Prominent activist claims anti-racism concerts could curb rise of far-right in UK
An activist has claimed that bringing back benefit concerts to promote anti-racism could be the key to stopping the rise of far-right ideologies in the UK.
Ameen Hadi, a prolific activist for the Stand Up to Racism campaign in Manchester, told The Guardian that he wants to stage gigs similar to Rock Against Racism, which began back in the 1970s, once again.
Hadi said, “Counter-protesting alone is not going to solve the problem,” when asked about current actions being taken against these forces. He continued: “We actually have to reach out to schools, to [music-lovers], to other ways that people want to get together to try and then say: ‘Actually, these people aren’t your enemy.’”
Hadi cited the example of a concert the campaign group staged in Stoke-on-Trent in 2009, which encouraged local people to vote against the far-right British National Party (BNP) at upcoming elections, and ultimately “stopped” the party.
“At that point, they had councillors [on Stoke council] and within a year of that gig, they were all gone,” he explained.
The organisation Love Music Hate Racism should also be seen as a prominent indicator of the previous success of such events, Hadi said, as one of their gigs in Rotherham back in 2008, organised by Jon McClure of Reverend and the Makers, was widely seen as shifting the political landscape at the time.
Headlined by Kaiser Chiefs and Courteeners, the concert went on to set a precedent for the organisation’s work and is something that Hadi feels should be channelled again amid the current landscape.
He warned that peaceful protests, such as benefit concerts, should be seen as the preferred route, as “If we get fixated on our side that the only thing we need to do to stop growth of the far right is to take them out, then you end up with people who actually literally do believe that.”
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