One of the most important international anarchist meetings of recent
years, the Rencontres Internationales Antiautoritaires (RIA) "Anarchy2023", was held this summer in Saint-Imier, Switzerland, from 19 to 23July. Thousands of people from different continents participated,although a significant portion came from French- and German-speakingEurope. As the Italian Anarchist Federation we have taken part in theorganizational process since 2020, and we participated with a largedelegation by actively contributing by proposing debates, setting up anexhibition and curating a stand of the weekly Umanità Nova and of theZero in Condotta editions in the book fair.This meeting celebrated 150 years plus one (the event was in factpostponed due to the pandemic) since the congress which was held in thissmall town in the Bernese Jura on 15 and 16 September 1872, and whichwent down in history as the birth certificate of the organized anarchistmovement. It was then that for the first time the anti-authoritariancurrent of the workers' and revolutionary movement collectively definedits principles. Around the question of seizing political power, a deepfracture had developed within the Association Internationale desTravailleurs (AIT), better known as the First International. At theCongress held in The Hague from 2 to 7 September 1872, Marx tookadvantage of the outlawing of the French section - the largest -following the Paris Commune, to transform the national sections of theinternational into parties aimed at participating in the elections. TheCongress of Saint-Imier was a consequence of this fracture, and in thedeclaration «the destruction of all political power is the first duty ofthe proletariat» the position of the anti-authoritarian Jurassic,Italian, Spanish, French and American sections of the AIT is summarizedwhich on that occasion, they began an organizational experience incontinuity with the internationalist path that had just split.However, it was not a celebratory meeting, in fact there was only onehistorical conference on the 1872 Congress. From the beginning, in fact,centrality was given to the relevance of anarchist practices and ideas.It was a clear choice of the organizing committee, formed in 2020 at thepush of exponents of the local anarchist and libertarian movement, withthe participation of the Francophone Anarchist Federation and theItalian Anarchist Federation.Over 400 debates, presentations, conferences and workshops, dozens offilm screenings, concerts, theater shows, performances, exhibitions anda book fair which hosted over 100 exhibitors were held. The activities,as well as in the streets and squares, took place in 12 different spacesspread throughout the town which has just over 5000 inhabitants. Severalmobile kitchen collectives set up two large kitchens and preparedbreakfast, lunch and dinner for the participants, over 5000 meals weredistributed on Saturday evening alone.A similar meeting was already held in Saint-Imier in 2012, with around4000 participants. On that occasion, the non-European presences werecertainly more consistent and representative, especially from LatinAmerica. The role of organisations, federations, unions, internationalnetworks and anarchist groups had also been greater, while this timelarge parts of the organized anarchist movement were not formallypresent, leaving more space for spontaneity and individualparticipation. This probably made the 2023 meeting less representativeof the plural reality of the anarchist movement organized globally.Clearly in 2012 there was also a different context marked by movementswhich, on the shores of the Mediterranean as well as across theAtlantic, saw participation, albeit in a different way,However, this is also partly a precise choice of the organizingcommittee, which immediately preferred to open the meeting tospontaneous participation as much as possible. In fact, anyone couldpropose debates and activities through an online platform, and not evena presentation was scheduled directly by the organizing committee whichonly acted as a filter and infrastructure. There are no shortage oflimitations to this formula. In the weeks preceding the RIAs, there washarsh criticism due to the presence of speakers closer to "liberal" or"conspiracy" positions. The program was therefore revised, and someinitiatives clearly distant from the anarchist movement were cancelled.The problem, however, is certainly not technical, it is political.In any case, those who have read the "Anarchy 2023" program can identifythe issues around which the activity of the anarchist movement developstoday, central themes in the current reality. War, the resurgence ofauthoritarian regimes and military dictatorships, the return of fascismin various forms, the climate, trade union activity, capitalistexploitation, feminist and queer struggles, racist and border closurepolicies, are all elements covered in debates, workshops and conferencesfrom different points of view. Probably the most interesting initiativeswere the presentations of the realities most distant from the Europeancontext in which the meeting took place. This is the case of theactivities proposed by the groups from