Autonomen Antifascist Organizing In Northern Germany

(The following is the transcript of a talk given by 4 antifascists
from Germany during a small tour of north-east North America,
September 1994)

Greetings,
     This talk is part of a short speaking tour by representatives
of three autonome antifascist groups from northern Germany. Our
intention is to provide you with an idea of the history, theory
behind, and practice of this part of the left in the Federal
Republic of Germany, with the hope that it will not just fulfil
your curiosity, but rather that this information will help with
work already going on here and show that militant antifascist
praxis is possible and necessary.
     While reports on fascism in Germany occasionally reach the
U.S./Canada, usually in the form of sensationalist articles in the
mainstream press, information about leftist resistance is limited
to short pieces in a few left publications. Some of the more
damaging actions by fascists have received wide coverage here: the
fire-bombing of the synagogue in Luebeck in late March of this
year, for example.
     What is generally not reported in the U.S./Canada papers are
the smaller, every-day attacks in which perhaps only one or two
people of colour or leftists are beaten up. And what also does not
get covered are the connections - in ideology and personnel -
between the skinheads and both the radical and mainstream right in
government, business, and the academy.
     Unfortunately, even the left press has treated nationalism and
fascism as newly reappearing phenomena, on the scene again only
since 1989, with only occasional pieces on the history of the wide-
reaching networks and organizations that stand behind these
seemingly isolated attacks.
     But these attacks are not isolated and fascism has not simply
risen from the grave. The FRG has experienced a fundamental
"Rechtsruck" (jump to the right) since the late 1980's, but this is
more a result of the already organized conservatives gaining
strength and developing new tactics than them appearing new on the
political landscape. This Rechtsruck is characterized by a
strengthening of the right in all areas - in the form of skinhead
violence, the aggressive rewriting of history, the dismantling of
the social welfare system, the repeal of the right to asylum, and
the criminalization of abortion, for example.
     In this talk, we will talk some about how the mainstream
right, in and outside of the government, and organized fascist
organizations, parties, and street fascists play off each other and
are connected. 
     Most importantly, however, is to make clear that the right has
not been able to agitate unchallenged. While the left press
sometimes covers more active forms of resistance, their audience is
unfortunately too small to inform many people. The mainstream press
reports only the silent candle-let demonstrations, like in
Solingen, organized in part by the CDU and SPD - the same parties
that had pushed through the racist changes in Germany's asylum laws
4 days before the attacks.
     Before we start, I want to introduce us and make a couple of
disclaimers. I am Angela, from Goettingen. I am the only native
English speaker up here, so please be patient with the language
difficulties! Dieter and I are both organized in the Autonome
Antifa (M). Roy is part of the Autonome Info Gruppe in Kiel and
Andreas is a member of the Autonome Antifa in Hamburg.
     Although we are representatives from three separate groups
with three distinct foci, we all understand our politics as
"autonome". Because of the limited scope of the presentation and
our own position within the left in Germany, we will speak
specifically about autonome antifascist activism. We are unable to
cover other kinds of left organizing, by and for immigrants and
people of colour, and autonomous women's organizing, for example.
We are also forced to limit our talk to the specifics of northern
Germany.
     The presentation is divided into 4 parts: Roy will talk about
the social context in which we are fighting, including the contact
and continuity between neo-Nazis and the state. Andreas and Dieter
will then talk about autonome antifascist resistance. Dieiter will
give you an idea of what autonome antifascism is and how it grew to
its present form, then Andreas will elaborate on specific examples
of autonome antifascist practice. Finally, I'll talk about state
repression and our perspectives for the future.
     Please stay for questions at the end.

