African Anarchism
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Anarchism in Africa refers both to purported
anarchic Anarchy is a form of society without rulers. As a type of stateless society, it is commonly contrasted with states, which are centralized polities that claim a monopoly on violence over a permanent territory. Beyond a lack of government, it can ...
political organisation of some traditional African societies and to modern anarchist movements in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
.


"Anarchic elements" in traditional cultures

Sam Mbah and I. E. Igariwey in ''African Anarchism: The History of a Movement'' make the claim that: The reason why traditional African societies are characterised as possessing "anarchic elements" is because of their relatively horizontal political structure and, in some cases, the absence of classes. In addition to that, the leadership of elders normally did not extend into the kinds of authoritative structures which characterise the modern state. A strong value was, however, placed on traditional and "natural" values. For example, although there were no laws against rape, homicide, and adultery, a person committing those acts would be persecuted together with his or her kin. The principle of
collective responsibility Collective responsibility or collective guilt is the responsibility of organizations, groups and societies. Collective responsibility in the form of collective punishment is often used as a disciplinary measure in closed institutions, e.g., b ...
was sometimes upheld.
Class system A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the Bourgeoisie, capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for exam ...
s had already existed in some African civilisations (such as
Nubia Nubia (, Nobiin language, Nobiin: , ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue and White Nile, White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), and the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract ...
,
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
,
Axum Axum, also spelled Aksum (), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire. Axum is located in the Central Zone of the Tigray Re ...
and the
Hausa Kingdoms Hausa Kingdoms, also known as Hausa Kingdom or Hausaland, was a collection of states ruled by the Hausa people, before the Fulani jihads. It was situated between the Niger River and Lake Chad (modern day northern Nigeria). Hausaland lay betwe ...
) for millennia, but processes of social stratification accelerated from the fifteenth century onwards.


Modern anarchist movements


Algeria

The French anarcho-syndicalist
Émilie Busquant Émilie Busquant (1901–1953) was a French feminist, anarcho-syndicalist and anti-colonial activist who was married to the Algerian nationalist leader Messali Hadj. She is notable for her involvement in the creation of the Algerian flag. ...
is commonly credited with creating the first copy of the
Flag of Algeria The national flag of Algeria () consists of two equal vertical bars, green and white, charged in the center with a red star and crescent, a symbol of Islam as the nation's prominent faith. The flag was adopted on 3 July 1962. A similar version wa ...
. The anarchist Pierre Morain was also the first person from France to be arrested for publicly supporting the cause of Algerian independence.


Angola

From the 1890s onwards,
Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
became one of the destinations for anarchists that had been exiled by successive Portuguese governments, possibly resulting in the development of a syndicalist presence in the colony. Following the
28 May 1926 coup d'état The 28 May 1926 coup d'état, sometimes called 28 May Revolution or, during the period of the Corporatism, corporatist ''Estado Novo (Portugal), Estado Novo'' (), the National Revolution (), was a military coup of a nationalist origin, that put a ...
, Portuguese anarchists participated in a failed revolt against the new
military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...
, after which the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) was outlawed. As a result, in October 1927, the CGT leader MĂĄrio Castelhano was himself deported to Angola, where he stayed for two years, before making his way back to Portugal. In the wake of the
Portuguese general strike of 1934 The Portuguese general strike of 1934 took place on 18 January throughout the whole country, although in an ill-coordinated way. Strikes and demonstrations were held in the capital Lisbon and in Porto, Coimbra, Braga, Leiria, Almada, Anadia, SetĂ ...
, the Estado Novo established a concentration camp on the north bank of the
Kunene River The Cunene (Portuguese spelling) or Kunene (common Namibian spelling) is a river in Southern Africa. It flows from the Angola highlands southwards to the border with Namibia. It then flows in a westerly direction along the border until it reaches ...
, to which they deported some anarcho-syndicalists that were involved in the strike. During the
Angolan War of Independence The Angolan War of Independence (; 1961–1974), known as the Armed Struggle of National Liberation (Portuguese: ''Luta Armada de Libertação Nacional'') in Angola, was a war of independence fought between the Angolan nationalist forces ...
, many Angolans began to develop anti-authoritarian systems of "popular power", during which people took control of and transformed their own lives while fighting against the Portuguese colonial authorities. However, once
Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
achieved its
independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...
following the
Carnation Revolution The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...
, people were disarmed by the new
MPLA The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (, abbr. MPLA), from 1977–1990 called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan social democratic political party. The MPLA fought against the P ...
government, which officially adopted
Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism () is a communist ideology that became the largest faction of the History of communism, communist movement in the world in the years following the October Revolution. It was the predominant ideology of most communist gov ...
as its ideology and replaced the nascent "popular power" with a
one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...
, igniting the
Angolan Civil War The Angolan Civil War () was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. It was a power struggle between two for ...
. The MPLA began to arrest left-wing opposition figures, including Maoists, Trotskyists and anarchists, and broke up workers' strikes for higher pay and better working conditions. In 1977, a
power struggle A power struggle is situation where two or more people or groups fight to gain dominance over each other. The term is most commonly used in a political context, when parties contend for power or leadership positions, but can also be applied to a ...
between MPLA moderates (led by
Agostinho Neto António Agostinho Neto (17 September 1922 – 10 September 1979) was an Angolan Communism, communist politician and poet. He served as the first president of Angola from 1975 to 1979, having led the MPLA, Popular Movement for the Liberation of ...
) and radicals (led by
Nito Alves Nito Alves (23 July 1945 – 14 July 1977) was an Angolan revolutionary and politician who served as the first interior minister of Angola. A hardline member of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), Alves is best known for ...
), culminated in an attempted coup d'état, after which the radicals were purged from the party's ranks and power was centralized further around the MPLA leadership.


Chad

During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, many Spanish
republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
served as part of the
Long Range Desert Group The Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) was a reconnaissance and raiding unit of the British Army during the Second World War. Originally called the Long Range Patrol (LRP), the unit was founded in Egypt in June 1940 by Major Ralph Alger Bagnold, ...
and
French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (, also known simply as , "the Legion") is a corps of the French Army created to allow List of militaries that recruit foreigners, foreign nationals into French service. The Legion was founded in 1831 and today consis ...
during the
North African campaign The North African campaign of World War II took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943, fought between the Allies and the Axis Powers. It included campaigns in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert campaign, Desert Wa ...
. On May 13, 1943, the 9th Company of the
Régiment de marche du Tchad The ''Régiment de marche du Tchad'' (RMT, " ''Ad hoc'' Regiment of Chad") is a mechanised unit of the French Army, belonging to the '' Troupes de Marine''. It is part of the 2nd Armoured Brigade. Formerly garrisoned north of Noyon it was moved ...
was established in
Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...
from these Spanish republican volunteers, which included many anarchists. In September 1943, the company was transferred to
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
and then the United Kingdom, as part of the 2nd Armored Division, going on to participate in the
Battle for Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the N ...
and the
Liberation of Paris The liberation of Paris () was a battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been occupied by Nazi Germany since the signing of the Armisti ...
.


