Report on the Fourth Northwest Anarchist Federation Confrence

The Northwest Anarchist Federation’s fourth bi-annual conference was held in Portland, Oregon on Labor Day weekend. There were more members in attendance than at any previous conference. Since the last conference there has been much activity towards advancing our points of intervention. The first point of intervention is anti-imperialism, and within that working against military recruiters. The second point of intervention is building militancy and self-organization within the labor movement.

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Fourth Conference of the Northwest Anarchist Federation (NAF)

The Northwest Anarchist Federation’s fourth bi-annual conference was held in Portland, Oregon on Labor Day weekend. There were more members in attendance than at any previous conference. Since the last conference there has been much activity towards advancing our points of intervention. The first point of intervention is anti-imperialism, and within that working against military recruiters. The second point of intervention is building militancy and self-organization within the labor movement.

New members were voted in and a new collective was formed in Seattle. The Aims and Principles were adopted with minor changes and are available on our website at www.nafederation.org. During the lunch break we went and helped out people making posters opposing military recruiters in schools. There was also discussion on how to get more people involved in NAF. There is interest in Olympia, Washington and Vancouver, B.C. on forming collectives and encouraging them to join NAF.

Two documents were proposed, one on strategy and one on the role of anarchist organization. These discussions were vital to develop more depth and clarity to NAF’s points of intervention as well as to create a coherent strategy to carry them out. This combination of theory and tactics is what is called praxis. Both documents were discussed for a while and people offered input on how to make them better. Committees were formed with interested members and the writers to rewrite the documents with the suggestions that were offered. These documents will be voted on by all members soon by a federal council vote and if accepted then they will be posted to our website, www.nafederation.org.

There was a constitutional amendment that was delegated to some people to write on what a “supporter” of NAF is and what that means in practical terms to the organization and the individual/collective that would be deemed a “supporter”. Also, federation wide “officers” (external secretary, internal secretary, treasurer) positions were voted on and the people that were doing each task remained on it, but will be rotated by the next conference. To help make the rotation easier each “officer” has to share their skills and information to other people in the federation. All of these discussions went smoother than they have in the past partially due to experience and partially due to a more coherent structure in NAF.

NAF’s fourth conference had an increased attendance of old members and new members. We came out of our fourth conference with a better sense of what we are attempting, influencing working class social movements with radical ideas and tactics, and how we will accomplish this goal. The Northwest Anarchist Federation invites fellow anarchists to write us and share your questions, comments, or concerns.

Ben
The Burning Rose Collective, Portland, Oregon
External Secretariat

CONTACT:
externalsecretariat@nafederation.org