by Centro Studi Libertari
The international anarchist gathering Venice 1984, with hindsight, could be considered as an anarchist orgy. Exactly 40 years ago, in September 1984, we found ourselves in the thousands in the ‘campi’ of Venice, heading from very different latitudes, generations, as well as personal and collective histories.
We stared at and sniffed each other with both surprise and curiosity, only to eventually embrace our joyful promiscuity, which did not aim at erasing our differences. It rather exposed them. This was possibly the highest achievement of the gathering: the celebration of a generative diversity, which could birth – when hegemonic temptations are kept at bay – a plurality of anarchisms, all equally 'legitimate' (i.e. recognised and accepted even when divergent form our own approach).
This does not imply that our Orwell-inspired end of summer was free of conflicts or tensions. On the contrary. Discussions, recriminations ‘vivid exchanges of opinions' were the rule. Forty years down the line, we can finally see with clarity that there was no abuse of power, or desire to impose and proselytise. There was instead a strong and healthy desire to discuss, beyond politeness and good manners.
By 1984, anarchists had not come together for decades. In the aftermath of WW2, specific federations organised a few Congresses (a revealing term…). Still, an international gathering of diverse and divergent anarchists had not happened in decades. Time proved to be ripe, as exemplified by the wide participation and the breadth of representation (thirty countries from all over the world, despite the obvious prevalence of Europeans).
Truth be told, the international anarchist movement, already extraordinarily connected through its networks of publications, had seen a renaissance in the past fifteen years and had a great desire to engage. It was clear that a new page was about to be turned. The twentieth century was fading away (the fall of the USSR was five years down the line). The spark that ignited the formidable explosion of anarchist vitality that was Venice 1984 resulted from the fortunate encounter between such a broad call and the widespread desire to engage in an open discussion.
We don’t mean this as a self-celebration. We have already launched a digital project on Venice 1984, where many of the materials are available in multiple languages. We continue to update and reorganize the digital archive, hoping to bring back at least some of the richness and enthusiasm of those moments.
A student (Elena Roccaro) at IUAV in Venice recently ‘discovered’ Venice 1984 and wrote her brilliant dissertation on it. Her fresh perspective rekindled our attention and made us see things through a different lens. We felt that the ‘narration’ of that distant event - with the complicity of the 40th anniversary – could lend itself to new readings and meaning, different from those given by its protagonists. Hence, after some hesitation, the decision is made, and it must be announced: Venice 1984 is back!
We will meet again in the last ten days of October 2024 with a series of initiatives (some of which particularly convivial!) revolving around a photographic/documentary exhibition. An account of the past with a new gaze – Elena’s gaze – which will situate the 1984 event in a never-ending flow of libertarian dissent.
And again, we will meet in Venice, even if in a gentrified Venice that is only a pale reflection of the lively city that welcomed the anarchists forty years ago. And maybe we will talk about gentrification too since – as in 1984 – we will be hosted again by IUAV. The invitation is open to everyone, to those who were there and those who were not: to remember, to tell, to learn, and why not, to experience again the thrill of being together in an anarchist world that might well be contradictory and ephemeral, yet, as ever, exhilarating!
04/09/2024