Beating the Fascists: The authorised history of Anti-Fascist Action

[Citizen66]

Isn't it World in Action?

 

[DaveCinzano]

Isn't it World in Action?

It's none of these notable World In Action episodes

‘The Terror Squad’ - 19/04/1993 (research by Gerry Gable with Tim Hepple)
‘The Nightmare Return’ - 27/03/1995 (Searchlight involvement of some kind)
‘Playing With Fire’ - 06/04/1998 (Nick Lowles investigation)

‘Violence With Violence’ - 15/11/1993

Given the attempt to stitch up Leeds AFA towards the end of the last installment listed above, I find it hard to believe AFA would have anything to do with that programme.

 

[Red About Town]

The following article by Mark Hayes was originally published as Chapter 12 in 'Against the Grain: The British far left from 1956' edited by Evan Smith and Matthew Worley, published in 2014 by Manchester University Press (ISBN: 978-0-7190-9590-0)

Red Action – Left Wing Political Pariah
http://www.redactionarchive.org/p/red-action-left-wing-political-pariah.html

 

[framed]

.

 

[framed]

It's none of these notable World In Action episodes

‘The Terror Squad’ - 19/04/1993 (research by Gerry Gable with Tim Hepple)
‘The Nightmare Return’ - 27/03/1995 (Searchlight involvement of some kind)
‘Playing With Fire’ - 06/04/1998 (Nick Lowles investigation)

‘Violence With Violence’ - 15/11/1993

Given the attempt to stitch up Leeds AFA towards the end of the last installment listed above, I find it hard to believe AFA would have anything to do with that programme.

It was a C4 documentary, written and narrated by a black photo-journalist, which explored various strategies and tactics employed against the far-right. The AFA excerpt was only one small part of an hour long programme from what I recall. I'll have it on VHS somewhere but I'm fcuked if I am going to start a search for it to satisfy individual curiosity. Rest assured that it is not from World In Action, it was on C4.

 

[DaveCinzano]

But can you remember the name of it, or name of the strand under which it was broadcast?

 

[framed]

But can you remember the name of it, or name of the strand under which it was broadcast?

Nope. All I remember for certain is that it was C4.

 

[FNG]

Googling AFA c4 and dispatches turns up an article from notes from the boarder land about Leeds AFA,dispatches was the marque c4 current affairs program iirc

 

[framed]

I don't think it came from the Dispatches stable...

If I stumble across the tape at any point, I'll let you know. Good luck googling for it.

 

[hot air baboon]

...is there such a thing as a copy of the Ray Hill Other Face of Terror doco. out there does anyone imagine..?

...that was Ch.4 aswell from memory...

 

[framed]

...is there such a thing as a copy of the Ray Hill Other Face of Terror doco. out there does anyone imagine..?

...that was Ch.4 aswell from memory...

There must be a video of that kicking about. I cant remember if I have it among my collection, but pretty sure someone from AFA must have it.


* Another place worth asking about that one is Hope Not Hate, they're bound to have pilfered a few old Searchlight vids before they left... or Big Nose might have it?

 

[hot air baboon]

....indeed...thanks....bit of a stupid qtn really as yes surely there'll be one in an off-line or private collection somewhere out there....

...just that afaik it never seems to get vimeo'd or youtubed - mebbe some vigilant copyright holder or some other person with a tame lawyer objecting to its contents..(?)

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Ray Hill stuff was quite a bit earlier, no? Like mid to late 80s. Maybe there were just less VCRs about? So less chance of copies surviving...

 

[framed]

An AFA Channel on YouTube where all this stuff was at our fingertips would be nice...

 

[DaveCinzano]

It was a C4 documentary, written and narrated by a black photo-journalist, which explored various strategies and tactics employed against the far-right. The AFA excerpt was only one small part of an hour long programme from what I recall. ...Rest assured that it is not from World In Action, it was on C4.

Googling AFA c4 and dispatches turns up an article from notes from the boarder land about Leeds AFA,dispatches was the marque c4 current affairs program iirc

Cheers to both - between these two posts I had enough to figure it out.

The article about Leeds by Larry is actually about an episode of Dispatches called ‘Terror On The Doorstep’, which focuses on Combat 18 ruthlessness and the victimisation of leftists (“Specialist Research: Gerry Gable”).

However, at the end of the copy I have is a continuity announcement about a similarly-themed documentary on the next night: “Paul Halliday reports on racial tensions in the London Borough of Greenwich in Critical Eye, tomorrow night, at nine o' clock...”

This is ‘Living With The Bunker’, the trailer of which can be found online, produced by Faction Films. The narrator is clearly the same as the person in the clip featuring the AFA chap in shadows and the AFA operation. The repeated references to the BNP ‘bunker’ in the AFA clip is also concomitant with the overarching theme of the Critical Eye documentary.

 

[Joe Reilly]

It's none of these notable World In Action episodes

‘The Terror Squad’ - 19/04/1993 (research by Gerry Gable with Tim Hepple)
‘The Nightmare Return’ - 27/03/1995 (Searchlight involvement of some kind)
‘Playing With Fire’ - 06/04/1998 (Nick Lowles investigation)

‘Violence With Violence’ - 15/11/1993

Given the attempt to stitch up Leeds AFA towards the end of the last installment listed above, I find it hard to believe AFA would have anything to do with that programme.

