Economic Aspects of "Love"

[American Dream]

http://libcom.org/history/articles/afa- ... ist-action

1985-2001: A short history of Anti-Fascist Action (AFA)



A brief history of Anti-Fascist Action (AFA), which fought a secret war against the far right in Britain and drove them off the streets.

AFA was originally set up in 1985 as a broad front anti-fascist organisation. The main fascist organisation at this time, following the demise of the National Front after Thatcher took power in 1979, was the British National Party (BNP), a more extreme split from the NF. Militant physical force anti-fascism has a long tradition in Britain - going back to the 1930's, the 'Battle of Cable Street' and the 43 Group in London's East End, and it was in this tradition that AFA was formed.

The fascists
Wherever fascists were unopposed, they carried out campaigns of violence against ethnic minorities and working class organisations. Taking Liverpool as an example, the few attempts by the BNP or NF to hold public marches or meetings in the city centre during the 1980's had been smashed into the ground by a large turn out from locals - notably from the Liverpool black community [1]. This failure of big events, however, didn't stop the BNP selling papers openly in the town centre on a regular basis, unopposed. This also didn't stop them starting a campaign of violence against left wing targets - in particular against the bookshop 'News From Nowhere', run by a feminist collective. After a few almost-successful attempts to burn the bookshop down, the windows being smashed in on Saturday daytime attacks - probably after a paper sale - and fascists generally strutting into the bookshop to intimidate staff and customers as and when they pleased, it was obvious something had to be done. Other fascist attacks at the time included smashing the windows of the Wirral Trades Council (over the water from Liverpool). BNP local activity like this, coupled with racist and homophobic attacks, was typical in any area in Britain where they were left unchallenged.

AFA
AFA was launched in Liverpool in 1986. At that time, Militant (now the Socialist Party) was still the strongest working class group on the left. Neither they nor the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) were interested in being organisationally part of AFA, though both turned out in the event of fascist marches. From an early stage the main organisers of Liverpool AFA were associated with the local anarchist scene.

Liverpool AFA was mostly anarchist - but it was never an anarchist front or a recruiting tool, except by way of natural influence. Anyone who agreed with the 'physical and ideological opposition to fascism' could be involved, and many did. Links were made with trade unions, Jewish and other anti-racist groups, and meetings were held to attract wider participation. Anti-fascists at the two universities also set up AFA groups at this time - a process repeated several times as students came and went.

Within a year or so, the Liverpool BNP went from boasting about how the 'reds' were always beaten in Liverpool when they tried to force the BNP off the streets (according to confiscated copies of the 'British Nationalist'), to the effective collapse of the group. Years later, the BNP admitted in the Liverpool Echo that "they were driven underground by left wing extremists in the mid-80s" [Oct 1993]. This kind of effective shut-down of BNP groups - by any means necessary - was also typical of AFA in this period.

Re-organisation
Nationally, meanwhile, the original AFA had collapsed due to incompatible political differences. Local and Regional groups (like the Northern Network) however continued, and national call-outs still occurred using existing contacts. AFA was re- launched in London in 1989, and in 1992 a national meeting was held in London to sort out a new national structure. The re-launch of AFA was as a militant 'united front' - an alliance of different political tendencies - orientated towards the working class, to reclaim working class areas then claimed by fascists as their own. The class perspective was agreed because, first, fascists don't just play the race card - they address genuine fears of the white working class (unemployment, bad housing etc.) and their success was often based on disillusionment with so-called 'socialist' councils. This propaganda needed a class-based answer. Second, it wasn't enough to 'defend democracy' - if AFA didn't say the system needed to be smashed, that would leave fascism as the 'radical' alternative. Third, the aim of fascism is the utter destruction of working class power, and so only the working class have a stake in opposing it. AFA, it was agreed, wasn't interested in 'allies' that were part of the problem such as corrupt councillors. Links, it was agreed, would continue to be made with black and asian communities under attack, but AFA propaganda should be mainly aimed at the communities where fascists themselves aimed to recruit [2].

Organisationally, it was agreed that AFA would be a decentralised federation based on a regional structure - building from the existing regions of London AFA and the Northern Network. The only national structure was to be a national coordinating committee of two delegates per region, to meet as and when needed, with no powers to make policy (or certainly to impose policy - some minor national decisions did have to be made over these years, but these were non-controversial).

London AFA at that time was mostly run by the Marxist Red Action - in alliance with elements of the anarcho-syndicalist Direct Action Movement (DAM)[3], and the Trotskyist Workers Power. There were also non-aligned independents - anarchists and other socialists - involved.

The Northern Network (originally the Northern Anti-Fascist Network) was a looser federation of Northern AFA groups - Bolton, Liverpool, Manchester , Leeds, South Yorks, Tyne and Wear, Preston , and others. Tyne and Wear were actually a Council-funded body set up before AFA. Of the rest, Manchester were run mainly by Red Action (probably the strongest Red Action branch outside of London); a few groups - like York - would probably be best described as "non-aligned" independents. The rest were mainly organised by anarchists - sometimes in the DAM, sometimes not. The DAM didn't officially prioritise anti-fascism - many or most of the DAM were trade union activists or shop stewards - though some anarchist groups definitely prioritised the anti-fascist fight more than others.

Zenith
AFA at its height consisted of far more than its activist core, and far more than just its street fighters. AFA activism involved public speaking, magazine and pamphlet production, organising fund-raisers (gigs, carnivals), etc. A lot of people put time and effort into AFA-related activities who agreed with the aims, but weren't particularly involved organisationally or in going to meetings. At this time there was a working - and productive - relationship between the anti-fascist magazine 'Searchlight' and AFA, partly because AFA was the only game in town.

