Public Statement from IFA Congress Saint-Imier 2012

[Dan Clore]

News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo

http://anarchistnews.org/content/public-statement-ifa-congress-saint-imier-2012-9-12th-august
Aug 15 |13:30
Public statement from IFA Congress Saint-Imier 2012, 9-12th August to
other exploited and oppressed people of the World.

The St. Imier meeting has enabled a lot of groups and militants that are
member and non-members of the International of Anarchist Federations
(IAF-IFA) to meet each other. IFA would like to sum up the events of the
last few days.

One hundred and forty years ago in this town an international movement
of 'anti-authoritarians' was founded. It played a major part in the
creation of an organised movement of anarchists. They worked then for
profound social transformation, and in this manner we have participated,
as IFA, in the international meeting in St-Imier. What we have to offer
is the best sort of society that humanity is capable of achieving. We
want to create a world in which there is complete economic equality, by
which we mean that there should be no personal property but that we
produce and own everything communally, with no need for money.

But as well as economic equality, there would be maximum personal
freedom. This means that we live as we want and no one can make us do
anything we don't want to do, or prevent us from doing what we want to
do unless this limits the freedom of others. So, there would be no
hierarchy or oppression of any kind. There would be no need for a state
or police because we would not need controlling or coercing. There would
be no need for wars or global conflict because we would have no
political enemies and no desire or need to seize any resources from
anyone else. This is what we call Anarchism.

Anarchists reject the idea that it is human nature that one personal
exploits another and that we are unequal. It is the case that rulers and
states throughout history have maintained this system. This lie
justifies Capitalism as a 'natural' system. We hear that there is a
'crisis' of Capitalism, but Capitalism is crisis. It is a recent system
in historical terms and has already brought humanity to its knees many
times before producing the current situation. But people all over the
World are seeing through this lie and are resisting states and
capitalism as never before and seek to coordinate their efforts across
national boundaries. This makes an anarchist society more possible than
ever.

But Anarchism is not utopianism. Obviously, for such a society to work,
many things must first change, and our task now is to help bring about
these vast transformations and provide an analysis that is useful to
them. The working class, by which we mean all exploited and impoverished
people, ourselves amongst them, has to operate as a mass movement.
Crucially, it must not entrust the struggle to new leaders with old
ideas, but by determining its own path.

Today, social movements are practising new ways of organising which draw
heavily on anarchism, for example taking action directly against
obstacles to their progress and experimenting with non-hierarchical
organisational forms. They include student movements, action against
destruction of the natural world and common resources, anti-militarist
struggles, those against G8 summits and capitalism in general, and most
recently the fight against austerity which unites the international
working class. Movements such as Occupy and the Indignados and similar
movements of self-organisation against the banking system have shown the
importance of using direct action to reclaim public space. The uprisings
of oppressed indigenous peoples in recent decades, such as the
Zapatistas, have inspired the new social movements and have influenced
anarchism itself. Such new movements create large assemblies to make
decisions together without leaders. They practice horizontal
decision-making. They link-up federally, as organisations of equal
status without decision-making bodies at their centre.

But these attempts often fall short of what is possible because
meaningful social change requires also that we change as individuals. We
seek to be free and equal as individuals, but there must also be
voluntary, personal responsibility and self-organisation. The working
class itself contains divisions and oppressions and hierarchies which do
not disappear just because we want to have no rulers and want to be
equal. As members of the working class we therefore struggle internally
against our own racism, sexism and patriarchal attitudes and practices.
Equally we fight the assumption that heterosexuality is the norm, or
that clearly defined categories 'male' and 'female' are 'normal'. We
must identify and oppose discrimination and stereotyping on the basis of
age or ability. Until internalised inequalities and deference towards
hierarchy are identified and abolished we cannot be free, and so we
identify and oppose them in social movements and workers organisations
as well as in society in general.

Finally, to create this free and equal society, the working class itself
must bring down rulers and capital. We call this a 'social revolution'.
Anarchists try to build confidence within the working class in our
ability to be successful as quickly and with the least violence
possible. We do this through joining with other workers to win small
victories. We do this best through direct action not through reforms and
negotiation with bosses. Direct action means not waiting but taking what
should belong to all of us. We need to support each other's struggles
through mutual aid. This means practical solidarity in times of
hardship. As well as helping us on a day-to-day basis, this demonstrates
to people what we are about. So we practice anarchy now as far as we can
in how we organise and how we struggle to prove that an anarchist
society is possible.

We salute those comrades from the past, their work and the personal
sacrifices they made for human emancipation. We continue their work, and
critically develop their ideas and apply them to our situation. They
would in turn salute the global working class at this point in its
history, as it strives for real freedom and equality.

IFA has dealt with many themes over the last 5 days and in particular:

• The economic crisis and social struggle

• International solidarity

• Anti-militarism

• Anti-nuclear and alternative energies

• Migration

On this basis, the IFA has reinvigorated its own activities and invite
all exploited people to struggle for transformation of society, for
anarchism.

The International of Anarchist Federations (IAF-IFA), 12th August 2012.
http://i-f-a.org


--
Dan Clore

New book: _Weird Words: A Lovecraftian Lexicon_:
http://tinyurl.com/yd3bxkw
My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-unspeakable-and-others/6124911
Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
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News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
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"From the point of view of the defense of our society,
there only exists one danger -- that workers succeed in
speaking to each other about their condition and their
aspirations _without intermediaries_."
--Censor (Gianfranco Sanguinetti), _The Real Report on
the Last Chance to Save Capitalism in Italy_