Issue 2 - 1998

Published on Tuesday, 24 November 1998 00:00

 

Where it all began.  Read the first critical examination of ex-MI5 agent David Shayler's claims--questions never properly answered.  Also Karl Marx' parapolitical treatise 'Herr Vogt' deservedly rescued from obscurity.

DESCRIPTION OF CONTENTS

The second number of this uniquely hard-hitting parapolitical publication saw NFB reach 44 pages and cut through the fog of disinformation swirling around the body politic in a big way.  Stories include:
--Our first, and most lengthy (16 page) to date, exploration of the careers of ex-MI5 officers David Shayler & Annie Machon.  Given their prominence, no serious parapolitical magazine could ignore the pair, although we did what nobody had done till then, or has subsequently--cross-referred public claims to known details of MI5 operations they were implicated in.  Thankfully, our ongoing research into MI5's post-Cold War agenda, published in 'Turning Up the Heat' previously, put us in an advantageous position.  Areas covered include MI5/Special Branch operations against the IRA, Combat 18, Meibion Glyndwr, Anti-EU groups, Animal Liberation, Anti-Fascism, Anarchists, the Far Left (SWP & Red Action). The motives for Shayler and Machon's disclosures were analysed, also the invidious predicament civil rights group Liberty found itself in by too close proximity to the pair.  The points of contrast--and convergence--between the Shayler/Machon line & official MI5 pronouncements are reviewed.  Intriguingly, one convergence encompassed a crucial issue--Shayler Machon & MI5 all agreed MI5 no longer monitored 'subversives'.  NFB's point was that they still did (and do), but merely reclassified them as 'terrorist.  All this way before 9/11 and subsequent posturing by Machon & Shayler as genuine 'civil libertarians'.  Virtually none of the sharp questions raised here have been answered, or evidence refuted--in short this is a must-read text for all those gullible liberals & more recently 9/11 'Truth' campaigners (see NFB issue 7) taken in by the charmless pair of snake-oil merchants.
--The 'Last Century Left' often spuriously dismiss the idea of Leftists researching the secret state and its impact on politics (unless it be to furnish excuses for perennial political failure).  The excellent work of Victor Serge is ignored & hackneyed platitudes from Lenin trotted out.  Unmentioned in all this (even less understood) is the masterpiece by Karl Marx 'Herr Vogt: A Spy in the Workers Movement'. A text exemplary in its method, showing just how at home Marx would be with modern-day parapolitical analysis.  Indeed, the text is enduringly relevant for anybody interested in radical social transformation, and a strong corrective to the liberal pap that characterises the Last Century Left approach to such matters as the majority of secret state-planted media stories today.
--The importance of comprehending how the secret state interferes in target's lives on a micro level cannot be overstated.  We explore here Mind Control techniques used to intimidate individuals.
--We evaluate the career of fascist thug/agent provocateur Matthew Collins, who claims to have renounced his past views and now works for the MI5-linked Searchlight magazine/organisation.  His story, past/present, doesn't add up by any stretch of the imagination.  We outline disturbing allegations about Collins never properly responded to (he can't have been at the off-license all the time?).
--the dissolution of the 'Revolutionary Communist Party' associated with LM magazine is briefly reviewed: the transformation of key personnel into the pro-capitalist 'Institute of Ideas' is for another day...
--Events outside England's capital are often de-prioritised by the London-based media & political establishments, not a mistake NFB makes: illustrated by this detailed examination of murky political goings on in West Yorkshire involving Combat 18, the BNP, anti-fascists, Special Branch, Searchlight, MI5 and Channel 4.  A classic study exemplifying the NFB approach--and given the Redwatch resurgence, a timely reminder of how it all began.  This piece is essential reading in order to make sense of the Redwatch Revived piece in NFB 8.  Click on the link below in content list to read this article minus graphics
A fact & fun-packed edition, full of in-depth research, backed up with a wealth of internal documents, all fully footnoted. NFB is a magazine those hungry for solid information will love--and people engaged in political dirty tricks bitterly hate.  In short, all the in-depth investigative journalism you could wish for--and would never find in the Guardian or Panorama.

EDITORIAL--NOTES FROM THE BORDERLAND issue 2

After a long gap here is what you've been waiting for/fearing (delete as applicable), the second issue of NFTB

I can only apologise for the delay. By way of compensation this issue is 44 pages--not a precedent, but significantly larger than last time. Reactions to issue 1 are referred to later on, so this is not the place to cover that. The NFTB project is gradually taking shape. Careful readers will note that here and there are promises to return to this or that subject. These are all deadly serious, and reflect discussions among those who matter and are prepared to contribute. This is not to say there is a dogmatic 'party line' permeating this magazine. We welcome contributions from a variety of perspectives and in this issue have printed some. The criteria for inclusion is that the subjects be interesting, covering topics that by and large you wouldn't see elsewhere. This is not because articles within these pages are inferior to the turgid pap and candy floss that passes for journalism in the bourgeois media. Rather, we believe our research is more rigorous and analysis more acute than that which is routinely found there. Unfortunately, this means some stories may be bowdlerised or ripped off by the bourgeois media. It would be inappropriate to discuss in public our likely response to that-but it would be unwise to try. If you like the magazine, get others to subscribe, and if you have spare moolah throw it our way--an improvement in production values and starting a web-site are two immediate uses we could put your lottery winnings to ....

There is rather more analysis in this issue of areas beyond the far right, thus fulfilling the promise made in issue 1 that we I are not just going to cover that area. We are acutely aware there are vital issues hardly dealt with in either of the first two issues--Northern Ireland and Europe are the most glaring examples. It takes time and resources we don't possess at present to cover such items. Don't worry, we will get there: sooner rather than later with your help. As before, we appeal for information on topics we have covered and those you think we should. Newspaper articles continue to be something we will be pleased to receive, from whatever source. Most of the stories included speak for thernselves--althouqh given we found putting the magazine together an intense experience, I suggest you don't try and read it all at one sitting!

Given we live in troubled and uncertain times, those of us outside the parameters of the dominant ideological paradigm I find ourselves on a borderland between many different realms of experience. While this magazine is devoted to covering matters (para) political, there is the intention to speak of more profound things than mere politics. What know they of politics who only politics know, to paraphrase John Arlott. The title has fired the imaginations of some readers, one even got involved and wrote an article as a result. Another subscriber kindly sent methe following passage, which, although suffused by a scientific rationalism typical of the period, nonetheless hints at the something more we are seeking. To him go the last words ....

"We have actually touched the Borderland where Matter and Force seem to merge into one another, the shadowy realm between the Known and Unknown ... I venture to think that the greatest scientific problems of the future will find their solution in this Borderland, and even beyond; here, it seems to me, lie Ultimate Realities, subtle, far-reaching, wonderful"

Sir William Crookes (1879)

Contents:

MI5 & Domestic Subversion: Shayler and After

Did They Not Like That?

Karl Marx and Spies in the Workers Movement

Abolish the Border Controls of the Mind

The Party That Ended Early--LM/RCP

A Method of Inducing Mind Disturbance in Targets Practised by the British Permanent Government

Matthew Collins: another Searchlight/C18 provocateur

Again Plucking The White Rose:Yorkshire Revisited    Click here to read this article

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Parent Category: issues

Notes from the Borderland -- The First Decade

This article first appeared in NFB issue 8 (2007 p.27-29) and is a useful history of where we came from and the contents of each issue....We are happy to report (and this site proves it) we have now resolved the technical difficulties alluded to in point 5 of the conclusion below. Click here to read