INTERNATIONAL
INSTITUTE FOR ORGANIZATION RESEARCH
http://www.anarchy.no/iifor.html_- IIFOR P.B.
4777 Sofienberg N- 0506 Oslo - Norway
ISSN 0800-0220
THE SO CALLED "ANORG-WARNING" IS FALSE
The lies in the so called "anorg-warning" have also been promoted by Zazaban and Per Bylund, two authoritarian individualists and ochlarchists. These lies about the Anarchist International have also been promoted by another authoritarian ochlarchist, falsely posing as 'anarchist', i.e. Milos Rancic a.k.a. Millosh. They also have got Brown Cards.
CONTINUED WARNING about fictional texts, organisations & wikipedia entries from Norway - June 2008 You may have been directed to http://www.iaf-ifa.org from emails or websites in Norway (with domain names powertech.no or anarchy.no ), or from Norwegian or English language wikipedia pages. You may also be an anarchist or syndicalist receiving emails from H.Fagerhus or ifa@anarchy.no
The material from powertech.no & anarchy.no is a combination of fabricated text and some text copied from official web pages .
The IAF-IFA is not responsible for this text. Most of the organisations ( The Anarchist International, International Workers of the World ) and publications ( International Journal of Anarchism, International Anarchist Tribune ) are fictional (probably the work of one or maybe two individuals).
It is designed to cause confusion. Please just ignore it!
The texts on www.anarchy.no is not a"combination of fabricated text and some text copied from official web pages". Most of the texts on www.anarchy.no are original and made by members of the Anarchist International. When we have quoted other sources, the authors are always credited, according to usual standards in scientific publications.
Thanks. http://www.iaf-ifa.org web admin. Original warning notices in English and German (written in the 1990s)
WARNING: Do not trust any e-mails you might get from the address "ifa@anarchy.no" promoting web sites at "anarchy.no" or "powertech.net" claiming to represent the IFA. The person behind such messages and web sites is a single individual with no connection to any anarchist movement and is simply claiming to represent an international organization of thousands whom he does not even have contact with. See the article about "ANORG" below.
WARNUNG: Fallt nicht auf e-mails herein, die ihr von "ifa@anarchy.no" erhaltet und die Homepages bei "anarchy.no" oder "powertech.net" propagieren und in denen behauptet wird, mensch vertrete die IFA. Die Person, die diese Mails verschickt und die Homepages unterhält ist eine Einzelperson ohne Kontakte zur anarchistischen Bewegung und gibt lediglich vor, eine Organisation von tausenden zu vertreten, zu denen keinerlei Kontakt besteht. Siehe hierzu auch den Artikel über die "ANORG" weiter unten.
The Anarchist International is not one person. Quoting from http://www.anarchy.no/pictures.html, which also have som pictures of members of the AI- secretariate etc, so you can see we are real, and not one or two persons: The AI-Secretariate, see http://www.anarchy.no/wscifa.html is elected by the paying, full, members among the about 2000 networkmembers/subscribers, groups and individuals, of AI, of which about 500 are in the Nordic countries. It has for the time being about 20 members, working parttime for the secretariate. It is autonomous and a purely co-ordinating secretariate, with no political power or authority. It is located in Oslo, Norway, but has also a broader network with contacts using e-mails etc. for communications.
NB! English is only the second language for the persons in the AI-secretariate at large, we often use one available that are best in English (but not perfect) for translation/proofreading. Thus, unfortunately, there may be some repeated errors, common, in several messages from different persons in the AI-secretariate. The messages are of course initially suggested/written by the different persons, then translated/proofread by one, and posted/sent as newsletters, press releases, etc., and/or published on www.anarchy.no. We hope to improve our English in general, especially regarding spelling, grammar and punctuation, and/or hire a professional translator/proofreader, later on. However the English/American langauge is full of Orwellian "1984" newspeak lies, and we have also corrected some of these faults. Our brand of English/American may be labeled 'Nordlish' [Nordic-English]. As the Norwegian language and the Nordic languages in general, are much more fit to express anarchist meanings than English/American, we will continue to use a Nordlish type of English/American.
The AI-secretariate has its root back to the Nordic IFA-secretariate, elected and mandated by the first Northern AI/IFA congress in 1982, see http://www.anarchy.no/mandate.html and http://www.anarchy.no/ifadok.html . There is no leader of the secretariate, the members work horizontally organized, but with somewhat different mandates, decided by the secretariate collectively. The AI-secretariate has freedom within a framework decided by congresses, and is not a central committee, but purely an advising organ. Some of the members use nick-names publicly for privacy and anonymity reasons.
Accounting for networkmembers/subscribers of groups, the total number of persons connected to the network of AI broadly defined , is estimated to about 50 000 world wide, of which about 20 000 are in the Nordic countries . The www.anarchy.no has for the time being about 15 000 visitors and about 50 000 hits per month. The number of networkmembers/subscribers has increased with about 5% each year in the last years. The Anarchist International is more of a loose network than an organization.
The following is a copy of the older warning (on a previous IAF-IFA website, compiled by the German section of IAF-IFA) which can also be found atForward:
This is a text that was sent to several anarchist groups, organisations and media projects by the Danish ABC - Sorte Kors - in 1990. There was a reply by the IFA secretariat putting right ANORGs claims to be associated to IFA (also mentioned in this text) which Sorte Kors also passed on to all groups who received their first text. I could not find this reply in our (rather chaotic) I-AFD archive but I have asked the comrades from CRIFA to look for it and send it to me ... (The statement about the IFA statutes made in the text - only national federations - were true at the time, this point of the IFA statutes has changed meanwhile also).
The Anarchist International is the real IFA-IAF, quoting from http://www.anarchy.no/mandate.html:
The foundation of the Northern section(s) of IFA/IAF started with the affiliation of the Anarchist Federation of Norway. This is documented, among other things, in the Bulletin C.R.I.F.A, the official organ of IFA at that time. The "Commision de rédaction de bulletin CRIFA 145 Rue Amelot 75011 Paris France" and "C.R.I.F.A. Umberto Marzocchi Casella Postale no 22 17100 Savona (Italia)" were responsible for the publication. C.R.I.F.A. is the "Commission de relations de l'internationale des fédérations anarchistes". In C.R.I.F.A. Bulletin no 39 avril-mai 1982 p. 10 the following was reported:
DÉCLARATION D'ADHÉSION A L'INTERNATIONALE DES FÉDÉRATIONS ANARCHISTES / IFA DE LA PART DE LA FÉDÉRATION ANARCHISTE DE NORVÈGE / ANORG
L'ANORG a été fondéé à Oslo le 13 mars 1977 et a été depuis la seule organisation anarchiste de Norvège. et, ensemble avec la petite fédération syndicaliste NSF/AIT, les seules organisations libertaires dans tout le pays. L'ANORG, a des adhérents dans tout le pays. Nous vous joignons notre journal extérieur "Folkebladet" organe de l'ANORG, et nous avons également un bulletin intérieur.
Même si vous ne comprenez pas ce qui est écrit, nous pensons qu'il peut être intéressant que vous voyiez ce que les anarchistes norvégiens font.
L'ANORG a été invité par des anarchistes danois à rejoindre l'IFA. Congrès du 23-27 mars 1978, mais nous avons décidé avant d'avoir plus d'expérience et d'être capable d'y participer autant que les autres fédérations. Cependant le 15 janvier 1979 l'ANORG a voté à l'unanimité de rejoindre l'IFA sur les principes approuvés par le 3e congrès de l'IFA. Mais maintenant nous pensons qu'il est temps de participer au travail international sur un pied d'égalité avec les autres fédérations anarchistes. - Fédération anarchiste de Norvège.
