The Anarchist Federation of Belarus (FAB) is a free union of anarchist groups and various libertarian  initiatives acting on the territory of Belarus. FAB was founded in August 1992 at the first Congress of Belarusian anarchists in Minsk. The main principles of FAB are pluralism of anarchist discussion and priority of practical anarchist activity.

SOME HISTORY
The present-day anarchist movement in Belarus started its development at the end of the 1980s – the beginning of the 1990s during the epoch of democratization and the breakdown of the Soviet totalitarian system. Anarchist groups began to appear in many cities trying to present their alternative to both the totalitarian past and capitalistic reforms carried out in the country. During the General strike in April 1991 in Belarus for the first the anarchists announced their existence by taking active part in the protests of workers in Minsk and Homel. Following events and the crash of the communist system encouraged Belarusian anarchists to the necessity of unification and coordination of their activities. In August 1992 the first Congress of Belarusian anarchists was conducted and there formed the Belarusian Federation of Anarchists (FAB) that was acclaimed to unite all anarchist and anti-authoritarian libertarian initiatives, which had appeared in different towns of the country, on principals of solidarity, autonomy and pluralism. Since 1993 the first Belarusian anarchist newspaper “Anarchy” started to be published that played a significant role in consolidation of the anarchist movement in Belarus.

FAB TODAY
During the period of its activities FAB united followers of quite different directions of anarchism: from supporters of anarcho-syndicalism to amateurs of alternative art. Being a free association, FAB was formed as a decentralized network of various autonomous groups and initiatives of different tendencies nevertheless keeping in touch with each other and conjunctly acting on behalf of FAB. Coordination of FAB’s tactic activities is performed by the Meeting of representatives of different groups on the initiative of one of the groups. Every year the Congress of FAB is carried out with participation of activists of all anarchist groups and initiatives. As a result the ambivalent structure of FAB was formed: from the one hand the federation includes regional anarchist groups and from the other hand – concrete initiatives of anarchists that act on the country scale. In spite of their ideological pluralism, the Belarusian anarchists represent the unity of fight against the State and Capitalism that has been carried out in different fields of the invisible front.

OUR ACTIVITIES
Activists of FAB have carried out a great number of actions that had deep resonance in Belarusian society: antifascist resistance, participation in strikes and protests of workers, organization of boycott campaigns against products of transnational corporations, demonstrations against wars in Chechnya and Iraq, ecological camps of protest, etc. Besides, Belarusian anarchists take active part in the movement of resistance to the authoritarian regime held by president Lukashenko in Belarus. All of these contributed to a significant growth of followers of anarchism in the whole country. The strongest, largest in number and most active groups are the ones in Minsk, Homel, and Hrodna. International cooperation of Belarusian anarchists with associates from other countries has been widened as well. Together with anarchists from Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia, etc. there organized a range of international actions: ecological camps, no border camps, and so on. Activists of FAB have also participated in international protests and anti-global actions.

Belarusian Social Action “RAZAM!” (Together!)
BSA Razam! was founded in 2001 and united both anarcho-syndicalists and other leftish and workers’ iniatives. Razam! carries out propaganda among the population against antisocial policy of the government, organizes protests. The newspapers “Razam!” (Hrodna) and “Ataka” (Homel) are published by the initiative.

Antifascist Action
AFA-Belarus started its formation at the end of the 1990s as reaction to the growth of violence in the streets undertaken by neonazi groups. Since 1997 the newspaper “Antyfaszyk” has been published becoming extremly popular among the youth, there were seminars on overcoming xenophobia in Belarusian society. AFA activists use the tactic of “direct action” against neonazis.

Anarchist Black Cross (Belarus)
The ABC-Belarus was formed in 2000-2001 and first it distributed information about those comrades who were imprisoned because of their activities and organized solidarity actions to support them. Besides, Belarusian anarchists are subjected to permanent repressions for their activities as well. During 2004 there were taken several institute proceedings against Belarusian anarchists. The ABC-Belarus has organized a campaign to collect means to render juridical assistance to comrades under investigation and to pay for lawyers' services. Moreover, it organizes seminars and publishes brochures to help those who are subjected to pressure from the side of internal security services and KGB (State Security Committee).

Radical Ecologist Initiative “Ekasupratsiu” (Ecoresistance)
Ekasupratsiu was founded at the end of the 1990s and united all radical ecological initiatives that acted in the country. Activists of the group have organized a range of successful campaigns, in particular capaigns against polution of the river Dnepr, building of the Belarusian Nuclear Station (near Mahileu), deforestation in preserved forests, etc.          

Feminist initiative «Rebellious Girls»
The group Rebellious Girls is an unregistered non-commercial non-government initiative aiming at deconstruction of stereotypes of men and women’s traditional social roles, help to basic women initiative, fight against discrimination on the basis of sex. The group was founded in December 2000 by women and it works primarily with women and for women. It was founded for development of political and social initiatives of young women, and to help women in reaching of real equality in the society. It publishes the youth feminist magazine “Wargazm”.

“Navinki” edition
The edition Navinki was founded in 1998 and became the first newspaper of political satire in Belarus that criticizes both the authoritarian regime and the democratic opposition. The initiative has turned into a creative group that in addition to the newspaper’s publication organizes happenings and concerts, has shot the first independent movie “It Happened to a Lad”, etc. In 2003 the officials made an attempt to close the newspaper, but today the illegal Navinki magazine is published.  As “Navinki Home Video” exists an indyvideo activity.

There are other anarchist initiatives. The alternative musical scene still has illegal status that led to the popularity of D.I.Y. movement propagandized by www.375crew.org, there are a lot of zines, the independent publishing initiative “A Revolutionary’s Manual”(www.anarchistory.boom.ru) that publishes anarchist literature. In Brest anarchists created the free theater “Svabodny Teatr”. Anti-militarist groups are actively developed.