A-Infos (en) I.F.A.: A report from the 13th Congress of the International of Anarchist Federations (IFA-IAF), Athens (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The 13th Congress of the International of Anarchist Federations 
(IFA-IAF) took place in Athens on the weekend of 3-5 April 2026, hosted 
by Anarchist Political Organisation-Federation of Collectives -APO. 
Amongst the other federations which participated were Federazione 
Anarchica Italiana (FAIt, Italy),  Fédération Anarchiste (FA, 
French-speaking), Sicilian Anarchist Federation a (FAS, Sicily), 
Federation Libertaria Argentina (FLA), Federation for Anarchist 
Organizing, FAO, Slovenia & Croatia, FACB, Federation of 
Anarchist-communists in Bulgaria, Anarchist Federation (AF, Britain), 
with guests from observing individuals from Brazil (Aurora Negra & Terre 
Livre) and Serbia Class Solidarity.  Federation members and associated 
groups from Mexico, Brazil, Czech-Slovak, German-speaking and Kurdish 
Anarchist Forum did not participate, the latter due to concerns about 
the situation in the Middle East. Cuban comrades were also invited but 
contact has been increasingly difficult during the economic blockade.

To make the conference run smoothly the Congress was hosted at a single 
venue, the squat Lelas Karagianni 37 (LK37), an impressive long-standing 
apartment block, the oldest squat in Greece. Lunch and dinner were 
provided by comrades in the squat and some accommodation was made 
available to visitors. Translation equipment was hired to provide live 
translation, although the main language was English. LK37 was also the 
venue of a public meeting 'The position of anarchists on military 
conflicts and the threat of generalisation of war', on the Saturday 
evening, hosted by APO.

The IFA Congress takes place every three to four years with intervening 
delegate meetings (CRIFA) being used to connect the federations and plan 
agendas and activities, to develop documents for discussion and 
consensus building. The decision-making is bottom up such that 
federations initially propose items for the agenda and then produce 
their papers and positions on those topics to be presented to the 
congress. The congress was structured with plenary sessions with all 
federations present, for example, on the subject of anarchist 
perspectives on worldwide insurrections (such as the uprising in Iran, 
areas of the Mediterranean, Madagascar, Indonesia and Nepal). In 
addition, participating federations to the congress co-organised a 
series of workshops on the following topics: Sudan, the far right, 
education struggles, environment, patriarchy & gender violence and the 
digital world (online materials and cybersecurity) and some 
administrative aspects of IFA were discussed.

The first plenary 'Against modern totalitarianism of State, Capitalism 
and War' shared perspectives on anti-militarism. Themes included 
opposition to NATO air bases or planes (Italy, Sicily, Crete) and NATO 
expansion in Eastern Europe, reintroduction of military service/draft 
(Croatia, France), state suppression of Palestine solidarity activity 
(such as the terrorism law used against Palestine Action in UK), 
increased military spending including dual-use investments such as 
airport, sea port or rail system expansions that workers could intervene in.

Whilst it is not always possible to reach consensus, the congress made 
significant progress on a number of issues. In particular the Italian 
and Greek federations had both produced detailed positions on gender 
struggles with documents approved by their federations with insights on 
systemic gender violence (APO) and transfeminism (FAIt), for example 
from FAI Italy: "The rooting and expansion of transfeminism and queer 
movements is increasingly indispensable in the face of the 
intensification of patriarchal oppression in the current phase, in 
which, in various parts of the world, its link with religious oppression 
is increasingly strong. In Italy, the Meloni government has produced 
specific legislative acts of a patriarchal and familist character to 
support the birth rate within the traditional family. Familism and the 
defence of the traditional, sexist and hierarchical family, however, are 
not only the heritage of the reactionary right, because there is also a 
familism in the tradition of the left." The FAIt also linked increased 
militarisation to a rise in macho culture.

APO focussed on patriarchal violence, "In a period in which modern 
totalitarianism is mobilized to suppress the peoples who revolt and 
nationalist and fascist voices are increasing, women, in every part of 
the planet, and especially those of the plebeian[working class]strata, 
are faced, beyond the risk of death, displacement, hunger and disease, 
with the daily threat of gender-based violence, sexual torture and 
executions, as tools of conquest and subjugation." APO highlighted 
attacks on abortion rights in USA, and the systematic use of gender 
violence as a weapon of war in Sudan and Palestine, but also similarly 
to that in Italy, nationalists' turn to 'female nature' to assert a role 
for motherhood in the national interest.

