopular prisoners. Like the paedophiles for example.

The next and final speaker is NF deputy chairman Bernard Franklin. He mutters away like old Steptoe for around five minutes displaying slightly less charisma that my pet tortoise when it’s hibernating. The fact that he looks like a tortoise that has been ripped from its shell doesn’t really help matters.

This whole thing would be comical had the Police not spent around 30 grand of our money to make it happen…

More pics from Guido over at Indymedia

BNP festival host now planning music event

Landowner Alan Warner has announced plans to hold a second festival on his Derbyshire fields this summer despite protests that the site is not suitable for large events.

Mr Warner has already vowed to hold the BNP's annual festival, Red, White and Blue, on his land in Codnor-Denby Lane, Denby, for a second year. A licensing application to sell alcohol and play music at the event has been lodged with Amber Valley Borough Council. Now, he wants to hold a music festival with overnight camping a month later in September.

Local residents have already sent letters of protest to the council about August's BNP event and said they would also oppose Mr Warner's latest plans.

John Lumsden, 65, who lives opposite Mr Warner's fields in Codnor Denby-Lane, said: "I have already written to the borough council about Red, White and Blue and I would do the same for this music festival. At last year's BNP event people were getting through hedges to bring alcohol in and out, which was against the conditions of their licence. People were also urinating in hedges rather than using the on-site toilets."

Joe Osborne, 69, of Breach Road, said noise from the site had carried on for two weeks after last year's Red, White and Blue. He said: "Last time, people were kept awake and a concert would surely be worse. I imagine I will be opposing both events."

Brian Bentley, 77, of Codnor-Denby Lane, said that, if Mr Warner carried on holding events on his fields, it would lower local house prices. He said: "The site is completely unsuitable. Imagine if you were buying a house and someone asked you whether this was where the BNP festival and a music festival were held. You would say 'yes' and they wouldn't be interested any more."

Mr Warner said the music festival would provide an alternative to the annual Rock and Blues Custom Show which, up until this year, was held at Pentrich. The event will now be held at Catton Hall, in Walton-on-Trent, near Burton, because of flooding concerns at the previous site.

Mr Warner said an application for a licence to play music on the site in September had not yet been sent to Amber Valley Borough Council and admitted the event could not go ahead unless this was successful.

He said: "There would be only one stage this year but more could be used in the future. It won't be that big to begin with because we will only be able to pay bands about £1,000 to perform. But we will make sure there's something for everyone - rock, indie, folk, all the genres."

A police spokeswoman said the force could not comment on Mr Warner's plans until he had applied to the borough council.

Derbyshire Evening Telegraph

Alleged jumping of housing queues by new arrivals is a myth, research reveals

· Most rent privately or are owner-occupiers
· No evidence of bias against British-born

There is no evidence that new migrants are jumping the queue for council and housing association homes to the detriment of any other group, including white families, according to new research.

The study, published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Local Government Association, found that more than 60% of new migrants to Britain in the last five years are living in private rented accommodation, with most newly arrived migrants banned from access to social housing.

The study, carried out by the Institute for Public Policy Research, follows claims by the culture minister, Margaret Hodge, and others last year that the housing system gives priority treatment to recently arrived migrant families over the entitlement that others felt they had to resources in the community. The interim findings of the research, based on a snapshot of council housing allocations and a poll of local authority housing managers, says there is no evidence to suggest that the present system of social housing demonstrates measurable bias against any group, including UK-born nationals.

The IPPR study shows that out of the 10.1 million council and housing association tenants in Britain, 9 million are UK-born and just over 1 million were born outside the country. It adds that only 183,300 - less than 2% - of tenants arrived in Britain in the last five years and most of the 1 million are long-settled migrants who have been here for years and may have become British citizens.

The analysis of housing for new migrants to the UK who have arrived over the last five years, including those from Poland and other east European countries, shows 60% living in private rented accommodation, 18% owner-occupiers and only 11% allocated to social housing.

Trevor Phillips, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said the findings were a broad indication that the system was working fairly for all groups. "What's clear is that there is a gap between supply and demand of social housing, of which the presence of immigrants is a relatively small element, but often a highly visible one."

Danny Sriskandarajah, of the IPPR, said there was no more emotive combination of issues in British life than immigration and housing: "As we near local elections, we risk being swamped by myths about queue-jumping foreigners. We have found no evidence of a systematic bias in favour of migrants. Where there is need, migrant families seem to be rightfully allocated social housing."

Hodge sparked a row with fellow politicians and refugee groups last May when she suggested in the Observer that newly arrived immigrants were being given priority for scarce social housing over British-born families.

She said the government "prioritised the needs of an individual migrant family over the entitlement that others feel they have to resources in the community".

The MP for Barking, in east London, continued: "We should look at policies where the legitimate sense of entitlement felt by the indigenous family overrides the legitimate need demonstrated by the new migrants." Her comments won the approval of the BNP, which said she deserved "a word of compliment ... for her efforts to raise the thorny issue of social housing for native Britons". Hodge said that her article had been misinterpreted, adding that she wanted refugees excluded from any housing restrictions.

Most new migrants in the past five years, particularly those from the eight east European countries which joined the EU in 2004, are not eligible for social housing unless they have been resident in the UK and in work for at least 12 months. Any application they make must meet the same criteria of need as UK-born applicants.

