In April, screenings of the documentary "Anti-Authoritarians at War" were held in several Italian cities. According to the graphics advertising the events, the work highlights the "participation of anarchist and anti-authoritarian militants in the resistance in Ukraine after the Russian invasion." The meetings were attended by a member of Solidarity Collectives, a group founded in Ukraine a few years ago that raises funds to equip those who call themselves anarchists and fight in the Ukrainian army. This tour preceded the screening of the documentary at the Perugia International Journalism Festival on April 15.
The more general issue of war has been addressed on several occasions in the pages of Umanità Nova, including criticism of political positions advocating participation in the ongoing war in Eastern Europe. It has expounded the reasons for antimilitarism and asserted that "the struggle, with or without weapons, to be effective must be waged and organized from the bottom up, outside the apparatuses of states, governments, and, above all, the armed forces." Therefore, we will not repeat ourselves here, but focus on the more specific topic of the series of initiatives held in Italy and the issues that arose alongside them. Indeed, there has been no shortage of protests of various kinds, as well as support from political circles distant from anarchism, a dynamic limited to the contexts where these initiatives took place, to which the newspaper Il Manifesto has given some visibility.
The organizers of this Italian tour are reportedly Solidarity Collectives and the Antiauthoritarian Alliance. The latter is a new group, unknown to most, which recently created its own social media channels and website. From the "manifesto" published online, it almost seems like a new international, but the published articles suggest it's a small group that publishes a few in-depth articles and focuses primarily on the Ukrainian issue. It seems like an acronym created to provide political support in Italy to those who support participation in the war in Eastern Europe. After all, the only initiative so far publicized by the Antiauthoritarian Alliance's channels, along with participation in the April 25th demonstrations in Bologna and Milan, is the tour organized with Solidarity Collectives.
In fact, these positions have never enjoyed much traction in our country and, at least within anarchist circles, have lacked a solid political base in Italy. The various tendencies of the Italian-speaking anarchist movement-despite profound internal differences-have maintained clearly antimilitarist positions regarding the war, especially regarding the conflict in Eastern Europe. Few groups, which could be counted on one hand, had in recent years taken more open positions or openly supported those anarchic elements in Eastern Europe who believe that, faced with Russian imperialism, it is necessary to enlist in the army. Today, this small group appears to be further diminished. Indeed, it can be noted that even in other countries, where certain positions undoubtedly held greater weight, a certain disillusionment has arisen, especially over the past year, in the face of European rearmament, the reintroduction of conscription initiated by several governments, growing authoritarianism in Europe, and the chronicity of the war, which is leading to a greater centralization of power in Ukraine as well as, obviously, in Russia, already governed autocratically.
For those of us who were not fooled by the calls to arms, what we see is the obvious consequence of the spiral of war into which governments are plunging the entire world. But it is clear that for those who have taken different positions, disillusionment can be an important step.
Of course, partly because of this context, Solidarity Collectives' first tour in Italy, more than four years after the Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine, coincided with this documentary's participation in an official event, and did not visit any social spaces, venues, or clubs that could be defined as anarchist. Indeed, the organizers immediately identified public venues, such as those in Bologna, or those run by associations linked to the Democratic Party, such as in Turin, ARCI clubs, such as in Milan, or otherwise left-wing institutions, in one case Trotskyist, such as in Bari. This demonstrates the lack of any connection between the organizers of this tour and the anarchist movement in Italy. Indeed, in many of the locations visited, anarchist groups took a stand and protested, carrying out leafleting, banners, and interventions outside the venues.
Of course, in the general climate of war we're experiencing, others were also critical of these initiatives, and in some cases the organizers had their rooms withdrawn because the initiative was deemed incompatible with the principles of the hosting associations.
It seems there was no shortage of pressure on the venue management bodies, even from individuals who certainly distanced themselves from any antimilitarist vision, and who instead had the Russian Federation as their point of reference.
But the press releases published by the Antiauthoritarian Alliance don't spend many words on the campists and pro-Russians. Instead, there are pages and pages criticizing the anarchists who contested the initiatives. If you take the time and patience to read these pages, it's sad to see that every criticism and protest, normal in political debate, is delegitimized, ridiculed, even accused of "Stalinism." It is on these grounds that those who argue that anarchists belong in the army lament the lack of willingness to dialogue and listen.
This is nothing new. This attitude has already been revisited on several occasions. If anyone has lost their memory, just reread some articles from Umanità Nova from 2023 and 2024. One of the Antiauthoritarian Alliance's press releases revisits what happened during the international anarchist meeting in Saint-Imier in July 2023. They dramatically denounce the disruption of a conference held in the main hall, organized by groups supporting the so-called "anti-authoritarian fighters" enlisted in the Ukrainian army. But the reality was quite different: after a comrade who dared to raise an anti-militarist sign in the hall had it snatched from his hand, individual comrades protested against the censorship. Some dared to ask questions the organizers didn't like, but a sort of well-coordinated security service immediately intervened to silence critical voices, with insults and even physical threats. Meanwhile, insults and anathemas were hurled from the stage at antimilitarists. This was happening during an international meeting, where one should be able to engage with positions different from one's own. This is just part of the "dialogue" we witnessed in Saint-Imier.
Since the Antiauthoritarian Alliance's statements feature fanciful stories, it's necessary to remember how things actually happened. However, I want to thank this group for raising this issue. Nearly four and a half years after the start of the large-scale conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, war is increasingly present in our societies and our lives. War is increasingly an unavoidable part of the landscape we live in. This is why, albeit not always openly, warmongering ambitions, military solutions, and hopes for a clean slate created by the war are resurfacing in the political discourse of movements, transcending traditionally "militarist" and "camp" political spheres. I think it's good to take this opportunity to reconsider and clarify a series of issues, to try to better orient ourselves in these difficult times.
Dario Antonelli
https://umanitanova.org/ripartire-dallantimilitarismo-il-tour-delle-polemiche/
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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