     First, a little bit about the development of society before 
the Berlin Wall was torn down in Fall '89. On the one hand, the
crisis of the far left that has been talked an written about quite
a bit since '89 wasn't a result of what happened that year. It was
more that an ongoing crisis had come to light and accelerated. It
just showed how the meaning and influence of the far left had
declined since the so-called movement of '68. More about it in
Dieiter's part.
     On the other hand, the reunification of Germany was
characterized by a long-winded mobilization of "national identity"
which dates back to the early '80's. A major part of this
mobilization is a sneaking historical revisionism. This is
symbolized, for example, by the honouring of fallen SS-henchmen in
Bitburg by Kohl and Reagan in May '85. It served to blur the
distinction between victims and perpetrators and, finally, to deny
responsibility for World War 2. This is an important detail of the
continuous project to recast society silently.
     On more example to understand the goals of the ruling class -
quote "we have to get out of the toxic atmosphere of Adolf Hitler.
We have to become a nation that does not walk with the hunched gait
of conscious citizens who are proud to be Germans," said F.J.
Strauss, a former minister president of Bavaria in 1988.
     With the reunification of Germany, these goals were realized
more fully and with more power and efficiency. This is exactly what
the so-called democratic fascists had been aiming at in their
propaganda for years: an enlarged Germany that shakes off its
history and is able to pursue its interest in the world unhindered.
     With reunification, the fascists' ideas before 1989 became
political mainstream!
     With the pogroms and fire-bombings of Hoyerswerda, Mannheim,
Rostock, Moelln, and Solingen, the existence of Nazi-groups,
organizations, and parties became more and more visible outside of
Germany. They have existed in various forms since the capitulation
of Nazi Germany in 1945.
     In addition to the daily discrimination against people from
other countries or simply people who don't fit into the German
norm, there were also fire-bombings and terror-acts by fascists
from time to time before 1989. For example, the bombing at the
"Oktoberfest" in Munich in 1980, in which 13 persons were killed.
And in the same year, a fire-bombing at a refugee-hostel in
Hamburg, in which 2 people were killed. These are just 2 examples
of continuous fascist actions.
     With these remarks, we want to show that the terror of the
extreme right and the nationalist mobilizations are not spontaneous
nor are they "natural" reactions to crisis.
     The so-called reunification and the global economic crisis
were used continuously to recast the society in a racist way.
     This project also includes throwing out laws left over from
the early years of the FRG, laws that were unwilling concessions to
the allies, based on the experiences of the NS state. Examples
include: separating police and secret service, the constitutional
right to asylum, and the prohibition of military deployment except
for defense. The FRG has stripped off its god-child status to the
US as a front state against the eastern bloc and rolled back many
of the remaining social achievements of the left movements of '68
and after. 
     The fascist camp plays an important part in this project.
Forcing Nazi terror onto the streets is just one aspect.
     Looking at the last 4 years will give us an idea of how it
works. Although not new, the broadest and most intense hate-
campaign against refugees and immigrants began during so-called
reunification. 
     Since 1990, they have been faced with increasingly wide-
reaching control by the state. The demagoguery about
"Asylschwemme," "Asylantenflut" and "Scheinasylanten" (that means
something like "flood of refugees," "asylum glut," and "asylum
pretenders") was interlocked with the criminalization of
immigrants. They were handled like a menace to society and a burden
that makes towns unsafe. This demagoguery reached its peak when
government proclaimed a state of national emergency, demanding that
this "problem" must be dealt with immediately and unconditionally.
     With the pogrom of Hoyerswerda against immigrants in the Fall
of 1991, everyday racism reached a higher level and increased to
terrorism on the streets by Nazis and a civil mob for the first
time.
     The fundamental racist attitude of the majority of Germans was
actualized in fascist praxis. Open attacks on refugees were watched
and heartily applauded while the police watched on.
     Afterwards, the politicians and media condemned the excesses
but were very understanding of the sorrow of the people.
     The situation came to a head in 1992, driven by the debate
about the abolition of the right to asylum.
     The wave of racist attacks in which more than 20 people were
murdered just in 1992 was used by the state to make the Nazi slogan
"Auslaender raus!" ("foreigners out!") into policy reflecting the
attitude generally, if not exactly.
     But that's not all. In October of '92, soon after the pogrom
in Rostock, the government started a new non-stop debate about
"inner security" and law enforcement.
     The more than 500 fire-bombings before October 1992, including
failed attempts and those causing injury and material damage, were
used as a pretence to start a campaign against "crime and
violence."
     The result was a tightening of laws concerning "inner
security" and an increase in the authority of police and border
control.
     But these politics of "inner security" were based on racist
ideas and were extended in the same manner: by constructing
"foreign organizations and gangs" who supposedly make Germany an
unsafe country. Because of this, deportation can be carried out on
the ground of being under suspicion of committing a criminal
offense.
     Exactly this has happened to the leftist Kurdish people who
demonstrate and protest against deportations back to Turkey, where
they are persecuted. Another reason for these demonstrations is
Germany's ongoing trade in weapons with Turkey. As protest, they
have blockaded intersections, carried out small militant actions
against the police and some desperate ones set themselves on fire.
One of the worst and most recent actions in the hate campaign
against Kurdish leftists was the murder of a Kurdish boy by the
police in Hannover on the night of July 1 of this year. He was