According to the latest figures for 170,263 lettings in the social housing sector in 2006-07 in England, where the nationality of the named tenant was collected, less than 5% went to foreign nationals and less than 1% went to new migrants from eastern Europe.

The picture is confirmed by the results of a poll of 66 housing managers across Britain, of whom 74% said they believed that migrants had "not very much" or "no" impact on increased demand for housing in the social rented sector, while 66% said they had increased pressure on private rented accommodation.

The study found that despite a lack of evidence to support allegations of queue-jumping, such claims were widely repeated and the perception remained.

The authors suggest one explanation may be that much of the private rented housing which is let to newly arrived migrants tends to be former council homes which have been sold off in hard-to-let blocks in run-down areas, and locals may assume it is still council accommodation.

Guardian

Kick out the BNP for good, says David Lammy

It's time for Britain to wake up. Have we really begun to imagine how we might feel on May 2 with BNP councillors in our towns and cities?

A poison in politics, spreading hatred and division. In the London elections, the BNP needs only five per cent of the vote to get a seat on the Assembly, eight per cent gets them two seats and 11 per cent means three.

The BNP threatens the progress this country has since I was growing up in the 1980s. Our proud history is of opposition to extremism.

In the 1960s my parents, like many others, came to Britain to rebuild homes, to drive trains and buses, or - like my mother - to staff the NHS. This year, as the health service turns 60, I lost my mother to cancer. What will become of her legacy of dedicated service to others, if bigots are elected? Are we really going to let the BNP have a say in our towns and cities today?

We are kicking extremism off our football terraces and out of our shops and factories. Let's kick it out of politics too.

Daily Mirror

Fascist party aims to con LibDem voters

Nobody ever accused Patrick Harrington of hiding his light under a bushel.

His towering self-regard and assessment of his own importance have long been a source of mirth to anti-fascists used to dealing with the inflated egos predominating on the extreme right.

Nobody does more to maintain his own Wiki page than Harrington (he prefers to be called "Pat"), the mystery being why he, Wiki, or anybody else should imagine the serial failure to be worth 2,571 words, and why Harrington thinks anybody could care enough about him and his obscure doings to read the self-penned personal bio he seems to paste at the drop of a hat in various places on the web.

As we've often noted, to read anything penned by Harrington is to step outside hard reality. His personal bio gives the impression of a man of political substance and achievement; his writings on the fake union Solidarity's website are of what you might charitably term the overblown variety; and over on the Third Way website we could be forgiven for believing that this fifth-rate National Front successor organisation, of which Harrington accounts himself a "Director", really is some vital think-tank throwing up ideas essential to the good of the nation.

The truth is rather more mundane.

"Success" and "Harrington" are words rarely found in close proximity. The "militant fighting union" Solidarity is largely reduced to issuing General Secretary Harrington's pompous and unremarked press statements and making appeals for funds (a telephone "hotline" - with answering machine - being the latest Must Have for the One Big Union and its 211 members).

And of the Third Way - what does one say about a "party" of 20 members that bores the Electoral Commission to tears with its windy account of its local election performances (successes = 0), admits to having only £88.17 in the kitty (2006), but which allegedly raised £1400 from membership subs (yet £15 x 20 = £300! - go figure), somehow managing to spend £560 of that on vague "internet services" (we thought Wordpress and the Masterplan theme - the very same as used by the BNP - were free).

Harrington is very much a man who rose without trace to lead organisations that campaign without trace.

The Third Way, of course, goes by the dishonest name of "National Liberal Party".

Many entirely honourable and respectable political parties use the word "Liberal" in their titles - most obviously, the Liberal Democrats and the rump Liberal Party. Quite why the Electoral Commission ever came to allow Harrington's "National Liberal Party" to contest elections under that name is a mystery, since the EC normally refuses to allow sound-alike parties to campaign when they believe a title has been adopted with the intention of confusing or misleading voters.

The name game may soon be up, however, for the "National Liberal Party".

On Stormfront Harrington uses the moniker "Doublethink", and - we believe - that of "Completely Blank". On the Green Bigot's forum the poster "Completely Blank" denies being Harrington, despite "Completely Blank" managing to sound in every way like Harrington, even down to the evasions and inflated claims regarding the bogus union Solidarity. At any rate, when Norfolk Unity insisted that Harrington was "Completely Blank", the great man took the matter no further and contented himself with trying to force Blogger to remove a picture from their website.

Giving Harrington the benefit of considerable doubt, we'll say no more on the provenance of "Completely Blank", but go on to highlight a declaration recently made by that entity on the Nazi Stormfront website:

The National Liberal Party intends to contest ten marginal Lib Dem seats at the next general election. In some of these the Lib Dems have a majority of only some hundreds.

There was a National Liberal Party in the early part of the last century so the Third Way's claim to the title could be said to have some historic basis. There is a Liberal Party and a Liberal Democratic party so why not a revived National Liberal Party. After all, in Ulster there is an Ulster Unionist Party, a Democratic Unionist Party, a UK Unionist Party a Progressive Unionist Party and until recently a Northern Ireland Unionist Party. As the EC allows all these varieties of unionism I can see no reason to prevent a liberal nationalist party from using 'Liberal' in its title.

