Birth of an international libertarian network

A Libertarian Manifesto for the 21st Century

INTRODUCTION BY MIKE HARGIS

An international meeting of libertarian organizations met March 31 and April 1 in Madrid, Spain, sponsored by the libertarian-syndicalist General Confederation of Labor (CGT-E). Other groups taking part included: Libertarian Socialist Organization (OSL, Argentina), Anarchist Federation of Uruguay (FAU), Gaucha Anarchist Federation, (FAG, Brazil), Ricardo Flores Magon Popular Indigenous Council of Oaxaca (CIPO, Mexico), Libertarian Alternative (AL, Spain), Libertarian Alternative (AL, France), Libertarian Socialist Organization (OSL, Switzerland), Organization of Revolutionary Anarchists Solidarity (ORA-S, Czech Republic), The Kettle (Greece), Swedish Workers Centralorganization (SAC), Union of Base Confederations (Unicobas, Italy), National Confederation of Labor (CNT, France, ex- IWA), and Libertarian Communist Alternative (ABCT, Lebanon).

Organizations that could not attend but sent messages of solidarity included the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), New England Federation of Anarcho-Communists (NEFAC, USA and Canada), the Siberian Confederation of Labor (SKT), Anarchist Union (AS, India), Workers Solidarity Movement (WSM, Ireland), Italian Syndicalist Union (USI, ex-IWA), and Anarchist Federation (France).

The outcome of this meeting was: 1) The formation of an international libertarian network called Libertarian International Solidarity (LIS). 2) A decision to mobilize against the World Bank meeting in Barcelona in June (the meeting was subsequently cancelled due to fears of massive demonstrations, and moved to cyberspace) and the European Summit in G6teborg, Sweden. 3) LIS to support, financially and politically, projects proposed by the FAU and FAG to form libertarian centers, establish a press and develop a recycling cooperative. LIS will take up campaigns every six months around ongoing projects. 4) LIS to launch a website and a listserve for the exchange of information over the Internet. The server will be created jointly by CGT-E, SAC and AL-France. 5) LIS will hold an intercontinental libertarian congress in France in 2003, the organizing committee of which will consist of AL-France, with the help of the CGT-E and SAC, and promoted in Latin America by FAU. 6) Finally, the meeting adopted a declaration, "What Type of Anarchism for the 21st Century?" (below). While this new network assures that it does not intend to replace existing federations, such as the International of Anarchist Federations or the International Workers Association, the IWA views its formation as part of what it sees as a longstanding effort by CGT-E and SAC to establish a rival, reformist international. However, the LIS is clearly not a syndicalist international. It's clear from its make-up that the "political" tendency predominates. Most of the political organizations are "Platformist" in orientation and tend to favor a strategy of working within the reformist unions. The syndicalist groups, on the other hand, presumably favor independent revolutionary unionism. How long these two tendencies can co-exist within the same network is anybody's guess.

The "movement" for greater international co-ordination of both libertarian political and syndical organizations has been manifest for some time. The conference held in Ruessta, Spain, in 1995, organized by AL-France and attended bymany of the same groups, the arious Euromarches against contingent labor and exclusion; the I99 Conference in San Francisco in 1998; and the "Autre Futur" gathering over May Day 2000 in Parishosted by the CNT-Vignoles were all part of this process. The IWA has, unfortunately, viewed this "movement" as hostile to their interests. Unfortunately, this latest effort will only bring about cooperation among one "faction" of the international anarchist movement. There is still a long way to go.

Final declaration of the International Libertarian Conference In Madrid

The men and women from different parts of the world who have come here to Madrid to these Libertarian Workshops in order to think about, propose and defend a society in which freedom, justice, equality and solidarity allow us to live in peace with other human beings, with the Earth, would like to make public our conviction that it is possible to build a different type of world, and different worlds. We call on all libertarian men and women in the world to organize, to intertwine an international network which will foment social antagonism against capitalist globalization, to braid resistance, to link those thousands of subversive threads which give form to the resplendent tapestry of social revolution.

By libertarian we mean:

* Direct action as a criteria and method in labor and social conflicts so that the people affected decide, over and take responsibility for their struggles.

* A clear declaration in favor of anti-capitalism, anti-authoritarianism and the fight against all types of domination (patriarchy, fascism, ...) in all day-by-day social and cultural aspects.

