IAF (International of Anarchist Federations) Congress in Carrara, Italy, 4th to 6th of July 2008.

This coming July we’ll be holding the congress that marks the 40th anniversary of IAF’s foundation, back in 1968, and for this occasion we will be revisiting its birthplace, Carrara, truly a bastion of anarchism in Italy, and arguably in the whole world. Many things have changed after four decades of anarchist internationalism. So many in fact that, from a political point of view, we seem to live in a different world. Regardless of which, the need for a libertarian struggle and international solidarity is today as pressing as it has always been. Cold war and real socialism are over, capitalism has spread unchallenged through the entire planet and borders are now, more than ever, unbreakable barriers that claim the lives of thousands every year, be it in the strait of Gibraltar or in the Texan desert. Pretty much as it did forty years ago an iron curtain divides the world, only that this time it separates the north from the south. And today, as forty years ago, anarchists from all over the world continue building up the tools to oppose this unjust system, the tools to shape a better world, a libertarian world. IAF is one of those tools.

In 1968, after the experiences of the French May and the Prague spring, delegates from the then existing anarchist federations in Europe met in Carrara. They came from the French speaking Federation, the Italian FAI, the Iberian Federation, in exile from a fascist dictatorship, and the Bulgarian Federation, also forced to exile from a dictatorial regime, in this case a communist one. Knowing perfectly well that workers’ struggles for freedom and justice are the same everywhere in the world, no matter what kind of government they have to face, they decided to disaknowledge borders and declare their mutual solidarity, in the spirit of the international and humanitarian (in the sense of being extensive to all of humankind) commitment that has always been the foundation of anarchism.

Today, IAF continues to keep the same spirit of solidarity and internationalism that saw its creation, but it is now a far bigger and better structured organisation, as fits the growth of the anarchist movement on the international level. This development is not just a quantitative one but, more importantly, is also qualitative, as together, all of us who are part of it, keep inventing new ways of shaping that international solidarity, overcoming the big geographical distances that lie sometimes between us and the barriers that those who govern us try to create between each other. The forms that this solidarity can take are as unlimited as our imagination will have them: from supporting each other against repression, to the co-ordination of initiatives, mutual aid to self-manage projects, sharing knowledge and resources, etc. And this is not limited to the federations that officially make part of IAF, but it is also extended to the many other groups that we keep in contact with, to all those that strive for a libertarian future for the whole planet.

In July we will take another step in shaping this tool at the service of the anarchists of the world. We will meet with comrades from many parts of the globe, from Belarus and Argentina, Bulgaria, Turkey, France, Mexico, Italy, of course, Uruguay, the United Kingdom and Venezuela, just to mention a few. We will devote special attention to the development of the libertarian movement in countries outside the “western world” and we hope that out of this congress new initiatives will come out that will contribute to its growth. Other issues discussed will be immigration, anarchofeminism, religion, etc. Though nothing can ever substitute the work that thousands of anarchists carry out every day in every corner of the globe, in the streets, in their neighbourhoods and workplaces, spreading libertarian ideas and building anarchy up, we are sure that co-ordination and international solidarity can help in the task. Or at least it is good to remind us that we are many and we are everywhere.

If you want more information or simply to get in touch you can email
 IAF-IFASecretariat@riseup.net or check www.iaf-ifa.org

Long life the international struggle of the peoples of the world! Long life anarchy!

IAF Secretary.