Ignoring the feeble attempt at self-justification as to why a fascist party lays claim to the title "Liberal", the first paragraph of Completely Blank's posting leaves no doubt whatsoever that the National Liberal Party intends to go into the next general election purposed on conning votes away from the Liberal Democrats by confusing itself with the mainstream party, and - they hope - losing the sitting Liberal Democrats their seats.

There can be, and is, no other reason for the NLP to target itself so specifically - only against Liberal Democrats, and only in marginals where a small number of votes will decide the sitting MPs' fates.

No other no-hope party, to the best of our knowledge, has ever gone into a general election fixed purely on unseating MPs by use of deceit and obsfucation.

In our opinion this amounts to a clear intention to mislead voters and to abuse the democratic process on the part of a nasty little organisation made up of no-hopers and fantasists closely connected with the BNP and complicit in the running of the racist party's bogus front groups.

It is also reason enough for the Electoral Commission to strip Third Way of the right to campaign under the spurious "National Liberal Party" title.

We have already alerted the Liberal Democrats to the underhand intentions of the squalid NLP, but visitors (of all political persuasions) to this website can help by complaining to the Electoral Commission, and by bringing this post to the attention of Liberal Democrat MPs and LibDem organisations.

Follow this link to the Electoral Commission's contact web-page, where complaints can be made to each national EC outpost in writing, by email, or by telephone.

Harrington and company may well have over-stepped the mark with their premature blustering. Let's ensure it comes back to haunt them.

Barking residents’ thumbs down to BNP St George’s day stunt

A very big disappointment for Richard Barnbrook (left), BNP mayoral candidate, this morning. After going to all the expense of hiring armour, horse and a green fluffy dragon suit, at 11.00am the man who hopes to get elected to the London Assembly on 1 May got on his horse (well pony) and led a parade – or rather a group that struggled to get into double figures – from the Broadway Theatre in Barking, down East Street and terminating at Barking Park.

It was all over in 30 minutes, no masses of adoring flag waving crowds, in fact nobody at all other than the eight police officers on bikes with their Inspector.

Dicky was not a happy bunny and was last seen heading for the Capt Cook to drown his sorrows.

We wonder whether he has to declare the costs of this farce on his election expenses.

Meanwhile, Searchlight decided to investigate the claim by Bob Bailey, number two on the BNP’s London Assembly list, that the BNP had secured 5,000 new council homes in Barking and Dagenham. The statement appears on the Barking and Dagenham councillor’s biography on the BNP’s London website.

We asked an Executive member of the council where these houses were and how the BNP had secured them. She told us: “They have been pushed and pushed at a number of Assembly meetings to identify this, finally at the meeting before last, Rustem and Bailey both admitted that they had lied”.

Lawrence Rustem, Bailey, Barnbrook and the other nine BNP councillors in Barking and Dagenham were elected on the lie of “Africans for Essex” – the fiction that huge numbers of “African” families were being given grants of £50,000, free televisions etc to move to Barking and Dagenham. It seems that they cannot stop lying.

Searchlight

DG adds:

Barnbrook and the BNP weren't the only far-right extremists to suffer disappointment this weekend.

On Saturday a long-trailed National Front march in Eltham attracted only 17 supporters, who were outnumbered by anti-fascist demonstrators. Police stopped the march after only ten minutes.

The tiny British Peoples' Party invited the demoralised NF marchers to a meeting it was holding elsewhere in London on the same day, but the BPP experienced troubles of its own in an altercation with anti-fascists.

According to anti-fascist blogger No Platform, the BPP came off worst, with self-proclaimed hard man Peter "Sid" Williamson fleeing the scene.

No surprises there, then.

The year rock found the power to unite

In 1978, race relations in Britain were in crisis. The National Front was gathering power and immigrants lived in fear of violence. But that year also saw the rise of a campaign aimed at halting the tide of hatred with music - a grassroots movement culminating in a march across London and an open-air concert in the East End. On the eve of a festival marking the 30th anniversary of that remarkable day, we remember the birth of Rock Against Racism

On 30 April 1978, a crowd gathered in Victoria Park in London's East End. They had come from all over the country - 42 coaches from Glasgow, 15 from Sheffield, an entire trainload from Manchester - marching across London from Trafalgar Square to attend a special all-day concert headlined by Tom Robinson and the Clash. The day had been organised by 'Rock Against Racism', a grassroots political movement that used music to campaign against the looming electoral threat of the National Front. To mark the anniversary of the concert, as well as to highlight the continuing struggle against racism, another all-day music concert is being staged next week.

Many of those who will gather in Victoria Park next Sunday to watch the Good, the Bad and the Queen, Hard-Fi, the View and the others on the bill were not even born 30 years ago. But for those who attended the original concert in 1978 it was a show that changed their lives and helped change Britain. Rock Against Racism radicalised a generation, it showed that music could do more than just entertain: it could make a difference. By demonstrating the power of music to effect change it inspired Live Aid and its supporters claim it helped destroy the National Front. It was the triumphant climax to a story that began two years earlier, following one hot August night in Birmingham.

