Richard Lawson (activist)

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Richard Lawson is a British activist who has worked with several far-right groups. He was the Student Organiser for the British National Front and helped form the National Party after a 1976 split. In the mid-1980s he started IONA (Islands of North Atlantic), a group linked to the NF that aimed to study and promote the North Atlantic islands. IONA presented itself as an intellectual elite focused on British culture and the environment and was connected to the far-right magazine Scorpion. Lawson wrote for Scorpion and helped organise at least one conference. In 1989 he helped launch the Transeuropa Collective to discuss European identities, which published the Perspectives journal. Critics said Perspectives was anti-Semitic and tried to infiltrate the green movement. A review claimed Perspectives said “Green” but meant “White.” In 1995 he started Fluxeuropa, a cultural site about art, books, films and music that explored tension between tradition and modernity. He also worked with Alternative Green and, in 1997, Transeuropa launched Radical Shift, a magazine critics said aimed to undermine anti-racism and liberal democracy in favor of ethnic separation and nationalist ideas.