BOAB Bologna Anarchist Bookfair

[1] Social ecology and mutual aid. Transforming the spaces we live in: We live in an era in which nature is increasingly rebelling against the reckless capitalist policies and the statist management of land that have characterized Western civilization since the post-industrial period: the effects of climate extremes (severe floods, heatwaves, droughts, etc.) are now a regular occurrence in all parts of the planet, global temperatures have exceeded 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial period (and show no signs of decreasing). Despite that, any mention of "degrowth" is vilified as an obstacle to progress.

Our lives are based on the produce-consume-die cycle. The spaces and people who move through them are treated as commodities within this system, mere passive subjects no longer capable of generating change

As anarchists and left-libertarians, we have developed two methods that have proven effective in opposing this dominant ideology: social ecology and mutual aid.

Social ecology affirms that the environmental issues are structurally linked to the state-capitalist system, because the exploitation of nature, and of human beings as well, stems from the same voracious rationale. That’s why, to eliminate the effects caused by exploitation of humans and nature, we must move beyond the predatory logic of capitalism.

Mutual aid is a practical example of how to act outside of state and capitalist frameworks and how to interact with the land while respecting the complex dynamics at play within it.

Drawing from the experiences of numerous grassroots solidarity initiatives that have emerged in response to recent emergencies we will discuss – together with Selva Varengo, Veronica Macchiavelli e Alberto (Abo) Di Monte - on what social ecology and mutual aid can teach us about the possibility of transforming the urban and natural spaces we live in, and how we can incorporate its principles into our everyday lives.

[2] Anarchism and contemporary feminisms: At the beginning of the 20th century, feminism and anarchism had a close relationship, to the point of generating a third political and intellectual current, anarcho-feminism – or anarcha-feminism. A century later, this relationship is both stronger and weaker. Stronger because contemporary feminism movements undoubtedly have a libertarian component, in their themes and practices. Weaker because this relationship is rarely made explicit and, both by anarchists and feminists, not fully explored. In feminism, there is a lack of analysis of the historical and theoretical intersections with the anarchist movement, while in anarchism there is a lack of reflection on the inclusion of feminist practices and critiques. Yet, a greater intersection between anarchist and feminist movements is today more urgent than ever. Ecofeminism shows that the climate crisis and the resulting ecological catastrophe are not only attributable to the State and Capital, but also a product of patriarchy, whose desire to dominate the world begins with gender oppression and continues with the natural environment. LGBTQ+ movements and queer theory point the finger at the forms of individual, relational and social oppression based on gender and sexual identity that still persist in our “egalitarian” societies. A century ago, during the rise of totalitarian regimes, personalities such as Emma Goldman, Voltairine De Clayre, He Zhen, Lucía Sánchez Saornil, Noe Ito showed the importance of establishing alliances between anarchism and feminism. Today, we are once again in the eye of the storm of far-right hate politics, aimed on the one hand at reinforcing authoritarian and hierarchical visions of gender identities and relations, and on the other at distracting from the disastrous consequences of the crisis of neoliberalism. It is time to resume the debate, making manifest the intersections that already exist, and committing to create new ones. What does it mean to talk about anarcha-feminism in the 2020s? What practices and theorizations from historical anarchism can be found in contemporary feminist movements? What feminist themes can broaden the horizon of analysis and action of anarchism? What barriers exist, and have existed, to the creation of a closer alliance –intellectual and political– between anarchism and feminism? What kind of places and occasions can today facilitate this dialogue?

[3] Changing the world here and now. Anarchist influences in the contemporary world: At the turn of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the influence of anarchist thought and practice on the collective imaginary—radical and otherwise—grew increasingly significant. In particular, looking at the developments in global social movements, the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the emergence of zapatismo, and the wave of anti-globalisation struggles sparked by the 1999 anti-WTO protests in Seattle, made this paradigm shift evident to all. On the theoretical and political level, even as early as the 1970s, some radical thinkers had already recognized the generative potential of the anarchist perspective.

By the dawn of the new millennium, Marxism appeared discredited, and anarchism was seen as the last viable praxis still standing. It was no surprise that some proclaimed the beginning of an “anarchist century” (Grubacic, Graeber, Anarchism, or the Revolutionary Movement of the Twenty-first Century).

Now, twenty-five years later, the mood is far less optimistic. Despite earlier hopes, it does seem that anarchism lost the wind in its sails: ecosystems are collapsing, globalised capitalism appears more entrenched than ever, and some of the most effective anti-systemic movements are authoritarian, fascist, or fundamentalist in nature.

And yet, the sense persists that the anarchist approach remains not only relevant but perhaps the most effective—indeed, for some, the only sensible—response to the current global conjuncture (CrimethInc., Become an Anarchist or Forever Hold Your Peace).

Given this context, it is essential to reflect on some key questions: If the influence of anarchist thought and practice on political analysis, social movements, and significant sectors of civil society is now undeniable—so much so that it has become a crucial element of many contemporary critiques of the present—why does the anarchist movement itself still seem unable to articulate a concrete, widely comprehensible alternative?

Looking back at the first quarter of this century, what lessons can guide a self-critique of anarchism? What challenges lie ahead, and what strategies might help us overcome them?

