enclosed A
Sign in to saveAlso known as Ⓐ, ⓐ, circled A, circled Latin A, circle-A, anarchy sign, anarchy symbol
The circle-A or anarchist A, written as Ⓐ, is a graphic and political symbol representing the anarchist movement and ideology. Seeking a symbol that could easily represent the entire movement, it was conceptualized in April 1964 by the Libertarian Youth group of Paris. It was made on the initiative of Tomás Ibáñez, and was graphically represented by René Darras. The symbol initially remained confidential in France for a few years before spreading to Italy, especially to Milan, in 1968. Starting in the early 1970s, the circle-A spread across Italy, France, and then throughout the world.
In the Vinony graph
Vinony's link graph records 621 inbound references to enclosed A, and connects out to France, Italy and China.
Vinony files it under Anarchism without adjectives, Anarchist art and Anarchist symbols.
Vinony links it to 8 Wikipedia language editions.
Wikidata facts
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~9 min read
Encyclopedic overview
8 sectionsContents
- History
- Premices
- Jeunesses Libertaires and the creation of the first circle-A
- Spread to the anarchist movement in Italy and then worldwide
- The circle-A as a central symbol of the anarchist movement
- Meanings and variations of the symbol
- References
- Bibliography
The circle-A or anarchist A, written as Ⓐ, is a graphic and political symbol representing the anarchist movement and ideology. Seeking a symbol that could easily represent the entire movement, it was conceptualized in April 1964 by the Libertarian Youth group of Paris. It was made on the initiative of Tomás Ibáñez, and was graphically represented by René Darras. The symbol initially remained confidential in France for a few years before spreading to Italy, especially to Milan, in 1968. Starting in the early 1970s, the circle-A spread across Italy, France, and then throughout the world.
Its simplicity to draw, its unifying nature, and its synthetic appearance led it to become a central symbol of anarchism in a relatively short period of time. Notably, it was not promoted by any single organization but was autonomously adopted by the anarchist movement, since it was well-suited for purposes of political propaganda and rallying.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “enclosed A” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.