Searchlight's credibility has taken another nose drive at the news that it had been acrimoniously squeezed out of that most innane of all outfits for B-List celebrities: Unite Against Fascism.
In a spiteful editorial, reminicient of some tabloid scoop, Searchlight pours blame on the UAF as being "impossible to work with".
But perhaps the 40 watt bulbs that comprise of UAF's steering committee never knew that Searchlight, like Mossad, was run by Zionists primarily for the benefit of Zionism.
As Steve Silver explains:
"Also, there was only ever so long that we could participate in an organisation which had leading figures conduct a whispering campaign about Searchlight being “Zionists”."
This sort of anti-semitism would be intollerable and not withstanding, Searchlight then implies it is the UAF, not Searchlight, who are the real racists:
"However, the final straw has been public accusations that we are pandering to racism by addressing the issue of the grooming of young women in Keighley. We believe that if we did not address the issue then the BNP would be given a free hand to use it to garner votes."
and then...
"And because fascism is about more than racism we simply do not believe that UAF’s concept of black leadership is appropriate for an anti-fascist organisation. Racism is just one part of what fascism is about and it cannot be reduced to it."
Afternoon tea with UAF must have been a real treat!
The truth is that despite all the State backing, all the government support, all the B-List celebs and all the has-been politicians, UAF has had zero effect on anything!
And anti-fash campaigners were none too pleased at the recent homophobic campaign conducted by Searchlight against the BNP's Richard Bambrook -, such was Searchlight's desperation to get a result.
One thing for sure, Searchlight has now thrown its support behind that great working-class anti-fascist hero, Tony Blair.
And in showing how well it can grovel and blow its trumpet at the same time, Searchlight claims in relation to the government's win in Goresbrook ward :
"The Labour Party by contrast are in buoyant mood and most of the credit for the victory must go to the hard work of so many members who were determined to kick out the BNP. Seventy-two per cent of voters were canvassed during the campaign and over 60 people were out on the day.
“It was a victory because we all worked together,” said Liam Smith, the Labour Party agent. “The Labour Party, Searchlight and the unions have formed a great team together and this sets us in good stead for next year’s all-out local elections.”"
Well Nick Lowles, let us hope this marriage lasts a little bit longer than your last....
Comments
Hide the following 18 comments
GOOD BYE SEARCHLIGHT
05.07.2005 16:26
The BNP look set to win a landmark case in London over the sacking of a bus driver following a searchlight hate campaign and if the fascist win the case then they have a copper bottomed compensation claim against the magazine which could cost them around £750,000.
UAF have distanced themselves from the Homophobic, racists and Zionist searchlight, headed by Jerry Gable who it is "RUMORED" has a close relative in the Israeli Army airforce.
UAF have no place for Zionists and if searchlight want to align themselves with the muslim bashing Labour party then that is the best place for them.
GOOD BYE !.
John md
Death to the UAF
05.07.2005 19:51
Searchlight said that they felt the way forward was to challenge the BNP in the very areas where the BNP were stronger: White and working class areas, while the SWP/UAF felt teenagers in boiler suits and girls with their faces covered in traditional Muslim headgear was the way forward.
Searchlight wanted secular, non-sectarian support to go into white communities (for [shock horror!] it is they who voted for the BNP) while all that the UAF ever offered was rap concerts and floats full of "wiggers".
Searchlight's startegies won, the latest edition of the magazine and those who actually fought fascism in th last election would too concur, while UAF contiued to sure up its support amongst Muslims and beg the unions for more cash to fund the SWP's new offices (for that is where they will end up).
Funnily enough, although I did not manage to sleep with Nick Lowles during the campaign, he was there knocking on peoples' doors and making communities feel inclusive and listened to. That is where the difference was made. Not on some internet site a long way away from the front line, tossing off into a portrait of Trotsky, hoping Weyman could drag up enough drug dealers to provide Black leadership. Which is of course, not what potential BNP voters want to see.
