MAFA’s local activity has been continuing in the last week with a presence at the University of Manchester Fresher’s Fair on Oxford Road, where a number of MAFA activists spent a great few days chatting to and engaging the student population and also meeting up with activists from other like-minded groups, creating links between us that will give us fresh ideas for actions and organising.
MAFA is now part of the amazing Manchester Campaigns Collective which is a network of local groups with similar aims and ideas which support each other’s campaigns and share ideas and resources. Other groups in the Collective include No Borders, Action Palestine, Manchester Climate Action and many more. Check the website at
We continued our community outreach work this week with a session up in Moston on Monday night which again had a great response. The MAFA activists from the area were particularly engaged in chatting to people and showing that North Manchester is proud of it’s diversity and will not tolerate those who seek to spread hatred and division amongst the community.
Saturday 2nd October brings the hotly anticipated Manchester Anarchist Bookfair where MAFA are looking forward to having a stall and meeting with activists from across the North West and beyond to share ideas and get new heads on board. At the Bookfair we’ll have the new MAFA t-shirts and stickers for sale, if you can’t make the bookfair and want a T-shirt (Black, all sizes available in both mens and womens, price £8) stickers, or a wedge of MAFA flyers sent to distribute in your local area, please get in touch via manchesterafa@hotmail.com.
Also – coming soon, the new MAFA compilation CD in conjunction with local DIY punk heroes Pumpkin Records Watch this space for more!
Upcoming events
MAFA is pushing on into the Mancunian autumn with another programme of events, demos, actions, and other forms of mischief to promote the message.
As well as regular meetings and small scale community engagement activities there will be a MAFA presence at the following events. Get in touch for more via manchesterafa@hotmail.com.
Saturday 18th September – Manchester Orange Order Parade.
MAFA will be supporting another local group in their peaceful intervention against religious intolerance and bigotry. For details, get in touch.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=61145822591&v=wall#!/group.php?gid=129913840385425&ref=ts
Reports
Summer was a busy time for MAFA with a number of actions going on. Following on from the massively successful gig were a number of smallscale community actions, including an outreach session in Moston on the 14th August headed by the local Moston/Harpurhey crew and supported by the groups from other areas. A stall was set up and a lot of local people expressed their support, with many stating it was encouraging to see an anti-fascist presence in an area which gets a bad press and has seen a lot of attempted right-wing activity in recent months. MAFA are looking forward to continuing to work in Moston and the local area and building on the contacts we already have in the area.
On the 28th August MAFA was present in Bradford to counter the EDL.
MAFA in no way condones violence in any form which is why we were so upset to see a member of the EDL Stockport division and a few others get banjo’d by the locals.
News, Events, Actions, Activity……
Following on from the massively successful launch meetings and benefit night MAFA continues it’s activities over the summer with a number of activities and events.
Get in touch via manchesterafa@hotmail.com for more info.
Here are your starters for ten….
SUNDAY 1st AUGUST: Break The Banks Hulme community barbeque.
Organised by Manchester Climate Action in the run up to this years Climate Camp, a community barbeque will be held on Sunday from 3-9pm at Birley Fields (on Streford Road, just over the arch) . MAFA will have a presence to support the event and the Hulme community.
SATURDAY 14TH AUGUST:Manchester community outreach/flyering.
Continuing with our commitment to having a strong presence in our communities and offering support and reassurance that fascists amongst us won’t be tolerated, MAFA activists will be out on the streets of a local area where some of us are based flyering and talking to local residents. Get in touch via manchesterafa@hotmail.com for more details.
SATURDAY 28TH AUGUST: Opposing the EDL in Bradford.
The EDL intend to march on the streets of Bradford at the end of the summer in an attempt to inflame tensions, provoke the local Asian community and support the cheap booze and snide Lacoste industries.. MAFA will be there. Contact us to get involved.
September will be another busy period with more community outreach work, collaboration with other local groups and supporting campaigns, another mass meeting, possibly a film night, another benefit (oh yes!) and some rather fancy materials hitting the streets (MAFA tea cosy anyone….?)
