Difference between revisions of "Searchlight"

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Published 15 March, 2024</ref>
 
Published 15 March, 2024</ref>
  
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:The 'united front' where activists worked together started to break down as the 1990s progressed. The relationship with Searchlight started to turn sour. Anarchists had not trusted Searchlight since at least the early 1980's - when articles in anarchist papers examined Searchlight's then editor Gerry Gable's links with Special Branch (alleging a 'something for something' relationship – i.e. Searchlight would give details to the State, and not just about fascists).<ref>Various articles in anarchist papers and magazines. Also New Statesman, 15.02.1980.</ref> In 1993 Searchlight ran a smear campaign against anarchists - in particular against specific DAM and Class War members - alleging they were really fascists. This probably wasn't a coincidence now there were alternatives to AFA to back. From the mid-1990's Red Action - who had previously had a very close relationship with Searchlight - began more and more to take the line that association with Searchlight was becoming a liability - with Searchlight increasingly providing misinformation and trying to manipulate AFA for its own agenda.<ref>See various articles on the Red Action web site www.redaction.org. Also various 'Fighting Talk's. Whatever the reasons, it's clear there was a breakdown in the Searchlight-Red Action relationship. </ref><ref>
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:The 'united front' where activists worked together started to break down as the 1990s progressed. The relationship with Searchlight started to turn sour. Anarchists had not trusted Searchlight since at least the early 1980's - when articles in anarchist papers examined Searchlight's then editor Gerry Gable's links with Special Branch (alleging a 'something for something' relationship – i.e. Searchlight would give details to the State, and not just about fascists).<ref>Various articles in anarchist papers and magazines. Also New Statesman, 15.02.1980.</ref> In 1993 Searchlight ran a smear campaign against anarchists - in particular against specific DAM and Class War members - alleging they were really fascists. This probably wasn't a coincidence now there were alternatives to AFA to back. From the mid-1990's Red Action - who had previously had a very close relationship with Searchlight - began more and more to take the line that association with Searchlight was becoming a liability - with Searchlight increasingly providing misinformation and trying to manipulate AFA for its own agenda.<ref>See various articles on the Red Action web site www.redaction.org. Also various 'Fighting Talk's. Whatever the reasons, it's clear there was a breakdown in the Searchlight-Red Action relationship. </ref><ref>https://libcom.org/article/1985-2001-short-history-anti-fascist-action-afa</ref>
  
 
==Companies and charities==
 
==Companies and charities==

Revision as of 11:25, 3 September 2024

Relations with other 'anti-fascist' groups

Given the similarities in objectives, why could the different antifascist groups not work together on these campaigns? For their part, AFA generally refused to cooperate with other antifascists if doing so involved working with agents of the state. They argued that if "you seriously oppose the fascists in a way which is effective, you are operating against the state. This is a fact of life" (Fighting Talk 1994b, 6). These divisions between the “legal” and “radical” (see Copsey 201, 7) antifascists sometimes caused problems for the movement. For example, Red Action reported that Groove Records "was already under AFA surveillance" and that by having it closed down, Searchlight "den[ied] militant antifascism a source of intelligence on the far right" (Red Action Bulletin 1999, 9 f.).[1]
The 'united front' where activists worked together started to break down as the 1990s progressed. The relationship with Searchlight started to turn sour. Anarchists had not trusted Searchlight since at least the early 1980's - when articles in anarchist papers examined Searchlight's then editor Gerry Gable's links with Special Branch (alleging a 'something for something' relationship – i.e. Searchlight would give details to the State, and not just about fascists).[2] In 1993 Searchlight ran a smear campaign against anarchists - in particular against specific DAM and Class War members - alleging they were really fascists. This probably wasn't a coincidence now there were alternatives to AFA to back. From the mid-1990's Red Action - who had previously had a very close relationship with Searchlight - began more and more to take the line that association with Searchlight was becoming a liability - with Searchlight increasingly providing misinformation and trying to manipulate AFA for its own agenda.[3][4]

Companies and charities

See also

Resources

Notes

  1. ↑ Alex Carter, "Move Your Feet to the Cable Street Beat": The Cultural Praxis of Anti-Fascist Action, 1988 – 2000. PArtecipazione e COnflitto http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/paco ISSN: 1972-7623 (print version) ISSN: 2035-6609 (electronic version) PACO, Issue 17(1) 2024: 29-45 DOI: 10.1285/i20356609v17i1p29 Published 15 March, 2024
  2. ↑ Various articles in anarchist papers and magazines. Also New Statesman, 15.02.1980.
  3. ↑ See various articles on the Red Action web site www.redaction.org. Also various 'Fighting Talk's. Whatever the reasons, it's clear there was a breakdown in the Searchlight-Red Action relationship.
  4. ↑ https://libcom.org/article/1985-2001-short-history-anti-fascist-action-afa
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