At a regional and national level, AFA actions were mainly based around countering known - or intelligence-indicated - fascist mobilisations. Remembrance Sunday in London was the first national focus point in 1986 - the National Front having made a point of marching to the Cenotaph on the day, then attacking left wing targets - notably the anti-Apartheid picket outside the South African Embassy. These militant AFA mobilisations had the desired effect - the fascists were stopped. In the North, meanwhile, the Northern Network mobilised against the BNP's Remembrance Sunday meetings at Clifford's Tower, York. The BNP chose Clifford's Tower as it was the site where many of York's Jewish community were burned to death in the middle ages. Some of these early AFA mobilisations to York were relatively open, and quite large. In 1988, for instance, Liverpool AFA took a full coach and minibus - over 80 people - to the event, though on that occasion they were stopped on the outskirts of York and escorted all the way back to Liverpool by the police (the same happened to a coach from Newcastle). Echoes of police tactics in the Miner's Strike of 1984-85… Later mobilisations tended to use just mini-buses. Again, after a few years, AFA tactics were successful.

Remembrance Sunday was only one day - many other AFA mobilisations occurred, in many parts of the country, over these years. This was especially so as new AFA groups were formed and new AFA Regions were organised[4]. Tactics evolved and were constantly under review. A typical 'event' in the North would involve a call-out after intelligence indicated fascist activity – e.g. a BNP election leafleting would be taking place (mobilisations weren't just about marches). AFA would meet, send out scouts, and act according to intelligence gathered on the day. Sometimes AFA leafleting of estates was not just to counter fascist propaganda, but also to provide a legal excuse for being there. As time went on, in the Northern Network (London AFA operated very differently), each local group elected a delegate during mobilisations. Delegates from each group got together on the day and coordinated events. Usually, but not always, the unofficial 'chief steward' was the one in whose backyard the nazi mobilisation had occurred. Coordination was more based on informal working relationships and trust rather than any official positions, and once the fascists were located, what happened next had more to do with personal initiative and 'bottle' than a 'commander'.


AFA take on Blood and Honour in Hyde Park, 1989

The main national public AFA events over these years are worth outlining:

In London, Blood and Honour - the nazi record label and music front - was beaten off the streets in 1989 when they tried to organise publicly. In 1991 an AFA Unity Carnival in London - attended by 10,000 in September - was followed on Remembrance Sunday by a 4,000 strong confrontational 'National Demonstration Against Racist Attacks' through the East End. From reacting to the fascists, AFA was seizing the initiative. This was the biggest anti-fascist demo in years - AFA seemed on the verge of some kind of breakthrough.

Instead, seeing the way the wind was blowing, within months the SWP had re-launched the Anti-Nazi League (a very different animal to the original militant ANL of the 1970's [5]), Militant launched Youth Against Racism in Europe, and Black Nationalists in the Labour Party launched the Anti-Racist Alliance 6]. The end result of this was that, while these new organisations brought in new faces, anti-fascist unity had suddenly become a competitive market place, with organisations which were better funded, and better-connected in terms of media publicity than AFA. AFA did continue to help organise and provide stewards for specific broader anti-racist marches - such as the 1992 'National Demonstration Against Racist Murders' [7] - but there were no more AFA marches. By 1993, in big national anti-fascist marches, like the marches to the BNP headquarters in Welling, organised by all the 'big names' - the biggest being of 40,000 in September 1993 - AFA activists either organised separately to track down any BNP groups ( e.g. London) or joined the march (e.g. Liverpool). AFA carnivals did still continue. A rained-on Unity Carnival in London in September 1992 provided a useful recruiting ground for the 'Battle of Waterloo' a week later - when Blood and Honour were smashed off the streets again, by over 1,000 anti-fascists organised around AFA. The last big AFA carnival was in Newcastle in June 1993, with 10,000 taking part. In London, in January 1994, an AFA national mobilisation humiliated another attempt by neo-nazis to go public - this time by paramilitary group Combat 18[8].

Other areas AFA was involved in included Cable Street Beat - inspired by the Rock Against Racism of the original (1970's) ANL, to promote anti-fascism through music. Freedom of Movement was set up later - based in Manchester - to further this idea in the clubbing scene. Other AFA campaigns were launched to promote anti-fascism at football grounds - starting with Leeds, and later Newcastle, Manchester, Glasgow , etc. A national AFA magazine - 'Fighting Talk' - was produced, and the AFA profile was also raised by a BBC 'Open Space' programme about the group.

Breakdown of the united front
The 'united front' where activists worked together started to break down as the 1990s progressed.

The relationship with Searchlight started to turn sour. Anarchists had not trusted Searchlight since at least the early 1980's - when articles in anarchist papers examined Searchlight's then editor Gerry Gable's links with Special Branch (alleging a 'something for something' relationship – i.e. Searchlight would give details to the State, and not just about fascists)[9]. In 1993 Searchlight ran a smear campaign against anarchists - in particular against specific DAM and Class War members - alleging they were really fascists. This probably wasn't a coincidence now there were alternatives to AFA to back. From the mid-1990's Red Action - who had previously had a very close relationship with Searchlight - began more and more to take the line that association with Searchlight was becoming a liability - with Searchlight increasingly providing misinformation and trying to manipulate AFA for its own agenda [10].

Relationships between Red Action and anarchists also began to break down. In London , state interest in Red Action at this time seemed more than just paranoia, and anarchists were obviously being kept out of the loop. Workers Power left for the ANL, many independents left, and, increasingly, London AFA was moving from an alliance run mainly by Red Action, to one consisting more or less exclusively of Red Action.

In Glasgow - around late 1992 - relationships between anarchists and Glasgow Red Action deteriorated to the extent that anarchists felt compelled to organise a separate meeting. At least two anarchists leaving the meeting were physically attacked by Red Action members. One of the organisers of the meeting - a committed anti-fascist of long standing - was later falsely smeared as a police grass in Red Action's paper 'Red Action' [11].

The main contribution to the united front breaking down, however, became the pushing of a new Red Action strategy: creating a new political party - the Independent Working Class Association (IWCA) - around 1995. The IWCA didn't come from nowhere. A turning point, as far as London Red Action goes, was the election of a BNP councillor - Derek Beacon - in the Isle of Dogs, London, in 1993. As was said at the time, London AFA felt they had nothing to offer people apart form 'don't vote BNP', which in the circumstances, Red Action felt, could only have meant vote Labour or Liberal Democrat - the very people who'd helped create the housing problems in the Isle of Dogs in the first place. Red Action had always been a strong supporter of the Irish Republican movement - and the move of Republicans from the armed struggle towards community organising, and the electoral success of Sinn Fein, may well have also played a role in the re-thinking of Red Action's strategy.

