London mayor drops festival's anti-racism message

The Rise: London United festival which has been held in London since 1996 and has become the biggest anti-racist music festival in Europe has been told to drop its anti-racism message by London Mayor Boris Johnson.

The Rise Festival started life in the wake of the Stephen Lawrence murder and McPherson Report as the Respect anti-racist festival. Stephen Lawrence was the the victim of a racial attack, and the prominent case resulted in the police admitting they were racist. There have been many other examples of racist murders on the British streets, and this problem hasn't gone away.

The festival was taken up by previous Mayor Ken Livingstone, trade unions, and the National Assembly Against Racism (NAAR), and together they promoted seven annual festivals with the name evolving from Respect to Rise.

Now Johnson has decided that the anti-racism message is not suitable and Johnson's spokeswoman has said that the festival will now promote 'culture and community dimensions'.

In response the NAAR issued a press release saying, "We were contacted by the Greater London authority last week and were told anti-racism will no longer be the central message of the Rise festival," and claiming that "the sincerity of Boris Johnson's claimed commitment to opposing racism in his election campaign is shown to be false."

The Mayor's Office has also targeted the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, as being a 'political campaign group' and therefore they are not able to attend. The union Unite has therefore decided to cease financially supporting the Latin American stage and dance at Rise. The Cuba Solidarity Campaign work with London's Latin American community who are often on the margins of the labour market.

The Latin American show had gone from strength to strength and was seen as one of the high points of the Rise Festival, displaying a part of London's diverse culture and community. This is a part that Johnson feels should be excluded.

Unite's London Regional Secretary, Steve Hart, tried to negotiate with the Mayor's Office to resolve the situation but has been told that although Unite is welcome to participate, it can not participate if it involves the Cuba Solidarity Campaign as its partner.

Johnson's cultural adviser, Munira Mirza, sent a letter to the Cuba Solidarity Campaign saying, "It is no longer appropriate to have overtly political organisations involved in the programme or in the community area."

Steve Hart said, "The ban on Cuba Solidarity Campaign is the direct application of a political pre-condition on Unite in its sponsorship of the Latin American stage at Rise. Censorship is unacceptable to my union. I feel that I am left with no alternative other than to withdraw our intended funding of the Latin American stage at Rise in 2008."

Rob Miller, CSC's director, responded, "It is outrageous that the new mayor of London has taken such a discriminatory position against Cuba Solidarity ... We hope that this silly act of political censorship will even yet be overturned."

With racism on the increase and the British National Party picking up seats in elections recently, including their first ever place in the Greater London Authority it seems strange that Johnson has decided that the anti-racism message is unsuitable. It is important that anti-racism is kept in the public eye so we don't have escalating race hate and people being still being murdered because of their race or background.

Johnson and the Greater London Authority are quite happy to spend money on causes they approve of such as knife crime and policing but they are not prepared to spend money on causes they don't approve of, implying that they don't approve of anti racism.

Over the years, the festival has attracted major international and British talent to perform for reduced fees, thanks to the promotion of the anti-racism message. Without this core message the event will struggle to attract such big names on its budget.

If Johnson's stance were to be adopted nationally, possibly under a Tory government, it could lead to wholesale changes to festival culture. Popular music festivals have always been part of political struggles, from Live Aid in the 1980s to specific festivals which have supported not just anti-racism but causes such as CND, Bollocks To Poverty, Water Aid, Greenpeace, Tibet, and East Timor. Festivals often with support from their local councils have raised money for drought victims, refugees, and political prisoners - would these still be allowed public funding under Boris' new roadmap for community events?

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