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The Circle-A Symbol of Anarchism

image by António Martins, 8 August 2004

About the circled A symbol
Circled A on black flag
Variants

See also:

External sites:

Where does the circled A come from? (part of An Anarchist FAQ)
"The Well-Known Symbol of Anarchism": page about the circle-A symbol (at an Anarcho-capitalist website)

About the circled A symbol

The circle-A is one of several devices used on anarchist flags.
Matthias Speer, 5 February 2003

The circle-a means "anarchy is order."
Ben, 2 February 2000

The origin of this symbol is unknown but it was used by anarchists during the Spanish Civil War.
Marcus Wendel, 16 August 1999

Circled A on black flag

It is a black flag with a circled A.
Jamal Hannah, 5 October 1995

I heard that the black flag with A was for ultra-anarchist named "Acratas." This acratas (I don't know the English equivalent) are anarchist that believe that each man is like an independent state.
Jaume Ollé, 21 August 1999

The only anarchist flag I've seen in Portugal was the black flag with encircled "A."
Jorge Candeias, 16 August 1999

Variants

Red circled A on black

image by António Martins, 8 August 2004

I have also seen a black flag with a red circle-A.
Matthias Speer, 5 February 2003

Circled A on diagonal flag

image by António Martins, 8 August 2004

Both arrangements (red/black diagonal and circled A) may also appear together.
António Martins, 7 December 1999

Black circled A on red


image by António Martins, 8 August 2004	image by Tomislav Todorović and António Martins, 15 January 2015

The website Flag.Blackened.net, an anarchist e-zine, has on the letterhead a long red pennant-like flag, with a black encicled A on its upper hoist. Could this flag be used in the real world? I have never seen it.
João Madureira, 29 April 2003

This is almost certainly just a Web graphic, but is based on real flags, which may have the black emblem on a (medium) red field. An example from Mexico, flown among a variety of Anarchist flags with different designs, can be found here.
Tomislav Todorović, 15 January 2015

Another photo can be viewed here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/03/anarchism-could-help-save-the-world. Unfortunately, there is no information to reveal the place and time of this particular flag's use.
Tomislav Todorović, 17 September 2019