Egypt

The anarchist movement first emerged in Egypt in the late nineteenth century, but collapsed in the 1940s. The movement has reemerged in the early 2010s. The movement re-entered global view when a number of anarchist groups took part in the
2011 Egyptian revolution The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January Revolution (;), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police holiday" as a statement against ...
, namely the Egyptian Libertarian Socialist Movement and Black Flag. The Egyptian anarchists have come under attack from the military regime and the
Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...
. On October 7, 2011, the Egyptian Libertarian Socialist Movement held their first conference in
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
.


Eswatini

In 2003, the
Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front The Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF, also known as ZabFront or simply as Zabalaza), formerly known as the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation (ZabFed), is a platformist–especifista anarchist political organisation in South A ...
(ZACF) began to build an underground presence in Eswatini, with Swazi members joining the organization. ZACF began to openly support the pro-democracy movement and popularised anarchist ideas among young people, with some members even working within the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO). On October 1, 2005, eight SWAYOCO members, including the ZACF member Mandla Khoza, were arrested by police during a youth demonstration in
Manzini Manzini (formerly Bremersdorp) is a large city in Eswatini, which is also the city of Eswatini's Manzini Region. The city is the country's second largest urban center behind the capital Mbabane, with a population of 110,000 (2008). It is known ...
, which had been protesting against the suppression of the pro-democratic opposition. At the turn of 2006, 17 petrol-bombings were carried out by pro-democracy militants against state targets. Several democracy activists were arrested and charged with treason, while an article in the ''
Times of Swaziland The ''Times of Swaziland'' is a newspaper in Eswatini (formerly called Swaziland). It is the oldest newspaper in Eswatini, having been established in 1897 by Allister Mitchel Miller (1864–1951). References External links

* {{Media in Es ...
'' accused ZACF of having carried out an attack on a police vehicle during a demonstration in Manzini. This claim was denied by the ZACF, who issued a statement to the Times in which they reiterated their support for the pro-democracy movement and stated that the Swazi ZACF branch had denied taking part in the bombing. The ZACF subsequently noted the emergence of an armed struggle tendency within the pro-democracy movement, but they considered this to not be a viable option for liberation, instead proposing the construction of a mass movement for a participatory economy, while not ruling out armed self-defence. At the December 2007 ZACF congress, it was decided to restructure the organisation, establishing the Eswatini section as its own autonomous group. Members of SWAYOCO subsequently set up an anarchist study circle in
Siphofaneni Siphofaneni is a town in the Lubombo Region of central Eswatini (Swaziland), 45 kilometres from Manzini and 20 kilometres from Big Bend, a major sugarcane-producing town on the main highway leading to Durban. It has a tropical climate, very hot ...
, organizing the transport of anarchist materials from South Africa into Eswatini. Mandla Khoza also attempted to establish a community project in this time, but activity in the following years was limited, due to the poor living conditions of many pro-democracy activists. The year of 2008, which PUDEMO had slated to be the year of democratization, passed without any democratic reforms taking place.


Ethiopia

In the 1960s, students at
Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa University (; AAU) is a national university located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is the oldest university in Ethiopia. AAU has thirteen campuses. Twelve of these are situated in Addis Ababa, and one is located in Bishoftu, about away. ...
began to protest against the absolutist rule of
Haile Selassie I Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...
, establishing the University Students Union of Addis Ababa (USUAA) in 1966 to coordinate the campaign, which culminated in a
general strike A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...
in early 1974, called by the Confederation of Ethiopian Labor Unions (CELU). This campaign against the monarchy eventually resulted in a ''coup d'état'' by a
military junta A military junta () is a system of government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''Junta (governing body), junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the Junta (Peninsular War), national and local junta organized by t ...
known as the
Derg The Derg or Dergue (, ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military junta that ruled Ethiopia, including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when they formally "Civil government, civilianized" the ...
, which overthrew the
Ethiopian Empire The Ethiopian Empire, historically known as Abyssinia or simply Ethiopia, was a sovereign state that encompassed the present-day territories of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It existed from the establishment of the Solomonic dynasty by Yekuno Amlak a ...
and established a Marxist-Leninist
one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...
in its place. During the
Red Terror The Red Terror () was a campaign of political repression and Mass killing, executions in Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia which was carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police ...
, the Derg used the term "anarchist" to describe many of its enemies, ordering the purge of "anarchists" from
Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
. Some more radical Ethiopian students, who saw themselves as the true standard-bearers of the Ethiopian Revolution, came to label the Derg as "
fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
", after a number of students had been arrested by the government, with some accused of being "anarchists" for opposing the land reform program. In 2020, the ''Horn Anarchists'' collective was established to spread anarchist ideas throughout the
Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
, particularly in
Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
and within the Ethiopian diaspora. The Horn Anarchists have been active in the campaign against the Tigray War, which they have described as a "
genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
", analyzing it as a product of the rising
nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...
and a political shift to the right-wing under the government of
Abiy Ahmed Abiy Ahmed Ali (; ; born 15 August 1976) is an Ethiopian politician who is the current Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018 and the leader of the Prosperity Party since 2019. He rose through the ranks of government via the Information Networ ...
and the ruling
Prosperity Party The Prosperity Party (; ) is a political party in Ethiopia that was established on 1 December 2019 as a successor to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. It is currently the ruling party of Ethiopia. ...
.