When Red Action started pushing forward the idea of the IWCA, articles were written, circulars sent out, and a meeting held in the North in late 1995 where London Red Action put forward their case. The argument was basically 'if not us, who?' was to fill the political vacuum created on the left by Labour abandoning the working class on the one hand, and AFA's success in beating the fascists on the right. The BNP were moving from the 'battle of the streets' (which they'd lost) to a EuroNationalist/community activist [12] strategy. AFA, it was stated, would have to adapt. This wasn't billed as a decision-making meeting. No vote was taken, but from then on Red Action argued that there was a 'mandate' - that there was a 'consensus' in AFA to officially back the IWCA - despite the Northern Network voting against official backing[13]. This position was backed by London's control of 'Fighting Talk' [14].


AFA graphic of the celtic cross - logo of Blood & Honour, being smashed

As was said at the time, many AFA activists already had wider political commitments and they argued that why should a united front organisation like AFA prioritise any particular working class party in an election? After all, AFA was open for SLP and other party supporters to join - and many AFA activists were against electoralism as a strategy anyway. The IWCA down-playing of the workplace as an area of struggle also came at the time when 500 Liverpool Dockers had been locked out and solidarity actions were occurring all over the world (most notably among USA longshoremen and in Australia) during a struggle lasting over 2 years.

The IWCA was being pushed as a way to stop AFA stagnating as the BNP abandoned the battle for the streets. In reality, the struggle for the party political line alienated much of the AFA core and periphery - in undermining the united front it became a factor in the decline it was stated to prevent.

Decline
After 1995, some anti-fascist mobilisations did still occur i e.g. against the NF in Dover in 1997 and 1998. Internally, a new AFA National Coordinating Committee was set up in 1997. From the way this was used it is clear that this Committee actually had powers - a far cry from the old national committee – an indication of how few anarchists were still involved organisationally, and how far the Northern Network had declined. In 1997 an AFA statement officially banned members from associating with Searchlight - and, in 1998, Leeds and Huddersfield AFA were expelled by the new Committee, officially for ignoring this policy. Expulsions didn't stop the decline. There were some local re-launches – e.g. Liverpool in 2000. But by 2001 - though probably a long time before - AFA as a national organisation hardly existed.

Some argued that unless AFA adapted to the new BNP strategy, AFA would 'atrophy' and wither. AFA was geared for confrontation. Without confrontation AFA - as it then was - would have no reason to exist. Some believe its demise was hastened by the creation of the IWCA which diverted some AFA time and resources. But there were definitely other factors. Key ones included:

- the police cottoning on to AFA tactics
- 'competition' from more high-profile anti-fascist groups
- the lack of intelligence following the break with Searchlight
- street fight, arrests and injuries from the war of attrition and a ageing activists with increasing family commitments taking their toll as the income of new members slowed.

Offshoots
Some former elements from AFA regrouped to form militant anti-fascist group No Platform in 2002 and others later in Antifa in 2004. Antifa, largely dominated by anarchists, has imitated AFA's stance of physical and ideological confrontation with fascists and has a policy of non-co-operation with Searchlight or any other state-linked agencies. The IWCA continues to run for election in certain areas and has a small number of councillors.


The bulk of this text was from an article, Anti-Fascist Action - an Anarchist perspective, by an ex-Liverpool and Northern Network AFA member written in February 2005 for Black Flag magazine. It mostly took a Northern angle and was run past other ex-AFA members - from Liverpool and elsewhere - to cross-check the facts and provide feedback. The text was heavily edited by libcom.org in 2006 to shorten it, remove the first-person writing style, remove some analysis and opinion and remove some footnotes. The Offshoots section was also added. The original article will soon be available in the libcom.org library.

Footnotes
1. Eg attempted fascist meetings in the Adelphi Hotel and St. George's Hotel.
2. Information taken from the Liverpool AFA minutes of the national meeting - these were a lot more detailed than the official minutes.
3. DAM abolished itself and launched the Solidarity Federation in 1994 - the aim being to build a class organisation based on anarcho-syndicalist principles - based on industrial and community networks - rather than being just a political grouping of anarcho-syndicalists (see http://www.direct-action.org.uk/ ). Not all DAM members - including some of the most active anti- fascists - joined the new organisation.