A note about the founding date: "Foregangsgruppa i ANORG" - the interim group in the Anarchist Federation, rooted back to Kultursyndikatet, the Culture Syndicate in the late 1960'ties, had worked for several years as a loose network to found an anarchist federation, without semilibertarian marxists and liberal/individualists. Foregangsgruppa was formally founded 13 Mars 1977. This group did a lot of work to join the forces of the different groups and individuals of the anarchist movement, and after a wide debate, arranged the statutory general meeting of the federation, "stiftelsesmøtet", Tuesday 13. September 1977. Thus, Anarkistføderasjonen i Norge (AFIN) - Anarkistenes Organisajon (i Norge) - ANORG, the Anarchist Federation of Norway, was finally founded 13.09.1977. Folkebladet was founded in 1971, and had been the organ of different groups, before it became the organ of the Anarchist Federation. It had also been distributed internationally, mainly in Scandinavia.
The affiliation to IFA recorded in Bulletin C.R.I.F.A. no 39 avril-mai 1982, was confirmed in a letter from C.R.I.F.A. Umberto Marzocchi, dated 12th of May 1982 and another letter 09.11.1982. The first letter also urged the first Nordic Anarchist Congress. The term "Nordic" means Northern, i.e. in the North in general, as confirmed on a later congress.The Northern section(s) of IFA was founded at the first Nordic anarchist congress in Oslo, 15-18 October 1982. The Bulletin C.R.I.F.A no 42 novembre-février 1982 declared :
(There were a Spanish (p. 4) and an English (p. 5) report in this issue of the Bulletin C.R.I.F.A, but the Spanish version seems to be the most correct of the two, compared to the Swedish and Norwegian reports printed in Folkebladet, and other material. Thus we will quote the Spanish version here. Where the English version is more precise, this is noted in [...] brackets):
EL PRIMER CONGRESO ANARQUISTA NÓRDICO
El primer congreso anarquista nordico se ha celebrado del 15 al 17 de octubre del [19]82 en Oslo (Folkets Hus, Youngstorget). Ha estado organizado por la ANORG/IFA (Federación anarquista noruega afiliada a la IFA). Este congreso se ha celebrado según el deseo de Umberto Marzocchi, secretario de la [IFA/]CRIFA, siendo expressado en una carta el 12 de mayo del [19]82 a la ANORG. Estaban presentes los delegados de varios paises nórdicos así que los observadores de la SAC (Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation) ... y un representante de la Federación anarquista francesa [a delegate from the French Anarchist Federation (FAF/IFA), was also present].
El principal tema de este congreso ha sido la cooperación anarquista nórdica... La meta a alcanzar es la adhesión de los anarquistas a una sección nórdica de la IFA a través de sus propios Federaciones nacionales. A este fin el congreso unánime decide la puesta en marcha de un secretariado nórdico de la IFA. Por el momento ese papel será tenido por el secretarioado administrativo [the expeditionary group] de la ANORG.... Los anarquistas que quieran adherir a la IFA podrán hacerio teniendo como intermediario el secretariado nórdico de la IFA. Estos anarquistas se encontrarán en la misma situación con respecto a la IFA que los miembros de la ANORG (decidiones, cotisaciones, etc.)
El secretariado nórdico publicará ocho bolitinos al año que serán adjuntos a Folkebladet ... o sea al boletin interior, o bién según el caso, un sepacio será reservado en sus publicaciones para las informaciones procedentes del secretariodo...
El secretariado nórdico a través del boletin deberá contribuir a organizar actividas comunes, entre otras, congresos, conferencieas, tribunas anarquistas, simposios, seminarios, encuentros estivales y actividades culturales... El secretariado deberá encargase de la coordinación de las actividades [direct actions of different kinds] nórdicas.
____
El primer número del "Boletin Nórdico" editado por el congreso, ha sido publicado en suplement del número 4 de Folkebladet (año 1982). Su título es "IFA-Solidaritet" (órgano de las secciones nórdicas de la IFA).
COMMISION DE REDACTION DU BULLETIN CRIFA.
The conclusion of these documents recorded in Bulletin C.R.I.F.A no 39 avril-mai and no 42 novembre-février 1982, is that the Anarchist Federation of Norway - Anarkistføderasjonen i Norge (AFIN) - Anarkistenes organisasjon (i Norge) ANORG, was affiliated to IFA/IAF from 15.01 1979 with the organ "Folkebladet", and that the Northern Section(s) of IFA was/were founded and affiliated to IFA/IAF 15-17.10.1982, with the bulletin "IFA-Solidaritet", IAF-Solidarity, published in close connection to Folkebladet. The Northern section(s)' affiliation to IFA, was/were also confirmed on later IFA-congresses arranged in Oslo, and documented in issues of Bulletin C.R.I.F.A and IFA-Solidaritet, the two officially and mandated organs of IFA at that time.
Furthermore, there were no opposition to these decisions recorded in the Bulletin C.R.I.F.A and IFA-Solidaritet, so they were decided by general consent. Some of the new Northern sections of IFA, i.e. the Danish, the Swedish and the Finnish, were in one years time refounded as IFA-federations, i.e. in 1983. This was unanimously decided upon by a general ballot, referendum, among the members of the Northern sections.This is recorded in IFA-Solidaritet, which was distributed to the other IFA/IAF-sections, among other things, via the C.R.I.F.A. 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.
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) and the Northern sections outside Scandinavia. In the following years the Bulletin C.R.I.F.A declined in number of issues and quality, and it was necessary to do something to keep up the anarchist international information service. In 1984 Folkebladet and IFA-Solidaritet were gathered in one publication, and the name International Journal of Anarchism was introduced. At the same time the distribution started to develop world wide, not only in Scandinavia. Also "Brand", the Swedish anarchist paper of AFIS/APF, and later "International Journal of Organization Research", the organ of IIFOR, were included in IJA.
Since the IJA is a direct follower of Folkebladet, the volumes of the journal are counted from the founding of Folkebladet in 1971. Thus, issues of the volumes are noted as the number of the issue, plus the volume number, say 1 (31) for the first number of the 31st volume, i.e. year 2001. These changes were also confirmed on the later Northern IFA congresses. During the last part of the 1980ties the Bulletin C.R.I.F.A declined further, and finally finished publishing. Thus International Journal of Anarchism became the only officially mandated and publicly registered organ for the anarchist international IFA/IAF and the anarchist movement in general. The international journal registration number of IJA is ISSN 0800-0220.
In 1996 IJA was introduced on Internet, and since 1998 it has been an electronic online-journal, distributed on the Internet and/or by e-mail world wide to anarchists and others with interest of anarchist information. There will however also be issues on paper distributed to IFA-sections and others interested in anarchy, anarchist(s) and anarchism internationally, that do not have access to e-mail or internet. IJ@ is also the organ of the International Anarchist Tribunal, founded in 1982.
The mandate for the International Journal of Anarchism, in addition to what is mentioned above, is similar to the mandate made for the Bulletin C.R.I.F.A.in the old days, decided by the International of Anarchist Federations IAF/l' Internationale des Fédérations Anarchistes IFA, (see Bulletin C.R.I.F.A no 42 novembre-février 1982 p. 2) updated to the modern IT-age:
We call again the decisions that have been taken at congresses of the Anarchist International IAF/IFA. After a long discussion about the development of IFA/IAF, and the best way to maintain links between the anarchists in the world, the next points have been decided:
- The IJ@ will be sent to the whole international libertarian movement (organizations, papers, reviews,...);
The IJ@ will be written in several languages: French, English, Spanish, Scandinavian, etc. and articles should be provided with an English summary. The summary may be omitted if the article is short and written in English;
- Circulars will be sent to the sections to discuss particular points and to convene reunions of work;
- Reunion of work convened by the joining sections, with summary in order to prepare these reunions. An objective of these reunions are to prepare new conferences of international campaignes.
- Internet and e-mail are suitable means to reach these ends.
