Independence Anarchism

Independence Anarchism is an anarchist,  culturally left-wing and  economically left-wing movement that advocates for the autonomy, self-determination or independence of a given geographical territory from forms of hierarchy in defense of the area's culture, language and history. It inhabits the bottom left corner of the political compass.

Independence anarchist movements originated from and are mostly prevalent in Western Europe, but they also exist in East Asia, the Americas and Northern Africa; a few examples of which 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.

[[File:Cball-Catalonia.png]] [[File:Cball-Catalonia-Estelada.png]] Catalan Countries [[File:Cball-Catalonia-EsteladaRed.png]] [[File:AnInde.png]]
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) and Federica Montseny (1905 – 1994) 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.

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 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).

Ikària, which published the newsletter Ikària: la Polla de Déu, 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), based on the Baix Camp comarca. 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 anarchist collective L'Ullal (The Tusk), born in 2008.

But by far the largest independence anarchist collective in the Catalan Countries is Negres Tempestes (Black Storms), 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.

[[File:Cball-Brittany.png]] Brittany
TBA

[[File:Cball-Occitania.png]] Occitania
TBA

[[File:Cball-Basque.png]] Basque Country
TBA

[[File:Cball-HongKong.png]] Hong Kong
TBA

[[File:Cball-PuertoRico.png]] Puerto Rico
TBA

Nationalist or Internationalist?
TBA

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

How to Draw
Aninde flag.svgThe 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!

Friends

 * [[File:Awaj.png]] Anarchism - You teached me to question the authority of the ruling nation-state.
 * [[File:Postconan.png]] Post-Colonial Anarchism - We tend to support one another.
 * [[File:Leftnat.png]] Left-Wing Nationalism - I want my own autonomy. I don't want to be part of his [[File:imp.png]] clay anymore!
 * [[File:AnSynd.png]] Anarcho-Syndicalism - Based! Good job succeeding in Catalonia for a bit.
 * [[File:Sep.png]] Separatism - Our fight is for self-determination first and foremost!
 * [[File:Blackan.png]] Black Anarchism - My black comrade, keep fighting imperialism!
 * [[File:Indigenous Anarchism.png]] Indigenous Anarchism - Resist statist power structures!

Frenemies

 * [[File:Nation.png]] Nationalism - As much as I dislike the term nationalism, I'm still waiting for you to acknowledge that nations are stateless and borderless.
 * [[File:Anat.png]] Anationalism - Only redeemable quality is your anarchism. You took internationalism too far.

Enemies

 * [[File:Authcap.png]] Authoritarian Capitalism - Nightmare fuel at best.
 * [[File:Imp.png]] Imperialism - My worst enemy.
 * [[File:Neoliberal-icon.png]] Neoliberalism - I hate you
 * [[File:Franco.png]] Francoism - You ruined Catalonia you horrible dictator!
 * [[File:Natan.png]] National-Anarchism - We could have been friends, but you're a masked fascist.

Literature
TBD
 * Independence anarchism on EverybodyWiki

Wikipedia

 * Independence Anarchism
 * Negres Tempestes

People
TBD

Catalan Countries

 * Negres Tempestes
 * L'Ullal
 * Laketania webzine (archived)

Brittany

 * Temps Noirs
 * Temps Noirs forum (archived)
 * Breizh e Du
 * Coordination Bretagne Indépendante et Libertaire (archived)
 * Huch ! - Rennes CBIL collective (archived)
 * Torromp Hor Chadennoù - newsletter of the Lorient CBIL collective (archived)
 * Bretagne Libre (archived)
 * Breizh Black Bloc (archived)

Occitania

 * Occitània e Libertat (archived)

Basque Country

 * Anarkherria
 * Ekintza Zuzena magazine
 * Rebeldia en Euskal Herria (archived)

Hong Kong

 * Autonomous 8A

Puerto Rico

 * Kolectivo Alternativa Libertaria (archived)

Canary Islands

 * Independencia y Autogestión en Canarias
 * Guayota (archived)
 * Dolor de Tormo (archived)
 * Ideas para la Utopía forum (archived)
 * Tanekra (archived)
 * Radikal Kanarias (archived)

Aragon

 * Estrela Negra

Asturias

 * Asturies Llibertaria

Sicily

 * Federazione Anarchica Siciliana

Sardinia

 * Sardigna Indipendente e Libertària (archived)

Andalusia

 * Organización Anarcocomunista Andaluza (archived)

Galicia

 * Galiza Libertaria (archived)