* Applying self-management in internal and external organizational work, understanding this as promoting the rotation of posts, training people in posts, recall, transparency, the responsibility and capacity of all to decide in a structure which is both horizontal and federalist, anti-hierarchical and without vanguards which accumulate and monopolize power.

1.1: Supporting the revolution is not limited to fighting for desirable radical changes, but rather daring to effectively prepare a means of breaking away from the capitalist system. For those who do not wish to limit their actions to mere propaganda, the need to revolutionize this world implies determining the conditions from which we can accumulate sufficient strength to make the revolutionary processes thinkable and politically and strategically possible. Putting the revolution on our agenda means building a process of political work, a relation of strength, giving a strategic dimension to social antagonism, forging alliances and becoming capable of being a guiding force in the process of social struggles.

1.2: In the face of a full frontal neo-liberal offensive, defending revolutions in these present times might seem unreal, especially in a historical context such as the present one marked by a lengthy resistance to globalization which has lasted more than a quarter of a century. Nevertheless, neither are the reformist proposals defended by the left in general realistic or plausible. Social-Democracy has turned into Social-Liberalism. Between reality and desire there is only one path open i To follow it we need a strategy created through critical thinking, reflection and action, the libertarian will of millions of people to live in dignity, with autonomy inside their communities, being the protagonists when decisions need to be made. Cooking up the strategy, encouraging subversive acts, bringing reality closer to wishes, dreams and needs are all tasks which call for libertarian coordination and organization.

1.3: In this new millennium, ainiing at the heart oft'he State, storming the Winter Palace, or setting an exact date for the revolution is not possible. The 20th Century has given us tragic proof of how many mistakes and barbarities can be committed in the name of the Revolution. We withhold the possibility of transformation, of revolutionizing society, whilst leaving it clear that, in the first place - and despite what some interested parties might think and publish - history is not already decided: history is wrought by human beings. In the second place, we reject the idea that nothing can be done, that the forces that steer social change are out of reach of human hands. Lastly, we affirm that we are not willing to delegate to anybody the leading role of the exploited and the oppressed, the majority of society, in the flow of history.

1.4: If the century we have just left has taught us anything, it is to reject naive optimism and blind faith in the progress of humanity. Everything can get worse; there is nothing that can completely guarantee a favorable result in the evolution of society. The imposition of social structures based even more on inequality and social exclusion is possible. From this perspective, distant from any type of historical determinism, revolution becomes a vital necessity, and it must be built day by day in many spheres of freedom.

1.5: As libertarians we all drink from the same revolutionary spring of water: direct action, self- management, federalism, mutual aid and internationalism. Nevertheless, the different flavors and currents of this spring have caused on too many occasions factionalism, divergence and separation. We do not wish to see who has got the clearest or purest water, we believe that they are all right and wrong, pure and impure. Wise winemakers mix different types of grapes to produce the best wines, each type of grape provides something. We propose that we do the same and propose a toast for what unites us: the vital need for a libertarian revolution.

2.1: The myth of development is a painful inheritance that the 20th century has bequeathed us. An ideological construction of those in power to prolong in their benefit all the mythology built around Progress, which served capitalist interests so well from the beginning of the first industrial revolution until WW II. The continuation of this myth through 'development' has inevitably led to the globalization of the economy, a process which has already caused thousands of traumatic shiftings of production centers throughout the world and, in consequence, has established enormous areas where workers are hyper-exploited in indescribable working and environmental conditions.

2.2: Human development, considered as the overall increase of its well-being, is not compatible with the capitalist setup of society and production. Despite what worldwide capitalist rulers try to convince us, this development relies neither compulsorily nor solely on the replacement of traditional production processes by technological ones. Scientific progress must no longer be useful to capitalist development alone, which means to the benefits of a handful of people. On the contrary it must now be useful to everyone. It should ensure independence and autonomy of all peoples, and overall solidarity.

2.3: To ensure the acceptance of the development policies, both the capitalist as well as the so-called socialist bloc had the brightness of the new myth at their disposal, reflected in the American way of life on the one hand, and through the exaltation of productivity as a liberating force in the so-called socialist countries. This was helped by the enthusiastic collaboration of governments and national financial elites, which acted as local agencies facilitating in their respective territories the programs developed by the international institutions and the large transnational corporations, which reserved for themselves the right to impose whatever modifications (prices of raw material and other goods, tariff barriers, commerce regulations, cutbacks of all types, etc.) to favor the spread of these new forms of production, making traditional ones non viable. The era of development spread throughout the world in the '50s and '60s, dividing the world into underdeveloped, developing and developed countries, and creating a hierarchy under the orders of the new myths, rejecting those which did not accept these changes.

