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From Kurdish Anarchist Forum
January 15, 2025

Original Italian statement from the 32nd FAI congress in Carrara, Italy, January 3-6, 2025. Translated here into English by the Kurdish Anarchist Forum.

The Italian Anarchist Federation reaffirms its support for the [Italian] Antimilitarist Assembly to build a vast anti-war movement, unitary and independent of the parties, against the warmongering policies of governments. We reaffirm the importance of supporting the struggles against the militarization of schools and universities, the struggles against military installations, production of weapons and military bases that are ongoing from Friuli to Sicily, from Piedmont to Tuscany, the initiatives of workers against the production and trafficking of weapons, and of enhancing solidarity with deserters from all wars.

The world is once again approaching a nuclear catastrophe, a renewed risk that is being anticipated by many conflicts and massacres that, although taking place on smaller scales, do not cease to impress for their tragic nature. Among the many factors that have led to this dramatic situation, there is the growing warmongering insanity of the ‘Western’ and ‘Eastern’ ruling classes, which are made up of increasingly incompetent and unlikely people whose charlatanism rivals and sometimes surpasses their lust for power and profit, the latter increasingly based on the war industry.

On the one hand, in the so-called West, increasingly explicit elaborations by politicians and intellectuals from the liberal areas and beyond are drawing the potential scenarios of a new world war. For them, the so-called "free world," an expression already in use in the decades that saw the world divided into two Blocs, is fighting an existential battle against the autocracies of the rest of the planet, identified with new orientalist stereotypes as the place of origin of the threats that may destroy our alleged "civilization." In this both toxic and Manichean narrative, allied nations that share the values of liberal democracy such as Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, or even the so-called democratic opposition in countries such as Myanmar, are styled as fighting the same global battle of the "good guys" against the "evil." By the same logic, even the fundamentalists of HTS in Syria have been enlisted on the side of the "good guys."

The current Italian government is fully involved in this race for disaster, characterizing its foreign policy in an aggressive sense. This discourse serves first of all as a pretext to justify the increase in military spending and the production of deathly weapons as something even virtuous in the name of the alleged need for ‘defense’, and to dismiss pacifism and anti-militarism as obsolete and inadequate tools to resolve the new "practical" urgencies - obviously, according to a single narrative. At all latitudes, nationalist propaganda fuels conflicts and poisons public debate by erecting walls between the oppressed classes.

In the case of Palestine, this implies a constant minimization of Israeli war crimes and of the genocide underway in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon to the point that even European governments have relativized the arrest warrant of the International Criminal Court against the criminal Netanyahu after applauding the one against the criminal Putin.

As for Ukraine, there is an international design aimed at enlisting leftist and autonomous movements, including anarchists or self-styled ones, in the war front against the tyrant. This narrative is based on the rhetoric of national resistance to invasion, in which the end justifies any means (including nuclear war in the most extreme cases), with the aim of splitting pacifist and anti-militarist forces by defusing one of the fights that have historically been most effective in Western countries: opposition to wars and military spending accompanied by objection, refusal to fight in wars and desertion in connection with wider social struggles.

Combatant rhetoric has been abundantly deployed in the last three years by self-styled anti-fascist and anti-authoritarian sectors whose slogans, analyses and public documents do not add anything to Western and liberal war propaganda and to local nationalist narratives, in the complete absence of any qualifying point in terms of class or anarchist readings of the situation. Without claiming, as per our founding principles, any monopoly of anarchism, it is evident to us that such nationalist, militarist and liberal degenerations do not have anything to do with our idea of anarchism and should therefore be addressed like those of any other political force opposed to us: in the acknowledgment of the different positions, without any confusion or formal association between irreconcilable political programs and projects.

