View source for Campaign Against Racism and Fascism

The '''Campaign Against Racism and Fascism''' ('''CARF''') is an anti-racist group based in [London with a history going back to the mid-1970s. It was originally an anti-racist/anti-fascist paper published by Anti-Fascist Committees in Greater London, later it appeared as a section within''[[Searchlight]]'' magazine, and later still it split with ''Searchlight'' to publish as an independent magazine for some years before closing down in 2003. The CARF editorial collective was always closely associated with the IRR ([[Institute of Race Relations]]) and the CARF group now operates as a support group for the IRR's news output.

== History ==

The journal ''CARF'' was first published in late 1976 by the [[Richmond & Twickenham Anti Racist Committee]]. In 1977 it was adopted as the paper of the (London) [[Anti-Racist, Anti-Fascist Co-ordinating Committee]] (ARAFCC) - a federation of the broad-based anti-fascist committees that had sprung up across Greater London in response to the growth of the [[National Front]] and its Strasserite offshoot, the [[National Party (UK, 1976)|National Party]].<ref name="Goldsmiths 1977">[https://sites.gold.ac.uk/battle-of-lewisham/who-was-involved-in-the-battle-of-lewisham/ Who was involved in the ‘Battle of Lewisham’?] – Battle of Lewisham, Goldsmiths, University of London</ref> ARAFCC and CARF were also associated with the [[Institute of Race Relations]] (IRR). [[Liz Fekete]] was part of both CARF and IRR.<ref name="Spectator">Wordsworth, Dot [https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-problems-with-bame The problem with "bame"], ''The Spectator''</ref>
When ARAFCC wound down in 1979 CARF continued to publish under an agreement with the then editor of ''[[Searchlight (magazine)|Searchlight]]'', [[Maurice Ludmer]], with whom they had generally good relations, and ''CARF'' appeared for several years as a separately edited section within ''Searchlight''. This arrangement continued after the untimely death of Ludmer in 1981, but was put under some strain by the perception that ''Searchlight'' maintained too close a relationship with pro-[[Zionism|Zionist]] groups (Zionism being regarded as a racist ideology by some leftist and anti-racist groups and organisations in the UK).

This strain came to a head in the 1990s when ''Searchlight'' editor [[Gerry Gable]] was accused of racism for promoting openly pro-Israeli/pro-Zionist groups. The CARF editorial group decided to end their relationship with ''Searchlight''.<ref name="Spectator" />


==External links==
* Website: [http://www.carf.org.uk/ carf.org.uk]
* S E Taylor Collection of material re [https://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/SET/20 National Front:Campaign Against Racism and Fascism], Warwick Modern Records Centre.
* Undercover Policing Inquiry [https://www.ucpi.org.uk/search-results/?fwp_search=Campaign+Against+racism+and+fascism Campaign Against Racism and Fascism].
==Notes==
<references/>
[[Category:British anti-racist/anti-fascist groups]]