cornered and shot while putting up posters of a forbidden Kurdish
communist-organiztion.
     After the fire-bombing in Moelln in November, '92, in which
three persons were murdered, international protests forced the
state to act to protect its image. After a long public debate and
advertisements for weeks, they banned a few Nazi-organizations.
Most members of these organizations either immediately joined other
groups or founded new groups.
     Nevertheless, the bans served their purpose of both cooling
down protests and allowing the state to distance itself from Nazis.
What is played in public and celebrated antifascism hides the
structural support for Nazi groups. Two examples: it was discovered
after his death that the famous constitutional lawyer, Theodor
Maunz, whose career started in Nazi-Germany, was a close friend of
the neo-Nazi leader Gerhard Frey (DVU). From time to time, the so-
called historian David Irving, a holocaust denier, is sponsored by
lower CDU functionaries to spread his lies.
     The toleration of open anti-Semitism in lower political ranks
now joins an attitude held by the political leadership that can be
summed up as follows: "We won't let the Jews spoil our interests
for us anymore and actually they belong in Israel." This is the
moderate, secondary anti-Semitism that has allowed people to
abandon their restraints on the streets. After violent attacks at
memorial places in former concentration (or Extermination) camps,
members of the ruling class expressed some regrets and their
concern about the appearance of Germany. The best examples are the
reactions to the fire-bombing at the Jewish synagogue in Luebeck in
March of this year.
     After the asylum law was more or less repealed in May 1993,
street level terror increased while structural violence by the
state sharpened. Since then, more than 5000 people sit in prison at
any one time "waiting" for their deportation into inhuman
conditions. They often are kept in these prisons for a year, a
punishment for seeking asylum. As a result of this strategy of
deterrence, not less than 6 prisoners have committed suicide.
Meanwhile, not less than 25 "mutinies" in prisons have taken place
as a reaction to the threat of deportation and against the cruel
conditions in prison.
     However, it's not our intention only to measure victims by
numbers of victims caused by whoever - or to follow the spotlights
of media that are just interested in the strongest attacks. Just as
necessary is to make the changes in society imaginable.
     The wave of attacks, whether coordinated and done by organized
neo-Nazis or caused by a fascist civil mob created a social climate
in which immigrants, people of colour, handicapped people, and
homeless people are permanently threatened by attacks. Furthermore,
immigrants are pushed into being at the state's mercy and without
rights.
     The daily attacks and acts of terror, about 1000 so far this
year, are mostly forerunners, attendants or reactions to state
measures. For example, the pogrom in Mannheim in June 1992 was a
reaction to the dispute of parties about the first sharpening of
the asylum law, which many valued as unsatisfactory. The pogrom in
Mannheim was a violators pretence to restrict the right of assembly
and also to levy stricter punishments. So, the strategy of the far
right revolves around the strategy of "inner tension," by which the
state is encouraged to comply with deep reactionary longings for
totalitarian models of order. The asylum law is to domestic
politics what the debate about military deployments outside of
Germany and "out of area" (NATO) is to foreign politics.
     They are related to one another in that in order for Germany
to rank as a world power that can enforce its larger interests, it
needs a society able to fight internationally, just as it needs the
racist politics to build a fortress against refugees and migrants.
This includes not only the deployment of a practically military
border control (called BGS), supported by civilians, but also the
building up of forces called "Eurocorps" as a regulation power.
     While these issues existed before 1989, they were primarily in
the fantasies of the far right. Now they are handled like questions
of fate for Germany. But the difference is: while the so-called
asylum debate had been characterized by openly racist propaganda,
the government has avoided making itself seem suspicious by
aggressively expressing its claims.
     For the most part, the moderate statement "we have to step up
to our increased responsibility" has been favoured - as if there
were no claims Germany wants to master. This hides the attempt to
make eastern Europe economically or otherwise submissive to German
interests and the desire to create a German enclave in the Russian
Wolga area, a goal expressed also by the interior minister.
     In this way too, the ruling class sets the agenda, which the
Nazis try to enforce on the street. Croatia is a good example:
while it is a favoured coalition partner to the German government,
Croatia has become a playground for Nazis to train for nation-tribe
wars in old coalitions.
     The above mentioned goal to develop a society ready for wars
has been described by Arnulf Baring, a highly reputed far-right
historian as "the rupture in our history after '45 is naturally
annulled by reunification, but there is a lack of national self-
confidence we have to overcome."
     There are particular internal political psychological
requirements to make this possible. We don't want to suggest that
the relationship between state and Nazi organizations functions on
a command and obey principle. Even when it sometimes seems to be
like that. For instance, the murderous attack in Solingen in which
a special agent of "Verfassungsschutz" (the interior secret
service) is indirectly involved. Rather, the relationship is better
characterized as control and supervise while letting them do as
they please.
     The situation in Fulda in 1993 is an example of this kind of
relationship. The Nazi scene has organized a memorial march to
Hitler's secretary Rudolf Hess every year since his death in 1987.
The police knew about their intentions to march and kept their eye
on them all day, eventually putting the town Fulda at their
disposal. They allowed local antifascists to be attacked and
injured while they concentrated their strength on blocking and
arresting the antifascists who had gathered there to prevent the
Nazi march. Finally, the Nazis were escorted safely out of town.

