Especifismo

Especifismo: The Anarchist Praxis of Building Popular Movements and Revolutionary Organisation

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Especifismo: The Anarchist Praxis of Building Popular Movements and Revolutionary Organisation by Adam Weaver

Author: Adam Weaver

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First published in The Northeastern Anarchist #11 in Spring 2006, “Especifismo: The Anarchist Praxis of Building Popular Movements and Revolutionary Organisation” broke new ground as the first English introductory article on the concept of Especifismo. While being short and limited in scope, it has since become a standard introductory text which has been translated into multiple languages and is now used by Latin American political organisations. The piece was based on early translations and exchanges by Brazilian-American anarchist Pedro Ribeiro but since its publication new translations have further deepened and enriched the understanding of Especifismo. These include the Federación Anarquista Uruguaya’s 1972 theoretical piece “Huerta Grande” [i] and the multi-chapter booklet “Social Anarchism and Organisation” [ii] by the Federação Anarquista do Rio de Janeiro (FARJ).

From the website of the
Black Rose Anarchist Federation / Federación Anarquista Rosa Negra

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The Strategy of Especifismo

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The Strategy of Especifismo by Juan Carlos Mechoso (FAU). Interviewed by Felipe Corrêa

Author: Juan Carlos Mechoso of the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation (FAU), interviewed by Felipe Corrêa

English translation: Jonathan Payn, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2020

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This interview with Juan Carlos Mechoso of the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation (FAU) – conducted by Felipe Corrêa – discusses FAU’s “strategy of especificismo”. Relevant topics are addressed in the questions, such as: the concept of especificismo, this type of anarchism’s relationship with the classics and with similar experiences that have emerged in history, especifismo’s relation with the Latin American context, comparisons with other ideologies that promote operating at distinct levels (party – mass movement), scientific concepts, ideology and its relation to socialism, programmatic positions that anarchists should defend in popular movements, concepts and conceptions of class, neo-liberalism, the development model of Latin American, popular power, strategy, armed struggle and social revolution.

Interview conducted between May and August 2009

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Capitalism, Anti-Capitalism and Popular Organisation

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Capitalism-Anti-Capitalism-and-Popular-Organisation-(MTD-RJ-Brazil)

Author: Universidade Popular / Movimento dos Trabalhadores Desempregados (MTD-RJ) (Movement of Unemployed Workers) [Brasil]

English translation: Jonathan Payn, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2020

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This booklet, called Capitalism, Anti-Capitalism and Popular Organisation, is a publication of the Popular University of Rio de Janeiro in conjunction with the Movement of Unemployed Workers of Rio de Janeiro (MTD-RJ).

Formed in mid-2007, the Popular University believes in the political, social and cultural self-education of male and female workers (homeless, landless, unemployed, street vendors, etc.) with a view to building a new society based on socialism and freedom. It is made up of students and workers who assert themselves as the real producers of the wealth of the current society and ,“indignant with the most complete situation of misery and oppression that affects us”, has the “deepest desire for the collective construction of a new society, based on co-operation and equality. ” [Pro-Popular University Manifesto]

This notebook was designed and written by Universidade Popular. The first part was based to a large extent on the book Anticapitalismo para Principiantes by Ezequiel Adamovsky, edited in Argentina.

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Building a Revolutionary Anarchism

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Building a Revolutionary Anarchism - Colin O’Malley

Author: Colin O’Malley

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This article speaks on the failures of the anarchist movement to grow, despite numerous social movements, and how models of anarchist political organisation point the way forward to overcome these pitfalls.

Two recent events have thrown critical challenges at the anarchist movement in the United States: the financial crisis that began in 2008 and the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement that sprung from that crisis in 2011. If the current political and economic outlook in this country is any indication, we should expect more frequent moments like these to arise. “Movement Moments” such as these are critical opportunities for revolutionaries of any variety, left or right. Acceptance of the status quo seems impossible.

This piece originally appeared in Perspectives on Anarchist Theory, No. 27 (2014) published by the Institute for Anarchist Studies.

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