International of Anarchist Federations
| International of Anarchist Federations | |
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| IFA logo with star and abbreviations IFA, ИФА and IAF | |
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| Map of the regions with member federations after the 10th Congress |
The International of Anarchist Federations (IFA-IAF - l'Internationale des Fédérations Anarchistes / International of Anarchist Federations) is a synthetic union of regional anarchist federations .
organization
All members organized in regional federations come together every three years for a congress that decides on orientation and lines of action. One year before the General Assembly, the IFA Secretariat and those responsible for international relations in the various federations set the agenda, date and place of the Congress. In Congress, debates are held on the initiatives of the IFA, resolutions are passed and a federation is appointed to lead the secretariat.
The IFA Secretariat is entrusted with maintaining relations between those responsible for international affairs and ensuring that the decisions of the Congress are implemented.
The "Commission de Relations de l'Internationale des Fédérations Anarchistes / CRIFA" (German Commission for International Relations) is responsible for the continuous international connection, constant exchange of information and thus international solidarity. Delegates from every federation are sent with imperative mandates to the CRIFA, which takes place several times a year .
origin
The IFA-IAF was founded at the international anarchist congress from August 31 to September 5, 1968 in Carrara , Italy, and sees itself in the tradition of the anti-authoritarian international . The founding members were the anarchist federations of Italy , Spain (in exile) and Bulgaria (in exile).
First Congress
The meeting in Carrara was a direct consequence of the London Congress from July 25 to August 1, 1958, which, for the first time after the end of World War II, gave rise to a certain dynamic and wishes for an international movement within the international anarchist movement on a broad basis anarchist organization aroused. The activists at the London Congress agreed that “the anarchist International has its origin in the will and the international activity of the anarchists, as manifested in Amsterdam in 1907 and confirmed again and again since then. The Congress of the Anarchist International is the place and the event in which the whole movement participates. He is her temporary means of expression ”. At the same time, the importance of regular work was recognized as a necessary prerequisite for the development of organized anarchist action and therefore a "Commission Anarchiste Internationale / CAI" was founded with the task of maintaining contacts among the anarchist organizations in the time between the congresses.
The Carrara Congress, long-awaited by the movement, was the decisive breakthrough in efforts that had been started in London and have since continued despite numerous opposition. It took place - shortly after May 68 - at a time that represented a historical climax of the social struggle. It was in this atmosphere that the various generations of activists met, from the surviving fighters of the Spanish Revolution , the resistance fighters against fascism and National Socialism to the rebellious youth of the barricades of 1968.
For the first time since fascism and National Socialism put a temporary end to the democratic developments in Europe in the 20th century, the congress again saw a comparison and a critical review of the revolutionary perspectives raised by the wage workers and students. On the one hand, the criticism of Marxism was affirmed and the illusion of libertarian Marxism was rejected; on the other hand, the idea of the importance of the labor movement as the central moment of an anti-authoritarian revolution was confirmed. In addition to this process of theoretical discussion, the foundations for a permanent international organization were laid.
Further development
From August 1st to 4th, 1971, the second international anarchist congress took place in Paris in the historic context of the still vigorous but increasingly damaged protest movement. The comrades in Paris encountered growing problems with militant action, which some groups considered to be the only efficient course of action, and with the demand for majority voting for the continued functioning of the organization. The hope of being able to circumvent this problem and the lack of perspective of the old mass organizations of the workers' movement as well as the strong presence of organizations with a Bolshevik background seduced some people to develop absurd theories and a practice apart from international anarchism. Nevertheless, the Paris Congress reaffirmed the organizational will of the Carrara Congress and decided to move forward in this direction.
The third IFA Congress took place again between March 23 and 27, 1978 in Carrara. With the accession of the French federation, the membership of the IFA grew to four federations. Again, there was a very special historical context: In the host country Italy, Aldo Moro , the president of the Italian Christian Democrats, was kidnapped by the Red Brigades . This situation favored the completion of the next step in the clarification of the communal orientation of the organized anarchist organization. A constructive criticism of the theory and practice of armed struggle was developed, a thesis according to which "revolutionary violence cannot be understood and accepted without the simultaneous existence of a strong and organized labor movement based on anarchist ideas". The congress determined different positions on the possible development of such a labor movement, which resulted from the work of the anarchist activists in different union structures as well as from the differences in the social and historical framework conditions of the different countries.
Most of the IFA, in turn, reaffirmed their agreement with the principles as defined in 1968, and thus the decision for a movement that is independent of the major state trade union organizations and that has a self-governing character.
