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Introduction
IFA - IAF - AI is rooted back to the 1st International's (i.e. the International Workingmen's Association) conference at Saint-Imier, in The Swiss Confederation, 15-16.09.1872. At this conference it was decided an anarchist resolution denouncing all forms of [authoritarian] political power, i.e. political/administrative and economically broadly defined. Also a solidarity and fellowship pact was decided upon by the delegates. The anarchist international had meetings several times during the years passing by.
The Anarchist International (IFA) was reorganized at a congress in Carrara (Italy) 31/8-5/9 1968. The purpose of the congress was, among other things, to create a world wide anarchist organization as an alternative to "Cohn Bendit et autres gauchistes", also called "the children of Marx". Anarchists were tired of people presenting basically marxist ideas as anarchism. In the following years, several congresses were organized. The original IFA-logo is presented at the official IFA link-site, click on "Links" at the foot of this page and then on link to logo.
In 1997 the term Anarchist International (AI) was officially introduced, although mentioned several times before, say, in International Journal of Anarchism, IJ@ no 10/26 (15) in 1985. The constitution of the Anarchist International AI was officially confirmed on the International Anarchist Congress, i.e. the 5th Anarchist Biennial, arranged by the NAC/IFA/AI in Oslo medio December 1998. The AI is a broader organization and network than the IFA anarchist federations of some countries in the South and North.
The International Journal of Anarchism, IJ@, is the only officially mandated and publicly registered organ of the Anarchist International AI-IFA-IAF. A brief history of the AI-IFA-IAF, the mandate of IJ@ , the main resolutions and some of the anarchist international direct actions, plus the official newsagency of the AI are presented at the following URLs and via "links" below:
The Southern IFA/IAF-federations and the Northern Section of IFA/IAF,
and the conflict between them - IFA/IAF-principles
The Anarchist Federation of Norway - Anarkistføderasjonen i Norge (AFIN) - Anarkistenes organisasjon (i Norge) ANORG, was affiliated to IFA/IAF 15.01 1979. This is confirmed in Bulletin C.R.I.F.A no 39 avril-mai 1982, and no 42 novembre-février 1982, also with the report from the first Nordic IFA-congress in Oslo, with the foundation of the Nordic IFA-IAF-secretariate. The documents also imply that the IFA-secretariate in Oslo was not considered as a sub-secretariate to C.R.I.F.A, but on equal footing, i.e. as commissions for the Northern and Southern sections respectively. The Danish, the Swedish and the Finnish anarchist federations became members of IFA/IAF in 1983. In 1983 there were 4 Northern (Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Finnish) and 3 Southern federations (French, Italian and Iberian) in IFA/IAF plus the UAB (Bulgarian Anarchist Union). See http://www.anarchy.no/mandate.html and http://www.anarchy.no/ifadok.html.
In 1986, at the fourth IFA-congresses in the north, and in the south where NAC, The Northern Anarchist Confederation's four federations participated by phone, the southern IFA-federations, the French, Spanish and Italian turned leftwards at the economical political map due to leftist-marxist tendencies. They thus left the anarchist quadrant on the economical-political map. The three southern IFA-federationas turned out to be "the children of Marx". (The Bulgarian Anarchist Union, UAB, was not a federation, but an authoritarian group, and thus not recognized by the International Anarchist Tribunal as a member of IAF-IFA.) This leftist-authoritarian position of the southern IFA federations made it necessary to reorganize the IFA to save it from the marxist- leftist positions. Thus, the majority of the IFA federations, the four northern, decided to reorganize the IFA, and started the Anarchist Biennials, a series of international anarchist congresses, the first one in 1990. The three southern IFA-federations and their secretariate were suspended by the majority of the federations, the four Northern, and the International Anarchist Tribunal, see http://www.anarchy.no/aptm.html, and the resolutions of their later congresses were disallowed, included the one in 1990.
The suspension and the disallowance of their congresses will remain until the marxist-authoritarian tendency of the southern IFA-federations is removed. So far this has not happened. Thus the resolutions from their congresses from the fifth in 1990 and later are disallowed, due to significant marxist authoritarian tendencies, and the Nordic IFA/IAF-secretariate is the only valid, i.e. as the world secretariate, since 1986, see http://www.anarchy.no/wscifa.html. The secretariate and federations stand firm on the IFA/IAF-principles, see http://www.anarchy.no/a_e_p_m.html. The latest statement (2007) from the Southern IFA/IAF federations against the Anarchist International is a.o.t: " The main problem is some lunatic in Norway ". Thus they state that people that do not agree with them are lunatic, just like in the Soviet Union. This only confirms that the Southern IFA/IAF federations are marxistoid communist/collectivist on the economical-political map, and not anarchist. We can assure you that the about twenty persons working parttime for the AI/IFA-secretariate in Oslo are not lunatic, and neither are the rest of the Anarchist International. More about the conflict between The Southern IFA/IAF-federations and the Northern sections, see http://www.anarchy.no/southern.htm, http://www.anarchy.no/ija235.html and http://www.anarchy.no/ija338.html.
The Anarchist International of today
The Anarchist International is a broader network than the IFA/IAF-sections in the north and south. The Anarchist International is a global, undogmatic, free thinking, nonsectarian modern anarchist international, with sections for anarchoindividualist, anarchocollectivist, social individualist and mutualist anarchist and anarchocommunist as well as green/ecoanarchist, anarchosyndicalist and anarchafeminist anarchists. The Anarchist International has about 2000 networkmembers/subscribers, groups and individuals, of which about 500 are in the northern sections of IFA/IAF, i.e. counted without the Southern IFA/IAF-federations. The Southern IFA/IAF is a dogmatic, sectarian communist "anarchist", leftist marxistoid organization with little interest for the Anarchist International. The Southern IFA/IAF is more communist than anarchist, i.e. collectivist on the economical political map. Outside the anarchist quadrant on the map, far left in the marxist quadrant. The Anarchist International has sections - internationals - of all the anarchist tendencies mentioned above since 1982, see (click on) "links" below.