Meanwhile, in the background, while political woek has been dome for the last three years all I could hear was the sound of rap music and the sound of the SWP's cash tills flowing ever greater, while hundreds of antifascists were actually doing the work..
I do too hope someday I get my photo taken with some drug addled pop-tart, but as Weyman is far too large and goofy to be of any use to true antifascists, in turn I'll go on the internet and hope my minor contribution to fighting the BNP (nil) gets the SWP to back me up on my next skirmish for George Galloway.
You sad fucking Trot fuckers.
White Working Class
When will the SWP learn?
05.07.2005 20:00
The endless allegations against Searchlight are now beyond the pale and any truth that ever existed within them have been lost by people who to have passed the movement long by.
There is no doubting that Searchlight has in th past done many a disservice to the movement, but it is however forty years old and its effect on the far-right has been destructive.
They are not obviously a radical organisation, however, their determination to return progressive candidates against the BNP is a good starting ground for anyone interested in fighting fascism.
I would ask that many of those on here who will now seek an opportunity to have a dig at them, also recall and record for us their particular actions against the BNP in places it was winning nearly 50% of the vote,.
The UAF has ignord the white voters and that is why a large amount of union money has been wasted on the corrupt goings on at UAF HQ.
I hope many will join with me in hoping this is the end of UAF and the charade behind it, the amazingly sinking ship of the SWP and its fundamentalist allies, who wil only continmue to divide the working class, a large, believe it or not, section of which happen to be white.
Ian Bone
Seachlight is a MI5 front
05.07.2005 20:08
rz
SWP Finished?
05.07.2005 20:22
The UAF did more harm than good.
Calling Weyman "goofy" however is not on. This country has severe dental health problems. I would prefer Weyman uses the excessive amount of union cash they have pocketed to sort out his "goofy" teeth and allow localised campaigning to work without the help of gangstar rappers.
My hat off to Mr Lowles and Mr Gable, neither of whom would I ever wish to sleep with (again).
Jennifer Griffin
Let this be the end
05.07.2005 20:27
Well done to all for waking up to this fact.
Corrie Fan
Zionists are everywhere
05.07.2005 22:47
Bo
I'm not a racist but...
06.07.2005 06:01
But if your a Yid you kill your neighbour, and eat their children.
It's genetics ain’t it.
not a racist
Sad
06.07.2005 07:49
I have been fighting the BNP for a relatively short time. It was when they took the Isle of Dogs council seat in 1993 that I suddenly woke up to the real dangers that the BNP posed.
I supported both ANL and Searchlight and then eventually, UAF. The lesson I have learnt is that from its very first victory, the BNP has fought on local issues, scaring white voters with lies and disinformation and preying on their insecuities.
I applaud both UAF and Searchlight for their determination to get black and minority voters involved in the voting and electoral process, but what had distrubed me greatly of late, as has already been stated above, is the UAF's celebrity obsession over real political work.
Like many in the trade union movement, I answered the call to go to Barking in the last general election, where the BNP were out almost everyday putting out some of the most racist and vile material you would never want to read.
As they were heading for nearly 20% of the vote, the UAF decided to hold a pop concert in Trafalgar square instead of doing real political work in the constituency. They then claim it as if they defeated the BNP themselves.
This just was not the case. The swiping at Nick Lowles and the accusation that the Searchlight team ran a homophobic or racist campaign is rubbish. They fought the BNP on the BNP's issues DEFEATING the BNP's lies and hypocrisy. It was Labour/Searchlight that fought the BNP on the "Africans for Essex" lie with localised and specific leaflets on the issues the BNP was fighting on.
That Searchlight has taken this decision is not the end of the UAF, but as a trade unionist I will now ask my union to make a priority as to where its money goes. I am really concerned that UAF are not equipped or honest enough to challenge the BNP if it thinks engaging with white voters is racist, even if it is with that should be the aim of defeating racism.
I too saw Nick Lowles, Gerry Gable and the rest of the Searchlight team on the doorsteps of Barking and they were bloody magnificent, everyone of them. As for the "Homophobia" they were accused of, it was merely highlighting the lies of the BNP candidate, a man who had made a gay porno movie while campaigning for a party that has homophoic views.