On the other side of this front line, the project of a "multipolar" world promoted by some governments within the BRICS+, which is nothing more than a different imperialist program, has fatally seduced remains of Bolshevism and sectors of the left that have gone so far as to consider bloodthirsty dictators such as Putin in Russia, Maduro in Venezuela and various associates as "comrades" or almost. According to the same logic, there are those who legitimize the religious fanatics, misogynists, homophobes and murderers of groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, or the bureaucrats of more or less "national" corrupt authorities, as the protagonists of an alleged resistance to Israel. While the misery and contradictions of these discourses are evident, we can only strongly reaffirm the founding principle of the coherence of means and ends, according to which our anti-militarism can in no case be separated from our anti-authoritarian, anti-clerical, anti-patriarchal and anti-capitalist inspiration.

In future international scenarios, it will certainly not be the installation of old reactionaries such as Donald Trump that will bring an alternative to the progressive warmongering insanity of his predecessor Joe Biden and most of the Western ruling class, nor will a possible military success (or non-failure) of the "non-Western" world bring more justice or question capitalism, coloniality of power and imperialism.

We must not forget, however, the other hundred or so conflicts still underway at the global level, especially in the Global South, including, as our comrades from Brazil and Latin America remind us, the genocidal war that has been going on for over 500 years in their parts against women, against the poor and against indigenous and Afro-descendant communities. If we recognize the still current need for anti-colonial and decolonial action, it is important to specify that this must in no way lead to new forms of nationalism, communitarianism or essentialism of civilization. The concept of the individual remains central against any degeneration that leads to ethnic, racial and cultural essentialisms, even if based on the idea of "peoples." These latter are always characterized internally by dynamics of inequality and oppression in terms of class, gender and every possible form of discrimination and marginalization.

Despite all the difficulties, there are important spaces for action and organization from below in which our contribution can be decisive in building a social opposition to war and militarism. A central point of our action has been our support for the general strikes of conflictual and grassroots syndicalism, which in recent years have associated social struggles for salary with an anti-militarist approach against wars and the war economy, consistent with our idea that closely links an anti-militarist perspective to a class-struggle perspective.

A major cultural initiative is also needed to counter the militarist propaganda that is served up daily, in a more or less explicit way, in schools and in public communication in increasingly pervasive ways, ready to exploit all places of education to enhance a discourse that presents the supposedly ‘good’ face of the State armed forces as if they were humanitarian enterprises.

In this sense, our support for revolutionary defeatism, refusal, objection, desertion and draft evasion on all sides of the war fronts remains fundamental, particularly at a time when, to mention but one of the most well-known fronts, even the Russian and Ukrainian military commands recognize desertion as a real problem that hinders their respective death programs. This support is developed within the framework of our internationalist commitment, in particular in the context of the International of Anarchist Federations, which must be developed by promoting new initiatives to deconstruct borders and contest any idea of nationalism and territorial sovereignty of the nation-state or any other entity that aspires to become a state, replacing it with new mechanisms of international solidarity and universal sisterhood/brotherhood.

In the context of actions carried out consistently from below and outside the parties and from the control of the institutions, we need to foster dialogue with all those groups and movements that share our anti-militarist intransigence, building functional alliances on objectives that are well-defined and consistent with all the assumptions that we have expressed in this document. Only by developing and generalizing bottom-up actions based on these assumptions will it be possible to truly renew hope in a world of freedom and equality instead of the one of death, destruction and permanent war that capitalism and the state shamelessly impose on us.

The XXXII Congress of the Italian Anarchist Federation -FAI, Carrara 3-6 January 2025

https://federazioneanarchica.org

Comments

Wayne Price@ (not verified) Mon, 01/27/2025 - 16:13

This is a disappointing statement by the Italian Anarchist Federation. It interprets anti-militarism as absolute pacifism, opposition to all and every war, even by the oppressed.

It correctly opposes all wars by imperialist states (including Russia, the U.S., Italy, and Israel). And it implies absolute opposition to any use of nuclear bombs (even by revolutionary or oppressed forces) because they would destroy the world.