Guinea-Bissau

Between the 10th and 14th centuries CE, the
Balanta people The Balanta ( Guinea-Bissau Creole and Portuguese: ''balanta''; ; lit. “those who resist” in Mandinka) are an ethnic group found in Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Senegal, Cape Verde and The Gambia. They are the second largest ethnic group of Guin ...
first migrated from Northeast Africa to present-day Guinea-Bissau, to escape drought and wars. During the 19th century, the Balanta resisted the expansion of the
Kaabu Empire Kaabu (1537–1867), also written Gabu, Ngabou, and N'Gabu, was a federation of Mandinka kingdoms in the Senegambia region centered within modern northeastern Guinea-Bissau, large parts of today's Gambia, and extending into Koussanar, Koum ...
, earning them their name, which in the
Mandinka language The Mandinka language (; Ajami: ), or Mandingo, is a Mande language spoken by the Mandinka people of northern Guinea-Bissau, the Casamance region of Senegal, and The Gambia where it is one of the principal languages. Mandinka belongs to ...
translates literally to "those who resist". The Balanta organize their society largely statelessly and without social stratification, with elder councils deciding on day-to-day matters. They also practice gender equality, with Balanta women taking ownership of what they themselves produced. Property and land are mostly held in common among the Balanta, with some personal property being allowed for subsistence farming and the
means of production In political philosophy, the means of production refers to the generally necessary assets and resources that enable a society to engage in production. While the exact resources encompassed in the term may vary, it is widely agreed to include the ...
being held by individuals and their families. In 1885, the
Berlin Conference The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 was a meeting of colonial powers that concluded with the signing of the General Act of Berlin,
brought the entire territory of Guinea-Bissau under the
effective occupation ''Uti possidetis'' is an expression that originated in Roman private law, where it was the name of a procedure about possession of land. Later, by a misleading analogy, it was transferred to international law, where it has had more than one mean ...
of the
Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...
, which had previously only occupied a few settlements in the area. During the 1890s,
Portuguese Guinea Portuguese Guinea (), called the Overseas Province of Guinea from 1951 until 1972 and then State of Guinea from 1972 until 1974, was a Portuguese overseas province in West Africa from 1588 until 10 September 1974, when it gained independence as G ...
was established as a separate military district, to promote Portugal's occupation, which began to impose taxes on the indigenous population and grant concessions to foreign companies to fund its expanding occupation. During this time, Guinea-Bissau was in part used as a penal colony for anarchists that had been exiled by successive Portuguese governments. Indigenous resistance to colonial rule continued well into the 20th century. By the time that the
28 May 1926 coup d'état The 28 May 1926 coup d'état, sometimes called 28 May Revolution or, during the period of the Corporatism, corporatist ''Estado Novo (Portugal), Estado Novo'' (), the National Revolution (), was a military coup of a nationalist origin, that put a ...
established a
military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...
in Portugal, most of Guinea-Bissau had been occupied, administered and taxed, a process that was finally completed by the Estado Novo in the mid-1930s. In the 1950s, the Bissau-Guinean activist
Amílcar Cabral Amílcar Lopes Cabral (; – ) was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, political organizer, and diplomat. He was one of Africa's foremost anti-colonial leaders. He was also a pan-Africanist and intellectual nationalist ...
began to agitate against the Estado Novo, advocating for the independence of Portugal's African colonies. He established the
African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (, PAIGC) is a political party in Guinea-Bissau. Originally formed to peacefully campaign for independence from Portugal, the party turned to armed conflict in the 1960s and was o ...
(PAIGC) to coordinate the struggle, though he insisted the party "is not a system of chieftainship,", instead organizing along anti-elitist and anti-bureaucratic lines, in contrast to
vanguardism Vanguardism, a core concept of Leninism, is the idea that a revolutionary vanguard party, composed of the most conscious and disciplined workers, must lead the proletariat in overthrowing capitalism and establishing socialism, ultimately progre ...
. Power instead lay in self-administering village committees, which were elected and recallable, rather than in party officials, as Cabral had stated that "we do not want any exploitation in our countries, not even by black people." In 1963, the independence struggle evolved into the
Guinea-Bissau War of Independence The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence (), also known as the Bissau-Guinean War of Independence, was an armed independence conflict that took place in Portuguese Guinea from 1963 to 1974. It was fought between Portugal and the African Party for t ...
, in which the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People The Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People (; FARP) were originally the armed wing of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde during the struggle against Portuguese rule in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. Since 1973, they ...
(FARP) led an armed guerilla war against the Portuguese colonial authorities. The FARP was itself made up of unpaid volunteers and was not hierarchically structured, instead decentralizing command as much as possible. These decentralist tendencies led Stephen P. Halbrook to consider Cabral as "one of the great libertarians of our age", although this libertarian socialist characterization is disputed.


Kenya

According to oral tradition, the
Kikuyu people The Kikuyu (also ''AgĩkƩyƩ/GĩkƩyƩ'') are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic group native to Central Province (Kenya), Central Kenya. At a population of 8,148,668 as of 2019, they account for 17.13% of the total population of Kenya, making t ...
were once ruled by a despotic king who was deposed in a popular uprising, which instituted a democratic system in the place of monarchy. This saw the establishment of the Ituĩka ceremony, a tradition in which the old guard handed over the reins of society to the next generation, to avoid the institution of a dictatorship. The Kikuyu subsequently lived under a system of social equality, without class or gender stratification, where a federation of councils organized society from the bottom-up. But with the arrival of the
Imperial British East Africa Company The Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) was a commercial association founded to develop African trade in the areas controlled by the British Empire. The company was incorporated in London on 18 April 1888 and granted a royal charter by ...
and establishment of the
East Africa Protectorate East Africa Protectorate (also known as British East Africa) was a British protectorate in the African Great Lakes, occupying roughly the same area as present-day Kenya, from the Indian Ocean inland to the border with Uganda in the west. Cont ...
, the new British colonial authorities reintroduced a centralized autocratic system, appointing chiefs to rule over the Kikuyu. The last Ituĩka ceremony passed power from the Maina generation to the Mwangi generation in 1898. The next scheduled Ituĩka ceremony was eventually thwarted by the British colonial authorities, which cemented its centralized rule over the Kikuyu with the establishment of
Kenya Colony The Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, commonly known as British Kenya or British East Africa, was part of the British Empire in Africa from 1920 until 1963. It was established when the former East Africa Protectorate was transformed into a Brit ...
. During the early 20th-century, the
Ghadar Movement The Ghadar Movement or Ghadar Party was an early 20th-century, international political movement founded by expatriate Panjabi s to overthrow British rule in India. Many of the Ghadar Party founders and leaders, including Sohan Singh Bhakna, wen ...
gained support from Indian expatriates in Kenya, remaining active up until the
independence of India The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...
. In 1952, the
Mau Mau uprising The Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1960), also known as the Mau Mau uprising, Mau Mau revolt, or Kenya Emergency, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the Mau Mau, and the ...
broke out, during which the
Kenya Land and Freedom Army The Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the Mau Mau, was a Kenyan insurgent group which fought against British colonial rule in Kenya during the Mau Mau rebellion from 1952 to 1960. Its membership consisted largely of the Kikuyu ...
(KLFA) revolted against the rule of the
British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
in Kenya, fighting for Kenyan independence. The KLFA was largely decentralized, with action being initiated by local cells, re-organizing the bottom-up council system that had been dissolved by colonial rule. The capture of rebel leader
Dedan Kimathi Dedan Kimathi Waciuri (born Kimathi wa Waciuri; 31 October 1920 – 18 February 1957) was the leader of the Kenya Land and Freedom Army during the Mau Mau Uprising (1952–1960) against the British colonial rule in Kenya in the 1950s. He was ca ...
on October 21, 1956, signalled the defeat of the Mau Mau. However, the rebellion survived until after Kenya's independence from Britain. The Mau Mau Uprising was described by Stephen P. Halbrook as "the expression of centuries of anarchism and resistance to authoritarianism, among the Kikuyu people" although this characterization is disputed. Popular opposition to the arap Moi government eventually led to the
democratization Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an democratic transition, authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction ...
of the country in 1992 and the victory of the
National Rainbow Coalition The National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) is a political party in Kenya. As an alliance, it was in power from 2002 and 2005 when it collapsed due to disagreements between members over a constitutional referendum. Formation In preparation of the 2002 ...
in the
2002 Kenyan general election General elections were held in Kenya on 27 December 2002. Voters elected the President of Kenya, president, members of the National Assembly (Kenya), National Assembly and 2002 Kenyan local elections, local officials. Mwai Kibaki of the National ...
. Following this period of political opening, left-wing ideas and groups began to re-emerge throughout Kenya. In part influenced by the materials of the
Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front The Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF, also known as ZabFront or simply as Zabalaza), formerly known as the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation (ZabFed), is a platformist–especifista anarchist political organisation in South A ...
, the Anti-Capitalist Convergence of Kenya (ACCK) was established in 2003, as a coalition of Kenyan anarchists and socialists. The Wiyahti Collective was established in 2004 as a specifically anarchist section of the ACCK, with ZACF also establishing contact with the Wiyathi activist Talal Cockar.