In 1997 the term Anarchist International was introduced. This is a wider concept than the IFA/IAF meaning the affiliated federations. There are also sections and federations for anarcha-feminism, green/eco-anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, affiliations to the Community Action Network, CAN, and the Anarchist Black Cross, ABC, and for collectivist and communist/commune anarchism; social-, social-individualist and federalist anarchism, as well as individualist and mutualist anarchism, since 1982. The Anarchist International is based on the IFA/IAF-federations, i.e. mainly in Europe, but also includes groups and individuals that are anarchists or interested in anarchist information broadly defined all over the world.
And quoting from http://www.anarchy.no/ija235.html: About the northern and southern sections of IFA-IAF and the Anarchist International AI-IFA-IAF.
This article presents in brief the historical development of the the Anarchist International AI-IFA-IAF based on documents from congresses in the archives of the International Institute for Organization Research (IIFOR). IFA is l'Internationale des Fédérations Anarchistes, i.e. the International of Anarchist Federations, IAF, and AI is the Anarchist International.
The Anarchist International (IFA - IAF - AI) is a global anarchist organization. It has its origins in the Anarchist St. Imier International, formed in 1872 when the anarchist contingent was expelled from the International Workingmen's Association, First International, after the Hague Congress (1872), see Steklov, G.M., ''History of the First International'', part 2, chapter 2. The St. Imier international issued a resolution denouncing all forms of political power, i.e. political/administrative and economically broadly defined. 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-IAF) 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". In the following years, several congresses were organized.
The Anarchist Federation of Norway - Anarkistføderasjonen i Norge (AFIN) - Anarkistenes organisasjon (i Norge) ANORG, was affiliated to IFA/IAF, the International of Anarchist Federations 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. These 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, the Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Finnish and 3 southern federations, the French, Italian and Iberian in IFA/IAF plus the UAB, Bulgarian Anarchist Union. See http://www.anarchy.no/mandate.html, http://www.anarchy.no/ifadok.html and http://www.anarchy.no/ifa.html.
In 1986, at the fourth IFA-congresses in the north, and in the south where NAC, The Northern Anarchist Confederation's four IFA-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-federations 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. This was unanimously decided by the four delegates of the northern sections of IFA-IAF and IAT that participated by phone at the IFA-IAF congress in Paris 31 October to 3 November 1986, and confirmed at later IFA-congresses in Oslo. More documentation of the marxist leftis/collectivist/communist tendency of the southern IFA-IAF federations will be publish in IJA later. *
The suspension and the disallowance of their congresses will remain until the marxist-authoritarian tendency of the southern IFA-IAF-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 has been the world secretariate, since 1986, see http://www.anarchy.no/wscifa.html. The secretariate and federations stand firm on the IFA/IAF-principles, see the economic-political map etc. http://www.anarchy.no/a_e_p_m.html. More about the conflict between the southern IFA/IAF-federations and the northern sections, see http://www.anarchy.no/southern.html.
The Anarchist International is a broader network than the IFA/IAF-sections in the north and south. At the founding congress of the broader network in 1988, the following was stated: "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 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 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. In the later years the networkmembers/subscribers have been more and more global, no longer mainly in Europe.
That the southern IFA-IAF federations are marxist, leftist/collectivist/communist, and not anarchist, is proven beyond doubt and documented well at http://www.anarchy.no/ija338.html. Read all about it.
By the way, the statement about the IFA statutes - only national federations - is still true. The Southern IFA-federation's change in this matter is not recognized by the real IFA-IAF.
- Robert Wogatzke, 06 Sep 96 05:11:29 EDT
Anarchist Black Cross, Denmark
Winter 1990
Denunciation
Normally we don't dissociate ourselves from other anarchist groups, but we want to warn the international anarchist movement against the so-called "Anarkistenes Organisation" (ANORG) in Norway. In the 1970es and the early 80es it was a federation of several Norwegian anarchist and published a regular magazine called "Folkebladet" (Paper of the people). Now it has declined to a small group of academics theorizing about a possible future anarchist society. "Folkebladet" is reduced to a one sheet newsletter. ANORG claims to be part of the Anarchist Black Cross which is far from the truth as they have never lifted a finger to help prisoners (but maybe they have discussed the relevance of prisons in an anarchist society?!) and also claims to be affiliated to the IFA (International of Anarchist Federations) which unfortunately seems to be more likely - in this respect they maintain that they represent an all Scandinavian anarchist federation although the IFA only accept national federations and no anarchists in Denmark or Sweden accept this Scandinavian/Nordic anarchist federation. 1)
In 1983 ANORG made a resolution which contained the following gem: "It is not possible for Norway, Denmark and Iceland to keep out of a major battle between the americans and the russians. We have to choose one of them as our ally, and we allready have. Then we should not undermine the West Alliance." This pro-NATO communique was called "The Peace Action" - Orwell would have loved it! 2)
In 1985 ANORG draw the logical conclusion of the above mentioned resolution and declared in a report that "... unilateral weakening of the western defence - whether it is by terror-attacks or unilateral arms reduction and conscientious objectors - endangers both democracy and the anarchist society (...) To enjoy the goods of the defence of the democracy while you run away and leave the necessary and unpleasent military service is and still will be authoritarian, bourgeois individualism." A statement which probably would have been of interest to the bunch of anti-militarists and conscientious objectors in the IFA federations in Spain, Italy and France. For obvious reasons this report was written in Norwegian language and never translated. But their attitude finally discredited ANORG in the Scandinavian anarchist movement.
3)
ANORG continued as a peculiarity and after their 9th "congress" in 1989 they issued a resolution against the independent youth culture house "Blitz" in Oslo (capital of Norway). Blitz gives accomodation to many activist groups, also ANORG though they have now been thrown out. ANORG see this as a marxist plot which it might be or maybe their level of activity was simply to low. The important thing however is the fearless way ANORG still take unusual stands: "The marxism also penetrate the Blitz-ideology: There is for example many anarchists and libertarian kibbutz in Israel, but noone in PLO. Blitz is one-sided pro-PLO and has among other things destroyed Israely property wantonly. Blitz is blind to the fact that the Moslem fanatics send their children out to be cannon fodder in the war against Israel." Besides the obvious lie about the "many anarchist" in Israel we think that it is a blatant expression of racism to describe the Palestinian Intifada in this manner and it is an insult to the 800 Palestinians killed by the Israeli Army to label them "cannon fodder" of "Moslem fanatics". 4)
Although they use some anarchist phrases ANORG also airs some extreme rightwing opinions. Frankly we think they are a fucking disgrace to the anarchist movement, and that is why we - as a rare exception - proceed to warn you against them. We know that the above quotations from ANORG are separated from their contexts; we feel that they speak for themselves. However if anyone (especially the IFA federations) feel the need for further documentation, we will be happy to provide you with copies of the documents with a translation.
5)
Your sincerely
(Signature: Peter Bach)
Peter Bach
We will reject this hysterical rant point by point. We state clearly that Peter Bach is not an anarchist, but a neo-trotskist marxist leftist/collectivist/communist, and thus cannot be trusted in anarchist perspective. This is documented below.
Ad 1). ANORG = Anarkistenes Organisasjon i Norden = NAC, the Northern Anarchist Confederation, see http://www.anarchy.no/anorg.html . The NAC has national IFA-federations in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden etc, fully in line with the IFA-principles. NAC is not a "small group of academics", but quite a large network, as it is stated above. The Folkebladet/International Journal of Anarchism was reduced in size due to lack of funds, not lack of members. The NAC has increased regarding membership all of the time in the 1980-ies, the 1990-ies and 2000-ies, se above. Ad the ABC solidarity in the Nordic countries, see below
Ad 5). Bach admits that "the above quotations from ANORG are separated from their contexts" and they are really totally taken out of context, they don't "speak for themselves", and gives a total misinterpretation of NAC and AI's points of view. Bach is a marxist, a far leftist/collectivist/communist, and from his point of view we may be a "fucking disgrace" (behave yourself Bach - don't use invectives, i.e. ochlarchy - not anarchy!!!), but we are not a"fucking disgrace" from anarchist point of view. Anarchsim is found in the middle of the economic-political map and upwards, not far left or right, see http://www.anarchy.no/a_e_p_m.html . AI and NAC do not hold "extreme rightwing opinions" as Bach postulates.