For a brief overview of some of the events in London AFA during these years, from a DAM member's perspective, see the pamphlet "Bash the Fash - Anti-Fascist Recollections 1984-93", K.Bullstreet. Published by Kate Sharpley Library, BM Hurricane London, WC1N 3XX.
4. Scotland existed as a Region probably since 1993. In 1994 the Midlands Region was launched and moves were begun to launch a Southern Region. The AFA public contact list in 1996 (as shown in Fighting Talk) had 12 groups listed in the North, 12 in the South (including London), 4 in the Midlands, 3 in Scotland, and 1 in Wales. There were quite a number of groups not in the list – e.g. Doncaster, Chesterfield, and Mansfield. Groups also varied in terms of numbers and resources, and were often contacts for a much wider area (i.e. you really need to know the background) but this still gives a rough idea about where AFA's strength lay at this time.
5. For a comparison of the old and new ANL, see "The Anti-Nazi League A Critical Examination 1977-81/2 and 1992-95". Originally published by the Colin Roach Centre in 1996, it can be read at http://www.red-star-research.org.uk/rpm/anl.html .
6. 'Black Nationalist' meaning that, according to ARA, racism could only be fought under Black leadership. Where this left Asian or Chinese members for example wasn't mentioned…
7. November 1992, Eltham, London. The march was held under the banner of the 'Rohit Duggal Family Campaign'. 16 year old Rohit Duggal was murdered in July 1992 in a racist attack.
8. Some people called this 'Waterloo 2' - though it wasn't anywhere near as public. Combat 18 (18 standing for AH i as in Adolf Hitler) was the short-lived organisation of nazi 'hard men' and would-be terrorists designed to take on AFA and others, and used to provide security for the BNP. C18 eventually disintegrated. The history of C18 is quite convoluted and bizarre, so will not be explained in detail here.
9. Various articles in anarchist papers and magazines. Also New Statesman, 15.02.1980.
10. See various articles on the Red Action web site www.redaction.org. Also various 'Fighting Talk's. Whatever the reasons, it's clear there was a breakdown in the Searchlight-Red Action relationship.
11. Information re-confirmed recently [2004] by a then member of Glasgow DAM, and by a contact in Liverpool. Looking back, the Glasgow Red Action attack on anarchists wasn't really dealt with properly - either within AFA or the wider anarchist movement. As it was, the incident caused a lot of bad blood nationally, but AFA held together.
12. "EuroNationalist" meaning a strategy similar to Le Pen's National Front in France - rather than a 'march and grow' storm trooper traditional nazi approach. 'March and grow' in Britain had by now become a lot closer to 'march and die'.
13. Liverpool AFA sent out a statement nationally - soon after London Red Action's meeting, arguing against AFA becoming the physical wing or part of any political party or organisation. This statement was provisionally adopted at the next Northern Network meeting, pending further debate.
14. Fighting Talk (Nov 1995) stated that the Northern Network supported the IWCA, and printed an IWCA recruitment article. This was never updated. AFA groups were sent IWCA leaflets with 'AFA' on as sponsors. To keep things brief - the way things happened could, perhaps, have been due to a genuine misunderstanding of how the Northern Network operated. It came across as railroading - to put it mildly. It could certainly have been handled better.
15. There's some background information on this in "The Labour Party, Marxism and Liverpool": http://prome.snu.ac.kr/~skkim/data/arti ... rpool.html

More information
No Retreat: The secret war between Britain's Anti-Fascists and the Far Right. Dave Hann and Steve Tilzey.Milo Books.

[American Dream]

Sadness and Devastation in Sea Gate

By Hunter Walker 10/31 11:37pm



Angelo Deangelis has lived in Sea Gate, a gated beachside community on the southwestern tip of Brooklyn, with his family for 31 years since immigrating to the United States from Italy. On Monday night, when Hurricane Sandy hit New York, he planned to stay in his home facing the beach and weather the storm. About twenty minutes before the wind and flooding that battered the neighborhood reached its peak, waters began to surround his home and Mr. Deangelis realized the hurricane was worse than anything he had expected. He went to his sister’s house nearby.

“The waves they were hitting my boarded up veranda and the water was coming up from the front of the house and, on the third shot, I went down, I shut the electricity and I just went by my sister’s on Laurel Avenue,” Mr. Deangelis told Politicker today.

Though he abandoned his home, Mr. Deangelis left a webcam filming as the waters overtook his house. He and his family watched live as their house was destroyed.

“You know, 31 years in the house, and 31 years in this country and all of it is gone,” he explained as he stood in front of the home, which had a red sticker on the door declaring it “unsafe” to enter and in danger of collapse.

Sea Gate was one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by the storm. Mr. Deangelis said he never experienced weather that made him question whether to remain in the community until now.

“We had five storms. The last four storms; we had the storm in ’86, Gloria, ’91 was Hugo, then we had another one, I forgot it’s name and we had Irene last. But none of them give me any bad thoughts about it, this one, it did.”

Still, Mr. Deangelis said he wants to return to his home in Sea Gate.

“I hope so. Me personally, I put a lot of work into this house,” said Mr. Deangelis. “It’s a lot of money involved, plus I’m Italian, a lot of good construction, good material. And then, my wife also, it was a lot of rememberings, a lot of–our whole fortune is there and it’s gone. We got stuff in there that we can’t get it. We can’t get to it and my wife is just so upset. We don’t know what to do.”

Along with the destruction of their house, Mr. Deangelis’ daughter said they were worried about conditions in the neighborhood as the family remained in her aunt’s home.

“There’s dead cats everywhere,” she said. “Sea Gate had a lot of cats.”

We didn’t see any feline corpses when we walked through the community this afternoon, but the situation was certainly grim. Aside from the destroyed homes, the neighborhood was without power and filled with debris, damaged cars that had been moved by the waters and downed trees. At the entrance to Sea Gate, cabanas from the neighborhood’s private beach club were tossed around throughout the area. Amid the debris we also encountered many saddened residents.

Howie and Felicia Mendelsohn said they lived three blocks away from the beach, but their basement, garage and cars were still destroyed. Ms. Mendelsohn said many Sea Gate denizens were considering leaving the community to avoid future storms.

“Now people are talking about moving out. How do you rebuild, and then, when this happens again?” her voice trailed off. “This is heartbreaking. I’m crying all through this.”

Barbara Garofalo, a lifelong Sea Gate resident, was standing in front of the community’s chapel, which police officers were using as a temporary headquarters. She said she lost the “bottom level” of her home.

“We’re all in cleanup mode trying to–we cry and just, thankfully were all here,” said Ms. Garofalo. “We all took people in in our homes and we’re working it like that. … We’re neighbors. We’re a tight-knit community. Family, that’s what we are.”

Though Ms. Garofalo was optimistic the people of Sea Gate would help each other recover, she said she would like the government to do more to protect the community from another disaster.

“We’re going to survive, we’re going to build up again and hope, you know, that the federal government helps us with the … sea walls we need,” she said. “The homeowners at this point can’t do it their own anymore. We need federal government to help us put up a sea wall, or else we get a bad storm again, or not even, we get high tides, it’s coming right over again. We have nothing to protect us.”

Ms. Garofalo explained “individual homes” in the neighborhood have their own walls. In 2008, the Army Corps of Engineers received $9 million in funding to build “t-groins,” rock jetties that protect the beach. However, Ms. Garofalo said the jetties have yet to be built.

“They have the money in process, but they haven’t started it yet,” said Ms. Garofalo. “It would have helped us somewhat is my personal opinion. Maybe we would have had water damage, but maybe would have–could have saved the homes. Every home on the beach is gone. It breaks my heart.”

