Communiqué of the Federación Ibérica de Juventudes Libertarias (FIJL)

After several years of apparent inactivity, the Iberian Federation of Libertarian Youth sees the need to make a public analysis of the development of our theory and practice.

There have been several reasons for our invisibility during this time. The first and fundamental one has been the effect that repression has had on us, both collectively and individually. We have not been able to cope with the major wave of repression that has shaken our movement in recent times, and our projects have been frustrated and our morale undermined. But we have been there, with more pain than glory, learning from these situations of real conflict, of open and face-to-face struggle against the state. We are aware that we have lost this battle, but from the defeat we have drawn our references that make us mature both politically and personally.

The second main reason for our unnoticed presence is the ongoing discussion and maturing in the debate on acronyms. For several years now, we have been discussing the need for acronyms, or rather the need to use them. So, if at the beginning the positions were centred around the acronyms yes (the same or others), acronyms no, without really finding an answer that balanced the pros and cons of both sides and opting for the “consensual” practice of ending them, the final solution to this dilemma is to be found by changing the approach to another point of view: in the interior of the anarchist movement (or political in general, if you prefer) we maintain a collective reference or identity that allows us to give our opinion and position ourselves jointly as a collective united by bonds of affinity; in the exterior of the movement, to keep them would be to continue with the organisational self-referentialism that we have so much sucked from and whose dirigiste intentions seem so clear to us. It is this position that has led us not to sign up to ideas with 4 letters, as we are aware that these ideas can be taken up by the rest of the movement, whether or not they belong to the Federation. We are clear that the daily struggle is carried out by the people in the street, not by the organisations, and that our objective, when launching slogans or demands, is to be part of this struggle, and not for recognition, applause or demagogy.

Today we remain firm in our convictions. We have had to accept that times and our personal and collective circumstances have changed. Nevertheless, we continue to believe in the need to forge a vital project of struggle that encompasses all fronts and whose basic pillar is an affinity that is built around action and debate.

The FIJL thus aims to once again become a complete federation, with a meaning in itself, since we are not anyone’s youth, nor do we participate in the classic structures of union-party-youth. If we keep these acronyms and not others, it is not because of the meaning of each word, which separately tells us little, but because of the content and the evolution that the Federation has been able to create, especially during the last decade.

In conclusion, we hope that, with the efforts of all of us who make up the broad reality of the anarchist movement, we will be able to overcome the rut that we have been put in. It is time to get out of this spiral that only drags us deeper and deeper. It is time to believe in our possibilities and to start acting with autonomy and determination.