Brazil, Chile, Peru, thePhilippines, Iran, Turkey, which brought a significant contribution ofnew experiences and perspectives,As the Italian Anarchist Federation we have made a specific contributionto the themes of antimilitarism and fascism. Individual groups andfederated individuals also promoted and participated in variouspresentations and conferences. Furthermore, the FAI together with theFAO of Slovenia and Croatia and the APO of Greece, IFA federationsactive along the bloodiest European borders, displayed a banner againstFortress Europe. The anti-militarist workshop was divided into threeseparate days, in three different places. On Thursday 20th the firstmeeting was held in the main room, almost full, on that occasion ourpositions were mainly presented on the concept of anarchistantimilitarism and its practices, on the war in Eastern Europe, and withexamples of struggles in which we are engaged , from the No BaseMovement of Pisa to the anti-war general strikes organized by grassrootstrade unionism. In the following two days the meetings took place inless official premises and this allowed for greater interaction anddiscussion with classmates from different countries on the practices of.There was no shortage of moments of cross-examination, with criticalinterventions that opened the debate on the different positionspresented on the situation in Ukraine. However, this cycle ofinitiatives had a concrete outcome. The idea of a joint initiative to beheld in November was launched from the meeting with individuals andanti-militarist groups from different parts of the world. On fascism wehave tried to make a specific contribution to fuel the debate at aninternational level, trying to define the characteristics of thehistorical fascist regime in Italy, and the characteristics of thefascist government that sits in Rome today. It has been reported thatthe current government in matters of war, exploitation of the workingclass, authoritarianism, racism, does nothing but follow the pathalready traced by previous governments, and instead stands out for itsattack on women and non-binary subjectivities, in an attempt toconsolidate patriarchal rule. In recalling the commitment of theanarchist movement in the fight against fascism over the last century,the importance of maintaining a perspective of radical socialtransformation was underlined, because only social revolution can stopfascism. The specificity of the Italian situation aroused great interestand at the end of the presentation,In addition to the many positive things, however, on some occasions wehave witnessed the implementation of practices that do not conform toour ethics and the diffusion of messages that seem to us to beincompatible with the values and principles that the anarchist movementhas been carrying forward for 150 years. If we expose these criticismsit is not to argue with this or that group, but because we think wecannot remain silent about the problems that the international anarchistmovement must face if it wants to grow in the face of the challengesthat await us.We are referring to the attitude of some individuals and groups whoattempted to use the meeting to even violently impose their ownpolitical line, identifying some historical organizations of theanarchist movement as nothing less than the "enemy". The first case wasthat of the groups that supported the so-called "anti-authoritarianfighters" included in the Ukrainian state army. While considering thisoption as contrary to our principles and our anti-militarist practice,we have never opposed their presence, in the spirit of openness andpluralism that characterized this edition of the RIAs. The serious thingis not that these groups tried to obtain maximum visibility, but thatthey did so in a manner incompatible with what we consider a libertarianmethod.These groups organized some workshops, and a conference in the mainhall. In these meetings, anyone who attempted to express criticism orsimply different opinions was systematically denied the floor. In thoserare cases in which the floor was granted to those who expressed adifferent vision from that of the organizers, they interrupted theinterventions from the "table", therefore from a position of power, themost unwelcome interventions with the pretext that they were "off topic". Those who attempted to raise their voices to protest against thesemethods were insulted, delegitimized and even physically threatened.Comrades who attempted to speak in the Saturday afternoon debate weresurrounded by individuals who were part of a sort of "security service",who had no problem ripping posters from the hands of any pacifistcomrades who had displayed them. This seems serious to us not onlybecause violently censoring the debate is an authoritarian practice, butalso because it was the privatization of a space that was collectivelyconquered by those who organized the RIA in recent years. It was alsoserious that members of these groups publicly repeated lies against theanarchist organizations that spoke out against the war, even accusing usof 'being dominated by Putin's propaganda'. Faced with these slandersand falsehoods, we can only refer to the document which clearlyexpresses the