It was 5 August 1976 and Eric Clapton was drunk, angry and on stage at the Birmingham Odeon. 'Enoch was right,' he told the audience, 'I think we should send them all back.' Britain was, he complained, in danger of becoming 'a black colony' and a vote for controversial Tory politician Enoch Powell whom he described as a prophet was needed to 'keep Britain white'. Although the irony was possibly lost on Clapton, the Odeon in Birmingham is on New Street, minutes from the Midland Hotel where eight years earlier Powell had made his infamous 'Rivers of Blood' speech. But if the coincidence was curious, the hypocrisy was breathtaking: Clapton's career was based on appropriating black music, and he had recently had a hit with Bob Marley's 'I Shot the Sheriff'.

In usual circumstances his comments would have been merely ill advised, but it was the social and political context which made Clapton's intervention so chilling. The National Front had won 40 per cent of the votes in the spring elections in Blackburn. One month earlier an Asian teenager, Gurdip Singh Chaggar, had been murdered by a gang of white youths in Southall. 'One down - a million to go' was the response to the killing from John Kingsley Read of the National Front. Sid Vicious and Siouxsie Sioux were sporting swastikas as fashion statements. David Bowie, who three months earlier had been photographed apparently giving a Nazi salute in Victoria Station, told Cameron Crowe in the September 1976 edition of Playboy '... yes I believe very strongly in fascism. The only way we can speed up the sort of liberalism that's hanging foul in the air... is a right-wing totally dictatorial tyranny...' In that same interview Bowie claimed that 'Adolf Hitler was one of the first rock stars.' This was Britain then in the sweltering summer of 1976, and in that context Clapton's comments were potentially incendiary.

Red Saunders was a rock photographer and political activist who had been inspired and radicalised by the events of 1968. When he heard Clapton's comments he felt compelled to register his opposition. 'I was outraged,' Saunders tells me. 'I was a fan of the blues and had seen Clapton playing in the Sixties at the Marquee Club, I couldn't believe he could now be saying what he was.' Saunders decided to pen a letter of protest to the music press. In the letter, published in the NME, Melody Maker, Sounds and the Socialist Worker, Saunders and other signatories including his friend Roger Huddle wrote: 'Come on Eric... Own up. Half your music is black. You're rock music's biggest colonist... We want to organise a rank and file movement against the racist poison music... we urge support for Rock against Racism. P.S. Who shot the Sheriff, Eric? It sure as hell wasn't you!' The letter urged those readers wanting to join Rock Against Racism to write to them. Within a fortnight there were more than 600 replies. Three months later, in November 1976, Rock Against Racism held its first ever gig, featuring Carol Grimes, in the Princess Alice pub in east London. 'We had friends who were dockers who had become anti-racist after the Powell speech,' Roger Huddle recalls, 'and they provided the security for the gig because the NF were really active in the area.'

When Paul Furness read the letter in the NME he was working as a medical records clerk at Leeds General Infirmary. 'Leeds was a dark, depressed city,' Furness told me, 'there was lots of youth unemployment, the Yorkshire Ripper was still loose - so when I read the letter in the NME it was like a breath of fresh air, it was what I had been waiting for.' Buoyed by the enthusiastic response, RAR (Rock Against Racism) began organising concerts which would feature multiracial line-ups sharing the bill. The concerts would end with reggae bands like Aswad and Steel Pulse playing with punk bands such as the Ruts, the Slits and Generation X. Misty in Roots, a Southall-based reggae group played more concerts than any other band for RAR. 'Music can help bring people together,' lead singer Poko tells me. 'When you saw a band like ours jamming with Tom Robinson or Elvis Costello it showed that if you love music we can all live together.'

In Leeds Paul Furness established a RAR club where, every Friday night for 18 months, bands would perform in the common room of Leeds Polytechnic. He tells me of the night he went to see a Tom Robinson concert with three female friends. 'After the gig I went up to him to try and persuade him to play at the RAR club,' he says 'and as I was talking Tom saw a bunch of guys wearing badges indicating they were gay. He told me he had to talk to them. "Some of us don't wear badges," I told him. He looked at me and said, "Are you gay?" and I said "Yes."' It was the first time that Furness had publicly acknowledged his sexuality. 'What did your three female friends think about you coming out to Tom Robinson?' I ask. 'I just remember them laughing,' he says 'Mind you, all three of them are now lesbians.'

By the following year RAR was publishing its own magazine, Temporary Hoarding. David Widgery's editorial in its first issue was the organisation's first manifesto. 'We want Rebel music, street music,' it declared, 'music that breaks down people's fear of one another. Crisis music. Now music. Music that knows who the real enemy is. Rock Against Racism. Love Music Hate Racism.' The magazine carried concert reviews as well as political advice for organisers. 'I remember that we would get a phone call,' says Saunders, 'and they would say I want to join my nearest RAR group, and we would say where do you live, and they would say Lowestoft, so we'd say: you are now the Lowestoft RAR group. And we would then send them a box of badges and instructions on how to make banners and that would be it.'