Now Dieter will talk about something more pleasant.

     In the 70's the German left experienced a radical change. The
so-called "student revolution of '68" had been broken apart.
Despite the cultural hegemony, reached by the left as a result of
the student movement of '68, it had not been able to obtain
sizeable political success. Armed fighting groups, such as the
"Rote Armee Fraktion" (Red Army Fraction - RAF), June 2nd Movement
(J2M) and Revolutionary Cells (RZ), had suffered great military and
political defeats by the state. In the 70's only the so-called "K-
groups" - communist groups similar to political parties - remained
as a relevant radical-left power. But because of their antiquated
concept and structure styled like mass parties, they also failed.
The change started with the defeat of the 68 movement, which meant
the loss of the revolutionary subject which was supposed to be the
working class and the loss of a concrete strategy. As a result, at
the end of the 70's great parts of the left had lost their
orientation. Many went to the so-called new social movements: the
peace movement, ecological and alternative movement, the new
women's movement and the anti-nuclear movement. Projects like the
"Green Party" or the "Alternative Newspaper" originated for the
large part from the reformist part of this "new social movement".
As a consequence of the dogmatic narrowness of the K-groups, the
left developed the "Sponties". They are the forerunner of the
"Autonomous Movement" which arose at the end of the 70's, beginning
of the 80's in many European countries. They have been the
dominating radical left power to date. With the sponties and the
autonomen the so-called "policy of the first person" started.
Instead of subordinating the individual under a general mass-party,
the subjectivity was now seen as revolutionary. People tried to
overcome the mechanical, dusty politics of the K-groups with a
mixture of subculture, sabotage of the system, and an indistinct
theory, and a recognition of a personal as political. Rather than
developing an analysis and praxis based on the objective
conditions, they focused entirely on their subjective feelings.
This took place especially in the "Haubesetzerbewegung" (squatter's
movement) where the autonomous movement has its origin. At this
time the term "autonome" appears. It was first used by the
"Verfassungsschutz" (interior secret service) applied to persons
and groups which were not integrated in classical left parties or
organizations. The autonomen characterized themselves deliberately
as undogmatic and unorganized. In almost all countries of western
europe, mostly young people occupied vacant houses and buildings.
The goal was to obtain free spaces by fighting where self-
determined life could be organized. It was supposed to be free of
social compulsion and exploiting conditions. People tried to get
rid of the separation of politics and private life. The base of the
collective "living together" was freedom and equality of each
person. What they understand as a break with the system was
actually just a subjective, extential, moral or psychological
break. removing themselves from social relationships did not enable
autonome to make a complete break with society - an impossible move
as one is always locked into her/his historical time and place. It
did, however, lead to an isolation and self-induced. Even though it
must already have been clear to the squatters that they could not
create free space because everyone is part of the system, this
isolation characterized the autonomen movement. Many of the
occupied houses were used as political and cultural centres.
Political meetings and uncommercial parties and concerts were held.
Bars and cafes were also set up. Often, political actions had their
starting points in the houses and centres. Through this movement,
many young people got into politics. For the most part, only the
centres lasted as political spaces. They are now self-governed
youth centres in many cities. Most of the squatted housed were
evicted. Some people obtained legal leases and usually started an
existence as a normal living community. The squatters movement
finally ended in 1981/82 because of the repression and its own
ability to work effectively. Even though houses continued to be
occupied, especially in Berlin and Eastern Germany after the fall
of the Wall, the movement never got its strength and importance
back. After the squatters-movement fell apart, autonomous politics
concentrated on so-called "single issue fights". They were mostly
struggles against different state-projects or particular parts of
capitalist or imperialist politics. The important issues of the
80's were, among other things, the politics of nuclear power,
including, the construction of atomic power plants, rearmament,
stationing of U.S. missiles in the FRG, census, and the IMF and
World Bank Congress in 1987 in Berlin.
     The goal of autonomous politics was to attack the whole system
at specific and concrete points. Because these events were also
debated widely out in the media, a lot of people were mobilized. In
these single issue struggles, the autonomen necessarily met with
mainstream and reformist organizations. The autonomen wanted to get
into these existing social movements and radicalize them. They also
used the publicity for their own ideas and offer real, i.e.,
material, resistance. For them resistance meant more than peaceful
protest, it meant offensive attack and practical prevention or
obstruction. The state's monopoly of power was questioned. One
consensus of the autonomen was the use of militancy. On the one
hand this systematically-used militancy meant smaller attacks,
often only with a symbolic character like damaging banks and
corporations or sabotaging power pylons from atomic power plants.
On the other hand, it meant offensive appearances at demonstrations
and other actions. In contrast to reformist groups autonome
deliberately provoked confrontation with armed state-power at
demonstrations and other actions. (This is the so called
"confrontation-politics"). For example the activities during the
construction of the "Startbahn-West" Because it is common practice
at demonstrations and other actions for the police and fascists to
photograph and videotape, people began to wear masks and to dress
inconspicuously as possible in order to protect themselves from
surveillance and repression. This is how the so called "Black
Block" was developed. People wear mostly dark clothes and walked
closely in rows. The "black block" also became a symbol for
militant politics. If it didn't come to divisions before, the issue
of militant and direct actions was the point at which autonome and
reformist or mainstream groups split. The state too, used this
debate to split the movement. It promoted the idea that peaceful is
in itself good and violent or militant is bad. Because of this
coalition work was very limited. It was only possible to radicalize
the social movements to a limited degree. Another problem was the
fluctuating structure without a accountability and the idea of
being spontaneous. The autonome of the 80's could afford its
weaknesses: the lack of coalition work and their distance from the
rest of society. They concentrated themselves in single issue
movements relying on their own strength. They were able to do
effective politics and mobilize significant numbers of people to
the streets. The weaknesses of the autonome and the entire left
included, their isolation and lack of organized structures would
become a problem.

