Central Europe Germany Italy Spain (Spanish Civil War) Albania Austria Baltic states Belgium Bulgaria Burma China Czechia Denmark France Germany Greece Italy Japan Jewish Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Romania Slovakia Spain Soviet Union Yugoslavia Germany Italy Netherlands Portugal Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States 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.
[2] The current Searchlight magazine was preceded by a newspaper of the same name, which was founded in 1964 by left-wing Labour Party Member of Parliament Reg Freeson with Gerry Gable as "research director".
[3] In 1967, in the fourth issue of the paper, Freeson announced his decision to stand down as editor after being promoted to a ministerial role in the UK government.
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.
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.
[9] 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.
[citation needed] Also, in 1984, editor Gerry Gable was commissioned by the BBC to provide research materials for a Panorama programme, "Maggie's Militant Tendency".
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.
[citation needed] 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".
The magazine group was originally part of the steering committee of Unite Against Fascism and resigned their position after differences over tactics.
[16] Sonia Gable wrote critical articles on her blog[17] about Searchlight's former creation, Hope not Hate, a highly visible civil rights campaign from which it split in late 2011.
[23] 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 Hate received endorsement and national publicity from the Daily Mirror newspaper, and revolved around an annual two week bus tour in the run-up to local elections.
[25] Since Searchlight split from Hope not Hate, it has concentrated on publishing the results of its investigation, research and intelligence gathering and supporting direct action against fascist demonstrations, such as those of the English Defence League in Walthamstow on 1 September 2012 and Chelmsford on 18 August 2012.