Remembering our dead 2: Dave Hann
From @ndy I am sad to learn that Dave Hann, co-author, with Steve Tilzey, of No Retreat: The Secret War between Britain’s Anti-fascists and the Far Right (Milo Books), died of cancer on September 29, 2009.
Dave, who I came into contact with a few times over the years but cannot claim to have known at all, was a controversial figure in the anti-fascist scene, and many criticisms have been made of the accuracy of some sections of No Retreat. But there is no doubt that Dave played a part in the anti-fascist movement in the Northwest and in the UK as a whole. I think that the core narrative told by No Retreat is a truthful one, and one that deserves to be told but is not really told elsewhere. His premature death is a great loss.
Dave was due to speak, despite his illness, at an event in Bristol earlier this month, and Louise posted this on the event's webpage:
Related reading: An interview with Hann and Tilzey. Steve Tilzey at the Battle of Lewisham. A brief history of AFA.
Dave, who I came into contact with a few times over the years but cannot claim to have known at all, was a controversial figure in the anti-fascist scene, and many criticisms have been made of the accuracy of some sections of No Retreat. But there is no doubt that Dave played a part in the anti-fascist movement in the Northwest and in the UK as a whole. I think that the core narrative told by No Retreat is a truthful one, and one that deserves to be told but is not really told elsewhere. His premature death is a great loss.
Dave was due to speak, despite his illness, at an event in Bristol earlier this month, and Louise posted this on the event's webpage:
Dave Hann was not able to participate in the Bristol Indymedia and Radical History Group 5th October meeting. He died a few days before, on 29th September, a committed anti-fascist fighter and community activist. With less than a week to live and already very ill, he helped advise a group that had gathered together to defend the Deghayes family, relatives of the former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Deghayes, who in their Saltdean home on the outskirts of Brighton, (where the BNP have mustered 10% of the vote) have faced a campaign of racist and religious abuse.She also goes on to respond to some of the rumours about him.
Related reading: An interview with Hann and Tilzey. Steve Tilzey at the Battle of Lewisham. A brief history of AFA.
Comments