international of anarchist federations
l'international des federations anarchistes
France, Motions of the 66th congress of the French-speaking Anarchist Federation, 30, 31 May and 1st June 2009 in Besançon
Let’s boost our struggles!
The Fédération Anarchiste, assembled for its sixty-sixth congress on 30, 31 May and 1st June 2009 in Besançon, would like to reaffirm its revolutionary commitment towards a rupture with all systems based on exploitation and domination, be they political, economic, or social.
For the past few months we have suffered the consequences of a crisis which is accelerating the devastating effects of financial capitalism. This crisis has brought with it a new and violent phase of de-industrialisation which has led to accentuated instability and the increased pauperisation of the working classes. It is obvious that the capitalists are using this “crisis” to reorganise, to redeploy, and as such keep their system of oppression alive, perhaps even trying to get us to accept the idea of green capitalism while they’re at it. They’ve got their interests in mind.
Up until now, the social movement has been extremely fractured with regard to the situation; but there are more and more social conflicts which have taken on an increasingly radical tone. Thus far, the convergence of struggles has happened only in the framework of hidebound days of action rigidly controlled as they occur and in their planning by the hierarchies of institutionalised unions. But given recent events, the perspective of more ambitious and decisive action is entirely possible: strikes and actions of resistance in Guadeloupe, Martinique, or even at industrial plants such as Caterpillar in Grenoble, Continental in Clairoix, and Goodyear in Amiens, for example.
Increasingly faced with the threat of privatisation, the public service has seen strong mobilisation as well, be it in health against the Bachelot law, in universities against the Pécresse decrees and the L.R.U law (about the freedom and responsibilities of universities), by postal workers, gas workers, etc. These movements did not lead to any new developments, no more so than the impressive days of action held on 29 January and 19 March, which remained perspective-less.
The Fédération Anarchiste deems that these movements could lead to the creation of a strong social movement and even to important direct action and direct management, as was the case, for example, at Lip in 1972, in Argentina in 2002, and in Oaxaca, Mexico in 2006. The Fédération Anarchiste deems the generalisation of such eventsas necessary and calls on all those involved not to surrender to the will of union- and political bureaucracies. It invites them to join or create inter-professional collectives in order to work towards the convergence of different struggles. It also calls on people not to fall victim to the illusion that things can be resolved through voting and instead to develop alternative and anti-authoritarian practices. Finally, it encourages its members and all involved anarchists to recreate workplace company-wide or sector liaisons wherever possible.
Motion Against Incarceration and Confinement
All anarchists are against incarceration and confinement, be it in prison, psychiatric institutions, in sexism, racism, homophobia, or for economic or political reasons.
That is why we advocate the abolition of all prisons (Motion from the Congress of Rouen in 1988).
No confinement or incarceration is legitimate. As such, we refuse the distinction between political prisoners and common law prisoners, as did the prisoners’ struggles of the 1980s when they created the term Social Prisoner!
All prisoners are political prisoners because of the psychological, social, ethnic, religious, economic, and political conditions behind their incarceration.
Dealing with delinquency and criminality through incarceration and confinement is also a question of political choice. It is a state crime!
Prisons must be destroyed. They’ve done their time. They must die!
Motion on State Terrorism
I/ The Fédération Anarchiste condemns terrorism, is opposed to terrorism, and struggles to put an end to terrorism. Terrorism uses terror to obtain, preserve or develop power. (Remember that the first meaning of terrorism is “a regime of political terror”. The term dates back to 1794 andthe final stages of the French bourgeois revolution.)
Whilst politicians are condemning the destruction of a Prefecture and the sequestration of bosses by angry workers throughout the mass media, the Fédération Anarchiste condemns capitalists and the state which serves them who, on all continents and in the name of Democracy, declare war on peoples in the name of Freedom, impose dictatorships which defend their interests in the name of combating terrorism, and which implement institutionalised terror in their wake.
- How else than “terrorist” can we describe states which use military, paramilitary, police, and so-called “security” forces to bomb, torture, imprison, and eliminate civilian populations?
- How else than “terrorist” can we describe an economic system that, in the name of profit ruins, starves, takes jobs, and throws millions of people into the streets and into extreme poverty?
- How else than “terrorist” can we describe governments and companies which, playing on fears and provoking ambient feelings of insecurity, use the so-called security and safetymarkets to develop their own lucrative markets based on surveillance, policing, and implementing liberticidal databases?
II/ The political forces, religious forces, and individuals who use attacks, fear, and terror to provoke a security-based reaction in the population or to put someone in power are, by these same acts, capable of all kinds of repression and crime in the future. Through such acts, they reveal their potential futureoppression. Such acts are enough to disqualify their speeches about liberation and emancipation.
The Fédération Anarchiste is opposed by nature to all use of terror for political or other means.
III/ On the other hand, the Fédération Anarchiste believes that all oppressed peoples have the right and even the duty to resist, individually or collectively, against injustice, against the unjust laws of capitalist economies, and against all oppression. The form that such revolts take and will take in the future will be that which is deemed adequate by the victims of such regimes. Their legitimacy will be rooted in the struggles of the oppressed against their oppressors who themselves already use violence in all shapes and forms to stay in power.
It is only normal for the Fédération Anarchiste to systematically take sides with and support the victims of state violence, be it totalitarian and/or capitalist.