The appeal of Rock Against Racism for music fans was that it had recruited the biggest names in the emerging punk culture. By 1977 RAR could claim the support of most of the innovative bands of the time - Stiff Little Fingers, Sham 69, the Tom Robinson Band, Steel Pulse, Misty in Roots and the Clash. The Sex Pistols, although they were booked to play Wigan for RAR, never managed to make it on stage, but John Lydon was unequivocal in his opposition to the National Front, telling one interviewer: 'I despise them. No one should have the right to tell anyone they can't live here because of the colour of their skin or their religion... How could anyone vote for something so ridiculously inhumane?'

'Rock against Racism made it cool to be anti-racist,' says Professor John Street, who has written on the relationship between music and politics. 'Because we had all these bands backing us, we could say that the Nazis are against our music,' says Huddle, 'they want us only to listen to marching bands and Strauss.'

It was a message that resonated with Billy Bragg, then living in Barking and working as a bank messenger. 'I had seen the Clash on the first night of the White Riot tour,' he tells me, 'and I remember thinking that the fascists were against anybody who wanted to be different - once they had dealt with the immigrants then they would move onto the gays and then the punks; before I knew it the music I loved would be repatriated.'

Following success in the spring 1977 elections - where they pushed the Liberals into fourth place in nearly a quarter of constituencies - the NF were threatening to achieve an electoral breakthrough. The Anti-Nazi League - which had formed in 1977 - were keen to hold a joint demonstration with RAR in the spring of 1978 to encourage supporters to vote against the National Front in May's council elections. The Greater London Council - then Conservative-led - gave permission to use Victoria Park, which had been the rallying ground of London's Chartists in 1848. The date was set for Sunday 30 April and the plan was for a carnival in Trafalgar Square followed by an open-air concert in Victoria Park. In Beating Time, David Widgery's history of RAR, he writes that they wanted to turn the day into 'the biggest piece of revolutionary street theatre London had ever seen, a 10th anniversary tribute to the Paris events of May 1968.' By holding the concert in the East End, RAR was declaring its intention of taking the battle into the heart of where the National Front was trying to build support.

Three weeks before the carnival, two parcel bombs were delivered by the neo-Nazi organisation Column 88 to the headquarters of the Communist Party and the trade union Nupe. On 21 April, nine days before the carnival, 10-year-old Kennith Singh was stabbed to death yards from his east London home. The killers - who were never found - left eight stab wounds in the back of his head.

Film-maker Gurinder Chadha was living above her parents' shop in Norbury, south London. 'Being in a shop we were very vulnerable because the next person who walked in could beat you up,' she recalls. 'I was really into RAR. When I heard about the carnival I was determined to go, but my parents said there was no way.'

In the week of the carnival Johnny Mathis appeared on Top of the Pops and Brian and Michael had been at number one for three weeks with Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs. The only mention of the concert in London's Evening Standard was tucked away on page 25, below Celia Brayfield's 'On the Town' column, the last entry for the weekend's gig guide. In the early hours of Sunday morning Paul Furness left Leeds on his way to London. 'I have a vivid memory of seeing all these coaches with colourful RAR posters,' he tells me 'and the closer we came to London the more coaches there were.' In Victoria Park, sodden from the rain that had lashed down all week, Anti-Nazi League activists had spent the previous night sleeping on the stage to protect it from being attacked by the National Front.

In Trafalgar Square 10,000 people had gathered, the crowd growing as it began to make its way to east London. 'Trafalgar Square was raked with colour,' David Widgery recorded. 'Yellow ANL roundels, punk pink Rock Against Racism stars, Day-Glo flags oscillating in approval to the speeches.' It's worth looking at archive footage of the day in Alan Miles's documentary Who Shot the Sheriff? where its possible to get at least a flavour of what that day must have been like: steel drummers on the back of flat bed trucks, huge papier-mache head of NF leaders and Hitler (made by Peter Fluck and Roger Law who later went on to create Spitting Image) and lots of lots of banners. 'Scottish young Communists' read one, 'Gay Switchboard' read another, while a third said in both defiance and hope, 'Queer jew boy socialist seeks a better world.'

Having rained all night and morning, the sun then broke through at 1.30pm. 'I was in Victoria Park and when I introduced the first act, X-Ray Spex, there were only a few hundred people in the park,' recalls Roger Huddle, 'but by the second song the march had arrived.' Throughout the afternoon they came, punks spilling out of coaches in leather and safety pins to join vicars, hippies and trade unionists. By the evening upwards of 80,000 were in Victoria Park to see the Clash take to the stage. In archive footage the entire park appears to throb in a pulsating pogo, a metronomic bounce. Among them was Gurinder Chadha, who had told her parents she was going shopping in Croydon but had sneaked into the concert on her own. 'The whole of the park was jumping up and down to the Clash,' Chadha tells me. 'It was an incredibly emotional moment because for the first time I felt that I was surrounded by people who were on my side. That was the first time I thought that something had changed in Britain forever.'

In the following week's local elections the National Front failed to secure any seats and its level of support fell. In July Rock Against Racism staged a carnival in Manchester featuring Steel Pulse and the Buzzcocks. It was followed in September with a second London concert in Brixton's Brockwell Park with Stiff Little Fingers, Aswad and Elvis Costello. By the end of 1978 RAR had organised 300 local concerts and five carnivals. In the run up to the 1979 election it staged a 'Militant Entertainment Tour' featuring 40 bands at 23 concerts covering more than 2,000 miles on the road.

