Organise #86 and Resistance #160 publications both free online

You can find the PDFs of the Anarchist Federation’s latest publications from the following links…

Resistance #160 is a special issue about migrant struggles and includes an article about the EU referendum (written before the Leave result): http://www.af-north.org/afed/res/resist160.pdf

Our magazine Organise! (Summer 2016 issue) is focussed on The Commons and is also available for free online as follows: http://af-north.org/afed/org/org86.pdf (file size around 17MB)

Note: printed copies can be purchased from AK Press http://www.akuk.com or Active Distribution http://www.activedistributionshop.org/shop/

The contents of Organise! #86 (Summer 2016) is:

• Editorial: A Victory for the Commons,
• The City is Ours! Fight for the City – Part 3,
• A Radical Alternative to Airport Expansion,
• They Walk By Night – 13th Century Nightwalker Statutes,
• Psychogeography and Public Space,
• Taking Up Space – Social Centres in the UK,
• The Commons in Pre-Modern Thought,
• Unpicking ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’,
• International Gathering in Crete – An important Step in Building a United and Effective Anarchist Movement,
• Call for an all-Britain class struggle anarchist conference in 2016,
• Cuban Anarchism Reborn: An interview with Mario from TLAL,
• Culture Feature – Henri Cartier-Bresson,
• Book Reviews – The Failure of Nonviolence; Communal Luxury; Cities Under Siege.

Organise! magazine – new issue #85 out

NEW ISSUE #85 WINTER 2015 WAS OUT AT THE LONDON ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR 2015. Contents. Editorial: Making space for resistance, Scottish Nationalism, Austerity & Debt, Critisticuffs interview, Fight for the City, Graduation & the class divide, Fossil fuel divestment, Thought: Deleuze & Guattari, Culture: Jules Vallès-Child. Book Reviews: Underground Passages & Franco’s Crypt.

Visit main website to order print copy (or download PDF): www.afed.org.uk

Direct link: https://afed.org.uk/organise-magazine-issue-85-winter-2015/

See also: latest resistance bulletin: https://afed.org.uk/still-angry-not-apathetic-resistance-bulletin-159/

Ordering online from AK Press & Active Distribution

Order in print from Active Distribution or AK Press (soon).

Back issues of Organise! and various pamphlets are also available including Organise 84:

http://www.activedistributionshop.org/shop/magazines/3603-organise-84.html

http://www.akuk.com/index.php?_a=product&product_id=7320

Libertarian Socialist Discussion in Leicester on Tuesday 10th March 2015, 7.30pm

This coming Tuesday 10th March is the second monthly Libertarian Socialist Discussion, which takes
place at 7.30pm at the Swan & Rushes, 19 Infirmary Square, Leicester LE1 5WR.

The topic for this month’s discussion will look at what constitutes useful or harmful actions for socialists to be involved in. One person will start the meeting with a brief talk to set the ball rolling, then it will open up into a wider group discussion.

Minimal prior knowledge is necessary, but a starting point for the discussion might be the old Solidarity statement (1967), which says:

“Meaningful action, for revolutionaries, is whatever increases the confidence, the autonomy, the initiative, the participation, the solidarity, the equalitarian tendencies and the self-activity of the masses and whatever assists in their demystification. Sterile and harmful action is whatever reinforces the passivity of the masses, their apathy, their cynicism, their differentiation through hierarchy, their alienation, their reliance on others to do things for them and the degree to which they can therefore be manipulated by others – even by those allegedly acting on their behalf.”

The function of the libertarian socialist discussion meetings is for those involved to increase their political understanding and to hopefully develop class struggle, libertarian socialist and pro-revolutionary ideas and politics in the Leicester area, over a pint (and a pizza, if you like) in a convivial environment.

See you at the Swan & Rushes this Tuesday!

Follow the new Anarchist Midlands twitter @AfedMids

Nottingham AF and members in Derby, Loughborough, Leicester and Lincoln (and surrounding areas) have teamed up to form a Midlands coordination of the Anarchist Federation. As part of this we have launched a Twitter account to share info in our region. Look out for more info about meetings, especially in Leicester and Nottingham.

