Like your style - this is a great piece exploring how effective direct action can be. Is the Anti-Nazi League the only group ttaking them on? I am a bit sus about ANL because of their SWP links (I'm not say that they don't bring necessary publicity to right-wing extremism but I don't buy the whole Leninistic struiccture they come with, ya dig?)

Also, why has Ike refused to distance himself from these shady organisations? Is he an advocate of their principles or just happy for the extra numbers they bring to his outlandish gigs?

the temptation to air his anti- SWP prejudices whenever the opportunity appears ? I think most people find their position a little untenable, but to 'qualify' the undeniable work they do with a quick 'Dont like Lenin, me' seems a bit churlish. Besides, the SWP arent real marxists at all, whatever they tell you. Take no notice of them !

I wasn't intending to be mean-spirited about the egg-headed Bolshevik, just wanted to throw some light on the somewhat hierarchical structures involved in some great actions. Fair play to the organisations who are confronting the evil that is fascism but at the same time I want to be open about the society we are contributing to when we get involved in protest. Isn't one of the contradictions about Marxism the very scientific analysis of revolution which lends support to organisations like the SWP. I personally feel that Marxist analysis of economics and the resultant society it feeds is critical but I like the 'organic, humanistic' nature of anarchist ideas and actions - I feel it reflects the diversity of ideas/opinions and structures of human society more acurately.
In peace and solidarity, Anchorman

Maximalism is a tendency to tailor ones deological position to whatever maintains a 'mass' [or largest possible] party, and the SWP have foued up on the question of the labour party
Also the matter of orthodoxy s hould be considered: this tends to base itself on afeeble misinterpretation of a 'icon', either marx himself, or lenin [in the case of stalin] and trotsky in the case of the SWP.

Many thanks for your comments on my Icke piece. It’s satisfying to know that the work is being read and stimulating a debate. Let me first apologise for taking so long to reply.

In answer to your question regarding other responses to fascist activity; apart from the ANL I can only think of CARF (Campaign Against Racism and Fascism) and Searchlight who take a broad perspective to the Nazi threat. Obviously, there are many other organisations focusing upon more specific actions. These groups include the Stephen Lawrence and Satpal Ram campaigns and the Civil Rights Caravan, who deal with the refugee issue.

I share your concerns regarding the organisational structures of the SWP but I have to agree with Leverkuhn that in the first instance they should be judged by their sterling work in political activism. I don’t deny that our differences could prove fractious in the long term but these issues need to be discussed on protests, marches, boycotts and barricades - where we all belong. I’d take issue with the idea that the SWP are maximalist. On the whole they only command a relatively small membership base so they're either very ineffectual in this policy or they have another agenda. I’d suggest the latter to be true but couldn’t say what their strategy might be.

The far right and Icke have enough in common to establish some sort of mutual agreement but I don’t know whether this why he refuses to distance himself from organisations like the BNP. Your description of his ‘gigs’ as outlandish is apt. The core of his argument revolves around the concept of an organisation of reptilian spacemen called the Illuminati. These reptiles are able to metamorphose into human forms because they have interbred with humans to establish a serpent race. In their human form they manoeuvre to control the organisations that are responsible for the current wave of political and economic globalisation. Now that you’ve picked yourself off the floor and wiped away those tears of laughter we should look a little further into this bizarre doctrine.

These scaly powermongers are supposed to be descended from bloodlines that trace back to the middle and near east, the historical homeland of the Semitic tribes. In order to maintain their human forms these megalomaniacs need a steady supply of human blood. Apparently, the very best blood for these purposes can only be extracted from blond or red haired, blue eyed babies. A steady supply of victims is easily provided by a global system of ritualised child abuse that has been established for this purpose. Historians will recognise the rationale since the supposed sacrifice of Christian children has been used extensively in the past to justify pogroms against the Jews, particularly in medieval Europe.

Another raison d’être of the child abuse system is to provide a generation of psychologically scared children who would be susceptible to the mechanisms of brainwashing. Once trained to respond to psychological triggers these unfortunate souls could then be used by the Illuminati to advance their agenda. The process goes something like this. Create a problem, provide a scapegoat, wait for the public outcry then allow a solution to emerge that suits the agenda of the Illuminati. The abused and brainwashed children provide the consciously constructed scapegoat. In this way Icke suggests that Timothy McVeigh, the right wing white supremacist responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing, was just a ‘patsy’ in the same way as Lee Harvey Oswald. Our reptilian friends are able to consolidate power in central structures at the behest of the general public who want to be protected from these deranged unfortunates.

The same argument is used with respect to the consequences of massacres in American schools. The subsequent outcry for gun control is a result of the illuminati’s desire to disarm the American public, who represent a threat to their strategy. The gun toting teens are, of course, products of the child abuse and brainwashing networks. Icke points out that Hitler initiated a programme of gun control before implementing the ‘final solution’. The implication is that if you support gun control you are a Nazi. How this fits in with the assertion that the Illuminati are a group of Jewish killers of Aryan babies is beyond me.

At the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919 a structure emerged to debate the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Icke proposes that the negotiations were dominated by members of the Rothchild banking dynasty. Naturally, the Rothchilds figure highly in the Illuminati hierarchy and I’m sure the fact that they are Jewish didn’t avoid his steely intellect. Henry Kissinger is singled out by Icke as a prominent participant in the Conference. Much as I’d like to believe that Henry Kissinger is in fact the spawn of the devil I can’t quite bring myself to this conclusion following Ickes analysis. The history of Cambodia and Vietnam may provide the required evidence but that’s another story. A mutant logic might propose that since the Versailles Treaty is claimed to be important in the development of Nazi Germany, and if the Rothchild Illuminati, aided by Kissinger and his ilk, dominated proceedings then the blame for World War II could be placed at the door of Judaism. This tortured thought process would rest well with the other proposals of Icke and his followers.

At first glance Icke could easily be dismissed as the complete lunatic that he is. However, the fact that his thesis contains strong elements of anti-semitism and is being embraced by overt Nazi’s should give us cause for concern. He and his supporters need to be opposed at every opportunity.

Incidentally, the cancellation of his Birmingham appearance caused quite a stir on his Website. He’s developed a very acrimonious relationship with the leader of the Canadian Greens, Richard Warman, over the years and seems to have assumed the Birmingham lecture was cancelled because of him. His response to the cancellation is very bitter and suggests the shadow of the Illuminati is behind it. He’s published contact numbers for prominent greens and workers at the Hotel and notes that some of them are difficult to contact. ‘Some of these may now be dead’ he says.