But it rejects wars of oppressed peoples against imperialist and colonist attackers: specifically Ukraine against Russia, Palestinians against Israel and its U.S. backer, Taiwan against China. The justifications given are not very good: Palestinians are led by reactionary Islamist nationalists; defense for Ukraine has split the anti-militarist and anti-authoritarian movements. All true, but not reasons for not standing in solidarity with the Palestinian and Ukrainian peoples.

What about revolution? Do the Italian anarchists believe that the capitalist class and its state will surrender their wealth and power peacefully to a democratic majority of the workers and oppressed? Do they think that Gandhian methods would suffice to overthrow them? No, armed struggle by the population will be necessary, in one form or another. While I fully respect the motives of anarcho-pacifists, their program is a dead end.

anonymous (not verified) Mon, 01/27/2025 - 17:43

In reply to by Wayne Price@ (not verified)

You told me you respected pacifist anarchists in another post, and now, oooOooh nooOoo, you've done a flip and calling for violence! WhyyYyy are you sooOoo indecisive Wayne, I put sooOoo much trust in what I thought was an empathic metamorphosis away from your previous hardcore syndicalist brutality, but nooOoo, you've broken my trust in ever taking leftist motives and feelings seriously ever again!

Wayne Price@ (not verified) Tue, 01/28/2025 - 12:11

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

I am sorry you are disappointed in my comment and feel that I've broken your trust. But you seem to have misunderstood me. I wrote that I respected pacifist anarchists, not that I agreed with them! (I repeat this in the last sentence of my above comment.)

I am not "calling for violence." I hate violence, as does almost everyone. But I think that in some circumstances mass violence is necessary for self-defense against the aggression of a ruling class. This is nothing to celebrate but is reality so long as we live in class society with its states and oppressions.

anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/28/2025 - 23:19

In reply to by Wayne Price@ (not verified)

I dOn't accept your apology Wayne, and dOn't call me comrade! My grandfather was a bourgeois Ancap who inherited his wealth, he had no choice in what class he was born into, yet he had to carry on his small family business out of duty, but he wasn't greedy and he helped everyone who ever needed help with compassion and humility. He taught me about anarchism and empathy, about helping the poor and donating to needy charities, but your doctrine would destroy him and strip him of all the humble property he worked for which he shares with his community generously, and they would ignore his anarchist values which enabled his property and surpluses to be shared amongst the needy. My grandpa is the finest and wisest person I've ever known!

Wayne Price@ (not verified) Wed, 01/29/2025 - 14:50

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

Question: Do you think the members of the ruling capitalist class of the U.S., the big bourgeoisie, are typically like your beloved grandpa (a kindly small businessman)? Or are they more like Elon Musk or Donald Trump?

What matters is not whether individual capitalists are nice or vicious but whether a minority class of people should have power over the rest of society, able to exploit the working majority. Just as there were "good kings" and "bad kings" but there should be no kings, so no one should be a capitalist.

I am sure that a (hypothetical) anarchist-socialist society would find a place for someone such as your wonderful grandfather. I am a grandpa myself and feel that a free, cooperative, communal society would have many uses for grandfatherly virtues.

anonymous (not verified) Wed, 01/29/2025 - 22:39

In reply to by Wayne Price@ (not verified)

Of course the big CEOs are nothing like my grandpa,,,maybe the meaning of 'capitalist' has has blurred quantitatively, a little bit of capital in reserve without monopoly or excessive profit/surplus amounts is tolerable, bUt whO decides that, maybe a limiting threshold and surpluses are then gifted out, yOu'Re the EXpert grAndpA WAynE, yOU tell mE whAt yoU're community society would do, but withOUt viOlent uprising. Education or a hypnotically inserted brain meme could suddenly just make people stop working for the man and joining hands in a empathic revolution.
Are YoU trAininG aNd MarChing youR grAnkIds yEt WAyne,,,left right, left right, ATTENtioN! stAnD At eAse, *sigh*

anonymous (not verified) Thu, 01/30/2025 - 06:37

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

Another poster here, you mentioned hypnotically inserted brain memes and actually within the next generation I believe that the world's rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are efficient methods of control and brainwashing. Rather than police and prisons, the Capitalist ruler's lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by hypnotising people into loving their servitude instead of flogging and kicking them into obedience.
But isn't this ultimately Wayne's socialist methodology in the end, even if it means the disintegration of individual will, at least war, suffering and injustice, with birth control, depopulation and the salvation of the environment the ultimate goal. Hypnosis Not Guns may become an anarchist-socialist slogan in the future.

