Der folgende Text ist eine Übersetzung des kurz nach den Gipfelprotesten in Straßburg auf indymedia Grenoble erschienen Artikels 'OTAN en emportent les black blocs'. Er unterstreicht die Notwendigkeit militanten Widerstands. Er wurde (erstaunlicherweise) zu großen Teilen in der 'linksliberalen' Tageszeitung Libération unter dem Titel 'Black blocs, théorie de la lutte de casse' in ihrer Wochenendausgabe vom 18./19. April 2009 abgedruckt.
Was der Schwarze Block so alles mit sich bringt...
[Der Originaltitel 'OTAN en emportent les black blocs' ist ein Wortspiel, das sich nicht wirklich ins deutsche übersetzen lässt.]

„Je mehr Gewalt, desto weniger Revolution “, schrieb Bart de Ligt bereits 1936 in “The Conquest of Violence”. Folgt man dem, gab es in Strasbourg trotz aller Revolutionsromantik aus bestimmten Kreisen sehr wenig Revolution. Ich stelle dies vorweg um klar zu machen, dass es hier um eine Kritik aus revolutionärer Perspektive geht, und nicht um eine grün- oder Linkspartei staatsreformistische, das staatliche Gewaltmonopol bejahende Kritik an Gewalt.

Als GraswurzelrevolutionärInnen, als gewaltfreie AnarchistInnen müssen wir uns jedoch auch mit Gewalt aus den Reihen sozialer Bewegungen auseinandersetzen, denn diese Gewalt ist in unserer Revolutionsperspektive kontraproduktiv.

France’s urban war games more frequent and realistic

When war became urban (Berlin in 1945, or more recently Chechnya) cities and people were ravaged. Now, given the rise in population of towns and cities, the French army must familiarise itself with more subtle warfare where all-out destruction is not an option

by Philippe Leymarie

By DIANA JOHNSTONE

NATO creates threats wherever it goes. That is its business. Whether in Afghanistan or in Strasbourg, the foreign military presence provokes violent rebellion, especially from young men who feel challenged. Their violent rebellion is cited to justify an increase in repressive violence. And so it goes…

This cycle of violence was played out last Saturday, April 4, in Strasbourg, where thousands of police and a small number of Black Block street fighters stole the show from what should have been the launching of a new European mass movement against NATO war policy. The peace demonstration was squashed and disintegrated by armed police as black-hooded youths threw stones and set fires.

• english: www.gipfelsoli.org/NATO_2009_english/6396.html
• francais: www.gipfelsoli.org/NATO_2009_francais/6395.html
• italiano www.gipfelsoli.org/Home/6404.html
• svenska: www.motkraft.net/nyheter/3483

Gegen NATO, G20, G8, Frontex und das “Stockholm Programm”!
Sicherheitsarchitekturen einstürzen!

Seit Ende des letzten Jahrtausends findet innerhalb der EU ein Umbau der “Sicherheitsarchitektur” statt, der durch die Anschläge des 11. September 2001 in den USA nochmals beschleunigt wurde. Sichtbare Phänomene sind z.B. die Verschränkung innerer und äußerer Sicherheit, ein “Pooling” von Verfolgungsbehörden und Nachrichtendiensten und ein vereinfachter Datenaustausch.
Auf technischer Ebene werden wir konfrontiert mit neuen digitalen Überwachungskameras, Satellitenbeobachtung, Biometrie, Drohnen, Software zur intelligenten Suche in Datenbanken und neuen, breitbandigen Netzen zur Verwaltung dieser immensen digitalen Datenflut.
Neue Institutionen und Behörden wurden geschaffen, darunter das “Europäische Polizeiamt” Europol, die Polizeiakademie CEPOL, die “Grenzschutzagentur” Frontex oder der “Ausschuss für die operative Zusammenarbeit” aller polizeilichen Einrichtungen der EU samt ihrem geheimdienstlichen Lagezentrum.
Auf Initiative der damaligen französischen Verteidigungsministerin (und jetzigen Innenministerin) Michèle Alliot-Marie wurde 2004 die “Europäische Gendarmerietruppe” (EGF) eingerichtet. Die EGF soll in Krisengebieten die “Öffentliche Ordnung” gewährleisten, Aufstandsbekämpfung betreiben, geheimdienstliche Informationen beschaffen und Eigentum schützen.

Die Sicherheitsindustrie dürfte einer der wenigen Zweige sein, der von der gegenwärtigen Krise des Kapitalismus und den daraus resultierenden Kämpfen gewaltig profitiert. Europas Polizeien bereiten sich auf Protest und Widerstand gegen die Auswirkungen der Krisen vor.

