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Lewes bonfire society agrees to stop blacking up in annual parade Lewes bonfire society agrees to stop blacking up in annual parade
(about 5 hours later)
Revellers in an East Sussex town who for decades have worn African-style costumes in one of Britain’s biggest bonfire celebrations have agreed to stop painting their faces black, ending a practice dating back to at least the second world war. When Lewes Borough Bonfire Society parades on Saturday night at one of Britain’s biggest bonfire festivals, all eyes will turn to a group dressed as Zulu warriors who for decades have painted their faces black but finally agreed on Friday to stop following an anti-racism campaign.
The move came after the Lewes Borough Bonfire Society faced pressure from a dance troupe originating from KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, which was booked to join the society on the march on Saturday night but threatened a boycott after seeing how the members dressed. Preparations for the riotous celebrations that date back to the 17th century have been tense after black and mixed heritage residents in the East Sussex town insisted the practice was racist and “shockingly offensive” and rallied opposition in a 1,600-signature petition.
A local Bonfire Against Racism campaign from a group of black, white and dual-heritage residents had also urged the society to stop blacking up. But many people in the bonfire societies, whose members number in the thousands, have insisted that the practice of blackening their faces is a tradition and a show of respect to Zulu warriors. The response had been blunt from some of the “bonfire boys”: “Keep calm and black up for bonfire,” read the slogan on one Facebook page. They insist it is tradition – supposedly a show of respect for the bravery of Zulu warriors – and not racism. They have reacted with characteristic Lewes contrarianism invoking a Sussex saying: “We wunt be druv” (“We will not be driven.”)
This week, one unofficial Facebook page for the Lewes bonfire carried the slogan “Keep calm and black up for bonfire”. But for the first time in generations the black facepaint may stay unused because of the intervention of the leader of a Zulu dance troupe from South Africa who had been invited to join the procession.
After negotiation with the dance troupe, the bonfire society has also agreed to change its costumes, removing skulls, nose rings and dead monkeys. The troupe’s leader, Thanda Gumede, complained these were a “gross misrepresentation and unacceptable stereotype of Zulu and black people at large”. Thanda Gumede, the troupe’s leader, delivered an ultimatum: drop the black face or we won’t come. After delicate negotiations the bonfire society agreed and said it would also remove skulls, nose rings and dead monkeys from its costumes that Gumede, from Durban but living in Leeds, said were a “gross misrepresentation and unacceptable stereotype of Zulu and black people at large”.
Gumede, 32, from Durban in South Africa, runs the west Yorkshire-based song and dance troupe Zulu Tradition. The group was booked months ago to join the procession, which is attended by tens of thousands of people, but Gumede had not realised exactly how members of the Borough Bonfire Society dressed. On Monday, he told the Guardian that from an image he had seen the costumes were not offensive, but after further research he changed his mind. Local black residents also argued the black facepaint was “shockingly offensive on impact” and “condones the negative stereotyping of people of colour”.
On Wednesday, Gumede gave the society an ultimatum, stating: “The costume can be worn without black paint. But if you prefer to paint yourselves, may I insist on using a different colour that is drastically different from black? Perhaps ‘green up’ or other bright colours? This is the main issue. If you can apply these important changes for me, then Zulu Tradition would be happy to embrace your event. I would personally be there on Saturday.” Mick Symes, a bonfire society committee member, told Gumede: “Our committee has accepted in full your guidance and will be instructing our members to try and achieve as much as is possible in the time available.”
He also told the society: “The skulls and horns make us look barbaric – the Zulu costume can be worn without them. I appreciate that the horns may be tricky, so if that can’t be changed, especially at this late hour, then we are willing to compromise.” When his troupe, Zulu Tradition, was first booked Gumede had only seen one image of the bonfire society costumes and did not consider it offensive, but after further research he changed his mind.
Mick Symes, a committee member of the Borough Bonfire Society, replied: “Our committee has accepted in full your guidance and will be instructing our members to try and achieve as much as is possible in the time available.” One of the local campaign leaders against the blacking up described it as “shockingly offensive on impact” and said it “condones the negative stereotyping of people of colour”.
