Last week (13 August) saw the anniversary of the 1977 'Battle of Lewisham' when local communities and anti-racists from all over the country mobilised to oppose a march by the far right National Front from New Cross to Lewisham, events covered in detail at this blog before.
SE London community digital radio station Sister Midnight FM marked the anniversary with a day of programmes themed around these events.
Myself and Ben Gidley recorded a programme in the Sister Midnight studio in Catford which focused on the details of what actually happened in August 1977, with sound recordings from the day and later memories of people who took part. We also discussed the wider history of fascism and anti-fascism in SE London, including the terrible racist murders of the early 1990s and the marches against the British National Party HQ in Welling at this time. We also reflected on the most recent far right mobilisation in this part of London - the protests against drag storytelling at the Honor Oak pub, which were met with months of counter-protests in 2023.
We also played some related music:
- Desperate Bicycles - Don't Back the Front (perhaps the first truly DIY punk band, they recorded the 'New Cross, New Cross' EP in 1978)
- Bob Marley and the Wailers - Get up, stand up (a track that Red Saunders, founder of Rock Against Racism, remembers being played from a flat overlooking the demonstration on 13 August).
- Junior Murvin - Police and Thieves (a track that Paul Gilroy likewise remembers hearing on the day)
- Tom Robinson Band - Glad to be Gay (as described in John Gill's book, Queer Noises, the TRB got stuck into the heart of the action on 13 August, during which there was a significant LGBTQ+ presence)
The Clash - Bankrobber (Lewisham '77 inspired the growing anti-fascist/anti-racist movement with the Clash among the bands playing at the big Rock Against Racism carnival in Victoria Park in 1978. The video for this Clash song was filmed in Lewisham by the Clock Tower)
Sinead O'Connor - Black Boys on Mopeds (a song about police racism, among other things. Her music was played on the sound system at the Honor Oak anti-fascist protests in 2023, on the weekend after she died)
Linton Kwesi Johnson - Forces of Victory. (LKJ, sometime Goldsmiths student and part of the Race Today collective that mobilised for the Battle of Lewisham, and later played a key role in response to the 1981 New Cross Fire)
Daisy's Sounds of Solidarity highlights music from the period and the echoes it holds of contemporary racism and resilience. I liked the device of looking at what was in the UK charts on 13 August 1977 as a starting point - Donna Summer's I Feel Love was at number one.
South East's programme also has a musical focus, specifically on Eve records, Denis Bovell and Lovers Rock. Demonstrators passed up and down Lewisham Way within yards of the Eve studio on Upper Brockley Road, where in this period the new Lovers Rock sound was taking shape: 'the Battle of Lewisham might have been won by the anti-fascist community on 13 August 1977 but it was the work of black-led institutions that fought the longer war against black people in Lewisham and beyond by simply existing, creating space and sharing joy'.
Good to keep the memory of these events live, over the years they have inspired the sense of the Lewisham area as a place where the far right cannot operate. This is something that each generation has to remember and refresh, as those did who gathered behind 'South London is Anti-Fascist' banner in Honor Oak in 2023.
Next year will be the 50th anniversary, each year the number of those involved who are still around gets fewer. Would be good to do something a bit different next year, maybe with a more active street presence. There was a plan for a mobile sound system to move around the area this year, but this was abandoned due to extreme heat, perhaps a starting point for 2027?
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