A-Infos (en) Germany, FAU, Direkte Aktion: MEETING FOR THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST ANTI-AUTHORITATIVE INTERNATIONAL FROM JULY 19 TO 23, 2023 IN ST. IMIER (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

A report from an anarcho-feminist perspective. ---- Background By: Vera 
Bianchi - May 29, 2024 ---- On the one hand, the congress, which took 
place in St. Imier from July 19 to 23, 2023, was absolutely impressive: 
the organizing team did not know how many people would come, and 
logistically managed to provide 5,000 people with meals (including 
special meals for allergy sufferers), camping sites and sanitary facilities.
On the other hand, the meeting was by no means as harmonious and 
solidary as it initially seemed. During the congress, the care team 
contacted the participants with a written information explaining that 
the working conditions at the camp were so strenuous and unreasonable 
that several people withdrew from the care team. And a book table was 
tipped over in the hall, which led to mutual accusations.

I see three basic problems in organizing such a large anti-authoritarian 
congress: firstly, the distribution of tasks, especially the mental 
load, among as many participants as possible; secondly, the question of 
how to bring people with many different and sometimes contradictory 
beliefs together; and thirdly, the solidarity-based integration of all 
people who want to attend this meeting.

There were many groups that came together in advance to organize the 
meeting. One of the cooks told me that there were 9 cooking groups alone 
who organized everything and then supervised the many volunteers on 
site. But in fact the organizing teams were looking for volunteers to 
cut vegetables and wash up until the end of the camp. The minimum 
requirement was to get involved for two hours - I suspect that even this 
short time was ignored by several of the 5000 participants, preferring 
to consume as if they were at a festival, so that the work was left to 
fewer people.

The second problem, even at an anarchist meeting, is that the basic 
consensus does not cover all attitudes. Standard points of contention 
are Israel/Palestine, sexism, racism - but also other points where 
people or groups behave disrespectfully, aggressively, discriminatorily 
or dogmatically towards others.

The third problem is the solidarity-based integration of all interested 
parties. I saw very few children during the whole time and was glad that 
I had traveled there without my children. In the Grassroots Revolution, 
I later read the report of a comrade who described her experiences with 
her daughter: actually, almost no one looked after the children, 
childcare was at the top of the mountain, so that it was almost 
impossible to find time to get to events, and the comrade was pretty 
much on her own with food and entertainment. That is not how I imagine 
an anticipation of a free society. And children are just one of the 
neglected groups.

In the specific case of St. Imier, I wonder whether the geographical 
nature deterred people with mobility restrictions from the outset. 
Cécile Lecomte, known as the "squirrel" of non-violent resistance, 
reported on the difficulties of even traveling by train because the 
transfer times on site were too short and there was little or no support 
from the train when getting on and off. I did not ask her how often she 
went from the very top (film hall and childcare) to the very bottom 
(food, hall with book tables) in St. Imier.

But integration also means being understandable for everyone. It was 
very well organized that large events were translated into up to 10 
languages - with the help of many participants. But the many small 
events were not translated, meaning that deaf people or people who do 
not speak English, French or German only had a limited number of events 
to choose from. And the overview of the events was not barrier-free 
either: instead of printed programs, everything was only available 
online, and the network often crashed.

Perhaps at the next meeting of this size, everyone could join a subgroup 
beforehand and take on tasks with others in advance? Because overall it 
is an empowering form of international exchange and we should not be 
discouraged by the problems in St. Imier!

https://direkteaktion.org/treffen-zum-150jaehrigen-jubilaeum-der-ersten-antiautoritaeren-internationalen-vom-19-bis-23-juli-2023-in-st-imier/
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