International anarchist gathering gets under way in Switzerland

The event includes lectures, seminars and a book fair. © Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

A five-day meeting of anarchists from all over the world has begun in the western Swiss town of St. Imier, birthplace of the organised anarchist movement.

Hundreds of participants descended on the small town on Wednesday, with organisers expecting thousands by Sunday. The gathering marks the 150th anniversary of the Congress of St-Imier which, in 1872, saw the foundation of the Anti-Authoritarian International movement.

The anarchists’ gathering includes 268 lectures and workshops, 48 concerts, 42 screenings, 11 theatrical performances, seven exhibitions and a book fair, according to the association “150 Years Saint-Imier Congress”.

The participants are invited to reflect together on political and social developments and anarchists’ contribution to more than 150 years of history.  

“Anarchy is not chaos and lack of order at all, but the opposite: it advocates an anti-authoritarian approach and a personal and social organisation that promotes the emancipation of all human beings,” says the st-imier.org website.  

According to the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, anarchism is a doctrine and political movement that advocates a reorganisation of society based on the freedom and autonomy of individuals, freely associated in federated communities of producers on a local, regional and international scale. Anarchism presupposes the collectivisation of the means of production and, contrary to Marxism and socialism, the disappearance of the state.

In Switzerland, the first group of anarchist tendencies arose within the Fédération jurassienne of the First Socialist International, under the influence of Michail Bakunin and other exponents such as James Guillaume and Adhémar Schwitzguébel.