Wayne Price@ (not verified) Thu, 01/30/2025 - 14:17

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

"isn't this ultimately Wayne's socialist methodology in the end, even if it means the disintegration of individual will, ... Hypnosis Not Guns may become an anarchist-socialist slogan in the future."

You confuse socialist-anarchism, the vision of individual and group freedom of Bakunin, Kropotkin, and Malatesta, with Huxley's Brave New World, a dystopia of benevolent totalitarianism. Where you-all get this is beyond me.

anonymous (not verified) Thu, 01/30/2025 - 15:39

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

Wtf are you talking about, mY hypnotic memes were meant to be empathic based reminders, abit like some of the little sayings my grandpa used to tell me, like "do unto others as you would have them do unto you", but broken down to "U do, they do", something like that, not yoUr brAinwAshing! You've got Wayne's MO totally wrOng, you SoUnd liKe an authoritarian fascist!
Maybe anarcho-christian ideas will gradually bring peace to the world, like on Easter Island?

anonymous (not verified) Sat, 02/01/2025 - 15:09

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

The Amish already have an anarcho-christian-esque lifestyle son, even your grandpa would be welcome into their community, jeezus, even Wayne would be welcome if he pretended to be god-fearing. There isn't fundamentally anything different in the mindset of people who say these 2 seemingly contrary statements.
1) I accept Jesus as my savior.
2)I accept Marx, or Bakunin, Kropotkin, Rand or Ford as my savior.
Animism and Stirner are the only radical alternatives to the herd anthropcentric paradigm.

anonymous (not verified) Thu, 01/30/2025 - 14:27

In reply to by Wayne Price@ (not verified)

"self-defence against aggression of the ruling class" how does it fit with joining the army of the ruling class?
Also, you keep using the term "peoples" which is nationalist term.

Wayne Price@ (not verified) Fri, 01/31/2025 - 11:16

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

I use the terms "people", "nation," "country," "national community," and "nationality." It is not nationalist to recognize the existence of a French country, a Vietnamese nation, or a Palestinian people. This is merely the recognition of reality. What is "nationalist" is to deny the internal conflicts within a nation, particularly the class conflict. Faced with oppression by another nation (as the Palestinians are by Israel, backed by the U.S.), it is nationalist to deny the conflicting interests of the Palestinian workers and peasants with the Palestinian bourgeoise and bureaucratic misleaders--as do the nationalist Islamicists and the Marxist-Leninists. It is *internationalist* to say that the Palestinian nation will only be fully free as part of an international revolution of the working class and all the oppressed. Revolutionary anarchists are internationalists and may participate in national struggles in order to win them to international revolution.

How to do this is a tactical question. If the anarchists are marginal and weak, they may join the nationalist army (the "army of the ruling class") in order to participate in the struggle with the rest of the nation and in order to spread anarchist propaganda when possible.

anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/31/2025 - 16:54

In reply to by Wayne Price@ (not verified)

Again, absolute nonsense. Yes anarchists are weak at this point in history but the answer is not joining the states army to help and support "your own" ruling class. And most likely get killed for "your" ruling class.
Anyway, all the countries you named are just constructs to keep people divided.

anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/28/2025 - 09:06

In reply to by Wayne Price@ (not verified)

Do you American anarchists believe that the capitalist class and its state will surrender their wealth and power peacefully to a democratic majority of the workers and oppressed once NATO and Israel militarily defeat their opponents, Russia, Palestine, etc?