2.4: The oil crisis (a natural resource in decline), the collapse of the model of productive and technological competitiveness, and the drop in profits due to the social struggles and progressive extenuation of the "third world countries" caused by the continual plunder they face, indicate that after decades of application, development is unmasked as a statue with clay feet. The desire for general well- being, the leveling of differences between countries, are just dreams which hide the painful inheritance of development. The myth of shared development, largely spread by the capitalist media, allows capitalists to make a large number of people accept their rules, at least passively. But the economical and ecological crisis makes this lie crumble apart. Against capitalist development we propose social development, in equal- ity, shared worldwide, lasting and compliant with the ecological balance. We support the overall increase in production insofar as it aims to cover the real needs and requirements of people from the south or the north, but not in its claims to increase the profits of the shareholders. Setting up such a production process requires collective control over the decisions. Economic, social and cultural development is only a tragic lie if no self-managed and federalist democracy comes with it. True development is a hoax if not everyone can take part in collective decisions.

2.5: The age of development caused a cruel widening of the inequalities between the inhabitants and peoples of the world to extremes never before known in history. Development has shown its manifest inability to spread wealth throughout the world and is unable to even cover the minimal requirements of the majority of the population. The problems of housing, access to drinking water, basic requirements of energy sources are no more worrying than the lack of food. Advances in health and education have run to a standstill and half of the world population is piled up in slums around unsustainable metropolises and megacities, living in total dependence on external vital provisions which neither the remaining stocks of natural resources nor the global economic system can sustain. The process of resettling the population in cities is carried out by coercion, fanned by the destruction of local cultures, by wars and conflicts and by the increasing abandonment faced by the peasant population.

2.6: The response of the power holders to the failure of development started in the '80s with a new international organization and division of labor, and with the introduction of new technologies in the productive system to renew competitiveness, and the increase of monetary regulation of human activities. Privatization and liberalization were the answers: globalization of the economy and the preeminence of this over politics, culture, ecology and social issues.

2.7: Development and its continuity in the form of economic globalization have, over the last two decades, brought us an increase in social duality and the planet-wide ecological crisis. All of this increases the banal consumerism of the majority of the population of the North while in the so-called South scarcity and hunger take hold of its inhabitants and mortgage the future of generations to come.

2.8: We support local action. We support what the community can master, following an intergenerational ethic able to ensure a habitable world for our children. We reject productivism; whose consequences deny the possibility of a future, because it is focused on the immediate profits of the capitalist rulers. The struggles of social ecology must inspire our actions in order to synchronize social struggles and lasting development. However, we think local autonomy is not enough. In order to ensure a fair world where everyone stands together, regardless of place of birth or residence, we must link local autonomy and worldwide coordination through the principles of self-managed federalism.

3.1: Globalization of the economy, free trade areas and world government are the three pillars that the so-called information society or era is strongly built upon. The globalization of the economy is based on a new international division and organization of labor, in the development and application of information technologies in order to make worldwide production decentralized, flexible and less local, at the same time building a spider web of business networks, interconnected and related to each other whilst simultaneously breaking the working class into thousands of small pieces, hyper-exploiting the new generations of workers: young workers, women, immigrants, children. This is not an apparition of the past, of the 19th century, but rather the real nightmare of the 21st century.

Globalized exploitation is particularly aimed at immigrants. With their rights taken away, and without roots of identity, this group is easily exploited. They are used to divide workers, creating a fictitious group of competitors which racism generates and creates itself around.

The sans papiers; [undocumented workers] are a docile and bendable workforce for the bosses. Separating the rights of nationality for freedom of circulation and residence is a way of checkmating capitalism. Fascism is becoming an ever faster growing reality. Its influence in politics (and in our minds) is a real danger for the values which we defend.

Both private and state capitalism need an increasingly stricter control over the population in order to maintain and increase their benefits. To this end they are establishing a penal state influenced by the extreme right and adopted by Social Democracy (when its interests are in danger).