A special message going out as well to our good comrades Tonino and Foggiano in Naples, Italy who a couple of days ago got nicked and are currently still banged up for their involvement in the action against the fascists of Casapound in Quarto, Napoli last year on the 1st of May. UAGLIU, NON MOLLARE!
BENEFIT GOES WITH A BANG………
Saturday 24th July saw anti-fascists from Manchester and beyond converge on Saki bar in Rusholme for a night of music, dancing and antifascism, to build the movement and raise funds for future activities. Some fantastic sets were performed by all the bands who gave their time to play for free, including folksters The Picture Palace, Swedish hardcore gang From the Tracks and their Manc mates Flat Back Four who dropped in as part of their UK tour (and played on despite the From The Tracks bass player being on crutches! Now THATS fucking hardcore!) Some serious skanking was done to the amazing John Player Specials; 2 Sick Monkeys and Dead Subverts blew us all away and Class Actions gave us a blast of their unique brand of anticapitalist hiphop and in between in all Keith and Kirsty from Trash O Rama banged out the tunes with everything from reaggae and ska to new wave and punk classics via glam and trash getting an airing. Blinding!
In the midst of all the dancing, drinking, singing, shouting, chatting, organising, reminiscing and ranting close to 400 quid was taken on the door, which after veanue hire costs and band transport leaves us with a more than decent wedge to fund upcoming MAFA activities and materials, so a massive THANK YOU to all the bands who came down and gave their time for free, and everyone who came down and contributed and made it a night to remember.
ALERTA, ALERTA….!
MAFA benefit, Sat 24th July @ Saki Bar
MAFA continue to build the Mancunian anti-fascist movement with a social and benefit night to fund future activity at Saki bar, Wilmslow Road, Rusholme on Saturday 24th July.
A night of music dancing fundraising and anti fascist discourse with bands stalls and all sorts of other nonsense.
GREAT NEWS! After the lice acts finish at 1am we’re having a pyschodiscosleazepunk (and more such adjectives) raveup (as the kids term it) court…esy of the TRASH O RAMA DJS!
I am very very excited about this, Massive thanks to Jonny Trash and Polly Esther!
LINE UP CONFIRMED:
2 SICK MONKEYS (2piece punkrock extrodinaires)
DEAD SUBVERTS (local anarchopunk heroes)
THE JOHN PLAYER SPECIALS (Ska/punk liveset to die to…)
FLATBACK FOUR (Punk sensation)
FROM THE TRACKS (Swedish hardcore dropping in as part of their UK tour!)
CLASS ACTIONS (Agit dance/rap)
ROLLAND HALSALL (acousic singer/songwriter)
THE PICTURE PALACE (indie folk)
Entry: Suggested donation a fiver if you can to help the bands travel costs, 3/4 quid if you can’t
Official MAFA launch meeting
The Manchester Anti-Fascist Alliance (MAFA) held a very successful launch meeting on Wednesday 7th July where a great turnout representing a diverse range of Manchester’s left, socialist, anarchist, anti-capitalist, radical, anti-racist activists agreed to establish the new organisation.
The objective is to build an anti-fascist movement from the grass roots up across Manchester emphasising its political opposition to fascism based on working class direct action politics, including the right to defend ourselves against fascists and prevent them from organising through no platform.
Veteran anti-fascists outlined Manchester’s noble anti-fascist history going right back to opposing Moseley in the 1930s, onwards to the NF in the 1970s and more recently the BNP.
It was recognised that the current economic conditions with the ConDem coalition proposing sweeping and savage cuts to the public sector, rising unemployment and general racism in the popular media created ripe conditions for the rise of fascism and racism.
The meeting agreed that it was our job to build an alternative movement that could present a progressive working class answer to the crisis, that it is the millionaire bankers and their representatives in government who are sacking people, not poor immigrants taking their jobs, that these millionaires want to divide and rule the workers so that we turn on each other rather than fight them.
Various speakers commented on the need to work with other anti-fascist organisations like UAF and Hope not Hate, but that we could not do so by watering down our politics or our opposition to fighting fascism through the state.
A variety of events and actions for the coming months were discussed, the first of which will be the benefit gig at Saki Bar on Saturday 24th July.