AI and NAC are antimilitarist with an anarchist approach, while Bach has a marxist interpretation of antimilitarism, i.e. authoritarian. Ad 2) and 3) the antimilitarist policy of AI and NAC is fully described at "Antimilitarism - an anarchist approach" at http://www.anarchy.no/ija238.html and "The southern IFA-IAF federations are marxist" at http://www.anarchy.no/ija338.html . If you read these documents , you will find that Bach's quotes are totally taken out of context, and give a total misunderstanding of our antimilitarist policy and strategy. Bach is even more leftist and authoritarian than the Southern IFA-IAF-federations.
Ad 1). The real Northern ABC (of IFA-IAF-AI) has been very active in solidarity work, and a.o.t. supported total draft resistors. Bach's so called "ABC" group was never recognized by the real Northern Anarchist Black Cross network. This is stated clearly at the homepage of the Danish IFA-IAF-federation http://www.anarchy.no/afid.html , and at at the official website of the international Anarchist Black Cross http://www.anarchy.no/abc.html , quoting:
"... The Anarchist Federation of Denmark, Anarkistisk Føderation i Danmark - Anarkistføderationen i Danmark , AFID, was founded and affiliated to IFA - the International of the Federations of Anarchists - l'Internationale des Fédérations Anarchistes, - as an IFA-section 15-17 October 1982 and as an IFA-federation 26.11.1983. See the two official organs of IFA at that time, C.R.I.F.A Bulletin no 42 novembre-février 1982 p.4 and ifa -Solidaritet no 1 1982/fb 4-82 and no 8 1983/fb 4-83. The federation was founded as an IFA-section by anarchists, anarchosyndicalists included, wanting to affiliate to the IFA-principles and the Northern IFA-section, after a loose network with a similar name, rooted back to 1970, that among other things visited the IFA-congress in Italy 1978 as an observer, had rejected these principles, mainly due to
a) liberalist individualist tendencies, and
b) marxist infiltration by a council commie group, " ORA ", etc, falsely posing as "anarchist" and a "Black Cross", "Sorte Kors" "autonomous" group, lead by an oligarchy of fanatic neo-trotskyite/marxian leftists, with 'Peter Bach' as the main spokesperson. Bach has also contributed to marxist intrigues and weird smearstories against the Anarchist International together with Jamal Hannah, a member of the mainly marxian Industrial Workers of the World. This "ABC" group was a clear cut provocation, acting according to the marxian travesty of anarchism as a pseudorevolutionary "initial weakness" or "infantile disorder" of socialism, as Lenin called it, to make chaos and ochlarchy (mob rule), falsely rename it "anarchy", to falsely put the blame of the ochlarchy on the anarchists, to compromise the anarchist-movement and make us look bad an stupid, and call for strong commie-organization, a pseudo-"class war" vanguard group, and/or marxian party, later on. This false "ABC" group lead by Peter Bach was not recognized by the real Northern Black Cross network, founded in 1982.
This Communist group, i.e. ' children of Marx ', similar to Cohn Bendit's leftism , is still making intrigues and other typical marxian, authoritarian, tricks against the anarchist movement, similar to Karl Marx's intrigues and smearstories against Michael Bakunin in the 1st International, but no longer connected to AFID. In the autumn 2002 the false "Black Cross" group in Copenhagen, tried to put up an equally false "anarchist" marxian & work-shy federation, " AF ", but with little success. This marxian provocation was of course clearly rejected and denounced, not only by the anarchists in our country, but by the NAC and the IFA/Anarchist International in general. Anarchism is found in the middle of the economical-political map, see http://www.anarchy.no/a_e_p_m.html not far left or far right. AFID takes a clear stand against communism and marxism in all forms, also collectivism, see map. Left extremism is not anarchism.
In 1979, the Anarchist Federation of Norway (AFIN/ANORG), at about the same time as it affiliated to IFA and CAN, also joined the Anarchist Black Cross, collectively. In a letter to ABC later on the following was stated: " On the 15. january 1979 the ANORG collectively joined the Anarchist Black Cross by an unanimous voting throughout the country ." The affiliation to the Anarchist Black Cross was first confirmed in a personally signed letter from Albert Meltzer, and later also confirmed publicly in the paper "Black Flag - organ of the Anarchist Black Cross" No 6 (1981), also stating "Folkebladet" (The Peoples' Journal) as an organ of the ABC/IBC: "The main anarchist paper is Folkebladet (The People's Journal)... A new activist anarchist group with monthly action campaignes has emerged.
The ANORG (AFIN) has collectively joined the Anarchist Black Cross". A campaign for an imprisoned fellow - a total draft rejector - Kjell Vesje [in 2002 working as a journalist in the NRK - The Norwegian general public broadcasting] was also launched internationally. Also other total total draft rejectors have been supported. The note in the Black Flag No 6 (1981) also declared that doing military service (mainly in the local militia, HV) was "a useful way to get knowledge of arms" for the anarchists.
In 1982-83 the collective membership of AFIN/ANORG to the ABC/IBC was passed on to the Northern sections of IFA. The 1st Northern IFA-congress in Oslo 1982 decided a.o.t. the following: "Political, economic and cultural co-operation was mentioned, in unions, co-operative and collective movement, ecology and environmental protection, feminism, youth movement, political solidarity work (for instance the Anarchist Black Cross) ... The aim should be an organizational integration of all anarchists ...as one nordic IFA section with national federations.
To promote such a development the congress decided uninamously to establish a nordic IFA secretariate, which for the time being is to be adjoined to the expeditionary group of ANORG. Anarchists ... who are not associated to any national IFA federation adjoin to IFA directly through this nordic secretariate. If nothing else is agreed upon, these members will have the same connection to IFA as ANORG members, with the same rights, paying the same fee, etc" (i.e. also to be collectively members of ABC-IBC). This is a.o.t. documented in the Bulletin C.R.I.F.A. no 42 novembre 1982 p. 5. and Folkebladet No 4/1983 and IFA-Solidaritet No 8/1983 . Thus in 1982 the Northern Anarchist Black Cross network was established with national sections for Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
A letter signed by Stuart Christie also confirmed the collective membership of the Northern sections of IFA to ABC-IBC, and Folkebladet as an organ of the Northern sections of ABC-IBC. In the early 1980s, say, the ABC-campaigns for Solidarity in Poland were among the most important. This is documented a.o.t. in Folkebladet No 1/1982. ABC-IBC was also involved in solidarity actions for the French anarchist radio "Radio Libertaire" in its fight for free speech and against repression from the authorities, see, say, Folkebladet No 4/1983 .
