The first part of the workshop will focus on the origins of anarchist ideologies. We’ll start by looking at the different forms that the quest for emancipation and resistance to the state have taken throughout history, and we’ll reflect together on how we can assimilate these different movements into an anarchist ideology that didn’t yet exist in a way we could recognize. We’ll then look at the beginnings of the ideological consolidation of anarchism during the era of revolutions (1789-1848), followed by the rise of an anarchist movement which, in the second half of the 19th century, would definitively distinguish itself from socialism, and be marked by both its establishment among the masses and its propaganda of the deed. 

Finally, we’ll look at the impact of the two world wars, the totalitarian state and the prosperity of the “glorious thirties” on anarchist movements heading towards the international revolts of the late 60s, from which they emerged transformed.

The second part will look at the history of autonomy in the 70s and 80s and current anarchist perspectives on these movements. We’ll look at the history of the radicalization of the extra-parliamentary left after 1968 to better understand the paths taken by social movements in recent decades. The aim is also to nourish anarchist practices and reflections by taking note of the successes, but above all the failures, of comrades of the time.

The workshop-discussion will explore the links between works of fiction – in particular, science fiction – and anarchist practice and theory, in terms of both content and form. Discussions will be structured around broad themes, which means no prior reading is required, and you’ll be able to draw inspiration from all sorts of stories you know!

The workshop format is quite flexible; the aim is to share thoughts and take them elsewhere with a semi-directed discussion. In short, we’ll ask each other questions, listen to each other and respond, sharing turns with our anarchist principles!

In particular, we’ll look at the concepts of dystopia and utopia and how they shape our revolutionary imaginations. We’ll look at the kinds of character relationships put forward in certain works, and how they interrogate forms of oppression, criticize political systems and think about community building. We’ll also talk about subversive narrative structures that challenge norms and open doors to new ideas. Finally, through these exchanges, we hope to come up with a common definition of what might characterize an anarchist literature to reclaim our stories!

In the 60s and 70s, French philosophers exploded the usual models by proposing original avenues. They were, somewhat abusively, grouped together under the name of French theory. These new avenues of reflection have left their mark on American thought from the 1980s to the present day.

In this workshop, we’ll see whether this so-called postmodern thinking, which has nourished and been nourished by anarchism, is truly a new approach, or whether it’s simply the continuation of a living, dynamic anarchism.

Workshop on the foundations of anarchism: presentation and discussion of the main ideas driving anarchist movements, mainly in the European tradition (19th century and beyond). Among other things, we’ll look at how anarchists truly embody the values of “liberty, equality and solidarity” that liberal-republicans claim for themselves.

The workshop is led by Francis Dupuis-Déri, professor of political science at UQAM and author of several books on anarchism, who has been and is active in anarchist collectives in Quebec and France.

description coming soon

This workshop interrogates the foundations of the history of the anarchist movement through archival praxis. We explore archival strategies from two different standpoints; first, an anarchist archive
established through academic institutional means at the University of Victoria and second, an independent archive built upon by volunteer community members at the DIRA Anarchist Library in so-called Montreal.
Delving into the challenges and opportunities brought along by different archival means, we aim to build bridges to mobilize our resources for access to information. Through archives, we may remember the collectives that stood before us, the actions that were undertaken, the spaces occupied, and, also, the repression the anarchist movement has faced. Archival destruction and loss preventing us from having a complete overview of our history, anarchist archival projects strive to keep material to build upon an alternative collective memory and allow us to learn from our past. The workshop will hold space for audience participation and sharing of ideas for sustainable strategies to memory politics.

Volunteers from the DIRA Anarchist Library. Standing strong since 2003, DIRA is operated by a collective of individuals working together to provide free access to information on anarchist theory and struggles
through books, zines, newspapers and other political ephemera. The library holds open hours every week and keeps a collection of archives from the anarchist movement available for consultation.

This discussion is interested in anarchism as a revolutionary tendency. We want the expropriation of property and the liberation of territory on a massive scale through widespread social uprising and resonating anarchist participation. For a few years in Ukraine in the 1910s, up to seven million people lived inside of territory liberated by anarchist forces. In recent years, anarchists have built barricades in Chile and Greece, freeing up neighbourhoods, creating massive liberated spaces for housing, and looting goods. They’ve played essential roles in not just participating in – something we can do easily here in Montreal – but setting off uprisings – something that requires much more influence.

Broad participation and engagement with anarchism is something we all say we want and it is worth understanding at a deeper level. It is not enough to see other groups’ most appealing successes and want to replicate them, we need to understand the kinds of smaller projects and analysis in the years leading up to these events that have enabled anarchists to become more than an alienated milieu of a few dozen or hundred people. Particular interest will be given to lesser known groups, initiatives, and texts, which are well-documented and have proven to be reliable successes that could be replicated in Montreal. If we can implement the lessons from other places, we can bring ourselves closer to a revolution.

In the early 1990s, a new generation of anarchists organized in Montreal, helping to shape the emergence of new practices, organizations and institutions. In the context of this workshop, we’ll look back at the recent history of anarchism in so-called Quebec, putting it in relation to the major events that agitated anarchist circles on an international scale. This back-and-forth between the renewed anarchist imaginary and practices unfolding around the global and local experiences will enable us to explore the articulation between the Montreal anarchist movement and the turbulent history of this turn of the century: from the Zapatista revolt (1994), to the era of the counter-summits (1999-2002), from the anti-militarist resistance to the war in Iraq (2003), to the anti-police riots in Greece (2008), and the revolt of the squares (2010-2011).

Bookchin’s Magnum Opus, The Ecology of Freedom, aims to show how social hierarchy – the domination of the rich over the poor, of white people over people of color, of those considered unhealthy over those so considered – facilitates and encourages the domination of humans over nature. This main thesis of social ecology, that we must destroy hierarchy to liberate nature, will be presented in three dialogues. First, with the thesis of religious primo-hierarchization (Bakounine, Clastres), then with the ecofeminist idea of the domination of women as a prerequisite for the domination of nature (Merchant, Federici) and finally with the contemporary rehabilitation of Marxian ecology (Bellamy Foster).