The IWA strongly condemns the latest round of attacks against our Spanish Section, the CNT-AIT. This time the attacks come not from the bosses or the State, but from the leadership of the former Section who have commenced legal harrassment of the confederation in an illegitimate act of agression against the IWA and its Spanish Section.
After the XXV Congress of the IWA, some factions of a few former Sections started a campaign against the International which ended in their defederation.
The former Section, CNT, decided at its XI Congress to continue not to pay its dues to the IWA, thus breaching the IWA statutes and started the process of founding another international, instead of continuing in the IWA. The XXVI Congress of the IWA decided that the CNT which agreed to this process was no longer our Section but that comrades from Spain who would like to continue to participate in the IWA could do so. These comrades were former comrades from the CNT-AIT who decided to reconstruct the traditional Spanish Section and did so in a series of Congresses held in 2016 and 2017. The IWA called for an Extraordinary Congress to be held in 2017 to deal with this issue and the Congress decided that the CNT-AIT is our Spanish Section and is the continuation of our Section as the comrades have never decided to leave.
Thus, the IWA, which is a Federation of organizations around the world, continues in Spain, through the Federation restructured at the Benissa and Villalonga Congresses, which currently has its Secretariat in the city of Granada. The Confederation which split from the IWA currently has its seat in Bilbao. As it violated the statutes of the IWA, withdrew from its statutory processes, announced its intention to form another international and was formally defederated in 2016 at the XXVI Congress of the IWA, it is no longer federated thereto and cannot lay any claims to be the CNT-AIT. The acronym AIT, logically, denotes membership in the IWA and that Confederation forfeited its membership. The IWA only recognizes the use of the acronym AIT for its Sections and in Spain, the CNT-AIT is our member Section.
The former section, being the Confederation with its seat in Bilbao, has initiated legal proceedings against their former comrades although they have absolutely nothing to say about who can use this acronym: the decision about who is in the IWA (in Spanish AIT) belongs only to the member Sections, which collectively decide matters related to affiliation, as per its Statutes. We strongly condemn the use of such means by the former comrades who know that the IWA has refused to use such methods on various occasions. Furthermore, we point out the fact that various CNTs have existed in Spain for over two decades, but without using legal harrassment against the others.
Such a turn will mean a long conflict with the IWA, which stands in solidarity with its members. It also shows the possibility of new conflicts between various organizations around the globe. The architects of the new international project have made claims to potential affiliates that they are not interested in fighting over the IWA and are doing something new, but the actions of the former Spanish section and others tell a different story.
The CNT of Bilbao has no right to the name CNT-AIT. Period. The ones who have the right to that name are the oneswho did not leave the AIT, the ones who stayed true to the objectives and tactics of the International, who did not strayfrom its organizational traditions or seek to overturn its statutes and statutory procedures. And these comrades will have the full support of the IWA in defending its interests and legacy.
After the XXV Congress of the IWA, some factions of a few former Sections started a campaign against the International which ended in their defederation.
The former Section, CNT, decided at its XI Congress to continue not to pay its dues to the IWA, thus breaching the IWA statutes and started the process of founding another international, instead of continuing in the IWA. The XXVI Congress of the IWA decided that the CNT which agreed to this process was no longer our Section but that comrades from Spain who would like to continue to participate in the IWA could do so. These comrades were former comrades from the CNT-AIT who decided to reconstruct the traditional Spanish Section and did so in a series of Congresses held in 2016 and 2017. The IWA called for an Extraordinary Congress to be held in 2017 to deal with this issue and the Congress decided that the CNT-AIT is our Spanish Section and is the continuation of our Section as the comrades have never decided to leave.
Thus, the IWA, which is a Federation of organizations around the world, continues in Spain, through the Federation restructured at the Benissa and Villalonga Congresses, which currently has its Secretariat in the city of Granada. The Confederation which split from the IWA currently has its seat in Bilbao. As it violated the statutes of the IWA, withdrew from its statutory processes, announced its intention to form another international and was formally defederated in 2016 at the XXVI Congress of the IWA, it is no longer federated thereto and cannot lay any claims to be the CNT-AIT. The acronym AIT, logically, denotes membership in the IWA and that Confederation forfeited its membership. The IWA only recognizes the use of the acronym AIT for its Sections and in Spain, the CNT-AIT is our member Section.
The former section, being the Confederation with its seat in Bilbao, has initiated legal proceedings against their former comrades although they have absolutely nothing to say about who can use this acronym: the decision about who is in the IWA (in Spanish AIT) belongs only to the member Sections, which collectively decide matters related to affiliation, as per its Statutes. We strongly condemn the use of such means by the former comrades who know that the IWA has refused to use such methods on various occasions. Furthermore, we point out the fact that various CNTs have existed in Spain for over two decades, but without using legal harrassment against the others.
Such a turn will mean a long conflict with the IWA, which stands in solidarity with its members. It also shows the possibility of new conflicts between various organizations around the globe. The architects of the new international project have made claims to potential affiliates that they are not interested in fighting over the IWA and are doing something new, but the actions of the former Spanish section and others tell a different story.
The CNT of Bilbao has no right to the name CNT-AIT. Period. The ones who have the right to that name are the oneswho did not leave the AIT, the ones who stayed true to the objectives and tactics of the International, who did not strayfrom its organizational traditions or seek to overturn its statutes and statutory procedures. And these comrades will have the full support of the IWA in defending its interests and legacy.
An attack on one is an attack against all of us!
Death to the state and to its allies!
Hands off the anarchosyndicalist CNT-AIT!
Death to the state and to its allies!
Hands off the anarchosyndicalist CNT-AIT!
