AF Solfed and Liberty and Soidarity

What part of the world do you live?

Hey Steve, welcome to the board .

If you're interested in learning more about Liberty & Solidarity, try asking at anarchistblackcat.org, which is a forum dedicated to platformist anarchism. Afaik there are no members of L&S who regularly post on libcom.org.

I'd say there's a big difference between L&S and the other two. SolFed and the AF are very close on a lot of issues, and where two groups exist in the same city we tend to collaborate extensively with each other.

Did you have any particular questions or were you just looking for a general outline of who we are, what we do etc?

If you're particularly interested in discussion etc. around class issues, have you come across the commune? They do a lot of open forums and meetings in London, you might want to check them out.

I'm with the AF (if you click on users names it takes you to a profile page which has political group membership on it).

Both SolFed and the AF are formal, dues-based organisations of anarchist-communists in the UK. If you haven't already read them, the aims of SolFed are available here and the aims and principles of the AF can be found here. Basically they outline what each group's politics are, and agreement with them is required for membership. As you can see there's a great deal of overlap.

Both are federal organisations made up of local groups. (For you, these would be London AF and South London SF respectively.) Both federations produce propaganda, much of which is available on this site (here and here) or on the organisations respective web pages. We also take part in local struggles - in Brighton the local AF and SolFed groups have been heavily involved in the ongoing student occupations.

The main difference is probably size, as nationally the AF is about three times as big as SolFed. Also, SolFed describes itself as anarchosyndicalist, while the AF is simply an anarchist-communist organisation. As such the two groups use slightly different terminology and draw from different traditions within the historical anarchist movement. We're both members of anarchist internationals - SolFed are part of the IWA, one of the oldest surviving working class organisations in the world, and the AF are members of the IFA-FAI.

It sounds to me like you would be at home in either group. I suggest you join whichever seems more involved in things that interest you.

~J.

In London, SF are involved in London Education Workers Group, London Coalition Against Poverty, solidarity work for the Belgrade 6 and FAU Berlin, No Borders, student groups at Goldsmiths and Queen Mary Colleges and a whole other bunch of shit that I've missed cos I'm not currently in the country. London AF and SF also meet regularly and collaborate on a lot of issues.

I'd also say that SF does quite a bit of internal work (although I'd like it to be more) in terms of supporting members (and members' friends) with workplace issues. I'd like it to be more.

Moreover, in addition to what BLJ says, SF is currently based around its local groups, but is undergoing rigorous internal debate as to the role of its industrial networks. If you join SF, Steve, you'll have the opportunity to organise with people in the same industrial sector as you (in theory, at least ).

BTW, Choccy is a South London SFer, and Steven. is a member of London AF - you should PM them if you want a firsthand account of their groups activities atm.

Choccy's NL, and Steven's in the AF?? SERIOUSLY?

His secret is out!

Hahaha hipster till the end, too scared of being judged by his contemporaries for making a definitive move in his life.

I and some other AFers will be on UCU demo on Saturday in London so if you can make that look out for people handing out our monthly newsheet Resistance. Otherwise come to our next group meeting on April Ist in London. I will PM you details if you're interested. Alternately we have a Resistance distro at Camden Town tube next Week at 6pm . Again PM me if you want details.

Erm , remind me what NCAFC stands for...??

national convention against fees and cuts?

Yep. Steve, if you're involved in that kind of thing, have you encountered the Autonomous Students Network at all? I'm not in it, but there's a lot of good people who are.
Also, here's a report on recent AF activity from Freedom. As far as our ideas go, have you looked at any of our pamphlets? They're all free to read here. Beyond Resistance and In The Tradition are good summaries of our ideas.

Considering I've stayed at his house, this makes me a total muppet.

I bet he's still in South London SolFed though.

Hi Steve, just noticed this thread. I am in the South London Solidarity Federation, we are currently involved with migrants struggles especially in solidarity with the cleaners organising efforts and attempts to resist deportations. We have members in and work closely the London Coalition Against Poverty and Community Action. We don't have any student members at present but we do have a good working relationship with Autonomy and Solidarity based in Goldsmiths. We are also involved with No Trust in Goldsmiths Trust, solidarity support work with ASI and the FAU. We were heavily involved in the Hands Off Lewisham Bridge rooftop occupation last year. We have a facebook page and website but I must admit we are rubbish at updating it.

We meet regularly (usually Fortnightly on Mondays in Deptford) so if you want to come along to one of these you are welcome. Alternatively, we meet in a pub for a more informal chat or we also have discussion meetings in a local curry house, not sure when the next one is scheduled, off the top of my head though. Any way just PM me for more details.

What is Community Action?

I believe it's a new initiative to start a group in the London borough of Lewisham.

So, Steven in the AF eh?

Probably a good thing that he made a decision. And I note that he has been doing some quite clear posts about the unions recently.