LA ABCF: 10 Years of Solidarity and Resistance

January 2008 marks the tenth anniversary of the Los
Angeles chapter of the Anarchist Black Cross
organization. We are proud and honored to be the
longest running self-proclaimed anarchist group in the
Los Angeles area.
LA ABC was formed by members of the Black Star
Collective, Alternative Gathering Collective and
Whittier Food Not Bombs. The group was formed by
several anarchists who wanted to engage in concrete
work based on the ideas of mutual aid and solidarity –
two major tenets of anarchism.
Many of the earlier contributors had directly been
affected by the prison system and thus became a
natural interest in their politics. After a chance
meeting with Lorenzo Komboa Irwin (former anarchist
political prisoner) in San Francisco, it became clear
to the anarchists that political prisoner support was
a necessary part of the anarchist movement and began
to build the foundation for the ABC chapter in Los
Angeles.
During the first year, the struggle to stop Mumia
Abu-Jamal’s execution was gaining momentum, allowing
for LA ABCF to jump straight into a campaign of utmost
importance. In March of ’98, members of the LA ABC met
up with several Anarchist Black Cross Federation
chapters during the Jericho march in Washington DC.
Six months after the march, LA ABC joined up with the
ABCF.
Since its inception, the LA ABC has continued to work
diligently for support of political prisoners in North
America. As part of the ABCF, we have collectively
raised over $50,000 through the Warchest program (a
program designed to provide support to political
prisoners in financial need.) We have developed
campaigns for several local political prisoners-
including Romaine Chip Fitzgerald and Matt Lamont.
More importantly, we have built strong relationships
with current and former political prisoners, working
day and night on their support and freedom. We have
been honored to know some comrades, such as Rich
Williams, who has enrich our lives prior to have their
lives taken in struggle.
Members of LA ABC have also focused on trying to
rediscover the history of the Anarchist Red/Black
Cross movement. Over the years, we have created an
archive of the ABC, with some material dating as far
back as 1913.
We are proud to have reached this benchmark and look
forward to another decade of resistance and support.
This statement about our 10th anniversary would be
meaningless if we did not ask in closing for people to
take a moment out of their day to write at least one
of our imprisoned comrades. You can view their
addresses and short biographies on our site:
www.abcf.net/la.
In Solidarity,
LA ABCF