The congress also decided on a clear position on the women's movement : "... IFA supports the uprising of women ... IFA does not consider women's problems to be secondary and not to be satisfied through theoretical discussions that are not reflected in everyday life", which just enjoyed a strong increase and developed new conceptual elements for the whole revolutionary movement.
Eight years later, in 1986, the IFA congress took place again in Paris. The meeting focused on the topics of the anti-imperialist struggle and the national liberation movements and thus put an end to the dominance of the conflicts that began in 1968. With regard to the situation in Latin America, a solidarity project with the revolutionaries in Nicaragua and Haiti was decided and the establishment of a liaison commission with Central and South America was offered.
In assessing the situation and prospects for trade union work, two contradicting positions emerged: on the one hand, sole support for the " International Workers' Association (IAA)" and its sections, on the other hand, support for a less ideological approach.
The IFA's 5th Congress, which took place in Valencia , Spain, from November 1st to 4th, 1990 , reaffirmed the desire to expand the IFA beyond the four member federations, and the question of relations with other anarchist organizations also became new here regulated. The ongoing decline of the Bolshevik dictatorships in Eastern Europe opened up new perspectives. Initially, the exile organization of the "Union of Anarchist Bulgarians" planned to contact the organization of the "Bulgarian Anarchists of the Interior (FACB)".
The Initiative for an Anarchist Federation in Germany (I-AFD) joined the IFA in 1991. A small Norwegian organization, "ANORG", also applied for membership, but was turned down because of its position of support for NATO .
In 1997 a congress took place in Lyon , France, at which the analysis of global dominance and exploitation was in the foreground. In addition, however, it was decided to open the IFA to partial and regional federations or to more than one federation per country. The previous rigid regulation had repeatedly led to unnecessary conflicts and lost opportunities.
With the accession of the English “Anarchist Federation (AF)”, the Federación Libertaria Argentina , the “Czechoslovak Anarchist Federation (CSAF)”, which was renamed “Anarchisticka federace” (AF) in 2014, and the “Association of Anarchist Movements ( Ассоцийация Движен Анархистов - АДА / ADA) ”, which was excluded in 2004, has been expanded to nine member federations. With the accession of the “Anarchist Federation of Belarus ( Фэдэрацыя анархістаў Беларусі - ФАБ / FAB)” the number of members remained constant.
The seventh congress took place in Besançon in 2004 and the eighth in 2008 in Carrara . In 2010, the liaison secretariat was located at the Iberian Federation.
At the congress held in Saint-Imier in August 2012 parallel to the Rencontre international de l'Anarchisme (international meeting of anarchism) , the Federaciji za anarhistično organiziranje (Federation for Anarchist Organization) in Slovenia became a member and the liaison office was handed over to the French-speaking federation.
The 10th Congress, taking place in Frankfurt am Main in August 2016 , dealt with the growth of anarchist movements in South America and the Mediterranean region, the general economic and social situation, issues relating to the situation of refugees, internal and external war politics and nationalism. The Federación Anarquista Mexicana (FAM), the Federacion Anarquista Local de Valdivia (FALV), southern Chile, and the Iniciativa Federalista Anarquista Brasil (IFAb), Brazil, were accepted as members.
At the 11th Congress from July 24th to 28th 2019 in Ljubljana , Slovenia, some joint resolutions were passed, including on gender issues and migration, and the international secretariat was handed over from the AFED (UK) to the FAI (Italy).
literature
- Collectif: 1968. Le Congrès de Carrare. Création de l'internationale des fédérations anarchistes. (Book and CD). Éditions du Monde Libertaire 2015. ISBN 978-2915514599
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Opportunity for change? - Anarchistická federace. In: afed.cz. January 30, 2015, archived from the original on February 13, 2015 ; accessed on February 13, 2015 .
- ↑ IFA-IAF Congress St Imier: IFA-IAF Congress St Imier: Minutes in English August 9–11, 2012. (No longer available online.) April 3, 2013, archived from the original on October 2, 2016 ; accessed on January 16, 2017 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ IAF Secretary: Congress of the International of Anarchists Federation (IAF). (No longer available online.) March 20, 2016, archived from the original on March 6, 2017 ; accessed on January 16, 2017 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ The 11th Congress of the IFA. In: freedomnews.org.uk. August 3, 2019, accessed December 10, 2019 .
- ^ Eleventh congress of the International of Anarchist Federations 24-28th July 2019, Ljubljana, Slovenia -. In: anarchistnews.org. July 28, 2019, accessed December 10, 2019 .