In 1983 the Northern sections became national IFA-federations, and the collective affiliation to ABC and IBC passed on as well. At the same time the IFA secretariate in Oslo also became the secretariate of the Anarchist Black Cross and the International Black Cross in the North in general. The semilibertarian marxian faction of IBC declined slowly, and the anarchistic ABC and IBC in the North, with secretariate in Oslo, became the main basis for the activity and organization. Folkebladet/International Journal of Anarchism continued as the main organ of the ABC-IBC when the British organ of the Anarchist Black Cross finished later on in the 1980s. This continued when the International Journal of Anarchism appeared on Internet in 1996 and later. "
Ad 4). ANORG-NAC was thrown out of Blitz because of a marxist coup, as Bach indicates. The Blitz is dominately marxist, lead by and "independent communist", Stein Lillevolden, and they are quite ochlarchical, see http://www.anarchy.no/abcde.html and search for "Blitz". (Ochlarchy is mobe rule broadly defined, the opposite of anarchy/anarchism). NAC has however supported both Blitz and a youth house in Copenhagen, see a.o.t. http://www.anarchy.no/afid.html and search for "Ungdomshus". Regarding Israel, Bach postulates the following: "The obvious lie about the "many anarchist" in Israel" In fact there are a lot of anarchists and semilibertarian groups and individuals in Israel. Several are networkmembers/subscribers to AI/IJA. A prominent activist is Aki Orr, who also has posted on the Anarchy-debate, http://www.anarchy.no/andebate.html, he has a.o.t. posted a videoclip, with viewpoints on the Palestinian - Israelian conflict that AI supports, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNDc8tzC5YM . For a more general view of this conflict - and terrorism, see "The international conference of terrrorism 2001-8" at http://www.anarchy.no/ija431.html .
From the Initiative for an Anarchist Federation in Germany (I-AFD):
Anarchy in Norway,
Lighthouses for the rest of the world
and other obscurities ...
Usually we do not disassociate ourselves from anarchist groups or speculate about whether they meet their own libertarian demands or not. If however, as in the following case, a group deludes others into thinking that they are acting as representatives of various international anarchist organisations and causes damage to us and to others by deliberately spreading desinformation, we do not want to leave this uncontradicted.
We are not "acting as representatives", but are the real ones - se above. And we are not "spreading disinformation". Disinformation is however
http://www.iaf-ifa.org/documents/anorg_warning_norway.html .
We are speaking of a norwegian group called ANORG (ANarkistines ORGanisation). Originally a federation of norwegian anarchists that regularly published the magazine "Folkebladet" (Peoples paper), ANORG shrank to a small circle of people in the 80ies that henceforth dealt with the needs of an anarchist society mainly theoretically. "Folkebladet" became a one page bulletin.
We have rejected this disinformation above.
From then on ANORG s positions isolated them within the anarchist movement in Scandinavia. In 1983 they declared: "It is not possible for Norway, Denmark and Iceland to keep out of a major battle between the Americans and the Russians. We have to choose one side of them as our ally, and we already have. Then we should not undermine the West Alliance." Two years later in a declaration that was only published in norwegian language they wrote: "... unilateral weakening of the western defence - whether it is by terror-attacks or unilateral arms-reduction and conscious-objectors - endangers both democracy and the anarchist society [...] To enjoy the goods of the defence of democracy while running away from the necessary and unpleasent military service is and will be authoritarian, bourgeois individualism."
We have rejected this disinformation above.
As a practical example for an anarchist society ANORG refer to Norway: "The successful revolution of 1905 indicated a considerable autonomous shift, i.e. less statism. However, it took 89 years before the system, after a major set back in 1940-45, and later many years characterized by marxist state socialism, in 1994 became anarchist [...] 28.11.1995 marked one year of anarchy in Norway". In another piece of hack writing the current situation in Norway is described as follows: "Although the system by now is significantly anarchist, [...] it is somewhat far from the anarchist ideal [...] The revolution must be fought permanent, in the daily life, to sustain and develope further. However, as long as a) Norway stays out of EU, b) populist and nationalist tendencies are put at place, and c) the left and right tendencies outbalance each other reasonable as by now, Norway will probably stay anarchist, and be a lighthouse for EU and the rest of the world."
This is correct, see http://www.anarchy.no/a_nor.html and http://www.anarchy.no/ija1994-96.html about the anarchist velvet revolutionary change in Norway in 1994/95, where the Anarchist Federations of Norway (AFIN/IFA/IAF), and AI-IFA-IAF see http://www.anarchy.no/afin.html , were in the forefront of the revolution. That is confirmed by a.o.t CNN. After the EU-referendum and revolutionary change the CNN (after a little help from the AIT/AIIS) reported: "... an almost perfect society" etc , about the Norwegian economic-political system. The connection between AIIS/AI and CNN in those years (1994-95) was officially confirmed in a letter from a CNN/Turner official indicating a.o.t. the information from AIT/AIIS was interesting and intelligent. As this is perhaps a political document of some interest we will describe it a bit more.
The envelope has the Turner logo and the sender organization's name is "Turner Broadcasting International Limited", addressed to S. Olsen, Anarkistenes Informasjonstjeneste [AIIS/AI], c/o F.B. P.B. 4777 Sofienberg N - 0506 Oslo, Norway . The letter, dated 7 March 1995 , says a.o.t. the following: "Dear S. Olsen, Thank you very much for comments on the network's programming. We appreciate your feedback... We [however] do not have the capacity to reply to each of your faxes in turn. They are very informative but also quite substantial!... Thank you for your cooperation. With best whises, Dale Langley - Press Officer. CNN INTERNATIONAL," i.e. at the CNN's London office, UK . Well, 'plenty all right - too much no good' as one of the AI councillors often says, - anyway the AIIS/AI spread the telefaxes on different offices of CNN and other newsmedia to be more cooperative. The main point is that CNN and other newsmedia responded to several of the AIIS/AI faxes in their news.
The velvet anarchist revolution made Norway an anarchist society of low degree, and it has been anarchist since then. This is also confirmed in the paper editions of the two main economic newspapers in Norway, Dagens Næringsliv Dagens Næringsliv 2/3 June 2007 p. 3 and Finansavisen 17.10. 2007 p. 64, see http://www.anarchy.no/dnfa.html . The main policy of AI and AFIN is presented in the largest Newspaper in Norway, Verdens Gang 06.11.2001, p 39 , see http://www.anarchy.no/vg1html.html . This article also states "Norway [as] a relatively anarchist country, however a bit far from the anarchist ideal (Norge som et relativt anarkistisk land, men nokså langt fra det anarkistiske ideal.)
Another great direct action where AFIN and AI-IFA-IAF were in the forefront, was against the ABCDE-CONFERENCE/WORLD BANK in Oslo 24-26 JUNE 2002, see http://www.anarchy.no/abcde.html .
The fact that they pass no opportunity to diffame libertarian groups and individuals who criticise their positions or simply have a different practice or theory as "marxists", "chaotics" or "populists" did not win them many friends either. ANORG installed an "Anarchist Press-Tribunal" for this purpose which hands out "Brown-Cards" to people or organisations who, according to ANORG, use the word "anarchy" in a wrong sense. Characteristically, the Tribunal mainly deals with anarchist projects such as the electronic anarchive "Spunk Press" or the US-american Love and Rage Federationen, who are accused of promoting chaos not anarchy. The norwegian magazin " Gateavisa " was denied the right to call itself "anarchist Organ" since ANORG claim its contents are counter-cultural, not anarchist. The striking evidence for this claim is that drug liberalism "is not part of the anarchist concept". And in the next sentence they inform the world that "the only mandated and publicly registered political organ of the anarchist movement is not " Gateavisa " or any other libertarian magazine but "Folkebladet"" . To pick out one last example among the long list of groups ANORG spread lies and diffamations about, let us mention the A-Infos network, an international association of anarchist individuals and groups working on the aim of improving the flow of news and informations between the world-wide anarchist movements. ANORG claim this network was set up by the IFA to by-pass their own network. In truth, the A-Infos network is independant of any anarchist organisations and all groups and individuals working within it act autonomously.
The IAT's Brown Cards, indicating free criticism of authoritarian tendencies, are not issued incorrectly. This is done according to the Oslo Convention, see http://www.anarchy.no/oslo.html . The above quote is taken out of context and gives a misinterpretation of the AI's point of view. The context and whole statement is the following, from http://www.anarchy.no/apt.html : "The media sometimes present "Gateavisa" as an "anarchist organ", which is not true. "Gateavisa" is a "counter cultural" organ registered by itself, and supported economically by the Norwegian state, as a cultural periodical. Thus, it is not a political organ. The "counter culture" however reflects in various proportions marxist, liberal, populist, and anarchist tendencies, and so does "Gateavisa".
