Richard Lawson (activist)

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Richard Lawson has been a member of various far right groups in the United Kingdom.

Lawson was the Student Organiser for the British National Front. [1] In 1976, he was part of the Strasserite split away from the National Front which formed the National Party. [2]

He founded the NF-affiliated IONA (Islands of North Atlantic) group in the mid-1980s for the purpose of "the study, revival, promotion and development of the islands of the North Atlantic". [3] Presenting itself as an intellectual elite concerned with British culture and environment, it was closely linked to the far right magazine Scorpion. [4] IONA has subsequently been characterised as a Nazi group. [5]

Lawson contributed articles to Michael Walker's Scorpion magazine, as well as co-organising at least one conference with the publication. [5] [6] [7]

In 1989, Lawson was involved with setting up the Transeuropa Collective [1] to discuss "European identities, autonomies and initiatives". Transeuropa published ten issues of a journal titled Perspectives. The magazine was criticised by Searchlight magazine for anti-semitism and for infiltrating the green movement. [7] Here & Now magazine's review stated that Perspectives "says 'Green' but means 'White'". [8]

In 1995, Lawson launched the Fluxeuropa website as "A postmodernist cultural review of art, books, films and music focusing on the creative tension between tradition and modernity." [9] Around this time, he also became involved with Alternative Green magazine along with Troy Southgate.

In 1997, Transeuropa launched a new magazine called Radical Shift. Searchlight magazine described the magazine's intention as "to delegitimise anti-racism, anti-fascism and liberal democracy in favour of... ethnic separation, bigoted regionalism and chauvinistic nationalism". [10]

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References

  1. 1 2 Searchlight, April 1997, page 14.
  2. ↑ "From Ballots To Bombs: The Inside Story of the National Fronts' Political Soldiers", page 4. Searchlight, 1989.
  3. ↑ "From Ballots To Bombs: The Inside Story of the National Fronts' Political Soldiers", page 24. Searchlight, 1989.
  4. ↑ Peter Barberis, John McHugh, Mike Tyldesley, Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations, 2002, p. 184
  5. 1 2 Bernard O'Mahoney - Future Books - HATELAND - Articles - ??/??/?? - Fascism today - groups in Britain Archived 2007-09-16 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ "From Ballots To Bombs: The Inside Story of the National Fronts' Political Soldiers", page 25. Searchlight, 1989.
  7. 1 2 Searchlight, August 1995, page 12.
  8. ↑ Here & Now issue 16/17, p57.
  9. ↑ "fluxeuropa.com - Site Information from Alexa". Archived from the original on 29 June 2022. Retrieved 2 July 2008.
  10. ↑ Searchlight, April 1997, page 15.
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