Anti-racism campaigners' successful UpRising (From Haringey Independent)

Anti-racism campaigners' successful UpRising

4:35pm Monday 8th February 2010

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THE legacy of an anti-racist music festival axed by Boris Johnson will live on now campaigners plan to stage the show independently.

Finsbury Park residents Freya Van Lessen and Mike Barnard have fought a year-long campaign to resurrect Rise Festival after the Mayor of London announced in April last year he could not justify spending £551,000 to fund the free concert.

Mr Johnson was left with the hefty bill after alienating its commercial sponsors when he took the decision to strip it of its anti-racist theme months after he was elected in 2008.

Rise was held annually in Haringey's Finsbury Park and attracted big names such as Jimmy Cliff, The Specials and Run DMC. It was set up by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in 1996 in the wake of Stephen Lawrence's murder to promote racial harmony.

But now UpRise: London United against Racism will take place on Sunday, July 11, in partnership with the same organisations that helped get it off the ground.

It is also being supported by the National Assembly Against Racism, the Runnymede Trust, Unison, Unite and Love Music, Hate Racism.

Campaigner Mike Barnard said: "Boris Johnson made a serious error in judgement when he stripped Rise of its core anti-racism message and proceeded to cancel the event at a time when organisations with racist beliefs and policies were and continue to receive increasing amounts of political and media coverage.

"Rise was a landmark event for Londoners, and it is for this reason that we have been working tirelessly to plan UpRise, a festival with the same purpose as its predecessor."

Mr Barnard said they were hoping to raise up to £150,000 and would stage the event in its original home of Finsbury Park — depending on the scale of the concert.

A petition of 3,000 signatures calling for the festival to be reinstated was ignored by the Mayor's office but Megan Dobney, TUC regional secretary for the south east, said: "We are absolutely backing the festival and just trying to determine how much funding we are able to give.

"We were very unhappy when Mayor Johnson decided to take away the anti-racist message. We did ask him to reconsider his decision, which he did not.

"Rise as it was, and UpRise as it will be, is a strong symbol that we support London's cultures. It is especially important when we see parties like the BNP getting elected that we make sure we stand up and say we are not supportive of that type of message."

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