3.2: The most worshiped idol in the temple of economy is free trade areas, which legions of fanatical economists are erecting as the fundamentalist totem of economic globalization. However, the use of competition as a way of regulating the economy is marked by a series of depredations, backed up with the use of arms. Competitiveness in international markets is complemented by greater productivity, and this is increased by mastering and directing the technological innovations, endangering workers' lives. This is how it has been over the last twenty years and this is the present and future policies of capital. What we can expect from free trade areas and international competition is an even further concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the transnational corporations and governments that support them.

3.3: World capitalism has its institutions to favor the spread of globalization: the IMF, World Bank, WTO, G8, etc. At the same rate as the social, ecological and economic consequences of globalization advance, there are more and more voices that call out in favor of more control, in favor of a worldwide government. Encouraging any type of world government, arising from the current political situation, will only lead to legitimizing the driving forces of capitalism, accelerating the consolidation of political structures which are totally out of the control of the inhabitants and peoples of the world. The use of force, the wars fought by UN peacekeeping troops, coupled with the direct subsidies by transnational companies to the UN reveals the plot of the tragedy: a world government using NATO armed forces as gendarmes, while dressing them up as humanitarian forces, with soldiers paid by the UN with funds from transnational corporations.

3.4: Neither a state nor a world government, the only government acceptable is the self management of society from local collectives coordinated regionally and worldwide, that of a libertarian community or municipality, in which decisions are made from the bottom up and in which federalism is the formula for cooperation. No to competition and free trade areas. Yes to mutual aid and solidarity amongst peoples; we reject globalization and dependence in favor of autonomy to put fate in our own hands. These are not brush strokes to a pretty picture of the society we hold in our hearts: ends and means are one and the same in the libertarian strategy. These are shovelfuls to the site we are building day by day through social resistance -at the same time as we fight against and pull down the power of capital we must also construct the libertarian alternative, step by step, minute by minute.

4.1 Throughout history other types of exploitation have grown from patriarchy and the exploitation of women. In such a system of domination of men over women, the patriarchy remains the dominant model that assures the double exploitation of women, at work and in the home. Capitalism benefits from the patriarchal family organization in instituting a strict separation between the private and the public, and the more precisely between so-called 'reproductive' work (of women), that has the particularity of being free, and the so-called 'productive' work (mostly male), that is paid. This hierarchization of social activities is an effect of male domination - it is because the social relations between women and men are unequal that their respective domestic and professional activities are not of the same economic or social value.

4.2 Today, in the context of privatization, of monetary regulation of all human activities, home-work is considered as 'local service' that was and remains again attributed to women. Capitalism has discovered a veritable gold mine for continuing to acquire profits at the expense of the exploitation of young women and female immigrants.

4.3 Still if women have succeeded, principally in the so-called industrial countries, in moving into paid labor, they remain principally confined to jobs that are part-time and paid less than men. It is the response to the needs of flexibility of capitalism and which permits the continuation of exploitation of women in the domestic sphere.

4.4 One response of libertarians to patriarchal domination is to obtain a shortening and equalization of working time and of wages for men and women; an indispensable condition for creating a real sharing of work, housework included.

4.5 The formal equality conquered in most industrial countries has neither overcome, nor reduced the patriarchal domination. It has changed forms, notably by the diversification of family models. Women remain victims of violence, on a daily basis, in the family sphere or as an arm of war.

4.6 For libertarians, the consequences of patriarchal domination have not ended. For men and for women, we demand equal liberty and mastery of reproduction, the possession of our bodies, the freedom of choice in the different facets of our whole lives, the right to different forms of sexuality (homosexual, bisexual, transsexual, etc.), the right to be different. We take the power to be ourselves, the self- determination of our identity. This permits the resolution of the habitual tension between the individual and the collective and so will permit a development of community and solidarity.

5. 1: Direct action, propaganda by deeds, is a sign of identity of libertarianism that has its roots in the beginnings of revolutionary syndicalism. Today direct action is part of the strategy of the redistribution of wealth through social reappropriation. Making demands is no longer enough; we must socially reappropriate the wealth that has been stolen by the powerful. Direct action must be self-managed by the people who carry it out. We oppose authoritarian so-called revolutionary activists, we claim no messianic role over oppressed peoples, and we encourage and support self-management of struggles. Anarchists are themselves involved in these struggles, but we are not the only ones.