In the general election the NF's 303 candidates averaged just 0.6 per cent of the overall vote. There is an argument that the election of the Conservative government signalled the death knell for the National Front. Far-right parties thrive under Labour governments; the NF were strongest during the mid-Seventies, a time of great disillusionment with a Labour government seen as economically incompetent. Margaret Thatcher had already expressed her concern that Britain was being 'swamped by people of a different culture', a barely coded come-on to the extreme right. But even if some NF votes went to the Conservatives, it is not the full explanation of the drop in NF support.

'There is a danger in believing that politics is all top down,' explains Ian Goodyer, who is writing a book on RAR, 'that Thatcher just pulled the rug from under the racists' feet, but the truth is that by 1979 Rock Against Racism and the ANL had thoroughly discredited the National Front.' Before RAR, the NF had staged intimidatory marches in areas with large immigrant communities, but once RAR began to demonstrate that they could put thousands on the street in opposition to them, the NF were forced to retreat. 'We isolated them at work and we isolated them at the colleges,' claims Roger Huddle, 'and by the end of it they were a spent force mentally and politically. I don't want to overstate what we did, but I am sick to death of understating it.'

Thirty years on and it is not difficult to identify the legacy of Rock Against Racism. That influence was both political and musical. 'It built a circuit of gigs and concerts on which a lot of bands cut their teeth,' explains Ian Goodyer. 'And these small gigs relied on the people in the grassroots getting involved.' Such people include Paul Furness, whose RAR club in Leeds staged the only Rock Against Racism concert featuring Joy Division. The strategy of encouraging black and white bands to jam together paved the way for the ska revival, 2-Tone and multi-racial bands such as the Beat (who, according to Red Saunders, first met in Victoria Park) and the Specials.

'We started out at the same time as RAR,' Specials founder Jerry Dammers tells me, 'so it was all part of the same thing and for me it was no good being anti-racist if you didn't involve black people, so what the Specials tried to do was create something that was more integrated.'

Rock Against Racism also demonstrated that it was possible to use pop culture to highlight political causes. It was this that inspired Dammers, Billy Bragg, Tom Robinson and Paul Weller to set up Red Wedge, an anti-Thatcher popular movement in the run up to the 1987 general election. Like RAR, Red Wedge featured musicians touring in support of a cause, but unlike RAR it was explicitly party political: it aimed to help defeat the Conservative government. But in the 1987 general election Labour's youth vote decreased.

Where RAR and Red Wedge were about raising awareness, Live Aid was about raising funds. While there are some parallels - rocks stars performing in a large outdoor venue for a good cause - the Live Aid and later Live 8 concerts were very different in their ambitions to Rock Against Racism. Three months after the 1978 concert in Victoria Park, Bob Geldof, then lead singer of The Boomtown Rats, told Sounds magazine he did not believe in political rallies, adding 'I think all revolutions are meaningless'. The Live Aid and Live 8 concerts were huge spectacles designed for a mass television audience; the audience members were witnesses, not activists. Live 8 did advertise itself as being about 'justice, not charity' but the level of participation demanded was modest: a text message to register concern, a click on an on-line petition. Rock against Racism was a grassroots movement which encouraged members to campaign and challenge those in power; Live 8 relied on stars such as Bono and Geldof cajoling and flattering the powerful, hence Bono's appearance at a Labour Party conference where he dubbed Gordon Brown and Tony Blair the Lennon and McCartney of global development.

As for Rock Against Racism, the organisation disbanded in July 1981 with a final carnival in Leeds that was headlined by the Specials. Looking into the crowd, Neville Staple from the band remarked: 'It's like a zebra crossing, black and white, black and white as far as you can see.'

And that, you might think, would be the end of the story. Except that the story of Rock Against Racism, like the story of racism itself, is not yet over. On 4 May 1978, the week after the Victoria Park carnival and the same day as the National Front were beaten in the local elections, a 25-year-old Asian man Altab Ali was murdered in London's Whitechapel Road on his way home from a religious festival. The following month Ishaque Ali was murdered in Hackney.

According to the Institute of Race Relations there have been more than 65 murders in Britain since 1991 with a suspected or known racial motive. And yet with notable exceptions - Stephen Lawrence, Anthony Walker - there is little attention paid to these killings. Meanwhile, as East Europeans and white Britons also face race attacks, racism itself has become less black and white. 'I talk to my brothers and other black friends,' says film-maker and DJ Don Letts 'and they are complaining about the Poles and I say to them, brethren - that was us 40 years ago.'

The dark days of NF marches may be history but the threat from the BNP is, some claim, even greater. As in the mid-Seventies there is economic uncertainty and scepticism about immigration, but today it is coupled with apprehension about multiculturalism and a BNP that has worked hard to disassociate itself from the thuggish image of the National Front. 'In some ways the BNP are stronger than the NF,' says Jerry Dammers. 'There is a bland fascism that is very dangerous and it's creeping into the mainstream.'

