A-Infos (en) Germany, Die Platform: Report from the anarcho-syndicalist youth congress in Berlin (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

An anarcho-syndicalist youth congress took place in Berlin from March 
28th to 30th. It was organized by the Autonomous Student Syndicate (ASS) 
Berlin. Various anarcho-syndicalist student unions and youth groups from 
Germany, Switzerland and Sweden took part. A small youth delegation from 
the platform was also there. The following is a personal report from a 
young comrade who took part in the congress. ---- "For me the congress 
was quite impressive. There was a lot and a very diverse program: from a 
scavenger hunt to discover the history of the district and to unfreeze 
each other, to various lectures and workshops, to a concert and a film 
evening. As is the case when you meet so many strangers, I was a bit 
nervous and excited at first. However, the fact that I was greeted 
warmly and with a gift bag quickly evaporated my concerns. The program 
also integrated me socially and there were always people to talk to at 
the counter. Every day three meals were prepared by different comrades. 
An awareness structure was created that was accessible and also 
organized a retreat room that was occupied by an awareness person from 
morning to evening. So everything was self-organized from A to Z.

The lectures and workshops covered anarchist-syndical history and 
tradition, theory formation, shared practical experiences from previous 
struggles or strategic considerations. All of this with regard to school 
and youth organization, but also with regard to wage labor as the next 
battlefield. Our lecture on "Anarchafeminism - The Search for a 
Revolutionary Feminist Practice" received a lot of positive feedback and 
I enjoyed the small question and exchange session afterwards. Between 
the comrades from FAU Berlin and the Übertage podcast, we set up our 
information stand and were present before and after the lecture, were 
able to distribute our materials and collect money for the Sudan 
campaign. The comrades from Perspective Self-Administration and the 
Institute for Syndicalism Research were also represented with 
information stands. This gave the participants of the congress a good 
insight into the entire organizational landscape of class struggle 
anarchism in Germany and gave us the opportunity to meet old 
acquaintances again and make new acquaintances.

On the first day, a banner from the Swedish comrades calling for an end 
to the occupation of Palestine made the polarization that also existed 
in the ranks of the anarcho-syndicalist youth regarding the war against 
Gaza visible. The discussion about this kept me very busy during the 
congress and made it clear to me that the lack of consistent anarchist 
positioning on this international issue continues to be a major problem 
for organized anarchism in German-speaking countries. I think 
confronting this topic was and remains important because it needs to be 
dealt with in order to be able to act. But I don't want to forget how 
much care work she took up. I found the ASS Berlin, the Swedish comrades 
of the Syndikalistiska Ungdomsförbundet and everyone else who took on 
awareness work here to be quite ambitious, willing to compromise and 
show solidarity in their dealings.

For me, the congress was a very practical and beautiful space for 
exchange. On the one hand, formally, as input was given by many 
organizations and individuals and subsequent exchanges and questions and 
discussions were possible. On the other hand, it was also informal 
because I had the feeling that I could chat to people and the shared 
idea was to get to know each other and create connections. I got to know 
a lot of people outside of my hometown and have the feeling that we have 
grown closer together, even as a small delegation from the platform. I 
look forward to further collaboration and hopefully seeing the comrades 
again soon. My and our thanks go to the ASS Berlin for making the 
congress possible through their organizational (preparatory) work!"

The next months and years will show whether it is possible to spark a 
new wave of anarchist and syndicalist youth organization. As a platform, 
we will continue to support all approaches that point in this direction 
in solidarity. Because the development of an organized anarchist and 
syndicalist youth is an important building block in the process of the 
general reconstruction of the anarchist and syndicalist movement in our 
region. We wish our comrades - whether they are in the ASS, the Black 
Rose Dresden, the Free Workers Youth Switzerland, the Syndikalistiska 
Ungdomsförbundet, somewhere else or not at all - good luck and much more 
perseverance in their building process .

https://www.dieplattform.org/2024/04/09/bericht-vom-anarchosyndikalistischen-jugendkongress-in-berlin/#more-2963
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