Autonomous Antifascism

     In the early 80's one of the mentioned single-issue struggles
was anti-fascism. At that time, only a few left people worked on
that issue. Fascists were seen less in public than today. The left
liberal sentiment was influenced by the social-democratic
government during the 70's. When the social-democratic government
was replaced by the conservatives in 1982, it touched off so called
'geistigmoralische Wende' the "mental and moral change". Even
though autonome took part in activities against and attacks of
nazi-structures it was mainly the K-groups who organized those
activities. The anti-fascist work of those groups was especially
made up of research about fascist groups and persons. It was often
called "investigative anti-fascism". The youth centres in many
cities were used to develop anti-fascist working-groups which were
joined mostly by young people. These groups were put together very
differently and had no uniform ideology. Through the youth-centres
these groups had the chance to became regionally anchored and to
contact autonome. Antifascist network and autonomous-antifascist
groups were developed. One essential character of the politics of
autonomous antifascist was to attack directly fascist
infrastructure. (Often called 'commando militancy'). That meant,
for example, the prevention of party rallies, parades, meetings,
parties, etc. One of the examples most spectacular actions by
autonome antifascists was in Hamburg in 1986. They pretended to be
a special police-unit, and went to an apartment of an important
nazi-leader [Christian Worch - ed.] The anti-fascists tied up the
nazi-leader and his wife and confiscated nazi-material and
documents. Despite the various forms of antifascist-work militancy
was consensus among autonomous antifascists. For the 80's, a
typical slogan was "Schlagt die Faschisten wo ihr sie trefft"
("Attack the fascists where ever they are"). It shows where the
difference of antifascist policy was in comparison to antifascist
work that is practised by VVN (Union of persecuted of the nazi-
regime) and DKP (German Communist Party). Their politics were
expressed by the slogans "Wehret deen Anfaengen" (resist the start)
and "Kein neues '33: ("No new '33"). The new antifascists were more
praxis oriented than the theory-heavy politics of the old K-groups.
The more autonome were active in antifascism, the more the image
and the meaning of antifascism in the public view changed. The
image of fascists and the understanding of fascist politics were
updated to reflect the contemporary situation. One trend of which
we are part too, within the antifascist movement is especially
responsible for that. This trend does not reduce antifascism to a
simple anti-nazi struggle, but understands the practical and
theoretical debate about fascism as necessarily connected to the
debate about the capitalist and imperialist system. This is
expressed in the slogan "To fight against fascism means to fight
against the imperialist system." This slogan stands for a radical
antifascism that want to stop the problem at its roots and fights
its social origins. This form of ideology has its origins in an
understanding of fascism and the state that was developed in the
60's and 70's by different K-groups and theorists. They didn't look
at fascism as a completed historical phenomena, rather as a
possibility in the system of bourgeois domination. Even though
Germany today is not a fascist country, there are overlaps with
national socialism, both in terms of personnel and in terms of
ideological content. Especially in times of economical and
political crises, the state falls back on the methods of fascist
politics.
     This becomes visible when we look at Germany's politics toward
political resistance (the emergency laws, domestic militarization
and the policy of wiping out the RAF, for example). We can also see
this in its international politics, when the FRG cooperates with
fascist dictators, massively supporting them ideologically and
materially.
     The FRG has modernized itself in relation to national
socialism. The groundwork laid in national socialism for the
destruction of the labour movement, the historical pact between
state and business, population politics, urban planning, and
especially the social political have been used and further
developed by the later FRG.
     The new German state points to the group of military elite who
planned the July 20th, 1944 attempt on Hitler's life as its
historical legitimation. These are the people who helped form and
manage national socialism and whose interest it was to defend
Germany against a complete military defeat. In contrast, the BRD is
completely quiet about the resistance of communists and many social
democrats.

About Antifa Work Itself

     Although the revolutionary component of antifa work is
continuously worked out in the theoretical part of antifa work, it
not brought much into everyday praxis. This means, as a rule, that
only street fascists are the object of actions, while the bourgeois
state and the capitalist system are only verbally criticized.
Nevertheless, we think that antifa provides the opportunity to talk
to people, to politicize them and to make connection clear. Of
course, antifa is more than just a method to politicize people and
it also naturally means more than just hindering Nazis or
protecting oneself. Antifascist politics means intervening in all
ares of society and showing alternatives to the dominant ways of
relating.

About The Content Of Antifa Work

     Included in the theoretical work is working out general terms
like fascism, state and patriarchy and doing historical work about
resistance struggles. These became the theoretical base for the
political work and are discussed in internal work groups and
education sessions. Another part of this work is the exact research
of fascist structures, which serve as the basis of concrete
actions. The theoretical work is naturally not just for the groups
own internal education, but rather is also made public through
presentations, seminars, books, pamphlets and leaflets. In this
way, theoretical work is also an important part of the public work.

On Public Work

     In addition to theoretical work, demonstrations, rallies and
agit-prop actions to particular themes, mostly in the area of
antifascism, are central to work in the public eyes. (There will be
further discussion of these kinds of actions) One of the important
things about these actions is that they have a reference to a
concrete situation. The autonome antifascists mobilize directly to
the meeting points of fascists in contrast to reformist groups who
consciously avoid confrontation with fascists and the police and
generally demonstrate far away from "the action". The goal of these
demonstrations and actions by autonome antifascists is not just
protest against fascism, but also is actual resistance to, and
hindering of, fascists.

On Coalition Politics

     Despite the different ways of doing politics, autonome
antifascists try to hinder the activities of fascists through wide
coalition work.

Autonomist Activities

Stopping Fascist Pilgrimages

     The vice-chairman of Hitler, Rudolf Hess, had been a hero for
militant nazis because he had been imprisoned until dead in the
Allied Forces prison for war criminals. After he died he became a
martyr who brings old and new fascist together. Each year since
1990, fascist pilgrims have visited his grave in Wunsiedel, Bavaria
and have organized a Rudolf Hess Memorial March with delegations of
Spanish, Danish and British fascists. Between 500 and 2000 persons
take part in the marches, that can be considered as an attempt to
connect militant and democratic fascists on a nationalist
celebration day. It is also an attempt to get European and German
people used to seeing nazi marches and symbols in the streets and
on television. The memorial marches are organized by the group
GDNF, a nazi network to rebuild the national socialist party as a
symbol of the new strength of their movement.
     Antifascist demonstrators try to stop the nazis from marching
by following them in car convoys, blocking the streets and
occupying the places they want to demonstrate at. State reaction is
to keep nazis and antifas apart, and escorting the nazis to a calm
place, where they can march and celebrate. Thousands of police and
military personnel with helicopters were unable to stop 500
fascists from marching in Fulda, a tourist city in central Germany
in August 1993. However, when it comes to stopping antifas, they do
it by every means available, like undercover agents, blockades of
highways and masses of police in the streets. Although police
protection allowed nazis to march, they complained, they could not
stop them because of lack of police forces. These situations are
used by police propagandists to get more personnel and higher
budgets. Summing up the police reaction, we come to the conclusion
that nazi sympathizers can be found in the higher ranks of the
police. This conclusion is also supported by real evidence.

