The journal
CARF was first published in 1976 by the
Richmond &
Twickenham Anti Racist Committee. In 1977 it was adopted as the paper of the (London) Anti-Racist, Anti-Fascist Co-ordinating Committee (ARAFCC) - a federation of the broad-based anti-fascist committees that had sprung up across Greater London in response to the growth of the
National Front and its
Strasserite offshoot, the
National Party. ARAFCC and CARF were also associated with the
Institute of Race Relations (IRR).
Liz Fekete was part of both CARF and IRR. When ARAFCC wound down in 1979 CARF continued to publish under an agreement with the then editor of
Searchlight,
Maurice Ludmer, with whom they had generally good relations, and
CARF appeared for several years as a separately edited section within
Searchlight. This arrangement continued after the untimely death of Ludmer in 1981, but was put under some strain by the perception that
Searchlight maintained too close a relationship with pro-
Zionist groups (Zionism being regarded as a racist ideology by some leftist and anti-racist groups and organisations in the UK). This strain came to a head in the 1990s when
Searchlight editor
Gerry Gable was accused of racism for promoting openly pro-Israeli/pro-Zionist groups. The CARF editorial group decided to end their relationship with
Searchlight.
CARF was re-launched as an independent publication and survived for over a decade until it was dissolved in 2003. The CARF Editorial Collective continued to meet and to operate for some time as a support network for the IRR. == References ==