Independence Anarchism

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Independence Anarchism is an anarchist, culturally left-wing and File:Soc.png economically left-wing movement of movements that advocates for the autonomy, self-determination or independence of a given people group with a common identity from forms of hierarchy, especially centralized ones, in defense of the nation's culture, language and history. It inhabits the bottom left corner of the political compass.

Independence anarchism as a term originated in Western Europe after the Second World War, and thus only movements from Western Europe use the label, but many similar exclusively separatist movements, although not so prevalent, also exist in Eastern Europe, East Asia, the Americas and Northern Africa. A few examples of them are in Catalonia, Brittany, Occitania, the Basque Country, Hong Kong and Puerto Rico.

Independence anarchism is most similar to anarchist movements involved in national liberation struggles such as Post-Colonial Anarchism, Indigenous Anarchism and Black Anarchism. Ideologically, independence anarchism is compatible with both social and individualist forms of anarchism.

History and Branches

    Catalan Countries    

The history of independence anarchism in the Catalan Countries (territories where the Catalan language is spoken) can be traced back to the 19th century. As the Catalan   anarchist-oriented worker movement and the revindicative national liberation movement became ever so tied together, mostly due to their mutual belief in   federalism, ideals close to those of modern independence anarchism began to arise. By 1881, Josep Llunas i Pujals (1852 – 1905), the primary theorist of what would later become   anarcho-syndicalism, founded the popular   libertarian collectivist weekly newspaper La Tramontana (The Tramontane), akin to   Catalanism and   federalism. Although the newspaper was closed by the authorities fifteen years afterwards, it would set the stage for other   anarchist newspapers in Catalan to appear, such as L'Avenir (The Future, 1905-1910) and El Progrés (The Progress, 1905-1905). La Tramontana even came back in 1907 and 1913.

With the creation of the   National Confederation of Labour (CNT) syndicate in 1910 in Barcelona, factions within   anarcho-syndicalism that can be considered the precursors to Catalan independence anarchism began to materialize. Many prominent Spanish   anarcho-syndicalists such as Joan Peiró (1887 – 1942), Salvador Seguí (1887 – 1923) and Federica Montseny (1905 – 1994), the latter of which was even known for his   Catalanist sentiment, made statements in support of Catalan autonomy (despite the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia being a subject that initially caused an internal division in the   CNT). Meanwhile, the   Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI) was founded in 1927 in València.

 
Catalan anarchist militiamen carrying an estelada

The   CNT and the   FAI briefly formed the CNT-FAI during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) to prevent the   nationalists from taking Catalonia. The CNT-FAI union still had its internal ruptures, which resulted in two main factions: the more moderate, minoritarian and   reformist Treintists that were mostly made up of some   CNT members, and the more majoritarian,   insurrectionary Faists led by the   FAI. Both sectors, despite the difference of their tactics, sometimes shared a   Catalanist sentiment although revindicative/nationalist rhetoric was nowhere to be seen. Before the CNT-FAI's social revolution fell apart, a proposal was made by the Valencian branch of the   CNT to make a Statute of Autonomy for the Valencian Country, but the project never saw the light of day. The   nationalists would take over all of Spain in 1939 and Franco would later have a lot of CNT-FAI members executed, effectively making proto-independence anarchism in the Catalan Countries dormant for the duration of the Francoist dictatorship.

Throughout more recent history, the CGT was formed in 1979 as a result of a split in the   CNT concerning union elections. The   CNT, the CGT and the   FAI would continue to campaign for   anarchism in Catalonia, frequently holding debates and talks about the "National Question" between its members.

However, aside from these three main groups, independence anarchism as a term in the Catalan Countries would finally first appear after the Spanish transition to democracy, with the birth of self-described independence anarchist collectives exclusive to the Catalan Countries.

In Catalonia, these organizations would first appear in the 80's. The two most notable groups of the era were the Col·lectiu Ikària (Ikària Collective; CI) and the Federació Anarco-Comunista Catalana (Catalan Anarcho-Communist Federation; FACC).

 
Propaganda document by the Ikària Collective

Ikària, which after 1985 became known as Ikària-Contracorrent, published the newsletter Ikària: la Polla de Déu from January 1985 to March 1990, and was born on January 1980 out of student movements and smaller independent libertarian organizations with the objective of initiating a debate inside the anarchist movement in Barcelona. The FACC was founded in Barcelona in 1981 as an   anarcho-communist organization for national liberation, and edited the bulletin Tramuntana (not to be confused with the original from 1881) and the newspaper Visca la Terra (Long Live the Land).