Gumede said: “I am really excited by this, and it is good to know I can play a part in changing things that have been in place since world war two.” The row has drawn attention to the intense and sometimes insular bonfire culture of Lewes, which has existed since the 17th century and channels the town’s history of non-conformism and anti-Catholicism and love of ridiculing the powerful and staging a raucous party.
He said he had been upset by stories he had heard of racism in Lewes, adding that he hoped people would realise racist expression was not confined merely to this element of the town’s bonfire tradition. The Borough society, whose members have been dressing as Zulus since at least the second world war, is one of six societies that parade with an array of effigies and costumes, before marching to separate bonfire sites to torch their centrepiece – huge models of political figures which have included Donald Trump, David Cameron holding a pig’s head, and Vladimir Putin.
Symes told the Guardian: “We became the target of a vicious campaign which had no basis in reality. What we do was never intended to be racist. There is a saying in Sussex, ‘We won’t be druv’, and there is no way in the world any external pressure group would ever make a bonfire society move one inch. We are more than happy to take this advice from Thanda. We are very, very happy to say we are making minor but significant alterations based on very meaningful cultural advice from Thanda.” Members of different societies come as native Americans, Vikings, monks, smugglers, Tudors, French revolutionaries and colonial soldiers. One society parades with 17 burning crosses to commemorate the protestant martyrs executed in Lewes in the 16th century.
Around 70 members of the Borough Bonfire Society are due to march in the costumes. “I am not going to give a guarantee there will be no ‘blackface’ around,” Symes said. “But the guarantee I can give is we are bending over backwards to comply with this advice.” An effigy of Pope Paul V (d1621) is burnt by Cliffe Society and all the while torches and barrels burn and “rookies”, powerful agricultural bird scarers, are detonated in packed streets as rum, mead and the local Harvey’s ale flows. Eighty people were injured last year.
The Bonfire Against Racism petition, which says the “public display of caricatured, negative stereotypes of black Africans within our community is racist”, has been signed by more than 1,600 people. But bonfire is no niche pursuit. It is estimated that some 6,000 people are members of one of the societies.
Its organisers said they wanted the practice of blackening faces to stop, arguing: “It will always be racially offensive for white people to black up. It is entwined in the social conditioning that was necessary for the slave trade to happen.” “It is part of the DNA of the town,” said Graham Mayhew, four-time mayor of Lewes. “You are expected to support bonfire. If there are rows, whole families have been known to uproot from one society to another. It’s a clan thing.”
Supporters of the practice have insisted it is “traditional” and not racist, and that it seeks to remember the history of the Zulu people. Before the society’s decision, some warned of a backlash against the criticism, with more revellers blackening their faces than before. Perhaps the fastest-growing society is Southover, which is known as the most middle class and preferred by incomers, known caustically in Lewes as DFLs – down from London.
Applications are vetted by committees and members can be thrown out for infractions such as using rookies that are too powerful, or going on social media to criticise other societies, one insider said.
One London exile who is a member of Southover said: “I am a massive fan. It runs through the fabric of the town and binds the community together.”
The bonfire season runs from September to December and the societies run a string of events from torch making to summer camps and fundraising dinners.
While the pope burning suggests Northern Irish-style communal tensions, locals stress that is in the past.
In 1981 Rev Ian Paisley came from Northern Ireland to whip up Protestant hate, according to Mayhew.
“It went nowhere,” the then mayor said. “Everyone was embarrassed because they had long since lost any feeling for that sort of thing.” Next year they burned an effigy of Paisley.
Speaking about the bonfire society’s decision to stop the blacking up, Gumede said: “I am really excited by this, and it is good to know I can play a part in changing things that have been in place since world war two.”
But Symes conceded that with 70 people planning to dress as Zulus - including some from families that have done so for three generations - some members may not comply.
“I am not going to give a guarantee there will be no ‘blackface’ around,” he said. “But the guarantee I can give is we are bending over backwards to comply with this advice.”