Useful resources

Speakers

• Salvo Vaccaro, The Influence of Anarchist Thought on Contemporary Political Philosophy
• Tomás Ibáñez, An Anarchist Critique of Anarchism, or  on Non-Foundational Anarchism
• Francesco Codello, Prefigurative Anarchism, or (In)Positive Anarchism

Articles

• Andrej Grubacic, David Graeber, Anarchism, Or The Revolutionary Movement Of The Twenty-first Century, 2004, https://voidnetwork.gr/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Anarchism-or-the-revolutionary-movement-of-the-21st-century-by-Andrej-Grubacic-David-Graeber.pdf
• Crimethic., Become an Anarchist or Forever Hold Your Peace, 21 febbraio 2025, https://it.crimethinc.com/2025/02/21/become-an-anarchist-or-forever-hold-your-peace
• Gabriel Kuhn, Matthew Wilson, Gabriel Kuhn in Conversation With Matthew Wilson, Anarchist Studies, vol. 31, n.1, 2023, https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/gabriel-kuhn-and-matthew-wilson-gabriel-kuhn-in-conversation-with-matthew-wilson [trad. it. Gabriel Kuhn in dialogo con Matthew Wilson, «Semi sotto la neve», n. 7, febbraio 2024, https://semisottolaneve.net/articoli/gabriel-kuhn-in-dialogo-con-matthew-wilson/]
• Matthew Wilson, Colin Ward: an Ambiguous Legacy, «Anarchist Studies», vol. 32, n. 2, 2024 [trad. it. Colin Ward: un’ambigua eredità, https://www.centrostudilibertari.it/it/Wilson_Ward_ambigua_eredita].
• Francesco Codello, Alcune idee per un anarchismo positivo, «Semi sotto la neve», n.8, giugno 2024.
• Materiali preparatori per l’incontro «Al ladro! Anarchismo e filosofia»
  [https://www.eleuthera.it/files/materiali/materiali_preparatori_incontro_con_%20Catherine_Malabou.pdf]

Books

• Richard J.F. Day, Gramsci è morto, dall’egemonia all’affinità, elèuthera 2025 (2008).
• Matthew Wilson, Discorso sull’autogoverno, elèuthera, 2022.
• Salvo Vaccaro, Pensare altrimenti, anarchismo e filosofia radicale, elèuthera, 2024 (2011)
• Salvo Vaccaro, Agire altrimenti, anarchismo e movimenti radicali nel XXI secolo, elèuthera, 2014
• Catherine Malabou, Al ladro! Anarchismo e filosofia, elèuthera, 2024
• Tomás Ibáñez, L’anarchia del mondo contemporaneo, elèuthera, 2022
• Tomás Ibáñez, Per una critica anarchica dell’anarchismo, elèuthera, prossima uscita (estate 2025)
• Franceco Codello, La condizione umana nel pensiero libertario, elèuthera, 2017
  Francesco Codello, Né obbedire né comandare, lessico libertario, elèuthera, 2022 (2009)

[4] An anarchist gaze on history. Memory and movement archives: In recent years, anarchist history and historiography have seen a renewed and sustained interest. This has led to new research approaches shaped by cross-contamination between different fields, such as social history, history from below, oral history, public history, cultural history, the history of ideas, microhistory, and a renewed interest in biographical reconstruction, as methods of investigation of collective histories

This evolving body of work could begin to address questions posed by Ruth Kinna as early as 2012: What are the defining features of anarchist research? What does anarchist research require to be fully suited to its subject matter? Yet it may still fall short of answering a third, deeper question Kinna raises: Is there a “specifically anarchist theory and practice of historiography”?

If we understand "anarchist historiography" as a specific view on history—an ideological framework made up of values, ideas, and theories aimed at interpreting the human past and its meaning (as with Marxist historiography)—then perhaps a different term is more useful. The phrase anarchist gaze on history, understood as a distinctive approach to the practice of historical inquiry, might be more appropriate.

Kinna’s third question challenges us to consider whether there is, or ought to be, such a thing as anarchist historiography—a framework that extends beyond the bounds of anarchist history itself. Does it make sense today to propose such a historiography? Or is it more fitting, and less constraining, to speak of an anarchist gaze on history?

This term—anarchist gaze—avoids the pitfalls of trying to construct a new anarchist historiographical canon or rigid definition, which risks becoming overly academic, institutionalized, or ideologically narrow.

However, asking whether an anarchist gaze on history is possible (and similarly, an anarchist approach to sources and archives, including our own) does not mean we can ignore the core elements of historiographic practice. These include, to mention a few, distinct methodologies, the issue of sources (the question of their preservation and representation, as well as their critique), the selection of subjects and objects of inquiry, the problem of periodisation, and the choice of levels of analysis. We must also consider how, in dialogue with other fields of study, these elements and their definitions can be interpreted through an anarchist lens—take, for example, “history from below” and the possibility of its anarchist reimagination.

Lastly, this reflection inevitably turns toward the role of anarchist archives themselves: the custodians of the movement’s historical memory. What place do they hold in this broader conversation about an anarchist gaze on history?

Useful resources

• Kathy E. Ferguson, Scrivere l’anarchismo attraverso la "storia dal basso", https://www.centrostudilibertari.it/it/l%E2%80%99anarchismo-attraverso-la-storia-dal-basso ( ed. or. https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/anarchiststudies/vol-30-issue-1/article-9522/).
• Marcus Rediker, A proposito di storia dal basso, https://www.centrostudilibertari.it/it/stor-stba-rediker-storia-dal-basso, (ed. or. “Anarchist Studies”, vol. 30, n. 1 https://revistas.udea.edu.co/index.php/trashumante/article/view/350646).
• Ian Forrest, Storia medievale e anarchist studies, https://www.centrostudilibertari.it/it/storia-medievale-e-anarchist-studies, (ed. or. «Anarchist Studies», vol. 28, n. 1, 2020).

Books

• Lorenzo Pezzica, L'archivio liberato, Editrice Bibliografica, 2020.