Libya

Italian anarchists were among the prominent opponents to the invasion of Libya, as part of a broader anti-militarist campaign against the expansionism of the
Italian Empire The Italian colonial empire (), also known as the Italian Empire (''Impero italiano'') between 1936 and 1941, was founded in Africa in the 19th century. It comprised the colonies, protectorates, concession (territory), concessions and depende ...
. During the campaign, the anarchist sailor Augusto Masetti shot a colonel as he was addressing troops that were departing for Libya and shouted "Down with the War! Long Live Anarchy!". Anarchists also organized demonstrations and strikes to prevent troops from embarking. The Nigerian anarchist Sam Mbah identified anarchic elements within the
Third International Theory The Third International Theory (), also known as the Third Universal Theory and Gaddafism, was the style of government proposed by Muammar Gaddafi on 15 April 1973 in his Zuwara speech, on which his government, the Great Socialist People's Lib ...
proposed in the '' Green Book'' of
Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...
, particularly in the concept of the ''Jamahiriya''. The government of the
Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Muammar Gaddafi became the '' de facto'' leader of Libya on 1 September 1969 after leading a group of young Libyan Army officers against King Idris I in a bloodless coup d'état. When Idris was in Turkey for medical treatment, the Revolutio ...
officially stated that Libya was a
direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate directly decides on policy initiatives, without legislator, elected representatives as proxies, as opposed to the representative democracy m ...
without any political parties, governed by its populace through local popular councils and communes (named Basic People's Congresses). Official rhetoric disdained the idea of a
nation state A nation state, or nation-state, is a political entity in which the State (polity), state (a centralized political organization ruling over a population within a territory) and the nation (a community based on a common identity) are (broadly ...
,
tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
bonds remaining primary, even within the ranks of the national army. However, Mbah noted that these principles were followed "more in the breach than in practice" and criticized the Libyan government's poor
human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
record. The organizing among the
anti-Gaddafi forces The anti-Gaddafi forces, also known as the Libyan opposition or Libyan rebels, were Libyan groups that opposed and militarily defeated the government of Muammar Gaddafi during the First Libyan Civil War in 2011, killing him in the process. The A ...
during the
First Libyan Civil War The Libyan civil war, also known as the First Libyan Civil War and Libyan Revolution, was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were ...
was described as having used anarchic methods. These included
decentralization Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those related to planning and decision-making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group and gi ...
, with the daily life of rebel-held territory largely being coordinated by the local councils that were established in various cities of Libya at the outbreak of the conflict, and
prefigurative politics Prefigurative politics are modes of organization and social relationships that strive to reflect the future society being sought by a group. In practice, they involve building a new society "within the shell of the old" by living out the values an ...
, with young volunteers self-organizing the solicitation of
blood donation A 'blood donation'' occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for transfusions and/or made into biopharmaceutical medications by a process called fractionation (separation of whole blood components). A donation may be of wh ...
s, establishment of
food bank A food bank or food pantry is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distrib ...
s and the collection and distribution of basic necessities. The role of the Libyan People's Committees was praised by the Syrian anarchist Mazen Kamalmaz, who argued that they should form the foundation of a new
direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate directly decides on policy initiatives, without legislator, elected representatives as proxies, as opposed to the representative democracy m ...
in Libya, rather than just acting during the transition to a new regime. The Libyan anarchist Saoud Salem was among those that condemned the
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 Resolution 1973 was adopted by the United Nations Security Council on 17 March 2011 in response to the First Libyan Civil War. The resolution formed the legal basis for military intervention in the Libyan Civil War, demanding "an immediate ce ...
, which sanctioned airstrikes against Libya, and rejected the prospect of foreign intervention by
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
states such as France, the United Kingdom and United States, demanding instead that the rebels be left to "finish the problem of Qaddafi by ourselves". This sentiment was echoed by foreign anarchists, who also condemned the NATO-led intervention in Libya, disputing its "humanitarian" characterization.


Madagascar

During the 1980s, the
IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of la ...
imposed harsh
austerity In economic policy, austerity is a set of Political economy, political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through Government spending, spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three prim ...
measures across Madagascar, leading to the withdrawal of police, soldiers and government bureaucrats from much of the Central Highlands region. When the anthropologist
David Graeber David Rolfe Graeber (; February 12, 1961 – September 2, 2020) was an American and British anthropologist, Left-wing politics, left-wing and anarchism, anarchist social and political activist. His influential work in Social anthropology, social ...
visited the region, he described the formation of an anarchist community in
Arivonimamo Arivonimamo is a city (commune urbaine) in Itasy Region, in the Central Highlands of Madagascar. Arivonimamo is connected by the National Road No.1 to Antananarivo (50 km in the east) and Tsiroanomandidy (west). The Antananarivo international ...
, where decisions were made via consensus, apparently leading to a very low crime rate.


Morocco

Anarchism in Morocco has its roots in the federalism practiced by
Amazigh Berbers, or the Berber peoples, also known as Amazigh or Imazighen, are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Maghreb. Their main connections are identified by their u ...
communities in pre-colonial Morocco. During the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
, Moroccan nationalists formed connections with Spanish anarchists in an attempt to ignite a
war of national liberation Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...
against Spanish colonialism, but this effort was not successful. Despite the brief establishment of an anarchist movement in post-war Morocco, the movement was suppressed by the newly independent government, before finally re-emerging in the 21st century.


