NEFAC Boston
The Boston Local Union of the Northeastern Federation of Anarchist-Communists (NEFAC) held an emergency fundraiser on January 30 for Batay Ouvriye in Haiti. Batay Ouvriye is a worker and peasant group entrenched in the struggle against capitalism and imperialism. Our goal was to help their organization recover from the destruction of the earthquake and advance the class struggle under conditions of physical devastation and increased military occupation. With two weeks to plan, we pulled together an event that was modest but successful. In freezing weather, 40 people gathered at the Encuentro 5 community space in Boston's Chinatown to enjoy refreshments and information. The program consisted of a talk by Mario from the Batay Ouvriye Solidarity Network, who drove up from New York, and words of solidarity from Maria and Julio of the local Bank Tenants’ Association. We distributed printed information and raised almost $1,000 for Batay Ouvriye. We continue to publish our bi-lingual newsletter, Freedom/Libertad, and are preparing to embark on the 15th issue of the NEFAC magazine, the Northeastern Anarchist.
Our members are also involved in various local struggles, such as the fight against foreclosures and evictions. Some of our members are active within City Life/Vida Urbana and the Bank Tenants’ Association. We are planning to unite like-minded folks this spring in a “flying-squad” type group to turn out together for labor and neighborhood actions, and we are preparing for the NEFAC conference in Baltimore on the weekend of March 20. We've been in conversation with other anarchist-communists and syndicalists about nation-wide collaboration since the Class Struggle Anarchist Conference in Detroit and have members on an inter-organizational committee. We also continue our ongoing monthly Theory and Strategy reading and discussion group, and we have recently added a new supporter to our local.