Do you think Malatesta was being a pacifist when he wrote, "The Greeks refuse to be ruled by the Turks, in which they are a thousand times right. [...] But we could never serve as the king’s men [...] For the moment, there is nothing to be said about Candia. The island is in the hands of the Greek king’s men and the forces of the European coalition. Its fate lies in the hands of the diplomats [...]"?

You appear to not understand (or to be pretending to not understand) the difference between militarism and war or between militarism and militancy or between national liberation and imperialism and nationalism.

I wouldn't take advice on revolutionary anarchism from a white American who thinks there should be healthy American and Israeli arms industries so that white Ukrainians can kill more Buryat conscripts. But that's just me. Not trying to be cannon fodder so you can sit better in your armchair. I prefer to not be genocided so that your preferred camp can win, thanks. Doesn't mean I'm a pacifist. Just that like Goldman, Berkman and Magón said, we should fight for ourselves, and know what we're fighting for, not just fight because NATO, Israel and Price told us we should.

I support national liberation (like most anarchists did in the past), not NATO/Israeli nationalism (as you do).

American Anarchists (not verified) Tue, 01/28/2025 - 09:20

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

On behalf of All American Anarchists, let me answer your questions.

"Do you American anarchists believe ..."
No.

"Do you think Malatesta ..."
No.

"You appear to not understand ..."
This is not a question but rather a sweeping generalization.

"I wouldn't take advice on revolutionary ..."
This is also not a question but rather a sweeping generalization.

"I support national liberation (like most anarchists did in the past), not NATO/Israeli nationalism (as you do)."
Good for you but this is another lazy and false generalization.

Any more questions?

Sincerely,
All American Anarchists

anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/28/2025 - 09:57

In reply to by American Anarchists (not verified)

One last question. Exactly how fun is it to troll by deflecting from the fact that Price asked "Do the Italian anarchists believe..." and not "does The XXXII Congress of the Italian Anarchist Federation believe"? We would like an exact percentage point of fun please. We would say this is an anarchist website but that would a sweeping generalization and we never do that. Hashtag no true anarchist. Besties for life.

Signed,
All Anarchists Throughout History

Answerer (not verified) Tue, 01/28/2025 - 10:31

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

Very fun.
Price is his own turdson that does not speak for American Anarchists and your response to his turdity by equating it with all American Anarchists is even moreso turdarific. Try a colonic if you want some real answers.
It is 99% fun. Get it?
Sincerely,
Answerer

Wayne Price@ (not verified) Tue, 01/28/2025 - 12:36

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

(1) I do not claim to speak for "American anarchists." Quite a few are absolute pacifists, for generous motives which I respect. However, in my experience, most U.S. anarchists, like most people, are not pacifists. They think that violence is justified in certain situations--particularly for self-defense of an individual or a group (class or oppressed country). Personally I identify with the tradition of revolutionary (non-pacifist) anarchism from Bakunin, Kropotkin, Malatesta, Goldman, Durruti, Makhno, Guerin, and so on.

(2) Makhno was not being a pacifist when he advised Italian anarchists not to form a foreign contingent to intervene in the war of national liberation by Greeks against Turkey. He was supportive of the Greek rebellion (using violence) but was not for Italian anarchists intervening, for several reasons.

(3) I do not think "there should be healthy American and Israeli arms industries...." That is a lie. I do not support "NATO/Israeli nationalism." That too is a lie.

(4) I agree that a class or a people "should fight for ourselves, and know what we're fighting for." The Ukrainian workers and oppressed, as part of the Ukrainian nation, is fighting for itself, knowing that it is fighting to save its people from being massacred, politically dominated, and culturally erased by a foreign imperialist aggressor. I am in solidarity with them (as I am with the Palestinians) because I am an internationalist and identify with the cause of all oppressed and exploited people everywhere.

anonymous (not verified) Thu, 01/30/2025 - 14:34

In reply to by Wayne Price@ (not verified)

Again "opressed country", what does it mean? How can anarchists support a country?! National liberation is a dead end. Defending "our own" oppressors against the "foreign" ones? Working class has no country.