5.2: The wealth generated by a society is not only the fruit of capitalist entrepreneurs (who take the largest slice) and of their payroll of workers (who get the smallest slice). Wealth is generated socially and includes the participation of unpaid workers who, through their jobs of reproduction, training or simply lowering of labor costs (women, students, the unemployed ... ) get, in the best of cases, the crumbs - dependence on a husband or parents or the pittance of an unemployment benefit - or, at worst, empty hands.

5.3: From each according to his ability and to each according to his need: this is the communist and libertarian sharing of wealth that we have historically defended and fought for. A sufficient social income for all people who lack income or patrimony could be a main calling point around which we can unite and join forces in this battle of social antagonism for a fairer sharing of wealth. But until we manage to implant a social salary or income, people still have real needs to meet and must fight for survival.

5.4: Direct action in the form of social reappropriation of wealth is carried out by squatting houses, by participating in collective meals with food that has been obtained for free, by assuring your health through associating and cooperating towards healthy eating, avoiding mad cows, chickens with dioxins, vegetables with toxins and transgenic foodstuffs. Direct action as a libertarian strategy and practice allows us to immediately satisfy our needs, builds alternatives to capitalist domination, and is the best propaganda by deeds to mobilize the majority of society to fight for and achieve a real sharing of wealth.

6.1: In the libertarian tradition, revolutionary syndicalism has been important (with its roots in the First International) in the fight against capital in Europe and America. >From the onset of the 20th century until the beginning of the Second World War, revolutionary syndicalism and anarcho-syndicalism have been the central point of the major organizational initiatives of anarchist groups and organizations. Organizing workers into unions - autonomous from political parties, owners and the state, ideologically independent, but with a firm belief in social revolution - was the first major task of anarchism in the first decades of the last century.

6.2: Although we cannot talk of one single type of anarchism, as the varieties of anarchism were and are numerous, revolutionary syndicalism was the workers' masterpiece that allowed millions of workers through the world, from France and Spain to Sweden and Mexico, to join and fight for their emancipation. Coinciding with the second industrial revolution and of the new workplace organization, anarcho-syndicalism headed the struggle and aspirations of a new proletariat reacting to new forms of production and in the process of professional specialization. [??commercial rights and laws, plus w??]

6.3: After the second world war, the hidden social pact that the implantation of the welfare state implied, (with its social security, collective negotiation laws, unemployment benefits), helped institutional trade unions, mostly Social-Democrats, to push revolutionary syndicalism into a corner and almost completely wipe it out in all countries. The capitalist crisis of the '70s and the resulting new organization of work, as well as the drift towards globalization of the economy and the social changes which took place in the first few decades of the information era and up until the new century in which we have entered have not counted with the presence of organized revolutionary syndicalism. Its presence is generally marginal in almost all parts of the planet.

6.4: But the same has not occurred with anarchist ideas. All the new social movements relaunched from the '60s onwards -ecology, feminism, anti-militarism, etc. - have been a reflowering of libertarian flowers. Social antagonism against domination through sex, race, sexual inclinations and so on, has used direct action; calling it civil or military disobedience; federalism and affinity groups have used it to organize, and mutual aid, calling it cooperation and solidarity. It is for that reason that the groups and organizations that identify themselves as anarchist or libertarian have, over the last few decades, dedicated their efforts to participate in the social struggle of these movements, undertaken in cities and urban areas.

6.5: Class struggle still exists. It is a essential part of the fight towards the emancipation of humanity. It is important to bear in mind that the relationship between the owners of the means of production/capital and the workers is unchanged. Although class struggle in the daily life, identity and conscience of the workers is no longer looked upon as the leading struggle, the domination of capitalism over the society and the exploitation of human labor is a major deciding oppression, but it is not the only target of the anarchist fight. We will work to make class struggle converge with other struggles against alienation, patriarchal and moral order, racism, nationalism or religious integration. Nowadays struggles have several identities, several shapes. They rely on various ways to organize. There cannot be any domination of one way over another in the struggles.

