Opportunity for change?

Czechoslovak Anarchist Federation (CSAF) has transformed itself into Anarchist Federation (AF).

We consider the change of our name as an opportunity for some positive changes in anarchist movement as well as possible new wave of interest in anarchist self-organizing. Members of CSAF decided to change the name of the organization during the regular congress held back in spring 2014.

The purpose of that change was to deprive of a national attribute in the name of our federation, which some members perceived negatively. Our organization will continue being a part of family of anarchist federations. Specifically, the federation which unites especially Czech and Slovak speaking anarchists. Furthermore, the leaving of national attribute relieves us from an uncomfortable position, when the original name was suggesting assumed existence of our organization in Slovakia, which is not true at the present time. Nevertheless, the new name leaves the opportunity for organizing in Slovakia of course still open.

In connection with the change of our name, we launched a new website www.afed.cz on January 1.

We are also trying to initiate discussion within the anarchist movement about its needs, goals and limits, on the occasion of our transformation.

We have no doubts that the organizing, consisting at least in the deepening of communication and coordination platforms, is very important for the local movement . One of those platforms is the anarchist federation, which should create a background for its members, no matter whether they are organized in local groups, working on independent projects or operating yet alone.

The anarchist movement in Czechia have developed in certain ways since 1989. In the mid-90s there was a sense of big need for a clearly defined federative subject, which the movement could rely on – at that time CAF (later renamed to CSAF) was formed, and the idea of organizing became standard in local movement. The anarchist movement experienced its rise at the turn of the century and a crisis in the middle of the first decade of the new century. The movement managed to get from the crisis after some time and move step forward. It was the anarchist federation which proved to be a stable platform during that process. But now, it is necessary to do further steps and seek ways how could the anarchist movement move again a bit forward.