The French-speaking Anarchist Federation under its today shape was created in 1953, period where different anarchist groups, and above all the Parisian group "Louise Michel", opposing the centralist behaviour of the Communist Libertarian Federation, reacted by leaving the latter and creating a new organisation.

The Fédération Anarchiste is an organisation active in struggles and diverse activities across a wide array of fields such as against the state and its corollaries the army, dominant class law and the police; in the fight against capitalism, racism and thus against detention centres, the new avatars of capitalist and egotistical societies; as well as against all religions, which directly or indirectly seek to impose their destructive and freedom-quashing ideologies. The Fédération Anarchiste wants a society made up of free individuals responsible for their own lives, a society in which men and women take the decisions which affect them and are free from all power and authority. These struggles are led by activists across France, Belgium and the French overseas territories (New Caledonia). In addition to being part of the FAF, many members are also part of numerous associations, social organisations, unions and other radical movements; they carry the ideals, principles and anarchist practices developed and discussed in the Federation during Comités de Relations Elargies (quarterly federal meetings), congresses and more informal meetings. Beyond theory, the organisation is a true example of federalism, confronted with the concrete realities of the world and of everyday life, with or against activists from other organisations, some of whom are centralist and authoritarian. Recently, some members have begun to organise or have initiated Popular Universities following the renaissance of this type of popular education and of reciprocal knowledge sharing outside of the sacred halls of institutional universities.

The spreading of anarchist ideas, information about struggles and about the arts and culture occurs through our newspaper Le Monde Libertaire and our federal radio station, Radio Libertaire. Le Monde Libertaire is published weekly with the energy and ongoing hard work of comrades mandated to the Comité de Rédaction (Editorial Committee) and the mandated Administrator who looks after the economic logistics. The paper publishes articles written by members and by writers unaffiliated with the Federation. It is the mandated secretariat of Radio Libertaire (RL), which manages the associative, economic and technical aspects of the radio, which has ensured its smooth running since 1981 so that radio hosts from the FAF and hosts external to the organisation can produce radio shows under the best possible conditions and strike an original sound in the radio broadcasting landscape. Groups which are not located in the Paris area and who want to broadcast on RL can do so by contacting the secretariat of Radio Libertaire or they can work with local free radio stations which are open to having anarchist ideas on their airwaves.

Although the internet is an increasingly prominent means of spreading messages of all sorts, we still favour the written word to spread our ideas. It is as such that the FAF has a publishing house which prints books and pamphlets. The choice of topics and managing the publications is looked after by a mandated secretariat for the Editions du Monde Libertaire. The publishing house has substantially increased the size of its catalogue over the past few years – this has by no means dissuaded authors from spontaneously proposing their manuscripts. Aside from our federal publishing house, it should also be noted that there are several other publishing houses run by members of the FAF such as the Editions Libertaires and the Editions TOPS, the latter of which is specialised in republishing old anarchist theoretical texts.

Another important vector of ideas and information which should not be overlooked is the publication of numerous information sheets by local groups. These are published either regularly or periodically, depending on current struggles or different subjects. Such publications allow the Federation’s groups to have a closer relationship with the local population by directly addressing everyday concerns.

To facilitate contact with the local population, some groups have acquired buildings. Such spaces allow them to invite people to debates, discussions or simply to meet, possibly work together or even to join the group and the FAF. In order to help groups acquire buildings, the FAF established a loan system by which a loan can be granted under certain conditions and depending the FAF’s financial capabilities. The idea is to make federalism work within the economic realities of capitalist society. Such buildings can house libraries whose books can be lent out to anarchist supporters.

The FAF currently has four bookshops: Publico, a federal bookshop managed by a mandated Administrator and three group bookshops: L’Insoumise in Rouen, L’Autodidacte in Besançon and La Commune in Rennes. These bookshops improve the visibility of our organisation in a context in which it is ever more difficult to be seen and heard.

It is obvious that all of this work, which shows that anarchists are capable of creating and managing things despite the constant stifling of our ideas, has pushed the state to implement increasingly repressive mechanisms against activists – not only anarchists, but also those active in the social and political scene more generally. Beyond anarchist words and action, our buildings and tools are all the more important for denouncing increased repression and we aspire to preserve and develop them further.

The FAF also uses the internet as a means to inform and promote itself. The federation has a website upon which federal and group activities are listed (under the site heading FA-RI) in an agenda which lists meetings, topics and dates; this information also appears in Le Monde Libertaire. The internet also allows Radio Libertaire to be listened to live from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. This has meant that the radio has gone from being a Paris-based entity to having a much broader audience base. Outside of the federal framework, many groups are aware of how important the internet can be to reach the population and have thus set up their own websites and blogs.

The FAF is not isolated from external realities and as such has permanent and punctual ties with other organisations. For all struggles which take place on French territory, this falls under the responsibility of the secretariat for External Relations; the secretariat for International Relations is responsible for struggles which take place outside of the French territory or which require the federalisation of means and organic ties with other anarchist federations, notably through the International of Anarchist Federations (IFA-IAF).

In order to address the arrival of new members or the potential membership of supporters, the FAF runs federal training courses which are called Centres de Formation Anarchiste (CFA – Anarchist Training Centres). CFAs can also be run by groups themselves, with varying degrees of help from the secretariat for Internal Relations. This mandated secretariat is responsible for facilitating communication between groups and the federation. Groups can also set up their own initiatives such as “Rencontres Anarchistes” (“Anarchist Gatherings”).

Like any political organisation, FAF must preserve its memory. That is the role of the mandated secretariat for History and Archives which is responsible for collecting anything directly or indirectly related to the FAF, so long as it helps in the historical recognition of our organisation.

In order to carry out all of these activities and for the internal running of the Federation, we must collect dues. Responsibility for this falls on the mandated Treasurer. The other entities (ML, RL, Publico, etc.) are self-financed, with application of the principle of federalism and solidarity between the entities if necessary.

The political action of the Fédération Anarchiste is decided following debate at the annual congress, which nominates secretaries and gives them their mandates. The secretaries attend the monthly Comité de Relation (CR – Relational Committee), presided by the General Secretary, in order to give an account of their activities. It is in part this team of secretaries which shapes the dynamics of the FAF, but such dynamics would certainly not exist without the will of the groups.

Aside from the work done by the different secretaries and the political orientation given by the congress, groups are autonomous in their actions and totally free to partake in the initiatives and topics of their choice, so long as they remain within the scope of our basic principles, the shared associative pact between all of the federation’s members. Décroissance (de-growth), self-management, anti-capitalism, developing alternatives, antifascism, anti-prison struggles and international solidarity are all areas in which the Fédération Anarchiste is currently involved.