Mozambique

From the 1890s, the
Kingdom of Portugal The Kingdom of Portugal was a Portuguese monarchy, monarchy in the western Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of the modern Portuguese Republic. Existing to various extents between 1139 and 1910, it was also known as the Kingdom of Portugal a ...
began to deport anarchists to jails in
Portuguese Mozambique Portuguese Mozambique () or Portuguese East Africa () were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese overseas province. Portuguese Mozambique originally constituted a str ...
. One of these Portuguese anarchist prisoners was the print-worker José Estevam. Upon Estevam's release from prison in the early 1900s, he established the Revolutionary League (RL) in
Lourenço Marques Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...
, which became the first known anarchist organization in the country. By the 1920s, an anarcho-syndicalist tendency had developed among Mozambican trade unions, which were allied with the General Confederation of Labour (CGT). Following the
28 May 1926 coup d'état The 28 May 1926 coup d'état, sometimes called 28 May Revolution or, during the period of the Corporatism, corporatist ''Estado Novo (Portugal), Estado Novo'' (), the National Revolution (), was a military coup of a nationalist origin, that put a ...
in Portugal, the nascent Mozambican workers' movement was suppressed.


Nigeria

Anarchism in Nigeria has its roots in the organization of various stateless societies that inhabited pre-colonial Nigeria, particularly among the
Igbo people The Igbo people ( , ; also spelled Ibo" and historically also ''Iboe'', ''Ebo'', ''Eboe'', / / ''Eboans'', ''Heebo''; natively ) are an ethnic group found in Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea. Their primary origin is fo ...
. After the British colonization of Nigeria,
revolutionary syndicalism Syndicalism is a labour movement within society that, through industrial unionism, seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes and other forms of direct action, with the eventual goal of gaining c ...
became a key factor in the anti-colonial resistance, although the trade union movement deradicalized and took a more
reformist Reformism is a political tendency advocating the reform of an existing system or institution – often a political or religious establishment – as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution. Within the socialist movement, ref ...
approach following the country's independence. The contemporary Nigerian anarchist movement finally emerged from the left-wing opposition to the military dictatorship in the late 1980s and saw the creation of the anarcho-syndicalist Awareness League.


Senegal

In 1981, the
socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
politician
Abdou Diouf Abdou Diouf ( ; Serer: ; born 7 September 1935)Biography at Socialist Party website
succeeded
LĂ©opold SĂ©dar Senghor LĂ©opold SĂ©dar Senghor ( , , ; 9 October 1906 – 20 December 2001) was a Senegalese politician, cultural theorist and poet who served as the first president of Senegal from 1960 to 1980. Ideologically an African socialist, Senghor was one ...
as
President of Senegal The president of Senegal () is the head of state of Senegal. In accordance with the 2001 Senegalese constitutional referendum, constitutional reform of 2001 and since a 2016 Senegalese constitutional referendum, referendum that took place on 20 ...
, overseeing the country's transition to a
multi-party system In political science, a multi-party system is a political system where more than two meaningfully-distinct political parties regularly run for office and win elections. Multi-party systems tend to be more common in countries using proportional ...
. This new environment of political pluralism brought anarchism into the public light, with Senegalese anarchists establishing the Anarchist Party for Individual Liberties in the Republic (PALIR) at a congress in
Gorée (; "Gorée Island"; ) is one of the 19 (i.e. districts) of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is an island located at sea from the main harbour of Dakar (), famous as a destination for people interested in the Atlantic slave trade. Its populatio ...
, declaring their aim to establish a libertarian socialist society, based around the principles of
decentralization Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those related to planning and decision-making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group and gi ...
,
federalism Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general level of government (a central or federal government) with a regional level of sub-unit governments (e.g., provinces, State (sub-national), states, Canton (administrative division), ca ...
,
common ownership Common ownership refers to holding the assets of an organization, enterprise, or community indivisibly rather than in the names of the individual members or groups of members as common property. Forms of common ownership exist in every economi ...
of the
means of production In political philosophy, the means of production refers to the generally necessary assets and resources that enable a society to engage in production. While the exact resources encompassed in the term may vary, it is widely agreed to include the ...
, and
direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate directly decides on policy initiatives, without legislator, elected representatives as proxies, as opposed to the representative democracy m ...
. The PALIR's conception of libertarian socialism took inspiration from the social formations of the
Lebou The Lebu (Lebou, ''Lébou'') are a subgroup of Wolof in Senegal, West Africa, living on the peninsula of Cap-Vert, site of Dakar. The Lebu are primarily a fishing community, but they have a substantial business in construction supplies and real e ...
and
Balante Balanta (or Balant or Bulanda) is a group of two closely related Bak languages of West Africa spoken by the Balanta people. Description Balanta is now generally divided into two distinct languages: Balanta-Kentohe and Balanta-Ganja. Balanta-Ken ...
peoples, who organized themselves without social classes or
tribal chief A tribal chief, chieftain, or headman is a leader of a tribe, tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies There is no definition for "tribe". The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of weste ...
s. It is unknown what became of the PALIR in the ensuing years, due to the lack of studies on anarchism in Africa.


Sierra Leone

With the overthrow of the socialist First Republic of Sierra Leone in a ''
coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...
'' and the outbreak of the Sierra Leone Civil War, various competing factions began to vie for control of the country's diamond mining industry. The poor working conditions in the diamond fields eventually gave way to the rise of a Sierra Leonean branch of the
Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...
(IWW). Led by Bright Chikezi, the IWW became particularly active among diamond miners, organizing up to 3,240 workers under their banner. They financed their activities through their mining work, while also receiving financial aid and literature from IWW branches in Britain. However, the effects of the civil war eventually came to a head in 1997, when the
Armed Forces Revolutionary Council The Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) was a group of Sierra Leone soldiers that allied itself with the rebel Revolutionary United Front in the late 1990s. While the AFRC briefly controlled the country in 1998, it was driven from the ca ...
seized control of the country in a military coup and began looting from diamond workers, forcing many IWW militants into exile in
Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, CĂŽte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...
, where they attempted to organize among Guinean miners. As a result of the coup, the international IWW lost contact with the local delegate in Sierra Leone.


