Criminalization Of Anti-Fascists In Germany

Dear Friends and Comrades!

     We are writing with information about the attempt to
criminalize the Autonome Antifa (M), an anti-fascist group in
Lower Saxony, Germany. The Autonome Antifa (M) has its roots in
the autonomist movement and was founded in 1990 as part of a
campaign to reorganize the left in a reunified Germany. Our focus
is anti-fascism, meaning not just that we are anti-Nazi, but
rather that we work to fight the roots of fascism, capitalism,
patriarchy, and racism. In the last five years we have worked
continuously on local and nation-wide projects, including the
AA/BO (Anti-Fascist Action/Nation-Wide Organization). Our
coalition demonstrations, lecture series, and cultural events
have helped establish anti-fascism as a meaningful force in the
region.
     This successful anti-fascist work has not gone unheeded. We
are part of the undogmatic left and because we understand our
anti-fascism as part of a larger leftist struggle, we stand
necessarily in opposition to this system. The coalition work with
the local Green Party, labour unions, youth groups, and other
leftist organization has attracted particular attention from the
state. It was made public in October 1991 that the Autonome
Antifa (M) was being investigated according to Paragraph 129a
(support of, propaganda for, or building a terrorist
organization). The investigations are still underway, but the
charges of 129a have been dropped in all but a few individual
cases. The new justification for the investigation is Paragraph
129 (the building of a criminal organization). They are being
carried out with extraordinary effort in terms of cost,
personnel, and technical means. Among other things, state and
federal agents have tapped phones and observed meetings, homes,
and individuals  - up to 24 hours a day - since 1991.
     The investigations culminated in massive raids on members
and alleged members of the Autonome Antifa (M) on July 5-6, 1994.
During those two days, the homes, family members' homes, and
workplaces of 17 people were searched, 28 locations in all.
Truckloads of materials were confiscated, including internal
papers, files, personal items, and several computers with a value
of tens of thousands of dollars.
     The group is faced with a three-pronged attack. We have been
accused of disturbing the peace, a reference to several coalition
demonstrations in a nation-wide campaign against fascist training
centres. The second accusation is of coercion. The Autonome
Antifa (M) has been able to prevent Nazi meetings from taking
place by building up political pressure using legal means,
tactics that apparently count as crimes. Our engagement with the
history and situation of political prisoners in Germany is also
viewed by the state as dangerous. Several individuals face
charges under 129a. This law was created especially for
combatting the left by attempting to link them, in the courts and
in the press, with the RAF (Red Army Fraction).
     As charges against individuals, the above accusations
(excluding 129a) are fairly low-level. However, the actions were
organized and carried out by an anti-fascist group, leaving us
open to Germany's anti-anti-fascist politics. We are facing
charges according to 129, the building of a criminal
organization, a law normally used to fight organized crime. It is
similar to the RICO laws in the US. This law has hardly ever been
used against a political group before in Germany and has severe
minimum penalties.
     At present, 25 people are directly accused of being members
in a "criminal organization", the Autonome Antifa (M), and many
more could be pulled into the case when the trial begins. We
expect a long and expensive trial which could result in long
sentences for the accused. The struggle will be carried out
juristically and politically. We expect to be portrayed as
organized criminals in the media and for the state to attempt to
discredit our politics and scare off our coalition partners.
     Of course the situation is serious, but even more outrageous
when compared to the German justice system's blind eye to the
right. News of fascist murders and Nazi attacks reach even the
international press every week, but no investigation of this
scale has ever been carried out over such a long period of time
against any right-wing group.
     International media coverage and pressure, like what the
firebombings in Moelln and Solingen inspired, has been important
in building political pressure in Germany. While trials against
leftists in the 70s and 80s were regularly carried out with
partially illegal methods, international trial watchers have
helped to keep pressure on the courts to proceed legally in
trials in the last few years. The most recent example is that of
the Berlin 7, the so-called Kaindl Trial. The court certainly
would have come down harder on the defendants without the
international attention the trial drew.
     To win this case and to defend our politics against
criminalization, we need strong international solidarity. We
expect regional and nation-wide support committees to initiate an
international solidarity campaign in the near future.
     What we need right away is press coverage and international
trial watchers. If you have contacts to the press or to other
groups who might help organize the solidarity campaign, please
pass this information on to them and have them contact us via
post or e-mail. The trials should begin sometime in the summer of
1995 and will last for several months. The trial watchers should
come for at least two days and can, of course, come for longer.
     We will send more information when the actual charges are
filed and when the date for the trials is set. Regular
information will also be sent over the Internet when the trials
begin.

No criminalization of anti-fascist resistance!
Build up international solidarity!

Autonome Antifa (M)
organized in the AA/BO


Autonome Antifa (M)
c/o Buchladen
Rote Strasse 10
37073 Goettingen
Germany