Say, drug liberalism is not a part of the anarchist concept. Interview with the ultra-authoritarian marxist Johan Galtung, without libertarian critical remarks, and the left wing marxist Herbert Marcuse presented as "the philosoph of freedom" may also be mentioned, as well as reports from the mainly populist New Age "Alternativ Festival" arranged by the so called "Alternativt Nettverk", spreading astrology, quasiscientifical, religious and occultist propaganda. Besides "Gateavisa" is a satirical paper, officially without defamatory power since the early 1980-ties...
As far as we know the only offically mandated and publicly registered political organ of the anarchist movement is International Journal of Anarchism /Folkebladet ISSN 0800 0220, and it is not supported by the state or commercial interests either. Anarchism is a political concept. ....
[Se above for the mandate of the IJA. This does of course not mean that we claim monopoly on anarchist publication, but we mean IJA is a representative organ for the AI-IFA-IF and AI is main stream anarchism, and thus IJA is the most representative organ for the real anarchist movement seen all in all. IJA is also the most reliable anarchist journal in the world, because it is the only Peer Reviewed anarchist journal ]
Having Kumbel's famous notion on joking in mind, we must ask the media to stop calling "Gateavisa" "anarchist organ", because it is not, and promotes chaos. The international anarchist movement denounces these authoritarian doings, and doesn't accept the use of the word "anarchist organ" in this connection, which is disinformation. Notoriously authoritarian reporters, spokesmen, editors, etc, breaking the Oslo-convention of 1990 severely or several times, will receive a Brown card from the Anarchist Press Tribunal as a symbol of free criticism...
Similar Brown Card warnings are related to "Spunk Press", presenting a mix of "anarchist, alternative and underground" , "Tigerden - Love and Rage @-fed."(later closed down), and other more or less disordered "counter-cultural" or "alternative" groups and organs all over the world... Promoters of contradictions from "anarcho-marxism", via "anarcho-populism" to "anarcho-capitalism"; i.e. marxism, populism, and liberalism in a state of confusion, and thus not anarchism, anarchy or anarchist...
Most insideous about all this is the fact that ANORG pose as representatives of several international anarchist organisations that have nothing to do with them and speak out their declarations and diffamations in their name. They claim amongst other things to be international secretariat of the anarcho-syndicalist IWA (International Workers Association) and part of the international libertarian anti-repression network ABC (Anarchist Black Cross). Most frequent is their claim to be associated to the IFA (International of Anarchist Federations) and to act as its international secretariat. A homepage published by the group in mid-1996 and containing pages on their positions and the "Anarchist Press Tribunal" which they claim is mandated by the IFA is called "the official pages of IFA". Fact is, that ANORG tried to be taken up into the IFA in 1986 but their application was turned down by the other IFA sections because of their positions, some of which are quoted above. ANORG have lanced a wealth of incorrect claims about all of these organisations and about several others which we can not possibly all mention here. A comrade who set up an Internet-site to counter ANORG s desinformation and help spread information about the real IFA has recently been subjected to continuous threats by ANORG. He was told that he would be investigated by their agents and that he should stop publishing the site if he did not want to be black-listed personally by their Tribunal.
We have never claimed to be a member or have the secretarite of AIT-IWA-IAA. This is a pure lie. We are however friendly to AIT-IWA-IAA and CNT-AIT-Sagunto has posted on the Anarchy-debate. The ABC- network of AI is a part of the ABC world wide network, as stated above. But we don't claim monopoly on the ABC. We are the real IFA-IAF. We were well established as members of IFA-IAF long before 1986, and thus did not seek membership at the 4th IFA-IAF1986-Paris congress, this question was not on the agenda in 1986. The truth about the 1986-Paris congress is well documented at "Antimilitarism - an anarchist approach" at http://www.anarchy.no/ija238.html and "The southern IFA-IAF federations are marxist" at http://www.anarchy.no/ija338.html .
As mentioned the founding and membership of the Northern IFA-sections 1979-1982/3 were accepted by general consent throughout the rest of IFA, and thus it was of course not on the agenda at the congress in the South, i.e. Paris, 1986, as a few have misunderstood, where four elected delegates of the Northern IFA-sections participated by phone and written material was sent in advance, with the resolutions from the 4th IFA congress in Oslo, i.e. in the North, earlier same year, - (and not later). We repeat, we have never claimed to be a member or have the secretarite of AIT-IWA-IAA. We are however friendly to AIT-IWA-IAA and CNT-AIT-Sagunto has posted on the Anarchy-debate. The ABC- network of AI is a part of the ABC world wide network, as stated above. But we don't claim monopoly on the ABC.
We are the real IFA-IAF. We were well established as members of IFA-IAF long before 1986, and thus did not seek membership at the 4th IFA-IAF1986-Paris congress, this question was not on the agenda in 1986. The truth about the 1986-Paris congress is well documented at "Antimilitarism - an anarchist approach" at http://www.anarchy.no/ija238.html and "The southern IFA-IAF federations are marxist" at http://www.anarchy.no/ija338.html . Neither did we seek membership to the 5th congress of the Southern IFA-federations in 1990, because we were members of IFA-IAF long before 1986. We have not published resolutions from the congresses of the southern sections of IFA/IAF in the document http://www.anarchy.no/ifadok.html, i.e. the 5th in 1990 and later congresses, because they are disallowed, not approved and rejected by the International Anarchist tribunal and the majority of the IFA/IAF federations.
Thus this is a pure lie. Regarding the IAT, The Anarchist Tribunal of IFA-IAF-AI, the following is the truth:
Quoting from http://www.anarchy.no/aptm.html :
The Anarchist Press Tribunal (APT) is a special branch of IAT, the International Anarchist Tribunal of IAF/IFA/AI - The International of Anarchist Federations, l'Internationale des Fédérations Anarchistes, The Anarchist International:
Some facts about the International Anarchist Tribunal:
The mandating IFA-congress for the International Anarchist Tribunal was initiated by the general secretary of IFA at that time, i.e. the Italian C.R.I.F.A. secretary Umberto Marzocchi, in a letter to the nordic sections of IFA (ANORG) dated 12th of May 1982. The congress took place in Oslo 15-18th of October 1982, at "Folkets hus", i.e. "The house of the people", and was arranged by the Norwegian Anarchist Federation affiliated to IFA. The first Nordic IFA-congress had two important tasks:
1. to promote the anarchist international outside the mediterranean area in general,
2. to mandate the international's anarchist tribunals to secure that the IFA stays anarchist.
From the Nordic countries broadly defined participated several anarchist groups and organizations, and nationalities (sections) from the Netherlands to Finland; and the mediterranean IFA-sections were represented by a delegation from Paris, i.e. from the French anarchist-federation "Fédération Anarchiste Francaise". Different kinds of anarchists; collectivists, individualists and communist anarchists, as well as green anarchists and international anarchafeminists had delegates (sections) at the congress. Also Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation (SAC) participated, as well as delegates from the IAA section of ANORG/IFA, a confederation rooted back to the Scandinavian anarcho-syndicalist organ "Solidaritet" which kept the bounds to the AIT when SAC left in 1959/60. (This does not mean that NAC/ANORG is a member of IAA/AIT. It means that anarchosyndicalists that were or are affilated to an IAA/AIT-section, also were affiliated to the congress/ANORG/IFA).