position of the FAI, widely distributed by us in hundredsof copies in Saint-Imier This seems serious to us not only becauseviolently censoring the debate is an authoritarian practice, but alsobecause it was the privatization of a space that was collectivelyconquered by those who organized the RIA in recent years. It was alsoserious that members of these groups publicly repeated lies against theanarchist organizations that spoke out against the war, even accusing usof 'being dominated by Putin's propaganda'. Faced with these slandersand falsehoods we can only refer to the document which clearly expressesthe position of the FAI, widely distributed by us in hundreds of copiesin Saint-Imier This seems serious to us not only because violentlycensoring the debate is an authoritarian practice, but also because itwas the privatization of a space that was collectively conquered bythose who organized the RIA in recent years. It was also serious thatmembers of these groups publicly repeated lies against the anarchistorganizations that spoke out against the war, even accusing us of 'beingdominated by Putin's propaganda'. Faced with these slanders andfalsehoods we can only refer to the document which clearly expresses theposition of the FAI, widely distributed by us in hundreds of copies inSaint-Imier but also because it was the privatization of a space thatwas collectively conquered by those who organized the RIA in recentyears. It was also serious that members of these groups publiclyrepeated lies against the anarchist organizations that spoke out againstthe war, even accusing us of 'being dominated by Putin's propaganda'.Faced with these slanders and falsehoods, we can only refer to thedocument which clearly expresses the position of the FAI, widelydistributed by us in hundreds of copies in Saint-Imier but also becauseit was the privatization of a space that was collectively conquered bythose who organized the RIA in recent years. It was also serious thatmembers of these groups publicly repeated lies against the anarchistorganizations that spoke out against the war, even accusing us of 'beingdominated by Putin's propaganda'. Faced with these slanders andfalsehoods, we can only refer to the document which clearly expressesthe position of the FAI, widely distributed by us in hundreds of copiesin Saint-Imier even accusing us of 'being dominated by Putin'spropaganda'. Faced with these slanders and falsehoods, we can only referto the document which clearly expresses the position of the FAI, widelydistributed by us in hundreds of copies in Saint-Imier even accusing usof 'being dominated by Putin's propaganda'. Faced with these slandersand falsehoods we can only refer to the document which clearly expressesthe position of the FAI, widely distributed by us in hundreds of copiesin Saint-Imier1 , and to underline that censorship as well as thesystematic denigration and delegitimization of opponents areauthoritarian practices that must have no place in the anarchist movement.Finally, unidentified individuals have repeatedly physically attackedthe Francophone FA banquet, on the pretext that two books were ondisplay that some considered to be "Islamophobic", tearing up andburning the books in question, attacking individual comrades, attemptingto organize a broader challenge to the FA as such, speciously accused of"racism". If the debates taking place in France on these complicatedproblems cannot be addressed exhaustively in these few lines, we wouldlike to underline that no political criticism can be expressed in waysthat recall the methods of the worst authoritarian regimes we fight. Inreporting the statement of solidarity with the FA signed by numerous IFAFederations, 2we must underline that these attacks systematically tookplace against the historic organizations of the anarchist movement.Furthermore, in some of these tense situations, there has unfortunatelybeen a lack of mediation activity on the part of the working groups incharge of this function.We believe that the meeting in Saint-Imier, as well as the BalkanAnarchist Bookfair which was held in Ljubljana at the beginning of July,was of crucial importance for our movement, an exceptional opportunityfor exchange, relauch and clarification to continue in a phase ascomplex as the one we go through in our internationalist,anti-militarist and revolutionary struggle. It is also important tounderline the limits of these events and above all to reject dogmaticand sectarian practices. Although these events saw the participation ofonly part of the movement, it is clear that the relevance of the issuesaddressed, the liveliness of the debate, the plurality of positions is asign of a dynamism that is difficult to find in other revolutionarycurrents. Even in a very difficult global context,FAI International Relations Commission27/08/20231https://www.federazioneanarchica.org/archivio/archivio_2022/20220722manifestonowar_en.html2https://www.federazioneanarchica.org/archivio/archivio_2023/20230808solidarieta.htmlhttps://umanitanova.org/vacanze-intelligenti-gli-incontri-internazionali-dellanarchismo/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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