Bourgeois attempts
to channel proletarian struggles on an international scale
and
Invariant struggle
for the proletarian rupture
AGAINST SUMMITS AND COUNTER-SUMMITS

General characteristics of contemporary struggles
Fifteen years ago we took stock of the situation by portraying the struggles that characterize the current phase of capitalism, without taking into account any elements particular to specific confrontations. (2) Since then, nothing has fundamentally changed with regard to those general characteristics.

How sustained economic upheaval could put political regimes at risk

Popular anger around the world is growing as a result of rising unemployment, pay cuts and freezes, bail-outs for banks, and falls in house prices and the value of savings and pension funds. The extent and speed with which the global crisis has intensified, with much of the global economy slowing dramatically in the final quarter of 2008, has been a major shock.

LE MONDE | 16.03.09

For four month now, the legal & media spectacle titled "The Tarnac affair" won't come to an end. Was Julien Coupat to come out of prison for Christmas? For New Year's Eve then? Or would Friday the 13th be his lucky day? No. In the end 'we' will keep him a bit longer in jail, locked into his new role as 'leader of an invisible cell'.

Since a few people in power appear to have an interest in letting this charade go on, even beyond the limits of the grotesque, for the sake of collective clarification, we will have to take once more the garb that has been knit for us ("the 9 from Tarnac").

Well then.

by José Miguel Alonso Trabanco

Eurasia is currently experiencing serious problems derived from financial and economic difficulties such as unemployment, GDP negative growth, currency depreciation, overall economic slowdown and so on. Several members of both the European Union and NATO (Poland, Hungary, Iceland come to mind) are already dealing with a considerable deal of domestic discontent. Some States from the Former Soviet Union (notably Ukraine, Belarus and the Central Asian Republics) and even Russia itself are facing similar problems. Even Chinese government officials acknowledge protests in the Chinese mainland, just like Professor Michael Klare points out, which means that East Asia is by no means an exception. As we shall see, financial and economic conditions are equally grave in the American hemisphere, if not more so.

This year there’s the NATO summit, the G8 in Italy, Cop-15 etc. Do you think this could be the return of the anti-globalisation movement? Could, or should, it take the same form that it did in the late 90’s and how do you think the current financial situation affects this?

“Everything is rational in capitalism, except capital or capitalism itself …the system is demented, yet it works very well at the same time”.
(Felix Guattarri, 1995)

“We mean business when we talk about climate change”.
(Jose Manuel Barroso, European commission president)

One of the biggest political spectacles of the coming year will be held in Copenhagen, (COP-15) in December. There, delegates from 170 countries, corporate lobbyists and NGO representatives will come together under the banner of the United Nations framework convention on climate change (UNFCC) in an attempt to solve the problem of climate change via the implementation of a global, market based, carbon cap and trade scheme. The deal brokered here will replace the Kyoto treaty which will expire in 2012. The COP-15 will be a core global governance mechanism through which climate change mitigation will be implemented. The deal that emerges from this has the potential to affect the entire socio-ecological field.

ByJohn Cunningham

At last November’s NUM convened conference, trade unionists and Climate Campers were invited to debate the explosive cocktail of (clean) coal, class and climate change. John Cunningham reports on the frustrating attempts to find a middle ground

This year’s camp at Kingsnorth in Kent against the opening of a new coal fired power station produced a range of predictable responses, from the inanity of the Guardian's suggestion that it was yet another alternative lifestyle festival, to the over zealous attentions of the security state. One of the more interesting responses was from long standing anarchist activist and ex-National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) official Dave Douglass. In a polemic against the camp, he addressed the anti-coal bias of the Climate Campers alongside a perceived lack of class analysis within the camp and the wider green movement. There is undoubtedly a feel good anti-capitalism implicit in much of the discourse around climate camp that can exclude any consideration of class in favour of blandly utopian sentiment. For instance, in the Climate Camp Newspaper statements such as ‘Sometimes it feels as though our world is coloured in sadness. And you just want to be somewhere else…’ i read less like a detournement of advertising copy than a self help approach to political activism, the ‘middle class voice’ that Douglass characteristically claimed Climate Camp spoke in.

Disclaimer:

This piece, while approaching many topics which might be of interest for any reflections by anarchists, autonomous people and other social rebels, is still very oriented towards the German context. Therefore, you reader, will find a few things which might sound awkward to you, if not being aware on the German situation, but I still hope that this will not necessarily create a divide, intolerance or simply make you bored.

“Between the joy and the frustration of being trapped within a known play of theatre: a few notes following the G8 summit in Germany and its repercussions”.

NATO is planning to host their annual conference next year in France and Germany in the cities of Strasbourg and Baden-Baden. While the summit itself will take place in Strasbourg, the “working dinners” of the ministers of defence will be held in Baden-Baden, Germany, between Karlsruhe and Kehl, around 50 kilometres from Strasbourg.

The summit will celebrate the 60th anniversary of this war alliance, when the member states will discuss NATO’s new strategic direction. As in 1999 large changes are planned.

