Larry Ludmer Popular Books

Larry Ludmer Biography & Facts

Searchlight is a British magazine, founded in 1975 by Gerry Gable and Maurice Ludmer, which publishes exposés about racism, antisemitism and fascism in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Searchlight's main focus is on the far right in the United Kingdom, as well as covering similar entities in other countries. The magazine is published and edited by Gerry Gable. An archive of historical materials associated with the magazine, The Searchlight Archive, is housed at the University of Northampton. History The current Searchlight magazine was preceded by a newspaper of the same name, which was founded in 1964 by left-wing Labour Party Members of Parliament Reg Freeson and Joan Lestor with Gerry Gable as "research director". It ceased publication in 1967 after 4 issues, but Gable, Maurice Ludmer and others stayed together as Searchlight Associates. In 1974 they published the pamphlet 'A Well Oiled Nazi Machine', in response to the rise of the National Front. This brought renewed attention to the group, and helped raise funds to establish a monthly magazine in 1975. The pilot issue of the new Searchlight appeared in February 1975, with Ludmer as Managing Editor and Gable as Editor. Ludmer and Gable were also amongst the first sponsors of the Anti-Nazi League, with Ludmer sitting on its first steering group. In the Ludmer years, Searchlight had a close relationship with CARF, the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism, a magazine published by the (London) Anti Racist-Anti Fascist Co-ordinating Committee (a Federation of the Anti-Fascist Committees that had sprung up all over London in the mid-1970s). CARF merged with Searchlight in 1979, becoming an insert (with separate editorial control) at the back of the magazine, but this arrangement ended following disagreements in the early 1990s over allegations that Searchlight was promoting pro-Zionist/pro-Israeli groups, whom the CARF Collective regarded as racists. After Ludmer's early death in 1981, British academic Vron Ware briefly took over the editorial role until 1983. Following this Gable returned as editor, in a role he held until 1999. The British National Party made a complaint to the Charity Commission of England and Wales about Searchlight and the associated Searchlight Educational Trust. The two anti-fascist bodies were investigated as it had been claimed that the Educational Trust had been engaging in political activity incompatible with its charitable status. The Commission's report stated that, in its opinion, the Searchlight Educational Trust had gone beyond the Commission's guidelines on political activities. The charity agreed to follow the Commission's recommendations after the complaint was upheld in 2003 with the Commission deciding that there was a need for a greater distinction between the public activities of Searchlight magazine and the educational trust. No action was taken against Searchlight. Searchlight was, consequently, divided into three main bodies: Searchlight magazine, the monthly anti-fascist and anti-racist magazine; Searchlight Information Services (SIS), a research and investigatory body which briefs governments, politicians, journalists, and the police; and, finally, Searchlight Educational Trust (SET), a charity devoted to challenging and defeating the extremism, racism and fascism. SIS and SET later joined the Hope not Hate campaign, and are no longer associated with Searchlight magazine. Since Searchlight split with Hope not Hate in September 2011, Searchlight has opposed co-operation with the state. Larry O'Hara commented in a book on political organisations published in 1994: "Without doubt there are matters on which Searchlight is usually reliable—election results, court-cases, as well as the occasional publication of primary source documents. Outline sketches of individual careers are of rather more mixed reliability. And when it comes to actual interpretation of the significance of events on the far Right, Searchlight is often very questionable indeed." Criticism In his history of Anti-Fascist Action (AFA), author Sean Birchall includes several instances of unreliability and questionable tactics by Searchlight. In the 1990s, Direct Action Movement, which worked with the AFA, was among the first to criticise Searchlight's motives and tactics. Also, in 1984, editor Gerry Gable was commissioned by the BBC to provide research materials for a Panorama programme, "Maggie's Militant Tendency". The episode was to focus on a claim of right-wing extremism in the Conservative Party. Gable asserted that his research drew upon the information previously published in Searchlight. In response to the claims by Gable that two Conservative Party figures, Neil Hamilton and Gerald Howarth, were secret extremist Nazi supporters, actions for libel were brought against the BBC and Gable. The programme had alleged (not admitted as evidence in court) that Hamilton gave a Nazi salute in Berlin while 'messing around' on a Parliamentary visit in August 1983. The Guardian reported that "Writing for the Sunday Times after the collapse of the case, he admitted he did give a little salute with two fingers to his nose to give the impression of a toothbrush moustache. "Somebody on the trip clearly did not share our sense of humour," he wrote." The BBC capitulated on 21 October, and paid the pair's legal costs. Hamilton and Howarth were awarded £20,000 each, and in the next edition of Panorama, on 27 October, the BBC made an unreserved apology to both. The case against Gable was dropped. Publisher Gerry Gable is known to have links with MI5. His leaked 1977 London Weekend Television memo stated that he had "given names I have acquired to be checked out by British/French security services". A 1987 profile referred to Gable's "wide range of contacts, including people in the secret services". Relations with other anti-fascist groups The magazine has hostile relations with some other anti-fascist groups in Britain. The magazine group was originally part of the steering committee of Unite Against Fascism and resigned their position after differences over tactics. Sonia Gable wrote critical articles on her blog about Searchlight's former creation, Hope not Hate, a highly visible civil rights campaign from which it split in late 2011. Despite this however, Searchlight magazine maintains friendly relationships with other groups, such as Australia's FightDemBack and some other groups. Informants Searchlight relies for its material on those involved in the far-right. This includes a range of infiltrators, defectors and casual informers. The best known defectors were Ray Hill, and Matthew Collins, now of the Hope not Hate campaign. In 2013 it was revealed that BNP member Duncan Robertson had been a Searchlight informer, in particular of the New Right group. Campaigns In the early years of the 21st century, Searchlight launched two interlinked anti-BNP and anti-racism campaigns, Stop the BNP and Hope not Hate. Hope not Hat.... Discover the Larry Ludmer popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Larry Ludmer books.