Though many of the houses in Sea Gate were destroyed, there was one bit of good news among the destruction in the community. After touring the devastation, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn told us police informed her there were “no fatalities in Sea Gate.”

Click our slideshow to see pictures of the situation in Sea Gate.

http://politicker.com/2012/10/sea-gate/

[American Dream]

http://www.justseeds.org/pete_yahnke_ra ... imeis.html

[American Dream]

http://libcom.org/library/anarchist-fed ... uggle-2012

The Anarchist Federation: In thought and struggle



Published in the Summer of 2012 in the AF's magazine Organise!, issue 78, this article outlines the politics of the AF with an historical perspective.


The AF has its roots in a number of small anarchist groupings active in the 1970s. In addition, the founding members were inspired by the rich anarchist tradition on the Continent, especially France. Taking what we thought was best from the past and from abroad, the goal was to create an anarchist communist organisation, firmly based on the class struggle or ‘social anarchist’ tradition.

The project received crucial impetus with the bringing on board of the innovative magazine Virus. The Anarchist Communist Discussion Group was then launched at the Anarchist Bookfair in October 1985. We received remarkable interest in our project and by April 1986, there was enough stability to formalise the organisation into the Anarchist Communist Federation. Although there is some historic continuity with earlier anarchist groups in Britain, the federation was mainly a new phenomenon, drawing on people new to anarchism in the 1980s. We started out with a set of aims and principles, which remain largely intact, but there has still been considerable development in our politics, as new people join and offer new perspectives, and as we develop our ideas in the course of what is going on in the class struggle itself. In the late 90s we changed our name to the Anarchist Federation, not because we had changed our politics, but for pragmatic reasons.

The central plank of our principles, like all anarchist organisations, is the recognition of the need to bring an end to capitalism in all its varieties as well as the state, which can never be used as a vehicle to properly transform society. In addition, we believe that these objectives can only come about through a social revolution, where the working class organises itself to overthrow the system both ideologically and physically. Our definition of the working class is broad, reflecting the fact that capitalism has undergone significant changes. A social revolution can only come about as a result of the will of the vast majority of the population, including office and shop workers, public sector employees, the unwaged, women working in the home, children and retired people, as well as the traditional industrial workers. Anarchism is not about individuals changing their lifestyle and hoping capitalism will go away, but is about individuals changing themselves and being changed as part of a general social struggle.

But we never fetishise or glamourise violence, recognising that the use of violence can brutalize, being a ‘blunt instrument’, can lead inadvertently to working-class casualties, and can produce new hierarchies. The revolution will primarily come about through non-military means, as we develop our power through a variety of social, economic, political and cultural forms of resistance. It is to this end that we work. Nevertheless, we realise that physical confrontation with the state it is unavoidable; it will not go quietly but will defend property. Therefore we do not hold pacifism to be a point of principle.

Exploitation and oppression take many forms and extend into all parts of our lives. One important principle of the AF is that it is not just class exploitation and oppression that needs to be abolished. Although we are a ‘class struggle’ organisation, this struggle is social and personal, as well as economic. Therefore, we argue that anarchists must fight on a number of other ‘fronts’. For example, we believe that the oppression of women pre-dates capitalism and will not automatically disappear with its end. Sexism permeates the working class and also the anarchist movement and it will require particular struggles to rid ourselves of this legacy. At the same time, we do not see struggles against sexism as totally separate from those against the overall system of hierarchy and oppression. Recently, the women’s movement has been in decline and this is reflected in the lack of focus on specifically anti-sexist struggles in our propaganda and our activities. This is something we are trying to deal with - how not to be gender-blind in our analysis of the working class and the class struggle. We also recognise that there may be instances where women will need to organise as independently in order to develop ideas and confidence, and we applaud those initiatives aimed at developing anarcho-feminism. However, we do not support ‘cross-class’ alliances, which end up benefiting mainly middle class women. For example, ‘equal opportunities’ policies have largely meant that women have equal opportunities to become bosses and managers, politicians or media personalities.

The Anarchist Federation has also been in the forefront of developing revolutionary perspectives and practice within struggles around sexuality and gender identity, confronting any bourgeois domination of Lesbian- Gay-Bi-Transgender-Queer movements and routinely confronting capitalism at Pride events. Because woman and LGBTQ people at times need to organise in our own interests, or for mutual support even within the anarchist movement, the AF has its own women’s and LGBTQ caucuses.

The social revolution must bring an end to all forms of prejudice, therefore racism too needs to be combated within the working class itself. We have seen a growth in racism for a variety of reasons. Misplaced fears against economic migration and ‘false’ claims to asylum, and hysterical responses to 9/11 and 7/7 compound the problems of decades-old ingrained post-colonial racist cultures. As such, much of our propaganda and activity has been directed at building anarchist resistance to racism and fascism, on the streets where necessary. But there we refuse ‘unholy’ alliances with reactionary religious groups. Nevertheless, like the rest of the British anarchist movement we have had limited success in attracting members from the full spectrum of ethnic backgrounds. We recognise that suspicion of the motives of opportunist left-wing political organisations plays a part in this. As with women and LGBTQ people, people of colour may need to organise themselves even within revolutionary organisations. We consider that our practice and propaganda play some role in correctly analysing, undermining and confronting racism nonetheless. We hope that our practice, in the workplace and community, will help divisions within the working class to be overcome.

We also recognise the special forms of oppression and discrimination experienced by people because of our age or our mental or physical ability. Unlike capitalists, anarchists do not value people on the basis of their economic contribution and exploitability as paid workers. Where such groups are dependent on the welfare state, our activity as anarchists in our own defence economically in the current period will be vital in spreading confidence and direct action amongst us. But discrimination runs deeper than economics. Anarchists must not perpetuate the stereotypes we receive, from the media for example, about elderly or disabled people, anymore than we do about different races, genders and sexualities. We work towards insults in this sense being confronted just as much as homophobia, racism and sexism. Indeed, anarchists must never turn a blind eye to any kind of domination and should be prepared to combat signs of discrimination at all levels. However, we do not believe that we should be calling on the State for help. Prejudice and reactionary practices will only disappear through activity and struggle, enabling people to change in their core, not just on the surface.

