Report from the 13th IFA Congress, 3-5 April 2026 , Athens, Greece
A report from the 13th Congress of the International of Anarchist Federations (IFA-IAF), Athens
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 Αναρχική Πολιτική Οργάνωση – Ομοσπονδία Συλλογικοτήτων (Anarchist Political Organisation-Federation of Collectives -APO). Amongst the other federations which participated were Federazione Anarchica Italiana (FAIt, Italy), Fédération Anarchiste (FA, French-speaking), Federazione Anarchica Siciliana (FAS, Sicily), Federación Libertaria Argentina (FLA), Federacija za anarhistično organiziranje (Federation for Anarchist Organizing, FAO, Slovenia & Croatia), Федерация на анархо-комунистите в България (FACB, Federation of Anarchist-communists in Bulgaria), Anarchist Federation (AF, Britain), with guests from observing individuals from Brazil (Aurora Negra & Terre Livre) and Serbia (Klasna Solidarnost). 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.
