Class Action Alliance/Common Action General Assembly Report

On Saturday, September 13th, members of Class Action Alliance, a regional anarchist organization, traveled from across the Northwest United States to Seattle, WA, for our second general assembly. Members representing the cities of Bellingham, Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia and Portland were in attendance. [Italiano] [Castellano]

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Class Action Alliance/Common Action General Assembly Report

On Saturday, September 13th, members of Class Action Alliance, a regional anarchist organization, traveled from across the Northwest United States to Seattle, WA, for our second general assembly. Members representing the cities of Bellingham, Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia and Portland were in attendance.

As the first organization-wide meeting since our founding conference in June 2008, the general assembly was our first opportunity to meet face-to-face, reflecting on our first four months as a group and looking forward to the future ahead. We made a number of important and exciting decisions, including a name change, plans for internal study and education, and a forthcoming publication.

After much discussion, Class Action Alliance has decided to change our name to “Common Action.” We feel the name better suits our work in a broad range of social movements, while representing our desire to come together and build our politics in common as an anarchist organization. It also stresses the purpose of our organization: taking effective and dynamic action in the struggle for a new world.

Common Action members are involved in a variety of organizing projects and social movements, including immigrant solidarity, youth and student organizing, anti-war campaigns, workplace organizing, and much more. Together we represent years of experience, and with this general assembly have taken steps toward sharing our knowledge with one another through internal education and collectively authoring position papers.

At the assembly, we approved the first Common Action publication, a newsletter entitled “Intersections.” The first issue of the forthcoming publication will include articles on gentrification in Seattle, the Northwest Anarchist People of Color gathering, the 2008 presidential election, and a hazardous oil pipe-line being planned for the northern counties of Washington State. The newsletter will soon be distributed throughout the Northwest US. Contact us at the address below to receive your own copy. It will also be available on the internet via our website.

Aside from the newsletter, other forms of outreach are also in the works, including speaking tours and resources for new members. We also passed a position paper on building an anarchist international organization, which will soon appear on our website.

All in all, after four short months, Common Action is an organization on the move, having good conversations, and committed to doing real work. Contact us at nwcommonaction@gmail.com or visit http://www.nwcommonaction.org for more information.