In terms of the workplace, the nature of Trade Unionism in Britain has posed many problems for us when trying to decide on a workplace strategy. The unions are not only reformist but are often totally implicated in the exploitation of the working class. Our experience led us to adopt what some may call an ‘anti-union’ position. We argue that people should not take up paid positions in the union and that in many cases there is no point in even being a member of a union. There is no point in trying to ‘democratise’ the unions or try and make them more combative. It is in their nature to negotiate with capitalism, not to undermine it seriously. They cannot be reformed. This position has caused some difficulties because as most workplace activity takes place within the context of the official union, what do we actually do? We have argued that we should be trying to organise informal groups of militant workers, whether they be union members or not. The aim is not to establish an alternative union structure, which would only end up becoming another reformist union, but to be a source of revolutionary propaganda and a catalyst for action. In practice, our members take a very pragmatic approach to organising in the workplace. Members adopt whatever strategy seems most effective for furthering struggle and resisting exploitation. Though we do not advocate anarcho-syndicalism as an overall strategy, we agree with the formation of structures which group anarchists as workers or across industries, in order to further anarchist influence in economic struggles. Several of our members are also members of the Industrial Workers of the World or the Solidarity Federation- IWA. The main principle of all our workplace activity is to build up effective, revolutionary, non-hierarchical forms of organisation, whatever name is given to them.

Just as important is another ‘front’ of which we fight: the community. We are aware that community in the ‘traditional’ or idealised sense does not really exist. But there are issues that affect localities where people live. These issues include transport, provision of public services and the effect of the environment on health. Though these issues can be raised in a workplace context, effective action requires a broader organisational base, incorporating people as both producers and consumers. The locality is also the context in which we engage in anti-fascist, environmental, welfare, anti-war and anti-religion campaigns. Though members will raise these issues at work, we stress the importance of organising local actions and distributing propaganda at the community level- on the streets, in public meetings and through direct action. Members work with other class-struggle or social anarchists to set up local groups with the aim of raising awareness of anarchist ideas amongst the wider working class and initiating action in our defence or to further goals common within our communities.

Finally, we have a strong internationalist perspective and are particularly critical of national liberation movements and ideologies. There can be no ‘better’ government, however representative it is of the peoples it governs. The only way we can achieve true liberation is through internationalism, which refuses to choose between oppressors. History has shown that the ‘lesser of the two evils’ soon turns out to be just as ‘evil’. Meanwhile, you have abandoned your own principles and weakened your own movement. Our members in Ireland have pioneered, in very difficult conditions, an anarchism that refuses to take sides with either nationalism. It is only by building up the international anarchist movement that we can effectively challenge all oppressors, and therefore we are active members of the International of Anarchist Federations and have played a role in enabling the formation of social anarchist federations in other countries.

Organisation

We are organised on federalist lines, which means we are a federation of individuals and groups with no central political apparatus. This does not mean that we have no decision-making structure. Not to have a formal structure usually leads to informal leadership cliques with more influence than other members. We have one national conference and three national delegate meetings a year, which take decisions on our general orientation, strategy and action. However, these decisions are reached through extended discussion in our Internal Bulletin and on our internal on-line forum. We use ‘direct democracy’, in that members of local groups take their group’s opinions to meetings, as opposed to ‘representing’ them and having individual power. Local delegates and nationally appointed officers are therefore functionaries, with no power to operate outside their mandate. They are recalled if they either overstep this or fail to carry out what they have been tasked with. It is very rare that we have anything that is not generally agreed after discussion. We aim for consensus in decisionmaking, but we do not fetishise it. If a consensus cannot be agreed upon and we feel that a decision must be reached nonetheless, then we can move to a vote. The decision must be based on a two-thirds majority. This is to ensure that we are moving forward as an organisation. If we do vote on anything, the vote is first open to any member to register a negative vote. If the decision is still made, then groups and/or individuals are still free to not implement the decision as long as they do not seek to undermine the organisation.

One of our central concerns is, therefore, how to ensure maximum participation of all members and how to avoid formal and informal hierarchies. After all, it is our experiences that will provide the basis for alternative ways of organising society. We do not always succeed in achieving the standards of participation that we aspire to. However, we are continually reviewing our practice. Though the structures and mechanisms for participation may be in place, we recognise that there are many individual reasons why some are more dominant than others, related to issues of confidence, age, experience, gender and educational background. Therefore it is not enough just to say that the organisation is non-hierarchical. It is necessary to actively encourage participation, through rotation of tasks, involving individuals in small groups and commission work and helping to build confidence through workshops and educationals.

We are an organisation of activists and propagandists for anarchy. We publish and distribute a bi-annual magazine, Organise! and a monthly free bulletin, Resistance . We also produce a range of pamphlets, posters and stickers. The aim of our propaganda is primarily to spread anarchist ideas throughout all sections of the working class. However, Organise! is aimed more at those who are politicised to a greater extent and therefore focuses on new analysis, debates and theory that will provoke discussion in the anarchist and wider political movement. In addition to distributing propaganda, individual members are engaged in a wide variety of activities, in the workplace, in local anarchist or anti-authoritarian groups, in universities and colleges, in campaigns and actions against the war, around environmental issues, supporting asylum seekers, and challenging reactionary ideas of religious fanatics and fascists, on the streets where necessary. But how do we differ from other anarchists?

The anarchist movement has grown in numbers and in influence over the past decade. People have been attracted to anarchism for a variety of reasons and therefore it is a diverse movement, both in terms of ideas and practices. This diversity can be a positive feature of the movement, and the AF recognises that we do not have a monopoly of ‘truth’ on what anarchism should be. However, there are several principles that we take to be vital, and feel that it is only our organisation that groups all of these principles together. We have outlined these principles in this text, but we will now discuss briefly why exist as a distinctive organisation.

