Rock Against Racism – Temporary Hoarding (fanzine)

“Temporary Hoarding” stands as one of the most important punk fanzines of its era, not just as a document of music culture but as a record of punk’s political imagination. Preserved today in the Bishopsgate Institute archives, it sits alongside Drastic Measures as part of a wider history of punk publishing that connected music to anti-racism, anti-sexism, grassroots organising, and collective action.

The world around “Temporary Hoarding” was shaped by activists, artists, and organisers who understood punk as more than style or sound. Red Saunders, one of the founders of Rock Against Racism, was central to that broader movement. A British photographer and director with deep roots in political and cultural activism, Saunders helped build Rock Against Racism in 1976, linking music directly to anti-fascist and anti-racist struggle.

That same spirit runs through punk print culture. The Bishopsgate archive notes how, “punk publishing helped push anti-sexism onto the agenda, especially through Rock Against Sexism and connected titles including ‘Temporary Hoarding’ and ‘Drastic Measures’.” These publications created space for women’s voices, collective organising, political debate, and a broader understanding of what punk could be.

So “Temporary Hoarding” is not just memorabilia. It is evidence of punk as an active social force: messy, urgent, self-made, and engaged with the world beyond the stage. A vital artefact from a moment when fanzines were not merely reporting culture, but helping shape it, and a fitting companion to our Red Saunders interview.