St Imier Congress and AF Public Meetings

Oh dear, the person who was supposed to get the camera forgot!!!!:(

The meeting was a great success with the upstairs room at the Lucas Arms packed with people. Good presentations, including last minute one from a sparks, and there was a good discussion.
Forthcoming AF meetings on St Imier will be at the SGeffield Anarchist Bookfair on June 23rd, and the Sparrows's Nest in Nottingham on the day after, Sunday June 24th

Anarchists from all over the world have descended on the town of Saint-Imier in the Jura region of Switzerland to mark the 140th anniversary of a key congress which saw the anarchists break with the workers’ movement dominated by Karl Marx.

The gathering opened on Wednesday with calls for public demonstrations and workers’ strikes to protest against the European debt crisis, austerity measures and growing unemployment in some countries.
 

The meeting also heard that governments are no solution to the troubles of Europe, but also that violence was equally not the right answer.
 

Saint-Imier and the Jura region in general, a traditional watch-making area, have strong historical ties to the anarchist movement, dating back to the mid-nineteenth century.
 

“Saint-Imier is a historic site for anarchists from all over the world,” declared event organiser Michel Nemitz.
 

But not everybody is so enthusiastic about the town suddenly becoming a pilgrimage site for the anarchy movement. Christian Schluep, a Saint-Imier local politician, told swissinfo.ch that many residents are nervous about seeing such a large group of anarchists on their doorstep…

It was a well-organized affair, particularly for a bunch of people who bristle at the thought of rigid organization. And in an era of discontent with debt-riddled government, they offered a striking solution: no government at all.

The International Anarchism Gathering got underway Wednesday at the movement's spiritual birthplace in Switzerland's western Jura mountains, its many loose parts moving like Swiss clockwork. Which seemed fitting, given the host city's pride at its historical role both in the development of the anarchist movement and of luxury watchmaking.

They flocked by the hundreds, a well-mannered band of fringe thinkers and casually dressed youth aiming to create a world without rulers. The welcome in the lush mountain setting was a model of orderly and efficient hospitality, setting the stage for five days of alternative music, cinema and earnest discussions on topics such as utopia, revolution, militancy, sexuality and authority.

At a time when many face harsh austerity programs, job losses and cutbacks in social safety nets in Europe, the congress drew people from anarchist movements around the world to celebrate a radically different vision for the future...

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Global_anarchy_returns_to_Swiss_roots.html?cid=33265534