1. Organisation

Not all anarchists put the same stress as we do on formal organisation, at both the national and international organisation. Though strong local groups and initiatives are the basis of an effective national organisation, co-ordination and sharing of ideas must happen on the widest level if the working class is ever to organise a revolution. In addition, this organisation must be permanent in the sense that it continues to exist and be active regardless of what big events may be taking place or how active particular individuals are (although the Revolution itself would of course make the AF’s existence redundant, which is just one way in which we differ from authoritarian communists). We need an organisation that can continue to exist, regardless of whether some individuals drop out or become less active. For similar reasons we need to be sceptical of investing too much time and effort in ‘networks’, which come and go, as well as having a tendency to operate with informal hierarchies. However, although influenced by Platformism and not opposed to Platformism per se, we do not go so far as some contemporary Platformists; that is to say, down the route of focussing decision-making and organisational discipline at the centre, which we consider by-passes the legitimate autonomy of local groups to act as they wish within the Aims and Principles.

2. Anarchist Communism

We are part of the anarchist tradition sometimes referred to as anarchist communism. That is to say, we seek the abolition of the state and also of money and private property. We strive for complete freedom and complete equality simultaneously. We believe in the importance of building a political organisation that is based on the working class (in the broadest sense), and which is active on a number of fronts. This is what distinguishes us from anarchosyndicalism. Though we are part of the same social anarchist tradition (anarchist communists and anarchosyndicalists are likely to be in the same organisation in countries like Spain, France and Italy), we emphasise different tactics and strategies. For us, building an anarcho-syndicalist union can only ever form one prong of an overall strategy and even then has to be adapted to specific contexts in line with revolutionary anarchist principles. This is why the AF exists separately from the Solidarity Federation.

Anarchist communism also rejects other forms of anarchism such as green anarchism or ‘life-stylism’. Though concern for the environment is a key part of our politics, it does not take priority over any other issue. We welcome the fact that people refuse to conform to bourgeois codes but a revolution will not come about by dressing differently or living in squats. In any case, historical experience has shown that these alternative lifestyles are short-lived, with many soon dropping out and/ or becoming key members of the establishment. Anarchism is something to be maintained in all stages of life, even if the anarchist holds down a job, has children, or takes out a mortgage. Anarchists, after all, should be part of the working class, not in their own ghetto of alternative ‘activists’. That doesn’t mean, however, that anarchists should seek to adopt some stereotyped working class image. The anarchist movement should contain a diverse range of people, not conforming to any stereotype. What matters are one’s ideas, practice and commitment. Similarly, we reject insurrectionism as a strategy to achieve anarchism. Individuals may become frustrated at our inability to strike effectively against our oppressors, but unfortunately there are no shortcuts. It is the everyday organising and struggle that forms the basis for all the more obvious revolutionary moments.

Individual ‘heroics’ can never be a substitute for mass action. In addition, individual acts of violence are usually counterproductive, bringing down repression on a movement not yet strong enough to defend itself. As the Italian Anarchist Federation declared after being mistakenly associated with a recent letter bomb- ‘Anarchism cannot be delivered through a letter box’. However, there may be circumstances where violent actions are justified, but only when the actions are directly linked and supported by a wider movement. We must be to develop an anarchist presence within the working class both in the workplace and the locality. The future for anarchism and for the planet lies in anarchism being taken up by a wide variety of working class people in their everyday struggles.

3. Building the Movement

The AF will support and work with any individual or group who shares the general aim of creating an anarchist society that is economically egalitarian. We have our distinctive perspective on how to bring this aim about, a perspective that is part of a long tradition, and will continue to argue for this perspective to be the basis for the building of a strong and effective anarchist movement. However, we also recognise that if this tradition is not to become a historical relic, it must be continually enriched by new ideas and practices.

We hope that British anarchism will grow into an effective and influential movement within the working class, bringing together a wide variety of occupations, social groups and generations. This will require longterm commitment and perseverance, through both the ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ of political activity. We will do whatever is necessary to contribute to the building of such a movement, as the future of us all depends on it.

---
The Anarchist Federation

Organise! magazine, Summer 2012, issue 78, pages 7-11

http://www.afed.org.uk

[American Dream]

http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2012/1 ... lly-human/

NOV 03
Racism Keeps Us from Seeing Each Other as Fully Human
By Jessie


Connor and Brandon Moore, ages 4 and 2,
are believed to be Hurricane Sandy’s youngest victims.
They were swept out of their mother’s arms by the storm.

When I first heard reports of this story, I couldn’t make sense of it. The news reports said that the boys’ mother, Glenda Moore, had been “denied refuge.” Why would this happen? How could this happen?

Then, reports came that their mother – the woman asking for refuge from the storm – was black (the boys’ father is white but wasn’t there). And, then the story seemed to come into a horrible kind of focus, that implicated racism.

This story is being compared to the infamous ‘Kitty Genovese’ story from years ago in New York – when a young woman was stabbed to death and her neighbors did nothing to help. The not-often-told part of that story is that Kitty Genovese was a lesbian, and that’s part of why her neighbors didn’t call police on her behalf. Her status as an ‘Other’ (lesbian) made her seem less-than-human to her neighbors.

This week, in Staten Island – the ‘fifth borough’ - people there, if reports are accurate, were blinded to the humanity of a mother and her two young sons because of racism.

Ultimately, racism blinds us to our shared humanity, keeps up from seeing each other as fully human, and in need of each others’ help. This time it cost two young lives, and we are all little less for it.

[American Dream]

Greece’s Uncertain Future

By Brandon Jourdan



This short documentary looks at the current social crisis in Greece, the growth of alternative economies, general strikes, and the rise of the anti-fascist movement in response to violent attacks by the far-right. After six years of recession, the situation in Greece is growing increasingly dark. As the unemployment rate continues to rise and salaries continue to drop, the country has descended into an increasingly unpredictable situation.

