Re: Solidarity With Imprisoned German Militants

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From: Arm The Spirit <ats@xxxxxxxxx>
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
Subject: Solidarity With Imprisoned German Militants
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Date: 4 Apr 1996 17:09:04 GMT
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"There Are Many Ways To Express Leftist
Politics - One Of Them Is Solidarity!"

Some Thoughts About The Anti-Imperialist Cell

     Bernhard and Michael have been in prison since the end of
February. They are accused of being members of the
"Anti-Imperialist Cell" (AIZ). The police and the federal
prosecutor's office are claiming to have finally captured some
members of the AIZ. So far, we have neither heard nor read very
much in the way of solidarity. With this text, we would like to
offer a few thoughts for discussion and call for solidarity
against the repression apparatus.
     We aren't going to speculate about whether or not the two
men in question are actually members of the AIZ. We have no idea,
and we are going to assume that the official statements which
have been made regarding this matter are full of lies as usual.
What we do know is that both men have been active in the
autonomist and anti-imperialist scenes for years now. We have
been shocked by the non-reaction of the left-radical movement
since their arrest. Over the last few weeks, the Interim hasn't
bothered to print anything about this incident. We feel that the
arrest of two comrades who have been active in similar projects
that the rest of us have worked on over the past several years is
reason enough to demonstrate solidarity. A non-reaction only
supports the cops, because it means going along with the cops'
claim that both men were part of the AIZ - for our part, we are
always skeptical of official explanations.
     Bernhard and Michael were part of the campaign against
Shell, and both were jailed for one year because of this. They
have struggled for the freedom of political prisoners, they
campaigned against militarism and fascism, and both traveled
regularly to Berlin for the revolutionary May 1st demos. Both,
like many others, were victims of the June 13, 1995 raids against
Radikal, KOMITEE, and the AIZ. A typical, West German autonomist
resume. Our development was very similar in almost every way. The
very fact alone that these two guys worked on similar projects as
many other people who are facing criminalization makes it a
scandal in our minds that both have been sitting in prison
without anyone showing them the smallest bit of solidarity.
Solidarity has two components: one personal and one political. It
is essential that politically active people be able to rely upon
support in the event that they become victims of state
repression. If this fundamental security does not exist, then in
principle there is also no basis for resistance. That's why we
feel it's very important to support these two people.
Politically, solidarity is a means of struggle. Since we know
full well that the state will seek to repress all forms of
fundamental opposition, we need to create conditions where
opposition can exist and at the same time win some ground against
prison conditions and create some publicity around political
themes. Such a form of solidarity need not be defensive in
nature.
     At the present time in Germany, all forms of leftist,
militant (not necessarily violent) resistance are being heavily
repressed. In addition to the AIZ, there is the campaign against
the editors of Radikal, the investigations against comrades in
Frankfurt, Saarbrucken, and Wiesbaden because of the state
informant Steinmetz, and the charges to be tried against alleged
members of Autonome Antifa (M) in Gottingen; smaller AA/BO groups
are also being investigated, albeit at a "lower level". Militant
groups have always faced repression, and it's obvious that the
cops aren't just gonna let people plant bombs in front of the
homes of members of parliament. (We haven't mentioned the
repression against Kurdish comrades at this point because this
fits into a different category.) Nonetheless, it seems that the
state security apparatus has recently felt that it now has the
chance to get a grip on all clandestinely organized left-wing
opposition. The RAF's statement in 1992 concerning their end to
fatal attacks and the announcements of dissolution from several
RZ groups and the virtual disbanding of that organization
signalled the de facto end of all structures which had operated
up until that time. Nothing had been heard from the Rote Zora
[This is partially inaccurate as Rote Zora has carried out 2
actions in the last two years and released communiques for both.
They also wrote and distributed a long history and self-critique
called "Mili's Tanz auf dem Eis" in December 1993 - ATS.] since
the wave of repression in 1987. A lot of this had to do with the
end of the East-West conflict and the increasing uncertainty and
defensiveness on the left. The trials against Monika Haas,
Johannes Weinrich, and Birgit Hogefeld are all about "revenge"