South Africa

Anarchism dates back to the 1880s in South Africa, when the English anarchist immigrant Henry Glasse settled in
Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...
in the then
Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...
. Swept up in the atmosphere created by what at the time appeared to be a victorious worker revolution in Russia in 1917, the
revolutionary syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchism, anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade uni ...
International Socialist League (ISL) and the Industrial Socialist League (IndSL) dissolved into the
Communist Party of South Africa The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded on 12 February 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), and tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by t ...
(CPSA) at the latter's founding in 1921, providing many notable early figures until the
Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...
ordered the expulsion of the syndicalist faction in the party. Unaligned syndicalists like
Percy Fisher Percy Fisher (1891 – 14 March 1922) was an English-born South African syndicalist and trade union leader. Born in Durham in England, Fisher emigrated to the Witwatersrand at the start of 1912. He worked in the mines, and also became activ ...
were active in the miners' 1922
Rand Rebellion The Rand Rebellion (; also known as the 1922 strike) was an armed uprising of white miners in the Witwatersrand region of South Africa, in March 1922. Following a drop in the world price of gold from 130 shillings (ÂŁ6 10s) per fine ...
, a general strike-turned-insurrection, and strongly opposed the racism of a large sector of the white strikers. The IWA meanwhile merged into the
Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union The Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (ICU) was a trade union and mass-based popular political movement in southern Africa. It was influenced by the syndicalist politics of the Industrial Workers of the World (adopting the IWW Preamble ...
(ICU) in 1920, one reason the ICU exhibited syndicalist influence. In 2003, the platformist Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation (ZACF, or ZabFed) was founded, drawing in the BMC and Zabalaza Books (whose ''Zabalaza'' journal became the journal of the ZACF) as well as a number of other collectives that had been set up in
Soweto Soweto () is a Township (South Africa), township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western T ...
and Johannesburg, including a local chapter of the
Anarchist Black Cross The Anarchist Black Cross (ABC), formerly the Anarchist Red Cross, is an anarchist support organization. The group is notable for its efforts at providing prisoners with political literature, but it also organizes material and legal support for c ...
. In 2007, to strengthen its structures, ZabFed reconstituted itself as the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF, or ZabFront). The new ZACF is a unitary "federation of individuals", as opposed to a federation of collectives like ZabFed, and has recently also come under the influence of
especifismo Platformism is an anarchist organizational theory that aims to create a tightly coordinated anarchist federation. Its main features include a common tactical line, a unified political policy and a commitment to collective responsibility. First d ...
, a tendency which originated within the '' FederaciĂłn Anarquista Uruguaya'' (FAU, or Uruguayan Anarchist Federation). While committed to promoting syndicalism in the unions, ZACF work was in practice largely focused on the so-called "
new social movements The term new social movements (NSMs) is a theory of social movements that attempts to explain the plethora of new movements that have come up in various Western world, western societies roughly since the mid-1960s (i.e. in a post-industrial economy ...
", formed in South Africa in response to the perceived failures of the
African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...
(ANC) government post-
apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English:  , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
. The ZACF was involved in the campaigns of the
Anti-Privatisation Forum The Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF) was established in Johannesburg in July 2000 by activists and organisations involved in two key anti-privatisation struggles: the struggle against iGoli 2002, and the struggle against Wits 2001 at Wits University ...
(APF) and the
Landless People's Movement The Landless People's Movement is an independent social movement in South Africa. It consisted of rural people and people living in shack settlements in cities. The Landless People's Movement boycotted parliamentary elections and had a history ...
(LPM). It has also been involved in solidarity work with
Abahlali baseMjondolo Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM, , in English: "the residents of the shacks") is a socialist shack dwellers' movement in South Africa which primarily campaigns for land, housing and dignity, to democratise society from below and against xenophobia. ...
and the
Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign was a non-racial popular movement made up of poor and oppressed communities in Cape Town, South Africa.
. In addition to such work, the ZACF is active in organising workshops and propaganda.


Sudan

Following the
1989 Sudanese coup d'état 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
which brought
Omar al-Bashir Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir (born 1 January 1944) is a Sudanese former military officer and politician who served as Head of state of Sudan, Sudan's head of state under various titles from 1989 until 2019, when he was deposed in 2019 Sudanese c ...
to power, a coalition of opposition groups formed the
National Democratic Alliance The National Democratic Alliance (NDA; ISO 15919, ISO: ''RāáčŁáč­rÄ«ya Lokatāntrik Gaáč­habandhan'') is an Indian big tent Political group, multi-party political alliance, led by the country's biggest political party, the Bharatiya Janata Pa ...
(NDA), to coordinate resistance to the new government. In 2001, an NDA commander made contact with the South African Bikisha Media Collective and requested information on anarchist organization and tactics, to which the collective responded by directing them towards the theoretical works of
platformism Platformism is an anarchist organizational theory that aims to create a tightly coordinated anarchist federation. Its main features include a common Tactic (method), tactical line, a unified political policy and a commitment to collective responsi ...
. The civil war was eventually ended in 2005 by the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA, ), also known as the Naivasha Agreement, was an accord signed on 9 January 2005, by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan. The CPA was meant to end the Second Sudane ...
, after which the NDA signed a deal with the government to cease hostilities. The peace deal and subsequent legalisation of opposition parties caused a fracture within the
Sudanese Communist Party The Sudanese Communist Party ( abbr. SCP; ) is a communist party in Sudan. Founded in 1946, it was a major force in Sudanese politics in the early post-independence years, and was one of the two most influential communist parties in the Arab ...
, leading certain far-left tendencies inspired by
Maoism Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...
and
libertarian communism Anarchist communism is a far-left political ideology and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private real property but retention of personal property and collectively-owned items, goods, and serv ...
to break away from the party. In the wake of the
Sudanese Revolution The Sudanese revolution () was a major shift of political power in Sudan that started with street protests throughout Sudan on 19 December 2018 and continued with sustained civil disobedience for about eight months, during which the 2019 S ...
that overthrew al-Bashir, anarchists in
Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...
that had participated in the resistance committees came together to form the "Sudanese Anarchists Gathering", an
anti-authoritarian Anti-authoritarianism is opposition to authoritarianism. Anti-authoritarians usually believe in full equality before the law and strong civil liberties. Sometimes the term is used interchangeably with anarchism, an ideology which entails opposing a ...
group that has raised anarchist flags at
protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...
during the
transition to democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. Whether and to what ...
and following the
military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...
.