In 2002 Rock Against Racism was revived but renamed Love Music Hate Racism. In their offices near Victoria station national organiser Lee Billingham told me that LMHR sees itself as the direct descendant of RAR. 'Love Music Hate Racism is a RAR slogan,' he tells me. 'We're the same grassroots movement. These days the fascists wear suits and the disillusionment with mainstream politics is even worse.' The organisation is behind next Sunday's 30th anniversary concert in Victoria Park with the Good, the Bad and the Queen (which features former Clash guitarist Paul Simonon), Hard-Fi, Bishi, Jay Sean and many others. The need for a popular movement against racism might still exist but does music still contain the power to inspire and enthuse? 'Music gets political when there are new ideas in music,' says Jerry Dammers, who will be playing a DJ set next week, '...punk was innovative, so was ska, and that was why bands such as the Specials and the Clash could be political.'

If today's bands are no longer so interested in kick-starting a revolution, audiences, too, often seem to regard music as just another form of entertainment, to be downloaded as a ringtone. 'They used to say don't trust anyone over 30,' says Don Letts, 'but today I don't trust anyone under 30 - let's be blunt: today's young are spoilt motherfuckers.'

Letts, however, has not met Carolynn Hansen and Frances Smith, two 18-year-old students who are part of the new generation of anti-racist activists. The girls live in Barking in east London and are studying at the same school that Billy Bragg attended four decades earlier; they seem to have inherited some of his political fervour. Both fans of the Libertines and Babyshambles, they were drawn into LMHR because of Pete Doherty's involvement. Babyshambles had been due to headline next Sunday's event, until Doherty was incarcerated once again for drug offences. 'It was the music that got us interested,' Carolynn tells me, 'but then we got into the ethos of what LMHR is about.' The girls have been handing out flyers in their classes, they help out in the LMHR offices and on the day they will be at Victoria Park at eight in the morning helping put the stalls up.

I wanted to know why they cared so much, this generation whom we are often told are apathetic. 'But some people are incredibly politically aware,' protests Frances, 'and with things like MySpace and Facebook it's much easier for those of us who do care to organise things.' But what, I asked, about those who say the music of Babyshambles, say, is not explicitly political like Billy Bragg or the Clash. Does that not matter? 'Music is incredibly important in my life,' says Carolynn, 'that's why I was drawn to this cause, but even if the message is not in the song, if the artist portrays it in their interviews or by getting involved, then the fans are going to think its worth looking into.'

I leave the girls and head to the Groucho Club in Soho where I meet Drew McConnell, the bassist for Babyshambles. With Doherty in prison McConnell is assembling an all-star super-group, featuring his own band Helsinki and special guests, to play at the anniversary gig. 'I wasn't even born at the time of the first carnival,' he tells me, 'but when I found out that the BNP had started a record company and were handing out CDs outside schools with racist music I just felt offended. That they were using music of all things.' McConnell, along with other bands, decided to record an alternative CD, which the NME helped to distribute with support from teachers. McConnell tells me of messages he reads that are sent to the band's MySpace site from young fans who say they would not have known about LMHR and would not have become active were it not for the band's involvement. 'I feel honoured to be involved in LMHR,' he says. 'The 1978 carnival is something that is etched into history for ever.'

This summer, in the last weekend of June, Eric Clapton will headline two shows in London and Leeds, the locations for the first and last Rock against Racism carnivals. While David Bowie had distanced himself from his pro-Nazi remarks, Clapton has not only never apologised for his outburst, but has continued to praise Powell; only last December on The South Bank Show he reiterated his support for the man and four years ago he told Uncut magazine that Powell had been 'outrageously brave'. In fact the truly 'outrageously brave' ones were those who spoke up against the hate mongers and stood up for a vision of a liberal and tolerant Britain; apathy and cynicism is easy, but Rock Against Racism was gloriously uncynical.

'We provided hope to punk culture,' says Roger Huddle. 'Without RAR, punk would have been only about hopelessness and nihilism.' Rock Against Racism, the activists, artists and audience, also provided hope to the Asians and blacks who might have feared that the entire nation was against them. 'Before Rock against Racism there was a sense that it was OK to be racist,' says Gurinder Chadha, 'but with RAR we got to see that there were others willing to speak out against racism and talk about a different kind of Britain.'

Thirty years after the Victoria Park carnival the story of Rock Against Racism is only fleetingly mentioned in most histories of punk, but that does not diminish its extraordinary achievement. It's an achievement that can perhaps only be gauged by imagining how else things might have been had Red Saunders not been moved to write that letter, had courageous souls like Roger Huddle, Paul Furness and the rest not joined the movement: Eric Clapton would have got away with making racist comments, the National Front would have continued to march into immigrant areas stirring up hatred, winning votes and seats and the course of British politics could have been very different.

Let the last word go to Red Saunders: 'The lesson from Rock Against Racism,' he tells me, 'is that we can all intervene, make a difference and change things: nothing is inevitable.'

· Love Music Hate Racism's carnival takes place on 27 April in Victoria Park, London E3. For full details see lmhr.org.uk/about/rock.html

Black and white unite

Tom Robinson recalls: 'At the time the National Front were gaining electoral ground. Suddenly instead of getting three leaflets through your letterbox during the local elections, you'd get four: left, centre left, right and Nazi. It was as stark as that. And the NF were becoming bolder in their attempts to intimidate immigrants with marches and violence.