The Federation will remain vigilant and mobilised.
The Fédération Anarchiste, assembled for its sixty-sixth congress on 30, 31 May and 1st June 2009 in Besançon, would like to reaffirm its revolutionary commitment towards a rupture with all systems based on exploitation and domination, be they political, economic, or social.
For the past few months we have suffered the consequences of a crisis which is accelerating the devastating effects of financial capitalism. This crisis has brought with it a new and violent phase of de-industrialisation which has led to accentuated instability and the increased pauperisation of the working classes. It is obvious that the capitalists are using this “crisis” to reorganise, to redeploy, and as such keep their system of oppression alive, perhaps even trying to get us to accept the idea of green capitalism while they’re at it. They’ve got their interests in mind.
Up until now, the social movement has been extremely fractured with regard to the situation; but there are more and more social conflicts which have taken on an increasingly radical tone. Thus far, the convergence of struggles has happened only in the framework of hidebound days of action rigidly controlled as they occur and in their planning by the hierarchies of institutionalised unions. But given recent events, the perspective of more ambitious and decisive action is entirely possible: strikes and actions of resistance in Guadeloupe, Martinique, or even at industrial plants such as Caterpillar in Grenoble, Continental in Clairoix, and Goodyear in Amiens, for example.
Increasingly faced with the threat of privatisation, the public service has seen strong mobilisation as well, be it in health against the Bachelot law, in universities against the Pécresse decrees and the L.R.U law (about the freedom and responsibilities of universities), by postal workers, gas workers, etc. These movements did not lead to any new developments, no more so than the impressive days of action held on 29 January and 19 March, which remained perspective-less.
The Fédération Anarchiste deems that these movements could lead to the creation of a strong social movement and even to important direct action and direct management, as was the case, for example, at Lip in 1972, in Argentina in 2002, and in Oaxaca, Mexico in 2006. The Fédération Anarchiste deems the generalisation of such eventsas necessary and calls on all those involved not to surrender to the will of union- and political bureaucracies. It invites them to join or create inter-professional collectives in order to work towards the convergence of different struggles. It also calls on people not to fall victim to the illusion that things can be resolved through voting and instead to develop alternative and anti-authoritarian practices. Finally, it encourages its members and all involved anarchists to recreate workplace company-wide or sector liaisons wherever possible.
Motion Against Incarceration and Confinement
All anarchists are against incarceration and confinement, be it in prison, psychiatric institutions, in sexism, racism, homophobia, or for economic or political reasons.
That is why we advocate the abolition of all prisons (Motion from the Congress of Rouen in 1988).
No confinement or incarceration is legitimate. As such, we refuse the distinction between political prisoners and common law prisoners, as did the prisoners’ struggles of the 1980s when they created the term Social Prisoner!
All prisoners are political prisoners because of the psychological, social, ethnic, religious, economic, and political conditions behind their incarceration.
Dealing with delinquency and criminality through incarceration and confinement is also a question of political choice. It is a state crime!
Prisons must be destroyed. They’ve done their time. They must die!
Motion on State Terrorism
I/ The Fédération Anarchiste condemns terrorism, is opposed to terrorism, and struggles to put an end to terrorism. Terrorism uses terror to obtain, preserve or develop power. (Remember that the first meaning of terrorism is “a regime of political terror”. The term dates back to 1794 andthe final stages of the French bourgeois revolution.)
Whilst politicians are condemning the destruction of a Prefecture and the sequestration of bosses by angry workers throughout the mass media, the Fédération Anarchiste condemns capitalists and the state which serves them who, on all continents and in the name of Democracy, declare war on peoples in the name of Freedom, impose dictatorships which defend their interests in the name of combating terrorism, and which implement institutionalised terror in their wake.
- How else than “terrorist” can we describe states which use military, paramilitary, police, and so-called “security” forces to bomb, torture, imprison, and eliminate civilian populations?
- How else than “terrorist” can we describe an economic system that, in the name of profit ruins, starves, takes jobs, and throws millions of people into the streets and into extreme poverty?
- How else than “terrorist” can we describe governments and companies which, playing on fears and provoking ambient feelings of insecurity, use the so-called security and safetymarkets to develop their own lucrative markets based on surveillance, policing, and implementing liberticidal databases?
II/ The political forces, religious forces, and individuals who use attacks, fear, and terror to provoke a security-based reaction in the population or to put someone in power are, by these same acts, capable of all kinds of repression and crime in the future. Through such acts, they reveal their potential futureoppression. Such acts are enough to disqualify their speeches about liberation and emancipation.
The Fédération Anarchiste is opposed by nature to all use of terror for political or other means.
III/ On the other hand, the Fédération Anarchiste believes that all oppressed peoples have the right and even the duty to resist, individually or collectively, against injustice, against the unjust laws of capitalist economies, and against all oppression. The form that such revolts take and will take in the future will be that which is deemed adequate by the victims of such regimes. Their legitimacy will be rooted in the struggles of the oppressed against their oppressors who themselves already use violence in all shapes and forms to stay in power.
It is only normal for the Fédération Anarchiste to systematically take sides with and support the victims of state violence, be it totalitarian and/or capitalist.
The Federation will remain vigilant and mobilised.