Anarchist movements, despite their heterogeneity, have always promoted
solidarity among struggles and unity against all powers. This
theoretical principle, however, faces significant obstacles in
translating into effective, coherent, and lasting practices, especially
in contexts where the urgency of specific needs can lead to the neglect
of broader, more transversal thinking. Thus, while in theory anarchism
embodies the very struggle that is all struggles, in practice it often
tends to alienate these demands from one another.
Currently, on a global level, feminisms demonstrate the strength and
most stimulating content to re-enact these principles and transform them
into concrete practices. Intersectionality, far from surprising and
unprecedented, is the contemporary and most complex formula for this
unification of struggles, which, despite itself, has proven to fuel
profound inconsistencies and a centralized thought process, often
creating divisions within movements. This, for example, is why women,
between 1964 and 1970, began practicing their withdrawal from mixed
groups as a form of political affirmation. This gave rise to the
specific struggle framework of the all-female circle, which remains
persistent today. This was a response to the failures they experienced
when standing alongside comrades who, failing to recognize their
pressing needs as central, ended up marginalizing them, preventing their
universalization in collective struggles (Siviero, Fare femminismo,
2024, p. 82).
Today, intersectionality concretely means that one person's struggle is
truly everyone's struggle, that demanding a space for expression is
"fighting for everyone's space[...]that is, it doesn't just imply
appearances, but the concrete presence of objective and subjective
differences. It is this presence that has the power to establish
dialogue, without which every struggle can die in mere destructive and
self-destructive violence" (Tiburi, The Contrary to Solitude, 2020, p.
67). It means training thought, even before action, in a militant
empathy that does not underestimate individual and collective needs and
that is capable of maintaining a necessarily local approach and a global
vision.
In various parts of the world, this intersectional sentiment, which has
proven to be a human instinct even before a political construct, has led
to the formulation of contagious and replicable practices. This is the
case, among many, of the sex strike, which has seen particularly
significant moments in circumstances such as that of June 24, 2011, when
three hundred Colombian women from Barbacoas announced a three-month
sexual abstinence with the aim of obtaining paved roads to stop the
massive deaths of women giving birth, unable to reach the hospital; as
well as in the Philippines to end conflicts between clans; in southern
Turkey to secure public water networks; in Kenya, Togo, and Liberia to
address political issues and wars.
The same driving force underpins the creation of boycott networks, which
daily attempt not only to take concrete action but also to counter the
oppressive rhetoric about the ineffectiveness of this practice. A
significant example, given the current relevance of the issue, is the
international BDS campaign, calling for boycott, divestment, and
sanctions for the rights of the Palestinian people.
From this domino effect of intersectional struggles emerges the
position that more than any other seems to suggest practices of direct
participation: internationalist anarcha-feminism. It is based on the
urgency of considering the struggle against patriarchy as a struggle
against the ideals that underpin and nourish the state, capitalism, and
imperialism, starting from the awareness that feminism means addressing
the markers of oppression of social class, gender, race, and sexuality,
and that one struggle inevitably leads to others. But even more
symbolically, it means that anarchist feminisms present themselves as a
solid springboard for a new paradigm of militancy in which a plurality
of movements can be realized, drawing strength and inspiration from this
heterogeneity and this tireless mutual aid.
For such a network of united struggles to truly operate, it is necessary
to reject ideals, methods, and tools that represent compromise and a
persistence in the status quo. These ideals, instead, must be rejected
in favor of alternatives that can be pursued every day, both
individually and through direct membership in groups. Abstentionism, in
its various forms, not least that related to the practice of voting; the
subversion of the dynamics that force individuals to succumb to
marginalizing values and models; the sabotage of war; the massive and
radical boycott of everything that reifies the state, patriarchy, and
capitalism; the ongoing and transversal solidarity of struggles through
affinity groups; the absolute desertion of all forms of violence and
oppression; the withdrawal from places, contexts, and lifestyles of
consumer society through practices such as self-production, barter, and
horizontal self-education.
To counter the defeatism and despondency that are rampant in the common
sentiment, it is necessary to reaffirm the possibility of using these
tools daily and their ability to change dynamics, minimizing the scope
of contradictions and impotence. So, thinking and acting
intersectionally means continually asking ourselves what we can do when
we're caught in any relational dynamic, or when we're forced to be
someone's client and a consumer of something, intersecting struggles for
the needs of other subjectivities, how to do all this, who to be while
doing it, what language to choose, how to stand alongside others. It
means always feeling like an agent of a political act, one that calls
upon others and that is connected even with things and people that may
be very distant, but nonetheless sustainable. It also means practicing
understanding direct participation as always possible and progressive,
so that small gestures and actions can add up to those of others,
strengthening each other and creating connections that can free
struggles from annihilating self-referentiality and the disintegration
of practices, which is increasingly evident as the global landscape
becomes more dramatic.