6.6: On the other hand, syndicalism has not been able to renew and reorganize itself to meet the new organization of the workforce that has been imposed over the last few decades.What's more, the general tendency has been towards a greater fragmenting of the working class broken up into fixed, precarious, submerged employment, self-employed, part-time, unemployed, etc. This and the reduction of the field of action of labor rights and laws in favor of an ever-increasing tendency towards individual negotiation to the detriment of collective negotiation, limits and reduces the role of syndicalism. In this situation it must urgently change its strategies and organizational structures or be destined to disappear, limiting itself to the institutional role assigned to it by companies and governments.

6.7: Libertarianism should currently strive towards encouraging convergence, the interaction of social movements -including the workers' movement - in a solid social movement antagonistic to capital and its present true face: economic globalization and all other types of domination. This antagonistic social movement does not have, nor should it have, a single organizational expression. It is plural, based on current reality, coming and acting together in the same territory, recreating a common territorial identity, composed of many single identities.

6.8: Local territorial organization is the 21st century's equivalent to what revolutionary syndicalism was in the first part of the 20th century. Economic globalization is a flux of information and capital flowing at the same rate, with no reference to local concerns. Needs and social struggles are locally rooted, in the neighborhood or town. This is where we must work to challenge capitalist domination and exploitation by building libertarian alternatives outside of official local institutions. In this way, different identities can work together because we are supporting a common territorial identity under direct democracy interconnected through networks with other towns.

6.9: In a world where social resistance strengthens our libertarian ideas, anarchist groups and organizations have got a lot to learn and a lot to give. The libertarian strategy should be that of strengthening the antagonist social movement through interaction with social movements, the workers' movement, the unemployed, the excluded, indigenous movements, discriminated groups, ecologists and feminists, promoting direct action as a way towards social reappropriation of wealth and as a form of propaganda by deed, as an exercise in direct democracy, participatory and federalist, without delegation or intermediaries, constructing on a community level in each territory and as an alternative to the authoritarian institutions.

7.1: Libertarianism and~ anarchism have been and are internationalist. In times of world globalization of the economy, our need to be able to interconnect in every corner of the planet where a libertarian person or group is struggling grows even greater.

7.2: Libertarian groups and organizations have historically organized themselves by affinities and have created or constituted societies, mutualist societies, trade unions and ateneos [cultural centers] to defend, promote and foment demands, education, alternative culture or different life-styles for specific goals, always with social emancipation as their aim.

7.3: Today we support, as a first step, the constitution of a worldwide libertarian network in which all affinity groups which so desire will find their space, open to libertarian organizations, associations, ateneos, unions and other libertarian groups. This network will serve to spread mutual aid, solidarity in struggles, as a source of information and debate for the libertarian world, will organize the international meetings, will set up training schools, video conferences, Internet and all types of tools available to join together strategies which will the libertarian idea to be introduced into and to guide the diverse social struggles.

7.4: Secondly, we support setting up libertarian organizations in diverse territorial scopes, local, regional, national, etc., based on the organizational tradition of each place. Libertarian organizations which use federalism as a structure to unite, the diverse affinity groups, whose main goal is the interaction of the different social movements in the struggles, creating direct/ rank-and-file/grassroots territorial identities, organizational connections and common networks.

7.5: Thirdly, but not least, we feel the vital need to group ourselves by affinity. An affinity group is, by nature, small and in which many things are shared, in which we see each other face to face to debate, to have a good time, and to form the first sphere of community, which makes people social beings, from which we can collectively contribute toward other groups in the local area and region a bit of identity. We want to gather by affinity, which means in groups which enable debating and thinking together, face to face. Affinity groups are groups for struggle, as well as groups to share and to be able to have fun. The local group is the foundation of democracy where decisions are made.

7.6: Out of exploitation, domination, alienation, material and symbolic violence, domination and violence are the leading actors. Exploitation is a category of violence and not the opposite. Our fight is a battle against power, against domination, against all powers. In this common struggle we call on libertarian men and women, affinity groups, organizations, associations, collectives, trade unions and ateneos to build an international libertarian network. We stand for the abolition of salaries and for the carrying out of a libertarian society.

"We do not make war; war is always made for the purposes of someone else, and fought out between the brethren who are poor in spirit. We make revolution for the benefit of all human beings and against the cliques who are hangovers from parasitism and self-centredness. And as we are making revolution, not one square metre of reconquered ground must be subtracted from the process of transformation, despite the frog-like croaking of those whose lack of spirit and mettle inclines them to dabble in the stagnant waters of politicking."

- Editorial from Acracia (Lleida), 1936-7