Dozens gathered yesterday to bid farewell to Gerry Gable, Searchlight’s founder, whose funeral was held in London. People came from across the country and the anti-fascist world to pay their respects at a service which reflected Gerry in its wonderfully broad, ecumenical, united character. Dylan fan The service opened with the sound of Bob Dylan […]
Anti-fascism
West country fascists up the stakes
Fascists in the west country have escalated their activities with a series of attacks and threats against anti‑fascists. An anti‑fascist fundraiser in Bristol was attacked last weekend, and further threats have been made against a Together fundraiser due to take place in Tavistock, Devon, tomorrow. Held at bay The Bristol event, featuring local anarcho‑ska outfit […]
Making history in Manchester: confronting Britain First on Saturday
Next Saturday, 21st February, the fascists of Britain First will march into Manchester’s city centre, shielded by a costly police operation. The financial, political, and moral cost of allowing an organisation run by convicted criminals – whose ranks attract domestic abusers, drug dealers, and neo-Nazis – will make our city a temporarily unpleasant place to […]
Remembering the Igman march – a defining episode of anti-nazi resistance
On a bitterly cold weekend at the end of January, thousands of people converged on Mount Igman in Bosnia and Herzegovina to mark the 84th anniversary of the Igman March, a defining episode of resistance during the Second World War. More than a mere act of commemoration, this year’s gathering carried a starkly political message: […]
Obituary: Gerry Gable (1937-2026), architect of modern British anti-fascism
The death of Searchlight’s founder Gerry Gable at the age of 88 marks the passing of a man without whom modern British anti-fascism would scarcely be recognisable. For more than sixty years, he stood at the centre of the struggle against fascism and the extreme right, as a relentless organiser, investigator and strategist. To many, […]
Gerry Gable (1937-2026)
It is with the greatest sadness that we have to announce that Searchlight’s founder, Gerry Gable, has died at the age of 88. He had been in frail health for some time, but a recent hospital admission proved too much and he died peacefully last night. Gerry was one of the most important figures in […]
Seven Italian brothers who defied fascism – and paid with their lives
At the end of 1943, as Italy was convulsed under the collapse of Mussolini’s regime and the tightening grip of Nazi occupation, seven anti-fascist brothers from a modest farming family in Emilia-Romagna paid the ultimate price for their defiance. The Cervi brothers, Gelindo, Antenore, Aldo, Ferdinando, Agostino, Ovidio and Ettore, were executed by fascist firing […]
What’s happened to our X account?
Yesterday we were informed that our X account has been locked. Apparently someone has taken offence and reported us for “hateful conduct”. The issue, apparently, is the banner and logo at the top of the page, a famous woodcut by anti-racist artist Ken Sprague, depicting the murder of Kelso Cochrane in Notting Hill in 1959. […]
Desecration – how my dad’s war is being stolen by the far right
My father was a World War II veteran. Decorated. Medalled. He fought across continents against a monstrous ideology that threatened to engulf the world in darkness. For him, and for his generation, Remembrance Day was a sacred contract: a promise to honour the fallen by ensuring such a war would never happen again. He would […]
Obituary: Sir Geoffrey Bindman (1933-2025), an extraordinary lawyer and a friend of Searchlight
Everyone at Searchlight was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Sir Geoffrey Bindman, who passed away on 4 November. Geoffrey was a towering figure in British legal and human rights circles. Over a career spanning more than six decades, he championed civil liberties, racial equality, and justice for the marginalised, leaving an indelible […]
Mike Cohen: The anti-fascist whose camera was his gun
Mike Cohen was one of Britain’s great Jewish anti-fascists, whose significant contribution to the movement came through his camera lens. He passed away in October 2002 at the age of 67, and with the passage of time I often think of Mike, convinced that he deserves to be remembered. Mike came from a time when […]
Epping sets anti-racists a challenge we cannot shirk
In Epping, organised fascists and their racist supporters have scored a notable victory over the last couple of weeks. The situation was not turned around by yesterday’s creditable anti-racist turnout but maybe a line has been drawn, and a moment signalled when the real, hard work of winning hearts and changing minds in that divided […]
Epping this Sunday – anti-racists must nip far-right violence in the bud
On 7 August last year, in response to direct fascist threats of violence against organisations helping migrants and asylum seekers, tens of thousands of anti-racists turned out to physically protect those organisations. It was a phenomenal show of strength and helped put an end to a week of horrendous racist violence. Searchlight wrote at the […]
Fanning the flames – far right aims to whip up summer of race riots
Let’s be under no illusions about the significance of this week’s events in Epping – this is simply the first chapter in determined efforts by the far right this summer to engineer a repeat of last year’s post-Southport race riots, using whatever pretext presents itself. This week the pretext was three alleged sexual assaults on […]
Labin 1921: miners lead Europe’s first anti-fascist revolt
The Labin Uprising of 1921, often heralded as the first anti-fascist revolt and workers’ republic in Europe, is a landmark in miners’ history. Taking place in the Istrian town of Labin, now Croatia, then under Italian rule, this often-overlooked miners’ uprising showcased the power of workers’ solidarity and foreshadowed the anti-fascist struggles that would engulf […]
The Muslim heroine whose memory shames Paul Golding
I am working undercover for Searchlight magazine. Despite being a Muslim, I blend in rather well so, two weeks ago, I was in Birmingham listening to fascist idiot Paul Golding. It could have been Tommy Robinson or Nick Tenconi, or even Nigel Farage. The mouth matters not, but the words do. “Did our war heroes […]
Remembering Maurice Ludmer, giant of the post war anti-fascist movement
On 14 May,1981, at the age of only 54, Searchlight’s editor Maurice Ludmer died suddenly, depriving the post war anti-fascist and anti-racist movement of one of its leading figures. Maurice, famously, said “Never again” in 1946 when, as his 1981 Searchlight obituary written by the playwright David Edgar, recounted: “…a young British Army private, a […]
Peter Marriner: undercover hero of the anti-fascist movement
Peter Marriner, who has died at the age of 77, was an undercover informant in the extreme right for many years, and one of those extraordinary people, true heroes of the anti-fascist movement, to whom we owe an enormous debt of gratitude for their courage and self-sacrifice. But the story of his initial introduction into […]
A Searchlight mole and a nazi weapons hoard
When this article was first published in 2024, we were not able to identify Peter Marriner as the Searchlight informant who smashed this nazi plot to assemble a huge weapons cache. In the final print edition of Searchlight, published this year, Peter was happy to be identified in the Searchlight Undercover Hall of Fame. So […]
Anti-fascist action in 2025
Some personal thoughts on two successful anti-fascist actions last weekend, and what they can teach us. The past weekend was very instructive as far as anti-fascists were concerned. In Manchester and Birmingham fascists were repulsed. In Manchester, so called hard-core street activists around UKIP leader Nick Tenconi were chased out of Piccadilly Gardens. And in […]