Désirée Carruba Toscano
https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
solidarity among struggles and unity against all powers. This
theoretical principle, however, faces significant obstacles in
translating into effective, coherent, and lasting practices, especially
in contexts where the urgency of specific needs can lead to the neglect
of broader, more transversal thinking. Thus, while in theory anarchism
embodies the very struggle that is all struggles, in practice it often
tends to alienate these demands from one another.
Currently, on a global level, feminisms demonstrate the strength and
most stimulating content to re-enact these principles and transform them
into concrete practices. Intersectionality, far from surprising and
unprecedented, is the contemporary and most complex formula for this
unification of struggles, which, despite itself, has proven to fuel
profound inconsistencies and a centralized thought process, often
creating divisions within movements. This, for example, is why women,
between 1964 and 1970, began practicing their withdrawal from mixed
groups as a form of political affirmation. This gave rise to the
specific struggle framework of the all-female circle, which remains
persistent today. This was a response to the failures they experienced
when standing alongside comrades who, failing to recognize their
pressing needs as central, ended up marginalizing them, preventing their
universalization in collective struggles (Siviero, Fare femminismo,
2024, p. 82).
Today, intersectionality concretely means that one person's struggle is
truly everyone's struggle, that demanding a space for expression is
"fighting for everyone's space[...]that is, it doesn't just imply
appearances, but the concrete presence of objective and subjective
differences. It is this presence that has the power to establish
dialogue, without which every struggle can die in mere destructive and
self-destructive violence" (Tiburi, The Contrary to Solitude, 2020, p.
67). It means training thought, even before action, in a militant
empathy that does not underestimate individual and collective needs and
that is capable of maintaining a necessarily local approach and a global
vision.
In various parts of the world, this intersectional sentiment, which has
proven to be a human instinct even before a political construct, has led
to the formulation of contagious and replicable practices. This is the
case, among many, of the sex strike, which has seen particularly
significant moments in circumstances such as that of June 24, 2011, when
three hundred Colombian women from Barbacoas announced a three-month
sexual abstinence with the aim of obtaining paved roads to stop the
massive deaths of women giving birth, unable to reach the hospital; as
well as in the Philippines to end conflicts between clans; in southern
Turkey to secure public water networks; in Kenya, Togo, and Liberia to
address political issues and wars.
The same driving force underpins the creation of boycott networks, which
daily attempt not only to take concrete action but also to counter the
oppressive rhetoric about the ineffectiveness of this practice. A
significant example, given the current relevance of the issue, is the
international BDS campaign, calling for boycott, divestment, and
sanctions for the rights of the Palestinian people.
From this domino effect of intersectional struggles emerges the
position that more than any other seems to suggest practices of direct
participation: internationalist anarcha-feminism. It is based on the
urgency of considering the struggle against patriarchy as a struggle
against the ideals that underpin and nourish the state, capitalism, and
imperialism, starting from the awareness that feminism means addressing
the markers of oppression of social class, gender, race, and sexuality,
and that one struggle inevitably leads to others. But even more
symbolically, it means that anarchist feminisms present themselves as a
solid springboard for a new paradigm of militancy in which a plurality
of movements can be realized, drawing strength and inspiration from this
heterogeneity and this tireless mutual aid.
For such a network of united struggles to truly operate, it is necessary
to reject ideals, methods, and tools that represent compromise and a
persistence in the status quo. These ideals, instead, must be rejected
in favor of alternatives that can be pursued every day, both
individually and through direct membership in groups. Abstentionism, in
its various forms, not least that related to the practice of voting; the
subversion of the dynamics that force individuals to succumb to
marginalizing values and models; the sabotage of war; the massive and
radical boycott of everything that reifies the state, patriarchy, and
capitalism; the ongoing and transversal solidarity of struggles through
affinity groups; the absolute desertion of all forms of violence and
oppression; the withdrawal from places, contexts, and lifestyles of
consumer society through practices such as self-production, barter, and
horizontal self-education.
To counter the defeatism and despondency that are rampant in the common
sentiment, it is necessary to reaffirm the possibility of using these
tools daily and their ability to change dynamics, minimizing the scope
of contradictions and impotence. So, thinking and acting
intersectionally means continually asking ourselves what we can do when
we're caught in any relational dynamic, or when we're forced to be
someone's client and a consumer of something, intersecting struggles for
the needs of other subjectivities, how to do all this, who to be while
doing it, what language to choose, how to stand alongside others. It
means always feeling like an agent of a political act, one that calls
upon others and that is connected even with things and people that may
be very distant, but nonetheless sustainable. It also means practicing
understanding direct participation as always possible and progressive,
so that small gestures and actions can add up to those of others,
strengthening each other and creating connections that can free
struggles from annihilating self-referentiality and the disintegration
of practices, which is increasingly evident as the global landscape
becomes more dramatic.
Désirée Carruba Toscano
https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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