I was 19 yrs old when Blair Peach was murdered 38 years ago today.

“The anti-fascist protester Blair Peach was almost certainly killed by police at a demonstration in 1979, according to a secret report released today.”

“Documents published on the Metropolitan police’s website shed new light on the death of Peach, a 33-year-old teacher from New Zealand, whose death marked one of the most controversial events in modern ( British) policing history.”

“A campaigner against the far right, Peach died from a blow to the head during a demonstration against the National Front in Southall, west London.” Full report embedded below;

Blair Peach killed by police at 1979 protest, Met report finds 2010

I started getting involved in anti-apartheid demonstrations in 1980/81 but was out of the country when the most intense resistance took place culminating in my close friend Marx Jones “Flour Bombing Eden Park”

Aotearoa New Zealand has an extremely chequered racial history but one of the great ‘Take outs’ of our highly successful anti-apartheid struggle is that we were forced to confront the endemic racism  we had in Aotearoa N.Z.
Linton Kwesi Johnson’s tribute to Blair is embedded below;
Linton Kwesi Johnson – Reggae fi Peach (Tribute to Mr. Blair Peach) – LIVE in Paris

Had he not been murdered I don’t doubt that Blair would have been a driving force in our anti-apartheid struggle.
1981 Tour Badge Photo Credit Naani Abercrombie
Gone but Never forgotten Blair.

About Kevin Hester

I'm an anti-imperialist, environmental activist and blue ocean sailor, who is passionate about the earth and all it's inhabitants without favour. Brace for imminent impact as we bare witness to the non-linear unraveling of the biosphere and habitability disappearing for most if not all complex life on the only habitable planet we know of. To quote President Niinistö in North Russia: ‘If We Lose the Arctic, We Lose the World’. Folks we have lost the Arctic.