Topping the bill at this year’s CPAC, Hungary’s authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán advocated a far-right takeover of liberal democracies, by following his example. Martin Smith gains an insight into the developing links between global extremists This year’s European Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was held on 4 and 5 May at the Bálna Centre in […]
A Bridgen too far?
Kicked out of the Tory Party over coronavirus claims, MP Andrew Bridgen has now migrated to Reclaim. Martyn Lester surveys his career First published in Searchlight magazine (Summer 2023) The Reclaim Party, the right-wing political organisation best known for its frontman, the actor Laurence Fox, surprisingly gained its first member of parliament in May. As […]
OBITUARY: Jules Konopinski, last anti-fascist to fight with the 43 Group and the 62 Group
By Daniel Sonabend, historian of the 43 group Jules Konopinski – veteran anti-fascist On the 11 September 1949, the militant anti-fascist 43 Group, alongside communist allies, held a meeting outside Hackney Town Hall, preventing a march of Oswald Mosley’s Union Movement from commencing there. However, Geoffrey Bernerd, the 43 Group’s co-chairman, found himself confronted by […]
National Conservatism: gateway to the far right?
Concerns over falling birth rates and high immigration loomed large at the recent National Conservatism conference in London. Star turn, Conservative MP Miriam Cates, is exercised by both. But what’s the connection? David Edgar sifts through the rhetoric First published in the Summer 2023 issue of Searchlight magazine Credit: National Conservatism You Tube channel The […]
Far right parties humiliated in by elections
Far right parties were humiliated in yesterday’s three Parliamentary by elections. With none of the more mainstream racial nationalist groups (Britain First or British Democrats) running, the field was left open to those outfits peddling the gamut of post pandemic conspiracy theories focussed on the World Economic Forum and issue such as ULEZ, “15 minute […]
Britain’s nazis scrapping like rats in a sack
Image: Patriotic Alternative: Into the dustbins of history Last weekend Mark Collett’s pretence of promoting “nationalist unity” collapsed. He was only able to keep up the facade for a few weeks, and now trouble is brewing. PA’s split with Collett’s former number three man Kenny Smith is now bitter and permanent. And to make matters […]
Barbara Cohen: A life well spent fighting injustice and discrimination
Barbara Cohen: Friend, supporter and contributor to Searchlight magazine Searchlight’s team is devastated at the news that Barbara Cohen, a life-long fighter against inequality and injustice and a long-standing friend, supporter of and contributor to Searchlight, died suddenly last Thursday 8th June. We send heartfelt condolences to Barbara’s family and friends, and everyone who worked […]
UKIP – fallout starts after Nazi ban scrapped
Searchlight’s revelation last weekend that UKIP has ditched a ban on fascists and neo-Nazis becoming members, seems to have sparked a bit of a crisis in the party leadership. Image: Patricia Bryant resigned from UKIP on Friday Patricia Bryant, a member of the National Executive Committee, the party’s Agriculture Spokesperson, and lynchpin of UKIP in […]
Exclusive: Mutual suspicion and personal rancour plague UK Nazi unity talks – the inside story
It’s not easy for Mark Collett to eat even a few crumbs of humble pie. But after a disastrous split in his Patriotic Alternative group, reported last month by Searchlight, he has had to digest an entire plateful. Image: Mark Collett Desperate to reclaim some sort of credibility, Collett has taken part in “unity” discussions […]
UKIP throws open its doors to fascists and neo-Nazis
UKIP had opened its doors to let fascists and neo-Nazis join the organisation, ditching a ban on former member of fascist groups that has been in place since the party’s earliest days. The move is part of a further rightwards shift by a party desperately trying to avoid collapse. Membership rules before and after the […]
A dangerous triumvirate by Alfio Bernabei
First published in Spring 2023 issue of Searchlight magazine Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s comments on the Fosse Ardeatine massacre during the Second World War set an alarming precedent, signalling the start of a process by the far right government to recast the past, warns Alfio Bernabei Italian President Sergio Mattarella (left), with the unwholesome trio of […]
Trump indictment splits MAGA base by Leonard Zeskind
First published in the Spring 2023 issue of Searchlight magazine Despite waning support, with many right wing groups now turning to white nationalists, Trump still leads the pack of Republican presidential wannabes. Leonard Zeskind weighs up his chances Trump Photo: Gage Skidmore https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/51826153195/in/photostream On 19 April 2023, as anti-racist demonstrators carried placards in North Kansas City, a […]
Searchlight wishes photographer birthday greetings
David Hoffman is celebrating another year and here at Searchlight we salute him for his doggedness for over 50 years as a photographer on the frontline of social justice reporting. David Hoffman has documented so many key events over the years and we are honoured that he has worked with us during his long […]
‘We must not waste our lives in dull inaction’ – 100th anniversary of Pankhurst’s address to anti-fascist meeting
Alfio Bernabei reports on the commemoration of an event addressed 100 years ago by suffrage campaigner and socialist Sylvia Pankhurst, who was one of the first to warn the world outside Italy of the dangers of fascism – a warning that still holds today First published in the Spring 2023 issue of Searchlight magazine Dondi’s […]
One Week in Warsaw – David Rosenberg reports from Warsaw where a poignant anniversary was being commemorated
First published in the Spring 2023 issue of Searchlight magazine 16th April 2023 commemorative march led by women activists photo by David Rosenberg Warsaw, Sunday 16 April. Three days before the Polish Government is due to host the official 80th anniversary commemoration of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, when their chosen guests will assemble in front […]
Behind the new iteration of an age-old plot – Martyn Lester examines GB news presenter, Neil Oliver
Following an on-air diatribe delivered by GB News host Neil Oliver, Martyn Lester mulls over the possible source for the latest variant of the conspiracy theory that there is a sinister group bent on imposing a ‘one-world government’ First published in the Spring 2023 issue of Searchlight magazine Back in February, in what have been described as […]
Nazi split update – The blame game begins
During the first ten days following a disastrous drubbing for the entire far right at England’s local elections, each of the fractious PA factions has interpreted these results as a vindication. Alek Yerbury’s barmy army took the results as confirmation that traditional politics offer no hope for fascist politics. All the usual reasons apply. The […]
Britain’s biggest Nazi group fractures – The Patriotic Alternative split and where it leaves Britain’s far right
By Gerry Gable As Searchlight has already reported, the UK’s largest nazi organisation has split down the middle. Of the 54 organisers in Patriotic Alternative (PA), 32 deserted its founder and leader Mark Collett in late April 2023 and defected to a new breakaway movement, the Homeland Party, led by PA’s national admin officer Kenny Smith. […]
Election disaster may mean nazi groups unite
Andrew Brons, British Democrats Mark Collett, Patriotic Alternative The 2023 local elections were a disaster for the entire spectrum of Britain’s far right. The last remaining openly fascist councillor, Julian Leppert lost his seat, and votes for other high-profile extremist candidates were down on last […]
Remembering the victims of the nail bombings
On the anniversary of Nazi David Copeland’s third and most deadly nailbomb attack on London in 1999, we remember his victims; those who died in the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho and the many more injured there, and in Brick Lane and Brixton. Searchlight worked with BBC Panorama to investigate not just Copeland’s bombing campaign, […]