Anarchist Black Cross Federation
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Template:Anarchism Anarchist Black Cross Federation (ABCF) was created in 1995 when the North American ABC collectives from Paterson (NJ), Bronx (NY), and Washington DC merged into a federation. Soon after, the Bronx and DC groups left to form a separate Anarchist Black Cross Network, but the New Jersey ABC and others continued to build the ABC Federation and attracted new ABC groups to carry it on.
The aim of the ABCF is to provide support and defense for political prisoners and prisoners of war. Later support for social prisoners was accepted as a secondary goal of the federation.
ABCF believes that it is important to support PPs/POWs must be done before supporting individual prisoners not falling into those categories is "backwards and criminal" [1] (http://abcf.net/abcf.asp?page=whats2). Reasoning behind that is PPs/POWs have themselves helped to build the movement that supports them, and they, therefore, demand that priority support.
Before ABCF takes on a responsibility of support of a prisoner, such prisoner must first supply documentation that proves that one is in fact PP/POW or in the case where such documentation cannot be supplied then "collective judgement will be based on the prisoners overall personal/political history and their overall accountability and responsibility in their action(s)." [2] (http://abcf.net/abcf.asp?page=const1) In any case ABCF insists that the evaluation is based on a factual account and not on a subjective statement of this or that person.
Government attention
Thanks in part to its Tactical Defense Caucus (which advocates armed self-defense), the ABCF has received significant government attention. In his testimony before the Senate Committee on Intelligence in February of 2005, Robert Mueller, Director of the FBI, identified the ABCF as a potential threat to national security:
- "The potential for violence by anarchists and other emerging revolutionary groups, such as the Anarchist Black Cross Federation (ABCF), will continue to be an issue for law enforcement. The stated goals of the ABCF are "the abolishment of prisons, the system of laws, and the Capitalist state." The ABCF believes in armed resistance to achieve a stateless and classless society. ABCF has continued to organize, recruit, and train anarchists in the tactical use of firearms." [3] (http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress05/mueller021605.htm)
External links
- Official Website (http://abcf.net)