Tanzania

The
African socialist African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** List ...
program of ''
Ujamaa Ujamaa ( in Swahili language, Swahili) was a Socialism, socialist ideology that formed the basis of Julius Nyerere's social and economic Economic development, development policies in Tanzania after it gained independence from Britain in 1961. Mor ...
'', developed by the
President of Tanzania The President of the United Republic of Tanzania () is the head of state and head of government of Tanzania. Samia Suluhu Hassan, sworn in on 19 March 2021, is the first female president of the United Republic of Tanzania. She succeeded John ...
Julius Nyerere Julius Kambarage Nyerere (; 13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian politician, anti-colonial activist, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika (1961–1964), Tanganyika as prime minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as presid ...
following his
Arusha Declaration The Arusha Declaration () and TANU’s Policy on Socialism and Self Reliance (1967), referred to as the Arusha Declaration, is known as Tanzania’s most prominent political statement of African Socialism, ‘ Ujamaa’, or brotherhood (Kaiti ...
, was described by the Nigerian anarchist Sam Mbah as "indisputably anarchistic in its logic and content." The ''Ujamaa'' village program encouraged peasants to organize self-governing communal societies, where the
means of production In political philosophy, the means of production refers to the generally necessary assets and resources that enable a society to engage in production. While the exact resources encompassed in the term may vary, it is widely agreed to include the ...
and social produce were held in common. Although Nyere himself stated that "viable socialist communities can only be established with willing members," the ''Ujamaa'' program was eventually brought under state control and bureaucracy began to take over the previously self-governing communities. At the behest of the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...
, the Tanzanian government began to set production quotas and enforced the sale of produce to the state at a fixed price. Mbah held that "corruption and bureaucracy are the two basic factors that led to the collapse of the ''Ujamaa'' system."
Workers' control Workers' control is participation in the management of factories and other commercial enterprises by the people who work there. It has been variously advocated by anarchists, socialists, communists, social democrats, distributists and Christi ...
was also practiced in several factories and hotels during a strike wave from 1972 to 1973 over anger at the ineffective workers committees, although the government of
Julius Nyerere Julius Kambarage Nyerere (; 13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian politician, anti-colonial activist, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika (1961–1964), Tanganyika as prime minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as presid ...
initially supported the factory takeovers, it later repressed them, with some analysts arguing it was a form of
co-optation Co-option, also known as co-optation and sometimes spelt cooption or cooptation, is a term with three common meanings. It may refer to: 1) The process of adding members to an elite group at the discretion of members of the body, usually to manag ...
.


Tunisia

Anarchism in Tunisia has its roots in the works of the philosopher
Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun (27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732–808 Hijri year, AH) was an Arabs, Arab Islamic scholar, historian, philosopher and sociologist. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages, and cons ...
, with the modern anarchist movement being first brought to the country in the late 19th century by Italian immigrants. The contemporary anarchist movement arose as a result of the
Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...
and the aftermath of the Tunisian Revolution.


Uganda

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...
was largely stateless until the rise of
states State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
, such as Kitara and
Buganda Buganda is a Bantu peoples, Bantu kingdom within Uganda. The kingdom of the Baganda, Baganda people, Buganda is the largest of the List of current non-sovereign African monarchs, traditional kingdoms in present-day East Africa, consisting of Ug ...
, in the 13th century. Thereafter,
stateless societies A stateless society is a society that is not governed by a state. In stateless societies, there is little concentration of authority. Most positions of authority that do exist are very limited in power, and they are generally not perman ...
continued to exist within Uganda, particularly among the
Lugbara people The Lugbara are a Central Sudanic ethnic group who live primarily in the West Nile region of Uganda, in the adjoining area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with a few living in South Sudan. They speak the Lugbara language, a Centr ...
of the West Nile – a horticultural society made up of decentralized segments, without chiefs or
monarchs A monarch () is a head of stateWebster's II New College Dictionary. "Monarch". Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority an ...
.


Zambia

Following the
colonization 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...
of areas north of the
Zambezi The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than half of t ...
river by the
British South Africa Company The British South Africa Company (BSAC or BSACo) was chartered in 1889 following the amalgamation of Cecil Rhodes' Central Search Association and the London-based Exploring Company Ltd, which had originally competed to capitalize on the expecte ...
, what is today Zambia was brought under the direct rule of the
British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
, establishing the protectorate of
Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in Southern Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North ...
. As a reaction to the introduction of British capitalism and the beginnings of a vast mining industry, workers in the region began to gravitate towards anarchist and
syndicalist Syndicalism is a labour movement within society that, through industrial unionism, seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes and other forms of direct action, with the eventual goal of gainin ...
ideas, organizing the country's first trade unions. During the 1920s, the first wave of
anarcho-syndicalism Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchism, anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade uni ...
spread throughout much of Africa, with the South African
Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union The Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (ICU) was a trade union and mass-based popular political movement in southern Africa. It was influenced by the syndicalist politics of the Industrial Workers of the World (adopting the IWW Preamble ...
(ICU) even establishing a section in Northern Rhodesia, although the ICU ended up collapsing by the early 1930s. Nevertheless, trade union organizing persisted, with African mineworkers organizing the 1935 Copperbelt strike over poor safety standards and increased taxes. In 1940, miners in Northern Rhodesia went on strike again, using the leverage of their importance to the Allied effort in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
to demand higher salaries. In the mid-1990s, the anarchist Hamba Kahle Wilstar Choongo, who worked as a librarian at the
University of Zambia The University of Zambia (UNZA) is a public university located in Lusaka, Zambia. It is Zambia's largest and oldest learning institution. The university was established in 1965 and officially opened to the public on 12 July 1966. The language of ...
(UNZA), began writing a series of articles in '' The Post'' that criticized the new
Constitution of Zambia The Constitution of Zambia is the supreme law of the Republic of Zambia, and was formally adopted under the presidency of Kenneth Kaunda in 1991 by the National Assembly of Zambia, replacing the 1964 Independence constitution, and later amended ...
and argued instead for
decentralization Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those related to planning and decision-making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group and gi ...
. Wilstar Choongo was himself inspired by the
anti-authoritarian Anti-authoritarianism is opposition to authoritarianism. Anti-authoritarians usually believe in full equality before the law and strong civil liberties. Sometimes the term is used interchangeably with anarchism, an ideology which entails opposing a ...
tendencies of his own tribe in Southern Zambia, which he described as a "flattened, chiefless hierarchy", and suggested these tendencies could help to advance anarchism in Zambia. Wilstar Choongo and a number of young members of the UNZA's Socialist Caucus moved towards anarchism, setting up the Anarchist Workers’ Solidarity Movement (AWSM) in 1998, which they considered affiliating with the South African Workers' Solidarity Federation (WSF). However, Wilstar died from malaria in 1999, at the age of 35, with the AWSM apparently collapsing in the wake of his death. In 2009, a former AWSM member Malele D Phiri reflected on the new institutional role of trade unions and NGOs in Zambia's civil organization, describing it as the "dialectical opposite" of the ruling structure established by ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe.


