United Front Against Fascism

The United Front Against Fascism (UFAF) was an anti-fascist conference organized by the Black Panther Party and held in Oakland, California, from July 18 to 21, 1969.

[1] The May 31, 1969 issue of The Black Panther called for a "Revolutionary Conference for a United Front Against Fascism," to be held in Oakland in July of that year.

[2] The announcement drew links between the killing of James Rector and the imprisonment of Huey Newton, and outlined the purpose of the conference: it would develop a political program representing the "poor, black, oppressed workers and people of America", involving strategies for community control of policing, the release of political prisoners, the expulsion of the military from college and university campuses, and community self-defense.

[4] Some members of the factionalized Students for a Democratic Society were ejected from the auditorium for "disruptive behavior," and the following day distributed pamphlets which accused organizers of excluding them.

[3] Speakers included Bob Avakian[5] and Jeff Jones[6] of SDS; Elaine Brown, who presented a letter from Ericka Huggins who was at that time incarcerated;[6] the politician Ron Dellums;[6] and the lawyers Charles Garry[7] and William Kunstler,[6] the latter of whom discussed the 1967 Plainfield, New Jersey riots and argued for the legality and necessity of defensive violence.