Zusammenfassung der ersten Ergebnisse – Stand: 21.12.08

Einleitung

Wir bewegen uns in eine weltgeschichtliche Situation hinein, in der alle Weichen des gesellschaftlichen, wirtschaftlichen und politischen Lebens neu gestellt werden. Für meine Generation wird es nach den Jahren 1967 bis 1973 der zweite Epochenumbruch sein. Alle wichtigen Fakten und Indikatoren der letzten Wochen weisen darauf hin, dass eine Weltwirtschaftskrise begonnen hat, die schon jetzt das Ausmaß der Krise von 1973 und der Zwischenkrisen von 1982 und 1987 überschreitet und sich an die Dimensionen der Weltwirtschaftskrise und der anschließenden Depression von 1929 bis 1940 annähert.

Wie sollen wir auf diese gigantische Herausforderung antworten?

This is a solidarity statement from comrades in Tokyo, Japan, who are facing the potential of hosting the 2016 Olympics:

To No Olympic on Stolen Land, NO 2010, Anti 2010 resistance.

December 17th, 2008

We have just found out that in Vancouver there are people who oppose hosting the 2010 Olympic Games. We looked through the information book (Warrior Publications) which explains the reasons of opposition to the winter Olympic events. The stories reminded us of our experiences during the 1998 Nagano winter Olympics, and again we felt strong anger.

The fight in Nagano took us 10 years, starting from the Olympic invitation process, then becoming the host city and then having the actual Olympic event and after. Through out we saw the problems of natural destruction by resort developers. Japan's biggest developers used the Olympics to expand their already existing resort land. One of the developers was the leader of the Japan Olympic Committee (JOC).

Ein Aufruf aus Griechenland zur internationalen Solidarität

Eine Bande an Politikern und Jornalisten schwärmen herum und versuchen sich unsere Bewegung zu nutze zu machen und ihr ihre eigne Rationalität aufzudrängen. Sie sagen, dass wir rebellieren, weil unsere Regierung korrupt ist oder weil wir mehr Geld und mehr Arbeit von ihr bekommen wollen. Falsch.
Wenn wir Banken zerstören, dann darum, weil wir in ihrem Geld einen Hauptgrund unserer Traurigkeit erkennen. Wenn wir die Schaufenster der Läden zertrümmern, ist es nicht weil das Leben teuer ist, sondern weil uns die Güter selbst am Leben hindern, unabhängig von ihrem Preis.
Wenn wir die polizeilichen Formationen angreifen, dann nicht nur um unseren toten Kameraden zu rächen, sondern weil sie zwischen der Welt und der Welt, wie wir sie uns wünschen, immer ein Hindernis sein werden.

RADICAL NEW AGENDA NEEDED TO ACHIEVE CLIMATE JUSTICE

12 December 2008

Members of Climate Justice Now! – a worldwide alliance of more than 160 organisations -- have been in Poznan for the past two weeks closely following developments in the UN climate negotiations.

This statement is our assessment of the Conference of Parties (COP) 14, and articulates our principles for achieving climate justice.

Plan B Bureau

Thesis 1
We define the metropolis as the compact group of territories and heterogeneous devices crossed in every point by a disjunctive synthesis; there is not any point of the metropolis, in fact, where command and resistance, dominion and sabotage are not present at the same time. An antagonistic process between two parts, whose relation consists in enmity, totally innervates the metropolis. On one side, it consists, true to it’s etymology, in the exercising of a command that is irradiated on all the other territories – so everywhere is of the metropolis.[1] It is the space in which and from which the intensity and the concentration of devices of oppression, exploitation and dominion express themselves in their maximum degree and extension. In the metropolis, the city and the country, modernity and second natures collapse and end. In the metropolis where industry, communication and spectacle make a productive whole, the government’s required job consists in connecting and controlling the social cooperation which is at the base to then be able to extract surplus value using biopolitical instruments.

Die Zügellosigkeit der Polizei

Leider kam der bestialische Mord an Alexis Grigoropoulos nicht wie ein Blitz aus heiterem Himmel. Er war kaltblütig, widersinnig und vollkommen grundlos; trotzdem war es ein “Tod mit Ansage”, unabhängig davon, was bisher von dem Mörder-Bullen und seinem Verteidiger-Paten gesagt wird. Und zwar deshalb, weil die Hand des Mörders geführt wurde von der verbreiteten, ungestraften und legalisierten Polizeigewalt der letzten Jahren gegen Migranten, Drogenabhängige, Roma und “lebenslustige” Jugendliche. Sie wurde bewaffnet von der allgemein eingeführten Polizeiherrschaft, der Verfestigung des polizeilichen Kannibalismus und der Figur des Rambo-Bullen, der stolz darauf ist, wie viele Migranten er geschlagen und wie viele Fixer er erniedrigt hat.