Anti-Nationalism - Germany Never Again

     This slogan is a variation of the historical one "Fascism
never again - War never again", and was the name of a leftist
autonomist campaign against German reunification. Between 1990 and
1993 some GNA marches were organized by socialist or autonomist
groups. The biggest one took place in Frankfurt in 1990 with 15,000
people. In the former boarder city of Gottingen, autonomists
organize every year a GNA march on October 3rd, the new German
Unity Celebration Day. The first marches and actions denounced the
infiltration and annexation of Eastern Germany. The following ones
warned of the new imperialist tendencies of greater Germany, that
can be seen in Yugoslavia and eastern Europe. They agitate against
the rollback, executed by nationalist conservatives inside Germany.
This rollback consists of changes in immigration and abortion laws,
the decline of social welfare and the expanding police apparatus.
The yearly GNA march in Gottingen has been connected with artist's
performances and concerts, so that people could enjoy a complete
anti-nationalist celebration day. Official Germany is celebrating
each October 3rd in a different east or west German city. Each year
autonomists try to hinder the celebrations with anti-national
protest. We hope they will be successful on October 3rd of this
year in Bremen.

Anti-Racism - Stopping The Pogroms

     Since the annexation of Eastern Germany, more and more racist
riots and attacks of refugees and immigrant worker hostels have
taken place. Besides the nightly firebombings of immigrant's
private homes like in Moelln and Solingen, in which Turkish women
and children were killed, the racist riots Rostock, Hoyersweda and
Mannheim are the most well known. On a few consecutive days,
fascist, drunken hooligans and curious people assembled in front of
an immigrant hostel in Rostock. They threatened people and smashed
windows of the hostel. Police were not willing to chase them away
and TV showed these daily racist riots as a brand new sensation.
     200 autonomists from Hamburg arrived in the third night of the
riot to support the immigrants. After they forced the mob to run
away, police special forces arrested all the autonomists. After
that, the mob went on, throwing firebombs and obstructing
firefighters. Finally, the immigrants were able to be rescued from
the burning house.
     In Hoyerswerda, police evacuated the surrounded immigrant
hostel, while the mob celebrated its victory of forcing the
immigrants out of the town. Autonomists and immigrant groups tried
to have a support-march, but their convoy was stopped at the city
border.
     After several attacks on a refugee hostel in Greifswald,
immigrants, supported by autonomists, decided to leave the town by
a car convoy to reach secure territory in Hamburg. They occupied a
church for nearly 8 weeks, to fight for their right to chose their
place of residence themselves. Autonomist groups organized food,
medical help and protection for 70 people. It was difficult to
translate political issues into several languages and discuss them
with people of different ideologies and levels of political
consciousness. After a long war of nerves with the church, police
and politicians, immigrants and autonomists left the church,
decorating the walls with slogans like "Your Jesus is white". Now
the autonomists try to support the immigrants individually.
     In general, supporting immigrants and refugees includes lots
of difficulties. They cannot be seen as intrinsical revolutionary
subject, because they come from different countries, social classes
and are in contact with different ideologies. Helping asylum
seekers can turn into private social services without radical
political view. Sometimes conflicts with male refugees appear
because of their patriarchal behaviour, educated in traditional
societies. Often men push their women into the background and do
not accept female supporters as political subjects. However, it is
hard to avoid having euro-centricity reproduced in anti-racist
work. When political refugees, often traditional communists, come
in contact with autonomists, their centralistic ideas or
revolutionary organization and order conflict with anarchists and
sub-cultural ways of life in the autonomist scene. In spite of
these difficulties, anti-racist support of immigrants and refugees
remains an important part of the autonomist movement. Assisting
refugees to organize themselves, protecting them from the racist
mobs as far as possible and supporting them against state racism
are parts of learning and acting together.

