The Anarchist Federation, formerly Anarchist Communist Federation, has now been going 20 years. We have written an open letter to enlist responses from people who we've worked with over the last decade and other people who we know, including Organise! readers. Get the knives (or fireworks) out!
The Anarchist Federation is marking its 20th year with an article in Organise! magazine looking at the last decade and we'd like to enlist the help of groups and individuals in and around the anarchist movement to make this an interactive piece!
A lot has happened within the anarchist movement in Britain in the last 10 years; the dissolving and reemergence of Class War Federation, the end of Subversion and launch of IWW UK. We changed our name from Anarchist Comunnist Federation, membership of the new AF has grown, and anarchism in general has made a strong mark in the environmental and wider anti-capitalist movements.
Amongst the anarchist movement's publications, Organise!, Direct Action and Black Flag continue to come out in magazine format, whilst Freedom has been revamped back to a fortnightly. The anarchist-influenced IWW is growing in numbers and offer a new magazine Bread & Roses. Anarchist publishers like AK Press, Freedom and KSL are producing excellent new written material. In 1998 the AF launched its monthly agitational bulletin Resistance, and our groups and individuals produce several local bulletins. We maintain a web-site and provide all our publications online for free.
In Britain (and also Ireland), the AF continues its participation in both community and workplace struggles. We worked in Groundswell (along with local groups like Haringay Solidarity) against the Job Seekers Allowance from 1996, and in 2006 continue to fight against repression within the Defy-ID network that is opposing "identity cards and the database state". We have worked to oppose closures of community facilities like swimming pools and local post offices. Some members work within Antifa against fascist organising, whilst others continue to support anarchist prisoners at home and abroad. We were also instrumental in setting up the Anarchist Youth Network. We struggle in our own workplaces as we extend solidarity to those in others. Amongst many workplace struggles we supported are the Liverpool Dockers and Gate Gourmet workers, and we are stepping up our organising with other comrades around the changes in schools and further/higher education.
The AF has continued to participate in the events of the anarchist and the wider anti-capitalist movement; from anarchist Maydays and bookfairs to film fairs; at RTS and Earth First! gatherings to those against the G8 (and earlier events like J18 and N30). Some of us are involved with the growing number of Social Centres and have supported the Rossport Solidarity Camp. We demonstrated and organised against the hideous wars escalated or initiated by our politicians and armed forces in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. Whatever the Left said at the time, its past decade in power has shown New Labour to be at least as bloodthirsty and repressive and pro-business as the Tories were under Thatcher.
The AF has built up its international presence through joining the International of Anarchist Federations (IFA-IAF) and in its current position as secretariat. Looking west we encouraged the formation of NEFAC in the USA. Looking east we have strengthened links with comrades in the former soviet bloc as they adjust to capitalist realities inside (and outside) the borders of the expanded European Union.
Over the last decade, we have worked with comrades and friends to build organisational capabilities that we hope will advance the anarchist communist project.We'd like to do it much more, and better, in the future. If we missed you or your group out from the above please note this short appeal was not intended to include everyone we'd like to hear from!
The 3 Questions ...
Additional comments are welcome.
The address for written replies is:
BM ANARFED, London, WC1N 3XX, England, UK.
Email: organise [at] afed.org.uk
Back issues of Organise! are online via Anarchist Federation website
Thanks,
The Anarchist Federation, October 2006