Love Music Hate Racism

This year in April there was a celebration of 30 years anniversary of a carnival Rock Against Racism.In 1978 different bands such as The Clash and Tom Robinson came together to fight racism with their music.It was a mass movement bringing people from different backgrounds,different skin colors together in Victoria Park in east London.

The reason this carnival formatted was after Eric Clapton , who played black American blues in the sixties and had a hit with Bob Marley "I shot the Sheriff".During his concert he said that there were too many foreigners in Britain.Clapton disappointed many of his fans,and thought of him as a hypocrite.After that a group of music lovers wrote to NME and in sparked the beginning of Rock Against Racism.

White riot - I wanna riot
White riot - a riot of my own
White riot - I wanna riot
White riot - a riot of my own

Black people gotta lot a problems
But they don't mind throwing a brick
White people go to school
Where they teach you how to be thick

An' everybody's doing
Just what they're told to
An' nobody wants
To go to jail!

All the power's in the hands
Of people rich enough to buy it
While we walk the street
Too chicken to even try it

Everybody's doing
Just what they're told to
Nobody wants
To go to jail!

Are you taking over
Or are you taking orders?
Are you going backwards
Or are you going forwards?

The Clash performed their song "White Riot" to the peace hungry people.The lyrics describe exactly what was going on at the time and the punk music helped them to express their angry emotions.

Thirty years later to the anniversary of Rock Against Racism came more than 100,000 people. It has changed it's name to Love Music Hate Racism.Now the new generation bands were continuing to rock for peace. Babyshambles,Bloc Party,The Charlatans,Helsinki and many other bands supported the event.A very famous bands not only in the UK but in the US also, favorite of the nowadays teens.Also ,these groups are in a big concern to stop BNP.British National Party is a patriotic organization which has taken too far and reminds of the growing fascism.

GWR is in a support of BNP organization.It is a Great White Recordscompany that promotes patriotic-nationalistic music."It is for the indigenous British people who speak out against social ills such as immigration,political correctness,crime and foreign wars which are of no concern to us".So basically it is telling to people to hate others and be ignorant and just love your country.

It is hard to believe that it is possible to find negativity behind Love Music Hate Racism organization,but Great White Records managed to do that by going so low as calling the band members that support LHMR names.
"The bands behind the campaign..five drunken bums,one holding probably a vodka 'n' orange ,one with a bottle of wine ,one with a beer and one in the background with probably a joint.."

And a FREE CD which the NME magazine is giving out of LMHR bands GWR calls it an embarrassing mix of amateur music.They call rock star Pete Doherty from Babyshambles a drug addict and inappropriate role model for young people.So what is it worst now for kids to have pressure to do drugs or to be convince to be racist?

For many years the image of a rock star has not been changed .Most of them and the very famous ones some time or another get into the deep abyss that drugs cause them to get in.And the consequences of that everyone saw when rock stars such as Jim Morrison,Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix died around the very young age of 30.Now kids do see their idols do drugs but they also see the aftermath.After all this is the way of life , the Ying and Yang theory,good and evil balances out.So even though they're not great role models they are talented musicians and poets that only want to fill your hearts with love.

And the majority of the listeners are teenagers who turn their backs to their parents , trying to rebel against and think they don't understand them.Most of the time it's just a stage when you decide not to listen to your parents, even though they might be telling something that really does make sense.But teenagers do listen.They listen to their idealized rock stars. They look up to them, sing their songs and sometimes become really obsess with.For these so called rock stars it becomes a big responsibility because in a way they do shape the future with their lyrics.
And musicians that support LHMR are very opinionated people.Fionn Regon says "..songs are journeys you have taken,things you see,things you here.Songwriters,painters,poets forced to say something,feel its necessary to say something,ignoring it its ignoring part of existence,we're pissed lets do something."

It is in a hopes of many to see Love Music Hate Racism organization continue to do great things.Unify music lovers for a good cause. Fighting against not with violence this time but with the power of music.

GWR response to LMHR

The Clash "White Riot lyrics
Fionn Regon
Rock Against Racism remembering that gig article
Love Music Hate Racism

Picture www.anl.org.uk/04-rar.htm