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(en) Greece, protaanka: Placement at the "organizing anarchists" event (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Date Sat, 16 Mar 2024 09:27:22 +0200


On Friday, March 1st, we attended as guest speakers, together with the Peloto collective from Xanthi, the event organized by the Underground Ilisos collective for the "organization of anarchists" at ASOEE. The event took place on the occasion of the organizational proposal that the Underground Ilisos collective has made public since the summer of 2023. From our side, we would like to thank again for the invitation of the comrades/equals to position ourselves at the event and underline, as we did in from our introduction, that the organizational perspective of the anarchist movement is a bet of historical importance and presupposes political transcendence, which is only possible through the struggle and the building of a new kinetic pole that will move dynamically in the direction of organizational and political upgrading to win it.

Here is our pitch-introduction.

First, we would like to thank the organizing collective of "Underground Ilisos" for inviting us to be speakers at today's event. We would also like to greet the collective "Peloto" from Xanthi and of course all the attendees.

The issue of the anarchist organization that we will discuss today is crucial for us. It is a question of historical, but also existential importance for anarchism and its historical perspective. The history of both revolutionary movements in general, and the anarchist movement in particular, has proven that without organization we can achieve nothing. We cannot propose a revolutionary program of overthrow structured in small groups autonomous from each other or open assemblies / flares, nor convince of the justice of our ideas and agendas, nor with our action cause a serious crack in bourgeois domination and ideology. We need organization to have a revolutionary political strategy, we need organization to be effective and implement anarchist ideas.

The centrality of the organizational issue, imposes political seriousness and political responsibility for its approach. Every new organizational effort in the present and in the future should step on solid ground, know where it is marching and for what purposes, be the product of an integrated and perfect campaign and strategic plan.

We do not have the luxury, based on kinetic, but especially, social and class reality, neither for experimentation nor for failures that will further and perhaps irreparably damage the organizational perspective of the anarchist movement.

The prevailing trend inside our political space has been informalism for decades and it is a trend deeply rooted and accepted by almost everyone. Not the informalism of "rebellious anarchism" or the nihilists. We are talking about the informalism that is not based on any theoretical scheme or conscious tactical choice, but is established as a "natural reality" of the anarchist space that is learned as the "normality" by the new comrades and is reproduced from generation to generation: the informalism of the fragmented groups and unorganized individuals who simply "follow" the calls of the former. The informality of opportunistic partnerships without agreements and common goals. The informality of thematic "open assemblies".

A "model" in short, flimsy, which has no relevance to the organizational agenda of anarchists. Which works at times beneficially due to the ability to mobilize and stimulate enthusiasm because it invites an action that is immediate (but which the majority usually does not co-shape) but without political and strategic bases looking beyond. After all, if this direct action with the (usually) contradictory or imposed political frameworks that is put forward as the "effective" advantage of informalism and open assemblies, came from fermented and organized forces, it would be much stronger and achieve much more. So let's think beyond easy solutions and prescriptions that our movement has not managed to do on a mass basis.

This lying 'model' most of us have served, as much as it prides itself on its reflexes, ultimately fosters the incoherence of individuals who simply respond rather than collectivize, delegation, lack of commitment and constant revolutionary recruitment in the struggle and with mathematical precision leads to the privatization and disappointment of most of those who approach us over the years and see that "nothing changes".

The latter should concern us all. It is not enough to assign individual responsibility and damn those who quit. We should look at the root causes. Do the majority of those who organize in the anarchist movement do so politically consciously or are they fascinated by "anti-cultures", "lifestyles", anti-social posturing and alternative socialization that ultimately have nothing to do with anarchism? Are "open calls" organized or followed? Do they have knowledge of our ideology? Do they have knowledge of the stations in the history of anarchism? Do they have real theoretical and political agreements with the political anarchist forces that exist? Are they really mobilizing for the revolutionary overthrow of the system? Do they perceive as a realistic prospect the reconstruction of society without a state and with the wealth in the hands of those who produce it?

If the answers show that there is a "problem" then we need to see what we are doing wrong. We should look at the structure of our political space, we should look at our way of organization, we should look at our strategy. Without saying "it's hard" and without putting up with the "and wherever it goes" situation.

We know that the organizational upgrade of the anarchist forces and the formation of a mass anarchist political organization is a difficult process and a process at the same time "breakthrough" that should come into confrontation with the established condition that we mentioned within the anarchist space in Greece. But in no way is it an unfeasible process or a "waste of time" from the immediate necessities of the struggle as naively some will support or even fraudulently others, because without the "followers" of informalism they cannot develop any autonomous action or strategy. On the contrary, organization is not a theoretical project or an indefinite for the future: it is a condition for us to be effective even in the immediate struggles. For them to be a springboard for the revolutionary perspective and not for disappointments due to their inability to meet the demands of the times.

The position of anarchist comrades and comrades in the enormous social and class challenges before us cannot be other than that of the protagonist. The vanguard of the struggles, the position in the vanguard of a revolutionary movement that will attempt to overthrow capitalism and the state . The goal is achievable, but we will have to make political decisions.

