Review
By Andy Brooks
FEW ON the left, or indeed the
extreme right, will have not heard of Searchlight.
Back in 1975 when the National Front and their skinhead gangs were trying to
kick their way to power Searchlight
magazine was launched to expose the racist and neo-Nazi movements that were
inciting racist violence on the streets. In the 1970s a number of anti-fascist
movements rose to the challenge including the Anti-Nazi League and the Campaign
Against Racism and Fascism (CARF). They have come and gone, much like the
National Front. But Searchlight has
continued to expose racist lies and the neo-Nazis who orchestrate their hate
campaigns.
A few years ago Searchlight launched Hope not Hate, a broad-based campaign that
successfully mobilised unions, Labour politicians and the glitterati against
the British National Party (BNP) and the
English Defence League (EDL) in a campaign that played a major part in the BNP’s
defeat at the last local elections.
Sadly
Searchlight and Hope not Hate have
now parted company following an acrimonious row between the editor and the
magazine’s founder, Gerry Gable, over the running of the magazine.
Though
there was clearly a clash of personalities the row clearly reflected concern in
the Searchlight corner that Hope not
Hate was embracing an exclusively “New Labour” perspective that could seriously
jeopardise efforts to sustain the broad campaign needed to counter the BNP
and the growing menace of the EDL.
While
the departure of the editor and a number of key writers, late last year, caused
some minor delays, no monthly edition of Searchlight
was lost, though recent editions were delayed and the most recent edition
covers both February and March. But now the magazine is back on track packed
with articles and investigations into the murky world of racism and fascism in Britain
and around the world. It reports on the latest divisions within the BNP,
the publishing networks of the “New Right” and carries detailed reports on race
crime in Britain
as well as a useful round-up on developments in the rest of Europe
and the United States.
Movements
like Hope not Hate and Unite Against Fascism, as well as numerous local
campaigns up and down the country, all have an important role in struggle to
keep hate off our streets. But one of the vital roles of Searchlight over the years has been to expose the hidden agenda of
the people leading the attempt to spread racism amongst working people in the
name of a bogus “British nationalism”. They’re wolves in sheep’s clothing
posing as racists when they are really neo-Nazis, who privately do little to
mask their hatred of Jews or their admiration of Adolf Hitler and the Third
Reich.
Every
month, for 37 years, Searchlight has
exposed the far right in Britain
and abroad. It carries out investigations, reports on fascist activity and
supports community-based anti-fascist organisations. It is the first port of
call for activists, academics and journalists. Check it out yourself by
ordering a copy from your local bookshop or send £24 for an annual subscription
to: Searchlight, PO
Box 1576, Ilford IG5 ONG.