Discussion And Process Of Organizing

     The events around 1989 had also their effect on radical
leftist movements. The autonomist scene of the 80's fell apart,
many were frustrated and the younger ones lacked experience in
militant and political struggles.
     The first meetings of antifa groups within the autonomist
infoshop network took place in this context. One of them, Autonome
Antifa (M) tried to encourage discussion and the process of
organizing with their paper "About Autonomist Organizing" in 1991.
The opinions in the following meetings and autonomist magazines
ranged from the standpoint 'Building up an organization now' and
the focus on 'The process of organizing', a position that was more
cautious about organizations. The demand of an anti-imperialist
antifascism was criticized as being sectarian and was to be
reminiscent of east German propaganda terms. Some groups preferred
a low level organization with information pools and to discuss
theory. They separated from the existing meetings. Other groups
wanted to become effective nationwide as quickly as possible. They
tried to find out qualities and conditions of cooperating groups.
During the next meetings, suggestions of possible structure of an
organization, responsibilities of the members, the political aims
and the theoretical background were discussed and fixed in a
statute. Based on this statute, Antifascist action- Nationwide
organization was founded. 12 autonomist groups from mainly west
German cities were the first members in 1992. The organization's
symbol was taken from a former proletarian antifascist action in
the 30's. Besides theoretical discussion of member groups, like the
seminar about armed leftist struggle in west Germany, the campaign
"Against fascist training-centres" is the most important activity
of the new organization in 1993 and 1994. Demonstrations,
information for press and TV and local presentations are the main
parts of this politics. Antifascist action tries to have antifa
positions represented in the open, in the streets, in the news and
TV, to convince people of the possibility and importance of antifa
resistance and to encourage them to become engaged themselves.
     Partly because they are observed by the secret service and are
in danger of being accused of Paragraph 129a ( support of
terrorism), antifas act more and more against state repression and
its connections with militant fascists. This anti-antifa politics
of the German government and administration became clear by the
connections of police and secret service men with nazi groups.
Undercover agents are placed in the nazi groups, to keep them
effective and "controlled". Often police or soldiers are outed as
members of nazi groups.
     The antifascist action tries to get their members politicized
in a fair and realistic way. Self-education and collective learning
by collective discussions and actions are the attempts to connect
different personalities and abilities. The groups are open to
people who agree with the political aims of the AA. The structure
is not dependent on personal sympathies or subcultural habits, so
people can join the movement without coming from the typical
autonomist scene. In the 80's many autonomists were politicized by
radical fashions, lifestyles, and confrontation with the state and
parents. Today it is possible to have a radical lifestyle without
radical ideology and activity, because lifestyle is diversified and
does not attack this society. In the AA groups different personal
interests and grades of activity are accepted as a condition of
collective development and consciousness. A system of delegates and
dividing work and responsibility and democratic, collective
decision-making have been taken up so as to avoid informal
hierarchies and patriarchal behaviour.
     By now you have a sense of what our antifascist work is. Our
politics is not just anti-nazi, but rather is also aimed at the
current capitalist system. Because ours is not a preventative, but
rather antagonistic and revolutionary politic, the German state
views us as threat to the current order and reacts accordingly.
     The militant antifa movement is met on two levels by
repression by the state: politically and judicially. We have talked
about the connections between organized fascists, the state and the
new right in the government, media and the academy. I'd like to
expand on that and focus on how their attack on antifascism is
augmented by the actions of the police.
     The history of repression in the FRG, after WW2, revolves
primarily around one point: paragraph 129a in the federal law, the
so-called anti-terrorist paragraph. It has been used to criminalize
and politically isolate left movements by linking them to the RAF,
the Red Army Fraction.
     Paragraph 129a, created in 1979 as a way of fighting the RAF
and with it the entire left, prohibits the support of, propaganda
for, or building of a terrorist organization. it was an amendment
to paragraph 129, prohibiting the formation of a criminal
organization, and was created especially to use against the left.
While there have bee 3000 investigations according to paragraph
129a carried out against leftists since 1980, only two have been
directed against the right. Both these investigations were stopped.
     The first use of paragraph 129 in the new German state was in
the mid-1950's when it was used to ban the KDP, the communist party
of Germany. Since the late 70's, paragraph 129 has been used almost
exclusively to try to connect groups or individuals to the RAFT.
Paragraph 129 is generally used in connection with organized crime
and racketeering.
     The antifa movement is only the most recent movement to be met
with paragraph 129a investigations. It was used in the early 80s to
more heavily criminalize and split the peace and anti-nuclear
movements. When those movements became what the state considered to
widely based, successful or otherwise dangerous, the state began
the campaign to discredit and criminalize them by denouncing the
more militant or revolutionary groups and individuals as
terrorists. The state outlined the RAF structure as operating on
several levels: the commando level which actually carried out the
attacks, a large support group, people involved indirectly in
setting up the actions and a broad network of people working on
other fronts with other tactics. This is referred to as the "gesamt
RAF", or entire RAF theory, and is the state's justification for
its repression of the left.
     Paragraph 129a is vague in itself and has been used to
prosecute political people, supposedly active in the loose support
network of the RAF. Openly debating about the RAF without
distancing oneself from their goals and methods constitutes
propaganda. This includes doing presentations about the RAF,
producing leaflets or spray-painting slogans demanding freedom for
RAF prisoners, or being a lawyer for a RAF member. The chief judge
in Stuttgart declared that in some cases, being involved in "legal
activities paired with particular principles" in enough to charge
someone with being a member of the RAF.
     While people have been convicted according to 129a, the
primary effect is political. Only 5% of paragraph 129a
investigations ever lead to convictions.
     It is a psychological tool to isolate and discredit
progressive movements that challenge the status quo. A group that
is labelled as terrorist, or is being investigated for allegedly
being terrorist, often loses its base in the mainstream and is the
object of desolidaritization by coalition partners who perceive the
group as a political risk. The campaign gainst the group is waged
in the media, where the group is discredited or written off as
"fringe.'
     The investigations affect the group itself, of course, as
well. The state hopes that the group will bow under the pressure of
intimidation, cease its political activities or go underground, but
in any case become politically irrelevant.