It is not possible, comrades and comrades, to be the tail of the left in the street, in the trade unions, in the universities, in the social movements and think that this way we will increase our strength. We can't be queuers, just a "fussy" voice of protest on the sidelines of the games. It is not only bad positions and analyzes that are to blame for our entrapment, nor the de-ideologicalization of anarchism by external influences, either by liberalism or by Marxism. These political positions and these ideological influences come from time to time because they find the ground to flourish in the problematic reality of our space. Why do we have theoretical and strategic deficits, why do we not have a mass political body, why do we suffer from a lack of ideological and historical identity, why do we organize in autonomous groups/collectivities that cannot, by their nature, constitute a multifaceted political organization that will overcome political opponents and it will rearrange the power relationships. Thus, anarchist space becomes digestible.

To move to another situation we must start with the question of whether we want an anarchist movement that plays a catalytic political and revolutionary role, inspires and fights for the triumph and victory of its agendas or an anarchist space that is conflictual, but without class and social bases and simply a "follow-up" of developments. If we want the second, simply to "move" and "act" and "whatever comes out" then nothing needs to change. If we want the former, we will have to organize and develop a strategic and revolutionary program.

However, in order not to fly into the clouds, we should also ask ourselves: is there the data to start now, processes, organizational meetings and pre-conference dialogue planning, for a new anarchist organization? We believe no, no matter how much it saddens us.

10 years ago another organizational effort met dead ends while the kinematic data were better, the "space" more massive, the level of the class struggle in a higher phase. And it was 4 collectives fermented through agreements, solid intercollegiate collaborations and years of competition, that started it. And yet there was a split despite enormous efforts, and today the organizational trend within the anarchist space is weaker than ever.

With these findings, we do not want to spread pessimism among those who believe that we can start such an effort now, nor to identify different models of organization with each other. We will be there, in every endeavor that has perspective, to contribute. But as we mentioned above, we cannot afford to fail.

If we believe, even for a moment, that overcoming informalism and the emergence of a new cinematic perspective is a matter of fast-track processes, not only will he swallow us, but he will also laugh at the crap of our tendency. The organizational perspective of the anarchist movement should be built step by step and in an ideological and political break with the informalist gangrene. For the formation of a new anarchist organization, good intentions are not enough, nor just theoretical agreements. There should be intersections and the way of organization should be paved through hard and tireless effort. First of all through the fight.

The comrades and comrades, the collectives, those of us anxious for the organization of anarchism and its leading emergence in the class and political struggle, we should immediately form a new kinetic pole with a clear ideological identity, historical consciousness of our movement, with elaborated positions and specific tactical and strategic objectives and to sidestep the struggle. Let us throw ourselves wholeheartedly into him. Only in this way, will it be possible to create the conditions for political and organizational leaps and only in this way will we be able to proceed steadily and organized in the formation of a new, anarchist organization. The conditions for it will be built through competitive alliances. They will be built on general strikes, student mobilizations, roadblocks. They will be built from competitive initiatives, from the creation of structures, through multifaceted activities, both before and alongside the start of an organized pre-conference dialogue.

Creating an organization is not a technical process. It is not enough to find a general framework of theoretical agreements and to proceed directly discussing its structure, the pre-congress stages before the foundation, etc. some groups and some comrades. We should contribute to the development of a dynamic current that will move there and work out the founding steps based on a well-organized political and procedural plan. Mainly, we have to see what this organization will do, how it will act, what we want its offer to be in the political and class struggle. And at the same time let's act together while we talk. We will say it again: we will not build organization in theoretical greenhouses and events. We will build the organizational perspective of the anarchist movement by "dirtying the shirt" in the struggle.

Historically, revolutionary organizations are not born from events, dialogue forums and philosophical debates outside the furnace of struggle. All of these are necessary to ferment and record our opinions. But they are not enough. Those of us who talk about organization should produce work, problematize comrades and comrades, criticize dead-end informalism, not from the outside and from above, but through practical examples of organization and struggle. To contribute to the renewal of the lines of the movement through our daily social and class work, through our actions and speech. Otherwise we will make a hole in the void, we will talk about "organization" and "needs" meeting a wall and indifference and the years will pass with the anarchist movement becoming more and more powerless.

We say this, wanting to trouble both the comrades and comrades with whom we disagree and whose organization is not a priority, as well as those who, like us, worry about the organizational perspective of our political movement.

At this point, we will briefly try to answer the three axes that the comrades and comrades of Underground Ilissos have set for tonight's event and submit our own reasoning and our own proposals on them.

1st, Why the existence of special anarchist groups is necessary.

"Organizations" will be filled in by us. Although it is impossible to develop a theoretical and historical foundation in the time available, we will repeat that without organization we can achieve nothing. The formation of special anarchist organizations has been a strategic choice of the anarchist movement since the beginning of its birth, from the time of the Bakunic Alliance. And we mean, the distinct, special anarchist political organization and not the organization e.g. in associations or neighborhood assemblies.