The new Twitter account is called Anarchist Midlands and information about this can be found here https://twitter.com/Afedmids
If you already use Twitter, the account is @AfedMids

If you are further West don’t be put off that we have started off in the East Midlands.

Of course, as anarchists, we prefer horizontal self-organising to following, so if you like what we are saying, do get in touch!

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Something else they are hiding from us!

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a new capitalist agreement between the USA government and the European Union. It gives US business free reign to privatise public services and other regulated industry in the cause of ‘Free Trade’. On the one hand this is another way for big business to take over internationally and for the American capitalist empire to culturally colonise the world. But specifically under threat is whatever is left of nationalised industries and services (not that there is much left of that in England anyway).

The obvious worry here is what is left of the NHS, which working class people are still fighting hard to save. It would also affect food quality by deregulating things like food production and quality, for example by-passing EU regulations about meat quality and the condition animals are kept in. Banking regulations would be undermined. Even the EU admits that jobs would be lost. All the main UK parties (except the Greens) are in favour. Even if there is a EU-referendum, whatever the outcome, this law will overrule.

Similar agreements exist in other parts of the world. A fracking company was able to sue the state of Quebec for lost earnings when it passed and an anti-fracking law. The Philip Morris tobacco company was able to sue the Australia government for its laws on plain-packaging.

TTIP is just the latest in a string of trade ‘agreements’ which have been opposed internationally including by anarchists. In the 1990s NAFTA allowed US companies make money in Mexico and Canada more easily. Meetings of The World Trade Organisation were strongly resisted, not least in London (J18) and Seattle (N30) in 1999. Anarchists need to spread information about this agreement, and we need more mass civil disobedience and anti-globalisation activism at a local and international level to raise awareness and oppose this in practice.

Links:
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/what-is-ttip-and-six-reasons-why-the-answer-should-scare-you-9779688.html
http://aftinet.org.au/cms/node/519

Related article: Why opposing capitalism and privatisation does not imply support for state-controlled services: http://afed.org.uk/blog/international/114-private-versus-socialised-healthcare.html

Angry not Apathetic – What anarchists do instead of voting – Special issue of Resistance paper – no. 158 Spring 2015

A new special issue of the AF’s paper Resistance for the election period is out and is free to download. Print copies soon coming. See also twitter hashtag #AngryNotApathetic

SPRING 2015 RESISTANCE #158. ANGRY NOT APATHETIC, GENERAL ELECTION SPECIAL ISSUE. Contents: What anarchists do instead of voting, Labour and the Unions, Lib-dems- a student’s view, Green Party “Tories on Bikes”, Syriza in Greece, Suffragettes, Russell Brand. 8 pages. Read all text online. Free download of full PDF.
http://www.afed.org.uk/publications/resistance-bulletin/437-resistance-bulletin-issue-158-angry-not-apathetic-general-election-special-issue-spring-2015.html

Colin Parker, 1948-2015 – memorial to take place in London on 22nd February

A memorial will take place in London tomorrow for Colin Parker, co-founder of the Anarchist Communist Federation (renamed to the present day Anarchist Federation), who died on January 22nd 2015.

A short biography

Colin Parker was born in the pit village of Crook in Co. Durham on 15th December 1948. His father Martin was a miner. He apprenticed as a fitter-turner after leaving school at the age of fifteen. He worked a a fitter-turner in the local factory owned by Marshall Richards, a manufacturer of wire and tube making machines.
Full story: http://libcom.org/history/colin-parker-1948-2015

—
The Memorial meeting for Colin is organised by the London group of the Anarchist Federation to take place at 2pm on Sunday February 22nd in the Autonomy Club, Freedom Bookshop, Angel Alley, 84b Whitechapel High Street, London E1. See also: https://libcom.org/forums/announcements/sad-news-about-colin-parker-23012015