and "wiping out the remnants". What remains of the left has less
points of orientation from which to develop militant,
conspiratory politics. The cops know this as well. For those who
continue to try, it has become much harder to act.
     At this point, we'd like to comment on the notion that
militancy today can only have a reformist rather than a
revolutionary character. The times when militant, clandestine
groups represented a break with the capitalist system are over.
What's left are reformist actions: against Nazis, atomic waste
transports, the wealthy, etc. They're little more than an
effective way of distributing leaflets, and although they exert a
different form of pressure that legal actions, they have little
antagonistic character. (A similar development can be seen in
other European countries as well, with the exception of groups
who have more of a national liberation character such as ETA or
the IRA.) Maybe that's why groups like the AIZ seem so
anachronistic, because they are based on a point orientation
which most people no longer have any hope in, and they don't
alter their praxis because they think that vanguard actions will
somehow advance the movement.
     What the AIZ are doing is trying to replace a lack of
political strength with excessive radicalism. We think it's great
when comrades are willing to put all their strength into
something - that's lacking in much of the autonome scene. The
texts of both the AIZ as well as KOMITEE seem to speak of this.
Such considerations aren't new to us, but we have tried to
balance this with reality and we have come to the conclusion that
there's little point in carrying out isolated actions. The praxis
of the AIZ is a paradox: They seek to mobilize, but all they do
is generate criticism. From this they draw the conclusion that
they need to become even more distant in their praxis, and yet
they still seek to orient themselves to the left-radical scene.
But it would make more sense for them to publish their statements
in publications which deal with Islamic resistance rather that in
the Interim.
     We would like to discuss these points some more, because we
think its important to understand attempts at revolutionary
politics and to learn from them. There are two important things
to keep in mind when evaluating militant groups: Where are they
coming from and what do they want. The AIZ see themselves as
leftists who have come out of the anti-imperialist resistance,
but they have chosen a path which many people fully reject and no
longer consider progressive. We would be glad to know how all
this came about. How did this separation come into being? It's
rather strange that a militant group could exist without any
supporters, no scene which discusses its politics, nothing at
all. In addition to being a criticism of the AIZ, that's also
indicative of the present situation on the left: The core of
leftist politics must remain an understanding with others, the
common search for liberation. We don't think it's a coincidence
that such a development has happened at a time when the left is
very weak. For this reason, we think that we all share the common
responsibility to further develop leftist theory and praxis so
that we can all struggle together. That's why we show solidarity,
as well as offer criticism. As for Bernhard and Michael, they
must be released! We can only discuss their ideas and the praxis
which they support when we are all together on the outside. We
refused to sit around and talk about who what where when and why
the cops have locked them up, just as we refused to do so for the
Kaindl defendants, the Antifa (M), the Radikal suspects, and all
others!
     We haven't said that much about the theory and praxis of the
AIZ, because we felt it was more important to stress our
solidarity, and also because several critiques of the AIZ have
already been printed. We will publish our own sometime in the
future, focussing primarily on the AIZ's concept of the
imperialism vs. Islam, because we believe that this is tending to
replace the old antagonism of imperialism vs. socialism.

Struggle Together!

(Translated by Arm The Spirit from Interim #368 - March 21, 1996)


 ++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
   ++++ if you agree copy these lines to your sig ++++
     ++++ see http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++

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Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist collective based
in Toronto, Canada. Our focus includes a wide variety of
material, including political prisoners, national liberation
struggles, armed communist resistance, anti-fascism, the fight
against patriarchy, and more. We regularly publish our writings,
research, and translation materials in our magazine and bulletins
called Arm The Spirit. For more information, contact:

Arm The Spirit
P.O. Box 6326, Stn. A
Toronto, Ontario
M5W 1P7 Canada

E-mail: ats@xxxxxxxxx
WWW: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats
FTP: ftp.etext.org --> /pub/Politics/Arm.The.Spirit
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