The 'Rise of the Far Right, and Anti-fascist Response' workshop was 
presented by the AF and FA. AF used the context of the rise of Reform UK 
to discuss cultural aspects of far right ideologies and activity. There 
was great interest in the use of public order laws in Britain to limit 
protest. Whilst pre-emptive arrest via conspiracy charge is not new in 
the UK, this appears harder for the state to justify in countries where 
there has been a history of dictatorship or where anti-fascism is even 
mentioned as part of the constitution. In Italy and Greece the roots 
from fascist dictatorships run deep. But culturally fascist themes such 
as 'God, Country and Family' are coming back, and now anarchists and 
their locales are being specifically targeted by the police during the 
far-right leadership of Meloni in Italy. Although the heyday of Golden 
Dawn in Greece is in the past, in part due to their suppression by the 
state after their murder of an anti-fascist singer, their members' links 
to the more media friendly 'soft face' far right have not disappeared.

Whilst it may be possible to appeal to history in some countries, in 
Brazil, Bulgaria and Serbia the threat of neo-nazi violence on the 
street is still today a big threat because they operate and meet or put 
on events openly, as well as directly attacking and sometimes murdering 
anarchists on the streets. Anarchists have in turn found creative ways 
to combat them such as encouraging mass self-defence classes in 
neighbourhoods, such as in Brazil favela communities.

The education workshop was an important opportunity to understand the 
changes in Greece where private partnership models are being imposed on 
high schools and teachers who are resisting privatization and the 
increased use of intensive evaluation of pupils across the age range are 
being victimised. There is also increased threat to anarchist organising 
in universities.  Therefore the need for strong base unions is vitally 
important. On the encouraging side of things Congress heard about a free 
high school Escula Libre de Constitucion (ELC) in Buenos Aires, 
Argentina that is aimed at using anarchist methods of schooling with 
16-18 year olds and also the Anarchist Education Laboratory (LEA) in São 
Paulo, Brazil at the Social Culture Center (CCS).  The LEA initiative, 
carried out by the Terra Livre Library, aims to study, produce, and 
experiment with pedagogical practices for children, including their use 
at anarchist bookfairs to facilitate meaningful input of children at 
those events.

The workshop session on 'Plundering of Nature' was introduced by APO 
focussed on political, cultural and social problems surrounding the 
climate crisis and the plundering of nature and local communities by the 
state and capital. The session included discussion of popular 
oppositions to resource extraction, 'green' capitalism and control over 
nature and local communities. The session also discussed increased 
urbanisation, commercialisation and gentrification. Strong links were 
made to anti-militarism regarding protests against infrastructural 
development. Problems with the $1T UN '2030 Agenda' climate change 
investment were highlighted.

At the end of the weekend the 13th IFA congress produced a joint 
statement 'Against Global Dictatorship of State and Capitalism, against 
War and Fascism' focussed on anti-militarism, linked to the plenary 
session. It also produced a solidarity statement for the Cuban 
anarchists. Both will be ratified by the IFA federations before 
publication. Great applause was heard as Klasna Solidarnost (Serbia) 
announced their intention to apply to join IFA as an associated group (a 
status that is used for groups who have the intention of growing into a 
federation).  A venue for the next congress was proposed whilst the FA 
agreed to take on the Secretariat role after the good work of FAO over 
the last few years. A plan to hold another meeting in the Mediterranean 
was agreed as was a forthcoming issue of the IFA journal on 
anti-militarist perspectives, where IFA member federations will present 
articles. Following the informative workshop on Sudan by FAS and FA at 
the Congress, a new solidarity poster was presented, highlighting 
Sudanese anarchist struggles. After the weekend a Sudanese migrant 
solidarity meeting was held in Athens which gave an opportunity for 
those staying longer to learn more about the situation. IFA comrades 
were also invited by FAO to the next Balkan Anarchist Bookfair in 
Skopie, Macedonia in September. The congress concluded with a noisy 
tribute to FA comrade Jean-Marc Raynaud - founder of Libertarian 
Editions and the anarchist school "Bonne Aventure" - who died at the end 
of March.

https://i-f-a.org/2026/04/14/report-from-the-13th-ifa-congress-3-5-april-2026-athens-greece/
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