Given that the WIA programme in question was sponsored by Searchlight in order to deflect the blame for the police conspiracy at Welling onto militant anti-fascism it's a safe to say that it was never the aim to stitch up Leeds. Particularly as Leeds itself was later shown to be a dynastic fiefdom firmly under Searchlight's control. Obviously not all members were involved in undermining/manipulating AFA in order to meet a Searchlight agenda - indeed it was intel from rank and file members from inside the branch deeply troubled by the way the branch was run, which led to the national inquiry that eventually led to the branch being suspended in the late 1990's.
Needless to say 'Paul' the author of the letter was in it up to his neck.
Read the letter again and you can almost hear the muffled chuckles as each expression of pious indignation is penned.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Given that the WIA programme in question was sponsored by Searchlight in order to deflect the blame for the police conspiracy at Welling onto militant anti-fascism it's a safe to say that it was never the aim to stitch up Leeds. Particularly as Leeds itself was later shown to be a dynastic fiefdom firmly under Searchlight's control. Obviously not all members were involved in undermining/manipulating AFA in order to meet a Searchlight agenda - indeed it was intel from rank and file members from inside the branch deeply troubled by the way the branch was run, which led to the national inquiry that eventually led to the branch being suspended in the late 1990's.
Needless to say 'Paul' the author of the letter was in it up to his neck.
Read the letter again and you can almost hear the muffled chuckles as each expression of pious indignation is penned.

Fair point.

 

[juice_terry]

I don't think it came from the Dispatches stable...

If I stumble across the tape at any point, I'll let you know. Good luck googling for it.

It was Dispatches pal, it was primarily focusing on racism in Greenwich IIRC. I can mind asking my mum to video it for me and getting a thick ear when i got home for appearing in it

 

[framed]

It was Dispatches pal, it was primarily focusing on racism in Greenwich IIRC. I can mind asking my mum to video it for me and getting a thick ear when i got home for appearing in it

Greenwich rings a bell, there was footage from Eltham in it, wasn't there? Aye, I bow to your superior powers of recall, but it was Critical Eye...

 

[hot air baboon]

Ray Hill stuff was quite a bit earlier, no? Like mid to late 80s. Maybe there were just less VCRs about? So less chance of copies surviving...

1985 by the look of it

.....trying to recall, whilst I reckon VCR's had taken off by mid 80's "survivability" over that lapse of time is another issue entirely ....thats alot of house clear outs, moves or stuck at the back of shoddy sheds & grotty garages....

 

[Pickman's model]

Given that the WIA programme in question was sponsored by Searchlight in order to deflect the blame for the police conspiracy at Welling onto militant anti-fascism it's a safe to say that it was never the aim to stitch up Leeds. Particularly as Leeds itself was later shown to be a dynastic fiefdom firmly under Searchlight's control. Obviously not all members were involved in undermining/manipulating AFA in order to meet a Searchlight agenda - indeed it was intel from rank and file members from inside the branch deeply troubled by the way the branch was run, which led to the national inquiry that eventually led to the branch being suspended in the late 1990's.
Needless to say 'Paul' the author of the letter was in it up to his neck.
Read the letter again and you can almost hear the muffled chuckles as each expression of pious indignation is penned.

if memory serves didn't one of the programmes mention at least one lib dem person involved in leeds?

 

[DaveCinzano]

It was Dispatches pal, it was primarily focusing on racism in Greenwich IIRC. I can mind asking my mum to video it for me and getting a thick ear when i got home for appearing in it

No, it was an episode in the Critical Eye strand (see above), broadcast on 27 October 1994.

 

[Pickman's model]

An AFA Channel on YouTube where all this stuff was at our fingertips would be nice...

perhaps some red action santa could put it together

 

[DaveCinzano]

perhaps some red action santa could put it together

I dread to think what you'd get in a stocking put together by Red Action Santa - a billiard ball painted like a satsuma? A festive bottle of Lucozade?

 

[Pickman's model]

I dread to think what you'd get in a stocking put together by Red Action Santa - a billiard ball painted like a satsuma? A festive bottle of Lucozade?

the bloody lucozade would be more than a decade out of date but at least it would be in a glass bottle

 

[Pickman's model]

I dread to think what you'd get in a stocking put together by Red Action Santa - a billiard ball painted like a satsuma? A festive bottle of Lucozade?

a fucking millwall brick too, no doubt

 

[framed]

Careful now, we all know what this type of crude stereotyping can lead to... a very angry Red Action Santa coming down your chimneys!

 

[DaveCinzano]

bloody lucozade

I wondered about that metallic aftertaste

 

[Red Storm]

There's a few videos here:

http://antifascistarchive.org/tag/video/

 

[Fedayn]

Given that the WIA programme in question was sponsored by Searchlight in order to deflect the blame for the police conspiracy at Welling onto militant anti-fascism it's a safe to say that it was never the aim to stitch up Leeds. Particularly as Leeds itself was later shown to be a dynastic fiefdom firmly under Searchlight's control. Obviously not all members were involved in undermining/manipulating AFA in order to meet a Searchlight agenda - indeed it was intel from rank and file members from inside the branch deeply troubled by the way the branch was run, which led to the national inquiry that eventually led to the branch being suspended in the late 1990's.
Needless to say 'Paul' the author of the letter was in it up to his neck.
Read the letter again and you can almost hear the muffled chuckles as each expression of pious indignation is penned.

I was o college doing a Uni access course in 1993 and one of the modules was 'Politics in the Media'. Imagine my, and another member of the Militant who was on the same course, surprise when the lecturer said we were going to look at the World in Action 'expose' on the then recrnt Welling demo in October 1993. A woman in my class looked at me and said, pointing at the screen to this lad with a hard hat, on he looks a bit like you "Fedayn'.... Tum tee tum says I....