Zimbabwe

In the 1920s, the first wave of
anarcho-syndicalism Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchism, anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade uni ...
spread throughout much of Africa, with the South African
Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union The Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (ICU) was a trade union and mass-based popular political movement in southern Africa. It was influenced by the syndicalist politics of the Industrial Workers of the World (adopting the IWW Preamble ...
(ICU) even establishing a section in
Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...
. The Southern Rhodesian ICU developed a substantial rural base, responding to the question of land rights with the policy of a union ownership scheme, aiming to establish a "collective, de-colonised and decommodified working class and black ownership". Although the ICU dissolved in the early 1930s, the South Rhodesian section continued to operate as the
Reformed Industrial Commercial Union The Reformed Industrial Commercial Union (RICU) was a trade union in Southern Rhodesia during the 1940s and 1950s. History The RICU was founded in 1946 by Charles Mzingeli, who had previously been active in the Southern Rhodesian branch of the ...
until the 1950s, when the region was incorporated into the
Central African Federation Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
. Following the
Rhodesian Bush War The Rhodesian Bush War, also known as the Rhodesian Civil War, Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Independence, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country U.D.I. ...
, trade union activity rapidly increased, bringing with it an increase in strikes and industrial disputes, even against the wishes of ZANU-PF. The new government responded by breaking up the strikes, suppressing and taking over existing trade unions, revoking union control of wage negotiations and instituting the party appointment of union officials. From a merger of six trade union centres, ZANU-PF established the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions is the primary trade union federation in Zimbabwe. The Secretary General of ZCTU is Japhet Moyo and the president is Peter Mutasa. The former General Secretary was Morgan Tsvangirai. Jeffrey Mutandare is a f ...
(ZCTU), aiming to reduce industrial disputes and increase the influence that the government had over the trade union movement. But by 1987, unions again began to establish their independence from ZANU-PF, to which the government responded with police terror. The government even began to lose control over ZCTU, which increasingly criticized government policy surrounding trade unionism, eventually outright opposing the government due to its neoliberal economic policies, corruption and authoritarianism, going on to form an alliance of opposition groups which became the
Movement for Democratic Change Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger co ...
(MDC). However, the MDC soon strayed from its working class base, taking on a
reformist Reformism is a political tendency advocating the reform of an existing system or institution – often a political or religious establishment – as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution. Within the socialist movement, ref ...
and
liberal-conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...
party line, instituted by a middle class leadership. Dissilusionment with the MDC led to libertarian socialism emerging from the opposition movement, with some Zimbabwean anarchists establishing the Uhuru Network to organise amongst working class communities. With the outbreak of the
2016–2017 Zimbabwe protests The 2016–2017 Zimbabwe protests began in Zimbabwe on 6 July 2016. Thousands of Zimbabweans protested government repression, poor public services, high unemployment, widespread corruption and delays in civil servants receiving their salaries. ...
, Zimbabwean anarchists characterized the protest movement as representing a new society based on "solidarity, equality, grassroots democracy, free of all forms of oppression", identifying it with the anarchist approach to a bottom-up struggle against the state. In the wake of the
2017 Zimbabwean coup d'Ă©tat In November 2017, Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe was removed as president and party leader of ZANU–PF and was replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa. On the evening of 14 November 2017, elements of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) gathered ...
, in which
Emmerson Mnangagwa Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa ( , ; born 15 September 1942) is a Zimbabwean politician who has served as the president of Zimbabwe since 2017. A member of ZANU–PF and a longtime ally of former president Robert Mugabe, he held a series of cabin ...
seized power from
Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of th ...
as part of a power struggle within ZANU-PF, Zimbabwean anarchists offered an
anti-state Anti-statism is an approach to Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic or political philosophy that opposes the influence of the State (polity), state over society. It emerged in reaction to the formation of modern sovereign state ...
perspective for the future of Zimbabwe, proposing mass action as a means to build libertarian socialism. There has since been movements to develop a specific anarchist organisation in Zimbabwe, in the hopes of forming a broad-based libertarian movement against the Zimbabwean state.


Anarchist organisations in Africa

* International Socialist League (South Africa), 1915–1921 * Industrial Workers of Africa (South Africa), 1917–1920 * Industrial Socialist League (South Africa), 1918–1921 * Anarchist Party for Individual Liberties in the Republic (Senegal), 1981 * Awareness League (Nigeria), 1991–1999 * Anarchist Revolutionary Movement (South Africa), 1993–1995 * Workers' Solidarity Federation (Southern Africa), 1995–1999 * Anarchist Workers’ Solidarity Movement (Zambia), 1998–1999 * Bikisha Media Collective (South Africa), 1999–2007 * Zabalaza Books (South Africa), 1999–2007 * South African chapter of the
Anarchist Black Cross The Anarchist Black Cross (ABC), formerly the Anarchist Red Cross, is an anarchist support organization. The group is notable for its efforts at providing prisoners with political literature, but it also organizes material and legal support for c ...
, 2002–2007 * Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation (Southern Africa), 2003–2007 * Wiyathi Collective (Kenya), 2004 *
Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front The Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF, also known as ZabFront or simply as Zabalaza), formerly known as the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation (ZabFed), is a platformist–especifista anarchist political organisation in South A ...
(Southern Africa), 2007–present * Black Flag (Egypt), 2010s–Present * Libertarian Socialist Movement (Egypt), 2011–present * Disobedience Movement (Tunisia), 2011–present * Feminist Attack (Tunisia), 2011–present * Horn Anarchists (Ethiopia), 2020–present * Sudanese Anarchists Gathering (Sudan), 2020–present


See also

*
List of anarchist movements by region This is a list of anarchist movements by region, both geographical and/or political. Africa Asia Europe North America Oceania South America See also * :Anarchism by country *List of anarchist communities Anarchism is ...
*
Black anarchism Black anarchism, also known as New Afrikan anarchism or Panther anarchism, is an anti-authoritarian and anti-racist current of the Black power movement and anarchism in the United States. It is characterized by its intersectional analysis of dif ...
*
African socialism African socialism is a distinct variant of socialist theory developed in post-colonial Africa during the mid-20th century. As a shared ideological project among several African thinkers over the decades, it encompasses a variety of competing inte ...
*
Politics of Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...


References


Further reading

* ''"Anarchism and Revolutionary Syndicalism in South Africa, 1904–1921"'' by
Lucien van der Walt Lucien van der Walt (born 8 September 1972) is a South African writer, professor of Sociology and labour educator. His research engages the anarchist/syndicalist tradition of Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin; trade unionism and working class ...
* ''"Military Dictatorship and the State in Africa"'' by Sam Mbah and I. E. Igariwey, an anarchist critique of the African
military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...
s. * ''"African Anarchism: The History of a Movement"'' by Sam Mbah and I. E. Igariwe
African Anarchism: The History of a Movement – Sam Mbah & I. E. Igariwey


External links


African Anarchism, freedom and revolution in Africa


An introduction to today's western Africa from Anarchist perspective.



An interview with Michael Schmidt and Lucien van der Walt. {{DEFAULTSORT:Africa Anarchism by region
Anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
Anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...