'The Tom Robinson Band had been keen supporters of Rock Against Racism - playing small gigs right from our earliest days. From the outset RAR was a grassroots movement, avoiding stars and celebrities. There was a sense of solidarity among groups like X-Ray Spex, Steel Pulse and my band TRB, who all played RAR gigs in the early days before any of us were famous. The thing I remember about that particular gig at the Alexandra Palace was the performance of Alex Harvey. He just commanded the stage and he performed an extraordinary version of Bob Marley's "Small Axe" [with the refrain 'If you are the big tree/ We are the small axe']. He divided the audience in two with one side singing "big tree" and the other "small axe" and summed up our struggle with those two simple phrases.

'What mattered was the fact that we all took part in an astonishing celebration of music, fun, justice and the politics of tolerance. The struggle for a more just and civilised society is an ongoing fight that each generation has to carry forward.'

Speaking out against the NF

Darcus Howe says: 'The atmosphere felt sharp. You knew you were making a stance. It was crucial: I lived in the area, I had got married there and my first daughter was born there, so I was part of the community. The National Front had come trying to terrorise us.

'The police put up barriers and cordoned us off so it ended up like a meeting in a park. The gathering was largely black people supported by young white activists. The slogan was "Don't let them pass".

'I was asked to speak right there on the spot. I was not on the list of speakers but [RAR campaigner] David Widgery said: "Give that man the megaphone." I always spoke in dulcet tones like a preacher from the pulpit. I said: "They haven't come here to mobilise us to support them, they come here to terrorise." I delivered rhetoric about standing up, about the fact that black people in America were standing up and rhetoric about Africa.

'The major thing in my mind was, "Come what may, we are here to stay." Today it sounds ridiculous to say that but in those days it was the era of the campaign for repatriation and if the government weren't going to do it, the National Front were going to do it. But in the end, they dropped their flags and ran away.'

Observer

Police officer faces BNP probe

A police officer is facing a disciplinary hearing for allegedly supporting the British National Party. It is claimed he wore a badge linked to the far-right group while supporting a football team.

An investigation was started after Greater Manchester Police received information that the officer had items relating to the BNP at his home. They were supplied with photographs allegedly of the officer wearing the badge at matches. A preliminary hearing was held into the case and he will now face a full hearing - for wearing an 'inappropriate' badge.

GMP has declined to comment further until the investigation is concluded. A police spokesman declined to say what was on the badge but stressed there was 'no evidence' that the officer was a member of the BNP.

One source said: "The case raises possible issues linked to the force's commitment to racial diversity and would therefore go straight to a misconduct hearing."

Policy

Charles Crichlow, chairman of the GMP Black and Asian Police Association, said: "Having paraphernalia relating to any political party would be problematic for a police officer. The Association of Chief Police Officers has a policy on the BNP, which bans membership of that party, and that is the force view. Speaking hypothetically, if someone was found to have been wearing something associated with the BNP it would be a problem, and it is right that the force should look at that."

In a separate case, a GMP officer based at Manchester Airport was investigated after he filled in a form declaring that he bought a BNP magazine. The officer was moved from the airport, where he worked in an immigration unit, to police headquarters in Stretford, while a probe was carried out.

Investigating officers were satisfied that he was not a member of the BNP, or racist, and he was 'advised' about buying the magazine. It was accepted that he had purchased it for 'research purposes'.

St George's Day

Last year, a top level probe established that police officers were not involved with BNP members at an event to mark St George's Day in Manchester centre.

An inquiry was launched after an officer called to a disturbance in Exchange Square involving racist chanting said he thought off-duty police officers and staff had been involved with those causing trouble, some of whom were wearing BNP badges. An investigation trawled through hours of CCTV footage and interviewed 50 people present on the day.

It said one off-duty officer and one off-duty member of staff were innocently celebrating St George's Day. At no point did they have any dealings with a racist element in the crowd.

GMP was one of the forces whose trainees were caught making racist remarks by an undercover television programme. After the revelations in the BBC documentary Secret Policeman, the force pledged to eradicate racism in its ranks.

Manchester Evening News

Everton and Liverpool hit out at far-right BNP

Everton and Liverpool have united to condemn Merseyside BNP for using their grounds on the front page of its website.

The local site of the far right party has used the clubs’ stadiums as part of six images summing up Liverpool in the run up to the local elections on May 1. But having been firm supporters of FA anti-racism initiatives both clubs moved quickly to distance themselves from the website and the BNP.

In a strongly-worded statement, Ian Ross, spokesman for Everton Football Club, said: “We utterly disassociate ourselves from a party like the BNP. They haven’t sought our permission to use the image of Goodison because they know it would be denied straight away. We will now be demanding that they remove the image from their website. If they are attempting to draw a link between this football club and its supporters then they are a disgrace and should be condemned for even attempting it.”

A Liverpool FC spokesman said: “Liverpool Football Club should not be used to promote a political party full stop. We condemn the use of any images relating to Liverpool FC on the Merseyside BNP's website and in no way do we share their views.”

Steve Greenhalgh, regional organiser for the BNP, said: “We thought the image of two great football clubs summed up the image of Merseyside, no more, no less. Some of our leaflets contain pictures of churches and cathedrals and the public have not had any complaints. People recognise Liverpool and Everton but we don’t want it to cause any controversy. If there is an issue we will look at it and re-evaluate it.”

Liverpool Daily Post