Still living with the English Fear: The Mob, Kae Tempest & Roni Size at London Anarchist Bookfair 2025

The 2025 London anarchist bookfair crossed the river into South London for the first time since it started in the early 1980s and having been to many of them I have to say this was a very good one. Location was the Leake Street railway tunnel by Waterloo station, famous for its graffiti so aesthetically appropriate. Lots of stalls lining both side of the tunnel, and a busy crowd. 

Kae Tempest

Some amazing live performances - I saw  the mighty Kae Tempest doing a pop up spoken word only set in the tunnel, including 'These are the Days' and 'Hyperdistillation' from the new album ('Self Titled') with its observations of contemporary London:

'I watch it flow, the old river

Empty penthouses

But still the lone figure slept out the whole winter

And died before spring

Passersby saw, but felt sure

They were not like him

Life by numbers

Looking for the punchlines

Only getting punches

Crunches in the morning

Lunches in the boardroom

Numbness in the courtroom'

Later at the after party in 26 Leake Street anarcho punk band The Mob played a rare gig followed up by Roni Size (Paul Simenon from The Clash was also supposed to be doing a DJ set in the afternoon, did that happen? I also missed Kildren and Anarchistwood).

The Mob's 'Let the Tribe Increase' (1983) is one of my favourite albums from the 80s anarcho-punk scene and I regret never seeing them at the time. Mark Wilson still sounds great and sadly the lyrics are still too topical. 'No Doves Fly Here', a 1982 single on Crass Records, seemed to imagine the aftermath of the nuclear war we all feared. But with the ongoing massacre in Gaza we don't have to imagine terrible scenes of devastation, they are happening in front of our eyes:

'The buildings are empty and the countryside is wasteland

It never was before

And we never asked for war

The playgrounds are empty and the children limbless corpses

They never were before

And they never asked for war

No-one is moving and no doves fly here'

As for 'Witch Hunt', 40+ years later we are most definitely still living with the English fear.  A week before and just round the corner I had found myself stuck in a crowd of far right nationalists swarming over the area on their Tommy Robinson/Elon Musk rally and sadly they don't seem to be going away any time soon.

'Stubbing out progress where seeds are sown

Killing off anything that's not quite known

Sitting around in a nice safe home

Waiting for the witch hunt

Still living with the English fear

Waiting for the witch hunt, dear'

With the Mob's Mark Wilson now heavily involved with Bristol area space Rockaway Park, it felt like a bit of a Bristol takeover with Roni Size finishing off the night. I last saw him in 1999 in a tent at Reading Festival, still riding high after winning the Mercury Prize for the New Forms album. He dropped plenty of that in Leake Street and it still sounds fresh. Could have done with a bit more low end on the sound system, but hey I can never get enough bass. Great drum and bass set anyway.

Roni Size

Banners from Black Lodge Press:

'Everything for Everyone'

Oh yes and I did pick up usual collection of printed material and tote bags, including this book from the Minor Compositions stall -  Brian Massumi's 'Toward a Theory of Fascism for Anti-Fascist Life. A Process Vocabulary'

 

Youth CND Rock the Bomb Festival for Peace, Brockwell Park 1983

My first ever visit to Brixton, where I later lived, was on May 7th 1983 when I came to Brockwell Park  for the Youth CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) 'Rock the  Bomb Festival for Peace'. The day started out with a march from the Victoria Embankment to the Park led by the 'Youth CND - a future without fear' banner.

According to Socialst Action around 20,000 people took part in the march, with up to 60,000 in the park ('60,000 rock the bomb, 13 May 1983). I must have been near the front of the march because I remember seeing The Damned play (including Smash it Up and Love Song) and I know that a lot of people missed them as the march was still coming into the park. That left a lot of disgruntled punks moaning and throwing mud at other acts.

The festival also featured Clint Eastwood and General Saint, Hazel O'Connor, Madness and the Style Council. I was excited by the latter as I had been to the Jam's last London gig at Wembley in the previous December, and this was the first London outing for Weller's new band. They played two numbers, which were to be their first two singles - 'Speak Like a Child' and 'Money go Round'. 

Style Council on stage in Brockwell Park, May 1983

'Let Europe Dance. Our Future in Nuclear-Free'

The festival was sponsored by the left wing and soon to be abolished Greater London Council, who put on some great festivals in London parks in that period

More details at https://www.ukrockfestivals.com/glc-peace-festivals.html

 

Protest Behaviour not Protest Songs? Jeremy Deller on free parties

Aaron Trinder's 'Free Party: a folk history'  is a documentary telling the story - or at least some of the stories - of the 1980s/90s free party scene. There is a particular focus on the crossover with the earlier free festival /traveller movement,  cross pollinated at Glastonbury and giving rise to Castlemorton in 1992 and much more besides. Interesting interviews feature with people involved at the time with sound systems including Spiral Tribe, Circus Warp, Bedlam and Nottingham's DiY. These help us to see free parties in a longer term historical context - for instance people involved with DiY had previously been involved in hunt sabbing and anarchist activism; Steve Bedlam remains active today with Refugee Community Kitchen.

A recent online fundraiser for the film, with the aim of securing a wider release, featured some additional material including a discussion between Aaron and artist Jeremy Deller. The latter mentions going to Reclaim the Streets parties and reflects on the wider politics of free parties and raves:

'that's what's dangerous when things get joined up. Which never really happened with punk, punk was burnt out so quickly, like two years - gone. Then it was just like bands with Top of the Pops. Dance music affected the whole country, it linked up  with other people, so it was massively political. The songs weren't necessarily but it was the context of what you were doing, and who you were meeting and how you got there. In a way they were more scary, they weren't protest songs but protest behaviour... it's what the state really really  fears, it's people meeting up, forming groups, then those people form bigger groups, it's something you can't really control',