The mandate for the anarchist tribunals was unanimously decided upon, and referred (however without details) in IFA-Solidaritet, later renamed International Journal of Anarchism, vol 1982 a.s.o. and the Bulletin C.R.I.F.A. (42) 1982, the two official organs of IFA at that time. This issue of the Bulletin C.R.I.F.A was also distributed as a supplement to the French anarchist paper "Le Monde Libertaire" (467). An English translation was also distributed. In the mentioned issue of Bulletin C.R.I.F.A. the following is documented:
"El primer congreso anarquista nordico se ha celebrado del 15 al 17 de octubre del 82 en Oslo. Ha estado organizado por la ANORG/IFA (Federación anarquista noruega afiliada a la IFA)... El secretariado nórdico a través del boletin deberá contribuir a organizar actividades comunes, entre otras, ..., tribunas anarquistas [i.e. the International Anarchist Tribunal] , ... " The bulletin, "Su título es "IFA-Solidariet" (órgano de las secciones nórdicas de la IFA)".
The mandate included the UN-human rights and ethics interpreted in an anarchist way, media tribunals, anarchist decision processing and conflict solution, including a confederal veto on ratification of federal decisions and constitution, i.e. based on the IFA-principles a.s.o., membership acknowledgement, suspensions, disallowances and exclusions/expulsions, etc. The international anarchist ombudsman for conflict solution and the arbitration tribunal , are also among the branches of IAT. The practical details of the mandate were left to the International Anarchist Tribunal itself, as an independent and autonomous institution at the IFA secretariate in Oslo. The International Anarchist Tribunal via the Anarchist Press Tribunal issues expelling Brown Cards to ochlarchist infiltrators to the anarchist movement as a part of the Anarchist Internationals general struggle against ochlarchy (mob rule) and ochlarchist infiltration. Ochlarchist infiltrators are of course not a part of the anarchist movement although often posing as anarchists.
The Anarchist Tribunal was already an established institution in Norway in 1982, as a part of the expeditionary group (secretariate) of ANORG. In the early 1980s the activities was mainly internal, but some of the works of the Anarchist Tribunal , i.e. vis-à-vis the media, were also published in Folkebladet/IJ@, see no 1 (13) 1983 and no 3 (13) 1983. The IFA congress in Oslo 1982 made it an international tribunal. Thus, it became de facto the International Anarchist Tribunal - IAT, although the word "international" was usually not explicitely mentioned in the early days.
The framework for the Oslo Convention of 1990 was prepared by the International Anarchist Tribunal, and is a good example of the mandated work. The proposals from IAT were unanimously decided upon by the international congress-seminar, the 1st Anarchist Biennial , i.e. the first combined IFA & FICEDL Congress arranged in Oslo 1990.
The only officially mandated organ of IFA/IAF/AI of today, i.e. for the whole world, the International Journal of Anarchism ISSN 0800-0220, is also the organ of the International Anarchist tribunal, and has the copyright/TM of the original IFA-logo, with the globe as the dot over the "i" in "ifa". All information at the official ifa/iaf/ai/AIIS web-site is the copyrighted material of International Journal of Anarchism ISSN 0800-0220 (c) fb@ - all rights reserved 1996 a.l.
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, see http://www.anarchy.no/ai.html . The mandate of the IAT is today vis-à-vis the AI, decided on the 5th Anarchist Biennial."
We think that the above named quotes from ANORG speak for themselves. As anarchists we should develop a culture of discussion that is open to a range of different ideas and diverting practices and keep up a constant debate about strategies and results. But this does not mean tolerating a group that plays up as central committee, hands out directives as to the correct party line, tries to exclude and diffame deveationists from the "correct concept" and causes confusion to people new to anarchism but also to people already part of the movement who believe ANORG are part of other organisations.
This is plain lies. We have an open discusion in AI, see http://www.anarchy.no/andebate.html, quoting: "This debate is a moderated debate forum, open for all kinds of anarchists, not only networkmembers/subscribers of the Anarchist International. Anarchism = socialism + autonomy = libertarian, see System theory and Economic-political map . The main purpose of this debate is to develope anarchism, as opposed to marxism, liberalism and fascism. The debate is open to individualist anarchists, collectivist anarchists, commune/communist anarchists and social-individualist anarchists (included mutualists) and for different aspects such as anarchosyndicalists, anarchafeminists and eco/green anarchists. Platformists (collectivists) to the left (marxists) and "anarcho"capitalists (individualists) to the right (liberalists) on the economical political map , are not really anarchists, and have in general no place in this debate.
Anarcho"-capitalism, is anarcho-(economical) plutarchy, an oxymoron, and thus not anarchist. Platformism with majority rule and a central committee is too leftist, marxistoid to be anarchist. Also non-anarchists and other people and organizations are however welcome to participate, if the contribution sheds light on anarchism etc. Feel free to use a nick-name, or your real name. The editor-group may shorten posts to the debate. Anarchism is, a. o. t., based on dialog and free, matter of fact, criticism. Feel free to send us a comment/contribution." On the Anarchy-debate we have contributions from Noam Chomsky, CNT-AIT and CGT (Spanish anarchosyndicalists), networkmembers/subscribers of the anglophone Anarchist Federation, anarchists in South America, etc.
Though they have adopted some anarchist phrases, much of ANORG s writings have been and are system-stabilising and by speaking and writing on behalf of organisations that would not want to have anything to do with those positions they are not only discrediting themselves but large parts of the anarchist movement. We would not pay this much attention to them if they had not been so acitve in publishing their lies on the internet and confused many people who did not know about them or the anarchists groups and organisations they claim to represent. Therefore we wanted to inform you about the group and ask you not to assist them in spreading their lies.
This is plain lies, and the http://www.iaf-ifa.org/documents/anorg_warning_norway.html in general is full of lies.
In December 1996
International Bureau of the I-AFD/IFA
Update: Dec, 1996
ANORG is currently fraudulantly claiming to "officialy" represent the International of Anarchist Federations as a whole (as well as claiming to represent a part of the International Workers Association (IWA, sometimes known as AIT or IAA), and claims that the general secretariat of the IFA resides in Oslo, Norway, and not Paris, France (this would come as quite a surprise to the French Anarchists!). ANORG has also claimed to represent a number of other anarchist federations and International organisations, and arbitrarily denounced existing anarchist individuals and groups as "authoritarian" and "Marxist", while they themselves maintain rigid and dogmatic standards for "what a true anarchist is", including mathematical formulas and a "purity test", as well as issuing "brown card warnings" (through a so-called "Anarchist Tribunal") to penalize anyone they see as in disagreement with them within the anarchist community.
It is true that the AI-IFA-IAF secretariate is in Oslo, but the other things mentioned are pure lies. Se above. The anarchist economic-political map at http://www.anarchy.no/a_e_p_m.html is central to anarchism. The formulas of anarchism, at http://www.anarchy.no/formula.html, are just a mathematical description of the map. If you agree to the map, you implicitely also agree to the formulas: What is wrong with formulas? True anarchists are not anti-intellectualists.
Normaly it would be a waste of time to even pay any attention to ANORG, but because they are claiming out-of-the-blue to represent other anarchist organizations without their consent, the record must be set straight. The spokesperson for ANORG on the Internet seems to use several (presumibly fake) names such as "H. Ibsen, Jr.", "A. Olsen", "S. Olsen", and "Anna Quist" (all use email addresses "fb@anarchy.no" and "fb@powertech.no") who runs a World Wide Web page at address "http.//www.anarchy.no/anarchy/". They also reportedly publish "FB@-International Journal of Anarchism" , ISSN 0800-0220. Various front groups this person or persons claims to represent include: the Anarchist International Information Service, Anarchist Press Tribunal, International Anarchist Tribunal of IFA, International Journal of Anarchism, and the Permanent World Secretariate and Comission in Oslo, in addition to the International of the Federations of Anarchists mentioned above. ANORG even uses the French name of the IFA, "l'Internationale des Federations Anarchistes", even though they claim the secretariat is not located in France!)