We anarchists must organize based on our political identity because otherwise, if e.g. assimilate without it into class and social movements, we will lose the battle in the ideological war to our opponents, who will be even more organized and will enter them with a strategy to dominate them authoritatively. If the spontaneous movement of the class struggle was sufficient for the revolutionary transition, then we would not need organized action on the basis of our political identity as anarchists. But the class struggle has proven the necessity of organizational dualism, that is, organization both on a purely political level and on a social and class level. It is necessary, as Bakunin said, to combine the popular instinct with the revolutionary idea in order to have a revolution.

Anarchism is a specific class and revolutionary ideology and seeks through the organizational structure the most suitable and effective "vehicle" to implement its proposals through a collectively common strategy and practice. And this, only purely anarchist organizations can achieve.

2nd, How can groups upgrade their organization,

We believe that the issue is not so much in upgrading the teams, e.g. to a new secondary federation, as much as to the transcendence of the kinship group model itself. This model has been outdated and, among other things, the political groups that exist today are few and there are no agreements to proceed with federalization.

We are not in the pre-revolutionary Spain of the hundreds of anarchist groups united in the FAI but in the Greece of 2024 and a peculiar political space.

Anarchist groups, bad lies, we operate as autonomous cinematic microcosms either within the reality of "space" or through the implementation of our own distinct political agenda. Also, the autonomous anarchist groups, with their codes and habits, with the small number of ideologically related members and the closedness that they possess, can hardly respond to such a political body, as recent history itself has shown. A federation of collectivities will inevitably end up in an ideological-political jumble that will eventually function informally or in a closed ideological formation of a few groups. In the first case it will be split or dissolved, in the second it will be condemned to "low flights". Neither in the first nor in the second version will it be possible to achieve long-term goals.

A new political body must be built on other foundations. Our own view, which we will only outline today, is that the anarchist organization should be spread over every city, every suburb, every region. Its primary nuclei, clustered e.g. in Liberal Social Centers, it should be the area cores, which will be united federally at the suburban and city level, while a higher-level political council from the lower representatives, should have the role of unifying interconnection of the entire organization (creating sectors, infrastructures, directing its communication organs, its central action, etc.). The organization should have action both at the level of regions, which will be developed by its nuclei without central accountability, and central action, which will feed the central body (that is, all the nuclei through their representatives). In order not to create "confusions" and because the parenthesis may not be enough by itself, let's say that by "central body" we do not mean an "external" body, but the political council we mentioned, which will be made up of the representatives of the cores and of the regions of the organization.

The bet of such an organization, in our opinion, is to have daily action on all fronts. To work out methods of propaganda, to be constantly in the places of work, in the places of study, in the neighborhoods, in the matches. To develop effective communication instruments (publications, newspapers, information mechanisms), to establish libertarian centers, libraries, training and struggle structures everywhere, to plan the strategy of the social penetration of anarchists into trade unionism, universities, popular assemblies, not on terms of the upper hegemony, but in terms of organized intervention with the exact aim of pushing the movements in a libertarian and unguarded direction.

The anarchist organization should work out a workable revolutionary program of social transition from capitalism and the state to classless society. Based on the possibilities of the time and to graft it into society. This will be her strategic guide in daily struggles, her compass for the Social Revolution.

3rd What is necessary for the intervention of anarchist forces in social movements to be effective.

In this formulation we would like to point out an important absence, the reference to class struggles and the labor movement. Of course, we do not disparage all social demand or rights movements that appear from time to time. It is imperative that anarchists participate in them, to promote our own positions and proposals, to criticize many times, to fight for the justification and upgrading of their demands. To promote their interconnection with the broader revolutionary movement. Nevertheless, there are also social movements whose osmosis needs attention.

In this regard, in order for anarchism to be a catalytic factor in the daily class struggle, the existence of a common strategy oriented in this direction is necessary in the workers' organizations and social movements. This common strategy can only be implemented by an anarchist political organization that, through a coherent analysis of reality based on common ideological and political principles and positions, will be able to undertake the historic task of being a crucial aid for the unguarded development of class and social movements and races. Its members must join the unions, take the lead in creating new ones, fight for the establishment of a class-based Free Labor Confederation. In the same way, in universities, in popular assemblies, in projects to socialize land and buildings, anarchists must be in the forefront.

In closing, we must underline that the basic strategy of anarchists should always be the interconnection and totalization of the individual, the struggle for the unification of all claims, all ventures, all struggles, in the direction of the revolutionary perspective. Against all reformism, against logics of "islands of freedom", against logics of alternative forms of survival with the state and capital in the fireproof.

Comrades, this debate is big and our responsibilities are huge. We invite everyone to common struggles, to common processes, to solid cooperation, in order to co-shape the terms of the political counter-attack and the organization of our movement. With the heart and eyes set on Social Revolution and Anarchy.

INITIATIVE OF ANARCHIST SAINTS OF ARANGYRO-KAMATERO

https://protaanka.espivblogs.net/2024/03/03/topothetisi-stin-ekdilosi-gia-tin-quot-organosi-ton-anarchikon-quot/
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