That UAF cannot or will not take the fight to the BNP is why I whole-heartedly support them in this decision. The person who posted extracts from their editorial would do well to reprint it in full and not just sentences that are not the full story behind this brave move.
Kevin G.
In full
06.07.2005 10:15
We have found it impossible to work with UAF in any meaningful sense for some considerable period of time. However, the final straw has been public accusations that we are pandering to racism by addressing the issue of the grooming of young women in Keighley. We believe that if we did not address the issue then the BNP would be given a free hand to use it to garner votes.
We believe that what is needed is not a big national campaign, but localised campaigning to counter the BNP’s own targeted campaigning. Local campaigns should ideally be rooted in the trade union movement – because of its capabilities – which in turn should mobilise the broadest possible alliance of forces. And because fascism is about more than racism we simply do not believe that UAF’s concept of black leadership is appropriate for an anti-fascist organisation. Racism is just one part of what fascism is about and it cannot be reduced to it.
Also, there was only ever so long that we could participate in an organisation which had leading figures conduct a whispering campaign about Searchlight being “Zionists”.
Leaving UAF will allow us to get on with the work that we are doing with trade unions and local groups unhindered. We have no intention of engaging in an ongoing row with UAF or of setting up a rival national organisation. We also recognise that there are good activists on the ground who will carry on identifying with UAF whom we will continue to work with in the future.
We are looking to the future confident in our approach, having learnt a lot from the intensive campaigning that we have been involved in over recent years. The BNP are trying to present themselves as a respectable alternative political party; mainstreaming. Time is short, they have made considerable headway – their 21 local councillors are testimony to that. The BNP will be defeated by activists on the ground, in our communities, in the council wards that they fight electorally. Ultimately, that means winning the battle of ideas, and to win you have to prove yourself relevant to people’s lives. Dismissing people’s concerns because they are about issues we do not want to discuss is not an option if we are to be successful against the BNP in the May 2006 council elections.
taken from: www.stopthebnp.com
WJ
hello sailor...
06.07.2005 11:04
Kevin, were you one of Searchlight's team that bought up 300 of the local newspapers and gave them away at an underground stations?
No homophobia, eh?
Hello sailor, au revoir Griffin
Paul B
resist divide-and-rule, and please delete the fascist trolls
06.07.2005 11:33
The organisational alliance between the two was always uneasy, because while their aims are the same their analysis and strategy are different. It held together for the election but it's not that surprising they've now parted company, though it is a shame.
But read the Searchlight statement properly. Their criticisms of UAF are careful and limited and it's clear both groups are still fundamentally on the same side. In some ways they could have a healthier relationship now they're free to pursue their different strategies.
Many of the comments on here are just shit-stirring by (I suspect) BNP/NF sadcases. They should be deleted - especially that one with the NF contact number for fuck's sake!
Eyes on the ball people - yeah we have different ideas on how to beat the fascists, so let's concentrate on pursuing whatever strategy we each think is right, not attacking each other.
Unite Against Fascism:
Stop the BNP (Searchlight):
type
What "Type" of Zionist are you?
06.07.2005 14:53
Searchlight is a Zionist, Mossad backed group that has ben expelled from UAF.
The people of Bradford, Burnley and Barking would do well to learn these lessons to defeat the imperialism of both the BNP and the Mossad backed gangsters of Searchlight.
It is Searchlight that cannot identify with Workers because it is Searchlies that refuses to acknowledge black people are constantly victimised in this country.
How many black employess does Searchlight have? How many Muslim representatives does it send out?
It is a racist cancer on the left and has been gladly removed.
Bo
Do not adjust your sets
06.07.2005 15:15
Indeed as you will see on their website (www.stopthebnp.com) the Searchlight crowd did in fact release a document entitled "Hello Sailor". The reason(s) for this are easy to understand.
