anarchist round table

The Anarchist Round Table (ART) was formed in 1997 by a group of Christchurch anarchists who met at an anarchist conference in Wellington. Despite some serious ideological and personal differences, this original group worked successfully together on a number of valuable community and activist projects.

These included SMOG, a monthly neighbourhood newspaper (twenty-two issues of which appeared between December 1997 and March 2000), and the Beneficiary Action Collective, or BAC, which spearheaded local opposition to the work-for-the-dole scheme when it was introduced in October 1998. BAC imploded in early 2000 after a high profile but ultimately unsuccessful campaign to gain access for beneficiaries to toilets at the WINZ High Street office, and at this point ART effectively stopped functioning as a group.

ART reformed in November 2000 with just two of its original members but a number of enthusiastic newcomers. In October 2001, ART hosted 2001: An Anarchist Odyssey, the first anarchist conference in New Zealand for over three years. ART was also the driving force behind the establishment of InterActive, an activist centre in central Christchurch that served as a home and general meeting and organising space for ART and several other local activist groups.

In the last couple of years, ART has helped organise marches and other activities in opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in association with the Peace Action Network. In more recent times, with a wider acceptance and knowledge of anarchism and anarchist principles along with such events as the Anarchist Tea Party and the launching of the Aotearoa Anarchist web portal.

In 2004 after a number of longer serving members of ART pulled back from activism/anarchism for various reasons and several newer members sought to radically change ART's aims and princpals. ART disbanded leaving a large gap in the anarchist community in Christchurch.