Catalogue Number
NMLH.2025.1
Object Name
placard
Title
'Anti Nazi League. Stop the NF Nazis!'
Place
Victoria Park, London, UK
People
Anti-Nazi League, Rock Against Racism, National Front
Events
First Anti-Nazi League/Rock Against Racism march 1978
Description
A round 'lollypop' style placard. It is yellow, and has the red Anti-Nazi League arrow logo in the centre. Black text reads 'Stop the NF Nazis'.
This placard was used during the first Anti-Nazi League/Rock Against Racism march in London, which took place in April 1978. The donor, PHM staff member Bob Dinn, recalls:
"I carried [the placard] from Trafalgar Square to Victoria Park! I remember marching some of the way with a young skinhead, who told me he was the only anti-racist skinhead - probably not actually the case!â¯And arriving at Victoria Park just as X-Ray Spex were singing "Oh Bondage, Up Yours!" Plus some amazing performances from Steel Pulse (singing Ku Klux Klan in full hooded costumes), Tom Robinson Band, The Clash plus Jimmy Pursey. My brother remembers marching past some National Front supporters in the East End who were Sieg Heiling and shouting abuse, until they realised how many were on the march!"
The Anti-Nazi League was originally formed in 1977 in response to the rise of the far-right National Front political party. They had close connections with Rock Against Racism, and often organised marches that culminated in Rock Against Racism carnivals, where anti-fascist and anti-racist musicians and entertainers would use pop culture as a way to encourage inter-racial solidarity. The ANL was revived in the early 1990s after the far-right British National Party (BNP) won a council seat in London Docklands. Arrows have been a part of anti-Nazi symbology since the resistance against the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany in the 1930s.
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