It had (the film) a nautical theme where the future BNP MP (don't make me laugh) for Barking, played a sailor who had oral and anal sex with other men on a ship called HMS discovery!!
Why yes, 'Hello' sailor. After the former BNP member David Copeland blew up the gay pub in central London, killing three people (four if you include an unborn child), Barnbrook's boss Nick (also once a little gay when it suited his internal politics in the NF) Griffin, instead of apologising for his former young friend, attacked the gay community for mourning the attack on a gay pub. Apparently, it made "ordinary" people sick to see gay men and women mourning this attack on their community.
For legal (and reasons of good taste) their is no point going into Mrs Barnbrook's description (somewhat sordid) of Richard's sexual predilections in the bedroom before she decamped to new York to escape his "grubby" persona, but needless to say, Searchlight's expose of such matters was welcomed and encouraged by many gay people who wanted the public (and indeed, the BNP) to confront the hypocrisy involved.
No, I was not present when they handed out said newspaper for free, but judging by the result of it, and Barnbrook's own admissions that it hurt his election campaign I find Searchlight innocent of all charges of homophobia in this case.
Next time they do such a thing, I would gladly turn up in a tutu to give my support, because at least it woke up an electorate to not only their views, but also those of a man who limped from frame to frame in said nautical movie, which has of course been, totally ignored by the BNP as one of the reasons for them losing.
What worries me is, how Ballard is incapable of even lying on here about his identity.
Long may UAF and Searchlight's work continue, and long may be the next big cock that Barnbrook struggles to facilitate in the quest for a BA while hoping his Mother and future electorate never get a glimps of that scene.
Fascists: small cocks and not a way to even hide one tongue in cheek.
Concered Librarian
Here come the smears and lies...
06.07.2005 17:04
Wrong!!!
If Searchlight thinks that homophobia is a legitimate tactic in fighting against the BNP so be it. Just don't expect anyone else to be part of it. Just admit the fact and get on with life instead of trying justify it.
Paul B
Why Searchlight Fails
06.07.2005 18:24
Without a national campaign, the Searchlight organization relies totally on white Labour Party members to challenge the BNP therefore excluding Asian and black voters.
Searchlight uses ex-fascists and the Jewish lobby to bully voters and use smear tactics, but does not offer a radical alternative to the Labour party, which enslaves black people and makes them live in fear in areas where the BNP are not properly challenged. To suggest it is Searchlight's and not the UAF's policies that saw off the BNP in Barking is a worthless lie. National media covergae of young people, black and white, together united against fascism, drove the message home clearly to white voters that the BNP is a party of poison.
Nick Lowles and Steve Silver both constantly adopt the New Labour approach preeched by Jon Cruddas, the MP for Dagenham and pro-war Blairite in their magazine, Searchlies.
Their scare tacticts have been noted among union members and the anti-war movement as has Searchlight's absolute silence on the issue of the imperialist Blairite war in Iraq.
Only by pushing for black leadership sponsored by the trade union movement can minority ethnic people in Britain feel their voices are being heard. I concur with others that the lack of black faces on the Searchlight team is evidence that the likes of Hill, Collins etc are not worthy of the endless congratulatory pieces we see penned in their names for "Searchlies".
The Zionist body behind Searchlight has no objections to collaborating with fascists who have taken the Queen's shilling as neither Hill or Collins have objections to the persecution of black or Muslim people.
As long as Searchlight continues to present itself as a vehicle of the democratic and progressive left, the important black voices that can help unite the movement will be silenced by the Searchlight banner of smear, racism and Islamaphobia.
The current edition of Searchlight acuses the SWP and UAF of deliberately recruiting young Muslims to the politcal cause. Their objection to this shows Searchlight to be the Zionist tool it has long been accused of. I call for a boycott of Searchlight by all trade union people and the anti-fascist movement as a whole.
Malcom X
No to Homophobia, no to the BNP
06.07.2005 18:29
Paul Ballard's intervention on here is not welcome or helpful.
Kevin
Weyman is a "goofy coon"
08.07.2005 23:59
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