What is wrong with a bit French? The postulates above are pure lies. The AI-secretariate has as mentioned above about 20 members, and nick-names are sometimes used. What is wrong with that?
ANORG also claims "copyright" on such things as one version of the IFA's logo, restrictions on such things as the anarchist "circle-A" symbol, and even uses the red & black anarcho-syndicalist flag symbol to represent themselves. ANORG even appopriated and altered one essay " May Day--The Real Labor Day " for use on their web page, without even crediting the source (Luthor Gaylord of the Industrial Workers of the World).
Yes, we have copyrighted the original IFA-loog. That is our right, as we are the real IFA. We advice non-authoritarian use of the circle-A symbol, but it is not really a "restriction", see http://www.anarchy.no/a_sign.html . People can do what they want - follow our advice or not. We have not used Luthor Gaylord's page, but common knowledge about May Day, to the http://www.anarchy.no/mayday.html . Similarities to Gaylord's page are not much and are purely accidental.
ANORG has also threatened at least one individual presenting this information with "investigation" by a so-called "anarchist tribunal" (shades of George Orwell's "1984"!) and predictably accused Peter Bach (a highly reputable anarchist individual) of being part to "marxist intrugues" (though "marxist intrugues" would describe ANORG's activities quite well).
The IAT has investigated Jamal Hannah, who is the webmaster of http://flag.blackened.net/liberty/anorg-warning.html. But he has never received any threats, but a Brown Card warning. The marxist intrigues are well documented above. Quoting from http://www.anarchy.no/apt.html : "No anarchist would suggest that these and similar marxistoid "anarchists" should be taken seriously as anarchists! And the trotskyist based "Love and rage - Revolutionary Anarchist Federation" in the USA (later closed down), Ken Loach and the marxist POUM propaganda movie "Tierra y Libertad"- Land and Freedom - etc., Peter Bach and some fake, selfstyled "ABC-groups", Majordomo "A-infos":..."spreading the virus"?!, Carter Butts, Luthor Gaylord's trotskyist IWW and Jamal Hannah's "IWW-organization" promoting a mix of marxists as Gramsci and Herbert Marcuse etc, some marxists posing as anarchists, and a dash of real anarchism, presented at different web-sites, i.e. "anarchist", "libertarian", "punk terrorist", "anarcho-syndicalist" etc., should not be taken more seriously!
"Leftism" is not anarchism! Anarchism is upwards on the Economical Politcal Map! (If you don't turn it round). The Industrial Workers of the World - IWW (that must not be mixed up with the anarchosyndicalist International Workers of the World, IWW/AI, see http://www.anarchy.no/iwwai.html ), in general of today is neither an anarchist nor anarchosyndicalist nor liberatrian organization, it is a mainly a marxist syndicalistic organization of basically communist Trotskyite type and Lubbeist socialistic tendencies. Allthough not itself saying it is libertarian or syndicalist directly, the Industrial -WW, on many web-sites have been wrongly classified as anarchosyndicalist or libertarian socialist. One good thing must however be said about the Industrial-WW. They clearly states on their (unofficial, but main) web-site, that they are not the anarchosyndicalist International-WW, i.e. the IWW/AI.
IWW/AI is also against the "all workers - one union" strategy of the Industrial-WW and others, that reminds anarchists of the Soviet Union, and their intrigues, lies and smearstories related to Jamal Hannah & co at jah [at] iww.org against the Anarchist International and its sections, are similar to Marx's intrigues etc. against Bakunin in the First International. Nobody should link up to this student commie type joke of an "industrial union" nor take it seriously. Boycott "Industrial-WW"! They also may see this as a strong Brown Card warning . If they don't correct the smearstories and lies, they may soon get the Brown Card."
Another individual associated with ANORG is said to be "Harald Fagerhus", who has a simmilar web page at "http.//www.hedning.no/~haraldfa/anarchy.html". It is unknown how much confusion and disruption they may have already spread, but anarchists are advised to be aware of this group's existance and it's unethical activities. The final irony: Several anarchists from Norway recently noted that ANORG consists of only 2 individuals!
As mentioned above , the AI-secretariate has about 20 members, and the AI-network is much, much larger, also in Norway.
Update: April, 2002
Recently, the ANORG administrator created a new fake organization called the "International Workers of the World", claiming it is a more "truely anarchist" or more libertarian labor union than the actual IWW (Industrial Workers of the World)... This organization is totaly false and as far as anyone knows has only one member.. the person who created it.
It should be noted that the term "International Workers of the World" is redundant, and has only been used by people confused about the IWW and giving it the wrong name. For more info about this sort of mix-up, see: http://fletcher.iww.org/International.html :
The ANORG individual is doing what he has done in the past, that is, creating yet another fantasy "large anarchist organization" which exists only in the mind of this person, but pretty much nobody else, even Norway anarchists, sees any validity in this group, it's claims, or it's (falsified) history.
The accusation that the Industrial Workers of the World is a "Marxist" or "non libertarian" organization and thus a "true" anarchist IWW must be created is worth discussing: For one thing, an organization does not have to say it is explicitly of one ideological bent or another to be sufficiently libertarian. What is important are the policies of the organization, it'sd history, and it's value to working people. The fact that huge numbers of the (traditional) IWW membership are anarchists, and the fact that the actual IWW has close relations with pretty much all of the real anarcho-syndicalist groups in the world suggests strongly that the IWW has proven it is fully compatible with anarchist ideas. Having some members who have read Marx, called themselves marxists, etc. does not suggest anything sinister or "Marxist" about the original IWW, it simply shows how the IWW is a non-sectarian organization with the goal of workers emancipation from capitalism. It is very dangerous for anarchists to always assume that simply because an organization has some kind of important-sounding name, uses anarchist symbols or flags, quotes Bakunin or makes references to history that it actualy represents some kind of worthwhile anarchist movement. The fact is, anyone can create a group with any name they want, and pretend they are big and important... but what is important is reality, not what exists on a web page or on paper.
This is a pure lie. IWW/AI has not"one member". The IWW/AI has a lot of members, and is quite active. The name "International Workers of the World" was selected because it is the Anarchist International's anarcho-syndialist Workers of the World, it should not be mixed up with the Industrial WW. Relevant articles/book and links to the IWW/AI and other organizations associated to the AI-network, that indicates their size and influence are the following:
The lies of the so called "anorg-warning" continues: People who might wish to "join" one of the ANORG organizations will find themselves forced to deal with a quirky, somewhat irrational leadership. On one hand, ANORG claims to be anarchist, and opposes "Marxism", statism, authoritarianism, etc.. yet it has it's own set of inflexible rules and regulations for what is truely anarchist, who can or cannot be an anarchist, and issues "Red card warnings" to people who do not follow these strict rules.
The IAT sometimes uses Brown Cards warnings, as a symbol of free criticism of authoritarian tendencies, but not red cards. There is no leadership of AI or NAC/ANORG. They are horizontally organized.
The ANORG email announcements that talk about the newly-created "International Workers of the World" mention specific members of the Industrial Workers of the World by name, blaming them for attacks on ANORG or accusing them of being false libertarians, etc. It should be noted that the criticisms of ANORG have come from a number of anarchists from different organizations and parts of the world, such as the IFA, the IWA, ABC, etc. All organizations that ANORG has attempted to displace by creating "clone" organizations and acting like they are the legitimate leader of these organizations.
This is not true: The criticism has only come from the Southern IFA-fedeations, that are mainly marxist, and the Industrial WW, that also is mainly marxist, i.e. http://www.iaf-ifa.org/documents/anorg_warning_norway.html and http://flag.blackened.net/liberty/anorg-warning.html . Thus, the criticism is not relevant, and it is also based on lies, as this document proves beyond reasonable doubt. Long live the Anarchist International.