Wayne Price@ (not verified) Fri, 01/31/2025 - 11:35

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

You ask, "How can anarchists support a country?" Well, we can support the workers, peasants, and oppressed people in a country, can't we? What if they want to have their own language, culture, history, and community? And don't want the ruling class and state of an imperialist state to take these away from them? And decide to resist, with arms, the imperialist state which is trying to take them over? Can't we be in solidarity with the workers, peasants, and oppressed then? Must we say that unless the workers, etc., are for anarchy, we will not support them? If they are so mistaken that they support their state and the capitalist economy, then must we refuse to support them against imperialist aggression? How then will we win them to internationalist revolutionary anarchism?

anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/31/2025 - 12:57

In reply to by Wayne Price@ (not verified)

"Well, we can support the workers, peasants, and oppressed people in a country, can't we?"

What about The Women, Wayne? Misogynist scum!

Wait till you learn that the Nazis AND the Khmer Rouge were people in a country too!! It is your sworn anarchist duty to support the Nazi and Khmer Rouge self determination! Praise Bakoon! Praise MaknOoo! OooOooh nOoo!

Wayne Price@ (not verified) Fri, 01/31/2025 - 15:05

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

You ask, "What about the Women?" Under "oppressed people" I was including women, also People of Color, LGBT people, immigrants, oppressed nationalities, religous minorities (Jews, Muslims) , youth, and so on. Of course.

Nazis and Khmer Rouge were not supporters of workers, peasants, and oppressed people but were their oppressors.

anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/31/2025 - 18:30

In reply to by Wayne Price@ (not verified)

Ukraine oppresses Ukraine people in prisons and with laws, debt and punishment. Women people and peasant people. Even peasant women people. Not anarchist.

anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/31/2025 - 16:47

In reply to by Wayne Price@ (not verified)

That's just nationalist argument. They are already taken over by "their own" ruling class. To join your rulers army to fight the oppressed workers from the "foreign" country is not the way forward! We will win by supporting the resisters, deserters etc. Usually as the war drags on, less people are willing to give their lives for nationalism and more likely to turn against "their own" oppressors. That's where internationalist revolutionary anarchism has the potential to gain anything. Not by joining the army and strengthening the state.

anonymous (not verified) Sat, 02/01/2025 - 05:45

i have been reading anarchist news comments since 2009 and i try to never comment. this entire time almost everyone has been redecorating anarcho-liberalism in cycles of strange "extreme" chic. sometimes there are smart people pushing interesting thoughts. but not usually. but there is always wayne. and he is always patient and thoughtful. he makes his points, he justifies them, he lays out his reasoning. i have come to respect him a lot for this. if 4 or 5 more people were like him, this would not be a website for anarcho-liberalism (currently in its "eco/individualist nihilist extremist" variant), but for actual anarchist news.

lumpy (not verified) Sat, 02/01/2025 - 11:04

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

no ... that's definitely just a correct assessment of wayne.

i don't agree with him about his focus right now but he's clearly from a different era of more formal online debate and it's a shame that there's very few of those folks left

not that the effort is worth it anymore imo, too many bots and fashy sock puppets but still! old school message forum debate is a bit of a lost art

anonymous (not verified) Sat, 02/01/2025 - 14:49

In reply to by lumpy (not verified)

There are actually quite a few folk on this site who enjoy online debate and have the ability to ignore troll heckling OR being inSulTed bY Self-aPpoiNted sITe spOkeS-pERsoN whO sTicKs thEre nOse inTo eVerY thREad to pUsH thEiR aBTusE cOnsErVativE oPInioNs uPoN EverYoNe (hint,,,,hint *sigh*)

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