[American Dream]

Breaking Men's Minds: Behavior Control and Human Experimentation at the Federal Prison in Marion

By Eddie Griffin

Journal of Prisoners on Prisons Vol. 4 No. 2 (1993)


http://www.jpp.org/documents/forms/JPP4_2/Griffin.pdf

[American Dream]

http://kalisherni.tumblr.com/post/35099 ... i-november


NO MORE DRONES by Khushboo Gulati
November 2012::marker on wood

Lands stained by trauma
seek relief, a peace once understood
before ravaging US veins mixing its venom
into the higher bodies
bombs drop, no rain drops
bombs fly, no birds fly

but we risin’ up, can’t take it no more!
drones moanin murder trauma destruction hate
misguided minds misguiding for (in)justice
blind allegiance to a land built on slavery that never ended

SUNO. DO YOUR READING & RESEARCH. American media will not report on the devastating, traumatizing, & terrorizing effects of their drones killing & staining civilians in Pakistan+Middle East.

HEAR THE DRONES
THINK BEFORE YA VOTE FOR ANYONE.
Made this piece for gallery at meri school on the elections.

[American Dream]

Traditional Dancer - Black Native American Association

http://www.bnaa.org

[American Dream]

[American Dream]

http://propelledbyfire.wordpress.com/20 ... of-a-book/

a poem written in the back of a book



it’s been said that a true revolutionary is guided by immense feelings of love

that it’s impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality

…
this is what i strive for

to be guided by love

as effortlessly as the branches bend with every passing breeze

to heal

holistically

with my sisters

and myself

to be a true revolutionary

without the dogmatic rhetoric

the patriarchy

the competition and insecurities

mashed into the folds of our skin by this life

soaking up our very essence of living

leaving nothing but survival tactics

this is what i strive for

to be a true revolutionary

so in love with life and the people

with the ancestors and my sisters
…

the salt of the earth fresh on my palette

i can taste the liberation swimming through my arteries and ventricles

yearning to be unleashed

as necessary as breath

inhale…exhale…go

[American Dream]

http://kloncke.com/2012/11/07/white-peo ... ixed-girl/

White People Want Stuff, Too. (A Response To Bill O’Reilly, From A Mixed Girl)

NOVEMBER 7, 2012



In the above video, Bill O’Reilly laments a changing America where black and brown people “want stuff.”

Thing is, though, white people also want stuff.

Some stuff white people want is great stuff: stuff like good health care, meaningful education, comfortable retirement, non-toxic food, decent shelter, disability justice, and help recovering from climate-change hurricanes.

Some stuff white people want is not so great: like preference in hiring, admissions, or promotion; cops, judges, juries, border patrols and parole officers who go easy on you relative to black and brown people; books, magazines, art, and media that almost always reflect people of your race — especially in hero positions; access to social respectability, even if that access is consciously rejected. Many white people are so used to getting this stuff that they don’t even realize they want it until it starts to go away. Even the white folks who claim to not want any stuff — those who roam barefoot in the forests sipping dewdrops from native ferns — usually want the ability to travel anywhere they wish, relatively unquestioned, safe in the assurance that “this land is my land, this land is our land,” wherever that land may be.

Other white people who want stuff? White capitalists and rich people. They want hella stuff! They even want the stuff they own to produce more stuff — for them — without having to work for it! Some call that “investing;” sounds like exploitation to me; either way, it seems to pretty clearly involve white people exhibiting stuff-wanting behavior.

Fortunately, however, some white people also want the end of white supremacy. Why?

(1) Because white supremacy is ridiculous, fucked-up, spiritually poisonous and currently *foundational* to our

schools
laws
police/military
media
medicine
art
jobs
parks
government
and many other institutions that shape all of us.

Some of these institutions might be eventually rehabilitated from the white-supremacy fungus; others need to be chucked altogether.

(2) Because racism and racial privilege keep working-class people struggling against each other. Meanwhile, the “White Establishment” (capitalist class, historically white) profits off of everyone’s work and/or stolen land.

Don’t believe me? Take Virginia in the late 1600′s.

In assessing the colonial history of Virgina in particular, Allen focused on the second half of the seventeenth century as the period when a previously mutiracial population of bond servants was divided into a pool of white workers indentured for a limited term of several years and a pool of black workers who were converted into permanent and hereditary chattel slaves. This division was, according to Allen, the result of uprisings like Bacon’s Rebellion, in which black and white bond servants sacked Virginia’s colonial capital of Jamestown in 1676. Allen’s research produced significant evidence, from primary documents such as the colonial records, demonstrating that, fearing the power of such a unified group, the colonial elite intentionally granted specific privileges to white servants—especially the eventual prospect of freedom—that were denied to blacks. The unstated quid pro quo was that white workers were expected to help police the black population, rather than unite with them in subsequent rebellions. This often took the form of white bond servant participation in armed slave patrols and militias that repressed any spark of resistance. Here, said Allen, was the origin of white supremacy as an ideology, and of the “public and psychological wage” identified by [W.E.B.] DuBois. Colonial Virginia was the birthplace of the white skin privilege. (Truth and Revolution: A History of the Sojourner Truth Organization, 1969–1986; pg. 85)

So yeah, Bill, white people want stuff. Stuff like freedom! And more and more are seeing through the false freedom of white skin privilege, understanding that lasting security can never come for working-class people — white, black, red, yellow, brown, or blue — under capitalism. For that, a much better bet will be a classless society. ”A world,” as my friend Jake puts it,

where people arent greedy and we take care of each other and nobody is fucked up to each other and everybody realizes their work isn’t any more or less important than each others and we don’t work for money but for ourselves and each other.

Yeah, that’s the stuff.

[American Dream]

for our aim is to be priceless, to price ourselves out of the market, for the housework and factory work and office work to be ‘uneconomic.

— nicole cox and silvia federici, counter-planning from the kitchen: wages for housework, a perspective on capital and the left, 1976

[American Dream]

New from Rebel Diaz:

Our goal with this song is to convey the message that Revolution is Love. It’s what no one can take away from our communities- love for humanity. In the face of structural violence like racism, underfunded schools, and inadequate housing, our weapons of defense are education, sustainability, and community building. We don’t promote voting every 4 years, we say vote everyday with your actions and serve the community!

[American Dream]