The CI and the FACC worked together in the comarcal Libertarian Assembly of the Barcelonès, but nonetheless began to lose activity in 1982. Thus, on November 1982, they joined forces to create the Coordinadora Llibertària dels Països Catalans (Libertarian Coordinator of the Catalan Countries) along with the Libertarian Assemblies of the Empordà, the Baix Camp, the Berguedà and the Maresme, among others, as well as with even smaller groups that followed independence anarchism such as the Col·lectiu Independentista Estel Negre (Independentist Collective Black Star), Grup Llibertari de l’Ateneu de Mataró (Libertarian Group of the Mataró Athenaeum), Grup Anarquista l'Insurrecte (Anarchist Group 'the Insurgent') and the Col·lectiu Llibertari de Vilaplana (Libertarian Collective of Vilaplana). After many years of organizing activities nationally and internationally, the Libertarian Coordinator of the Catalan Countries ceased to exist when the FACC was publicly dissolved in late 1988. The Ikària Collective suffered the same fate soon after their headquarters were attacked with an incendiary bomb on July 9th, 1990.

It is also important to note that a short-lived independence anarchist syndicate referred to as the National Confederation of Labour-Catalan Countries (CNT-PPCC) was formed on late 1983 when the   CNT underwent a split.

In the Valencian Country, nominally, independence anarchism would take a bit longer to arrive. Nevertheless, the collective Recerca Autònoma (Autonomous Research) was formed in 1994. It edited a magazine of the same name, first released on February 1994. Recerca Autònoma and other Valencian groups with similar tendencies such as Germania Socialista (Socialist Brotherhood) eventually fell into inactivity.

In spite of previous events though, independence anarchism in the Catalan Countries experienced a resurgence in the 2000's, with the creation of several new organizations. For example, local groups like Acció Autònoma (Autonomous Action), born in Terrassa in 1997, the collective Catarko, founded in the comarca of El Prat in 2006, and the Valencian collective L'Ullal (The Tusk), born in 2008.

 
Logo of Negres Tempestes

But by far the largest independence anarchist collective in the Catalan Countries is Negres Tempestes (Black Storms; NNTT), founded in 2005 after many encounters between like-minded individuals in the annual Catalan protests of September 11th. Negres Tempestes edits the magazine La Rosa dels Vents (The Compass Rose) and focuses its activity on various squatted social centers, especially the Can Vies Self-Managed Social Center.

The Bloc Negre (Black Bloc) of the annual demonstrations on September 11th, National Day of Catalonia, serves as a yearly meeting point for the most recent Catalan independence anarchist groups.

TBA

  Brittany

TBA

  Occitania

TBA

  Basque Country

TBA

  Hong Kong

TBA

  Puerto Rico

TBA

Foundations and Beliefs

Nationalist or Internationalist?

TBA

Personality

Very angry all the time, he just wants independence. (TBD)

How to Draw

 
Flag of Independence Anarchism

The flag of independence anarchism is the anarchist version of the estelada (starred flag), an unofficial flag typically flown by supporters of Catalan independence. It was first used by the previously mentioned Catalan Anarcho-Communist Federation (FACC) in the 80's and later used by more recent groups from the 2000's. Another version of the independence anarchist flag, used by the Ikària collective, swapped the red 8-pointed star with a white circle-A symbol.

The symbolism behind the flag is unique. The red stripes on the yellow background represent Catalonia or the Catalan Countries. The triangle symbolizes liberty, fraternity and equality, while the color black is the color of anarchy. The eight-pointed red star is a compass rose and represents the 8 territories of the Catalan Countries (Catalonia proper, the Valencian Country, Andorra, the Balearic Islands, Northern Catalonia, La Franja, l'Alguer and el Carxe).

  1. Draw a ball.
  2. Fill in with yellow.
  3. Draw four horizontal red stripes.
  4. Draw a right-pointing, black triangle on the leftmost point.
  5. Draw an 8-pointed red star in the center of the triangle.
  6. Draw the eyes, and you're done!
Color Name HEX RGB
Yellow #FFD800 255, 216, 0
Red #CD0000 205, 0, 0
Black #141414 20, 20, 20


Relations

Friends

Frenemies

  •   Nationalism - As much as I dislike the term nationalism, I'm still waiting for you to acknowledge that nations are stateless and borderless.
  •   Anationalism - Only redeemable quality is your anarchism, and possibly your economics. You took internationalism too far.

Enemies

Further Information

Literature

TBD

Wikipedia

People

Websites

Catalan Countries

Organizations not officially independence anarchist, with independence anarchist members or sympathetic beliefs:

Brittany

Occitania

Basque Country

Hong Kong

Puerto Rico

Canary Islands

Sicily

Aragon

Asturias

Castile

Sardinia

Andalusia

Galicia

Template:Libleft Template:Anarchist Template:Nation Template:Socs <comments/>

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