Now About The Specific Case In Gottingen

     Investigations against antifascists according to 129a have
been carried out in Gottingen since the Fall of 1991. It was made
very clear early on that the investigations were focused on the
Autonome Antifa (M), an organization that operates in the public,
legal realm to help establish antifascism as a meaningful force in
southern Lower Saxony. The strategy of the police includes
collecting press releases from newspaper offices to collecting
fingerprints, confiscating rental contracts for lecture rooms and
vans used in demonstrations, observing group meetings and private
homes, and tapping telephones.
     As an investigation paragraph, the police are able to use
tactics like these that are otherwise prohibited by law. This has
the effect of normalizing a state of emergency. Actions that are
otherwise only allowed in war or a similar situation are declared
legal and carried out over a long period of time.
     The situation has recently intensified in Gottingen in that on
July 5th, the police carried out raids against 17 members and
alleged members of the AA(M). Police, including special units form
the local, state, and federal forces, searched their homes, some
workplaces and parent's homes, rooms in the student parliament
building of the Gottingen university, a bookstore and two printers.
     Quite a bit of material was seized in the searches, including
several computers, sacks full of files, notebooks, and personal
items.
     The AA(M) was defined as a "criminal organization according to
paragraph 129a" in the search warrants and July 5th press release
from the police. The group is also accused of making "propaganda
for the terrorist organization RAFT and having close contact on
several levels to members of the RAFT", charges that fall under
129a. Additional justification for the searches is supposedly the
violation of the assembly law, specifically referring to the black
block which "is comprised of up to 800 persons and gives the
impression of being a private army."
     The goal of the investigation is the examination and
criminalization of the AA(M) and its politics. The press release
from the regional police stated that the purpose of the raids was
to gather information "about the goals, strategy, and tactics of
this group as well as the individual positions of the members
within the group."
     This is the newest attempt to discredit militant anti-fascist
politics, with some new twists. The state is attempting to define
the AA(M) as the legal arm of the RAF by pointing to ideological
similarities (e.g. anti-imperialism) and judicial stretches rather
than hard evidence. For example, the Lower Saxony interior minister
Glogowski argued in the 1994  federal report of internal security,
that the discount card for train travel found in the backpack of
Birgit Hogefeld, the RAF member arrested in Bad Kleinen in June
1994, had been bought in Gottingen and thus, logically, the
autonome antifascists in Gottingen must be supporting the RAF.
     This line of thinking reappeared in the police's press release
regarding the searches in Gottingen: the AA(M) is "a group in the
anti-imperialist spectrum. Therefore, the AA(M) maintains on
several levels close contact to members of the terrorist RAF.
     This move by the state is a symbol of the closing room in
which leftists can move and organize. That such strong pressure is
being exerted on a group that operates legally and in the public
realm indicates that the state will no longer tolerate even this
low-level revolutionary opposition.
     There have been other cases of criminalization of antifascist
activists in the last few years, but they have all been directed at
individuals, rather than at an entire political group. The
criminalization attempts include the imprisonment in November of a
group of 5 Kurdish and Turkish youths in Berlin, charged with the
murder of a fascist party functionary and the conviction of Gunther
in Weisbaden in June with circumstantial  evidence to two years in
jail. He allegedly participated in an attack on the party congress
of the DU (German Alternative), a banned fascist party that was
nevertheless allowed to meet under the police's watchful eye.
Neither of these cases involve 129 or 129a and although they are
strikes against the left, they are not part of a strategy to
construct organized leftists as terrorists.
     The criminalization of Autonomen Antifa(M) represents one of
the largest blows from the state to autonome antifascism exactly
because it is an attempt to wipe out organized, legal antifascist
action.
     The actions of the state can be seen as a reaction to the
groups successful coalition politics. The three large
demonstrations initiated by the AA(M) and supported by the local
SPD and Green parties, labour unions, citizen's initiatives, youth
groups and others in 1988, 1993 and 1994 against fascist training
centres and leaders have become important parts of antifascist
culture in Gottingen and southern Lower Saxony. Through these
demonstrations and other events, radical antifascism has become
understood and accepted in wide circles of the population.

Resistance

     This coalition work has also served to create solidarity
within the left in the region. The searches were immediately
criticized by student and community groups, the university
president, and delegates to the state parliament from the Greens
and the SPD, both because of the illegal methods and also because
the searches were so clearly a politically motivated move to
discredit the group. Over 1000 people participated in a spontaneous
demonstration on the day of the searches and two more
demonstrations with 2000 and nearly 4000 people followed in the
next 10 days. The demonstrations were organized under the motto
"Stop state terrorism! Fight Back! No criminalization of the
Autonome Antifa(M)!
     The AA(M) will continue with its political course and will in
no way let itself be intimidated by the recent intensification of
repression. In 1992, the state attorney reported in the press that
if anyone appeared officially as a member of the AA(M), they would
be arrested immediately under 129a. We did not buckle under the
pressure then, we continued to appear as the AA(M) at lectures and
other events. In the same way we will continue to meet the most
recent criminalization actions openly and offensively. If the state
wants to criminalize our legal antifascist work, it will have to do
so publicly; we will not back down, go underground, or disappear
into the fog of political irrelevancy.