Centre International de Recherches sur l'Anarchisme

CIRA (Centre International de Recherches sur l'Anarchisme) or the International Center for Research on Anarchism is an anarchist archive, infoshop and library of anarchist material in different languages which is based in Lausanne, Switzerland and has two branches in Marseille, France and Fujinomiya, Japan.

Early history

The idea of CIRA was created during a meeting which was held in Geneva in 1956 between 'an Italian conscientious objector, a French war resister, a Bulgarian refugee and an elderly Swiss anarchist, former activist at the Ligue d'Action du Bâtiment Geneva.'international center for research on anarchism (March 2007). CIRA was founded in the following year and for six years was run in a rented room in the city by Italian anarchist Pietro Ferrua.Pietro Ferrua (1930-2021) by Marianne Enckell (2021).international center for research on anarchism (March 2007). Ferrua was deported from Switzerland in 1963 after an anti-Francoist attack was made on the Spanish consulate in Geneva two years previously.international center for research on anarchism (March 2007). In the following year CIRA was moved to Lausanne into a room in a family boarding house which was kept by Marie-Christine MikhaïloObituary: Marie-Christine Mikhaïlo (1916-2004) by Ismaël and Cédric., who ran the library with her daughter Marianne Enckell.international center for research on anarchism (March 2007). In 1975 CIRA returned to Geneva, where it stayed until 1989, after which it finally moved to its current address.international center for research on anarchism (March 2007).

Recent history CIRA is an association which is recognised by the city council under articles 60 et seq of the Swiss Civil Code and is supervised by an international committee, while a local committee runs the centre with volunteers.international center for research on anarchism (March 2007). Moran (2014) observed that the centre employed a worker, as well as taking people undertaking alternative civilian service instead of being conscripted for military service. Cleminson (2012) described it as follows:

There are branches of CIRA in Marseille and Fujinomiya. CIRA Nippon was set up in 1970 in Fujinomiya, and as of 2011, the archive contained 2000 books.

In 1978, CIRA set up the Federazione Internazionale dei centri studi e di documentazione libertari (FICEDL), which aimed to be a group bringing together different anarchist archives worldwide. CIRA celebrated its fiftieth birthday in 2007 with a gathering in Lausanne. Similar historical archives include La Contemporaine (Nanterre, France) and the: Arbejderbevægelsens Informations Central (AIC) (Copenhagen, Denmark) Archivio Biblioteca Enrico Travaglini (Fano, Italy) Historische Kommission (Berlin) International Institute of Social History (IISG) (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) Schweizerisches Sozialarchiv (Zurich).

In 2020 the Lausanne library held 20,000 books and pamphlets and 4,000 periodicals (100 of which were active).

Publications CIRA has published a yearly bulletin since 1959, which is available to subscribers and is also online. The bulletin contains articles in French, Spanish, Italian and English, along with listings of their acquisitions for the year, and information about research, libraries and conferences. The edited collection Refuser de parvenir (The refusal to make a career) was published by the CIRA collective in 2016 following discussions held at CIRA in 2013 and 2014.

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Centre International de Recherches sur l'Anarchisme

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