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2010-04-12

Berlin: Let the European Security-Architecture crumble!

Diesen Aufruf in deutsch

Europe is not your friend.

The European Union is often underestimated – the radical left is no exception. This despite the fact that far-reaching decisions are made on the EU political level, decisions that should drive anybody with an even remotely critical mindset onto the barricades.
The inhumane War on ‘illegal’ migration, the fight against crime, or military disaster relief – all these issues are coordinated and organised on the EU level. Critique has been rare and poorly received. While the european border control institution ‘Frontex’ has come to be well known, and the MEP’s “insubordinance” with regard to the SWIFT dealings might have been noticed, only a few people will likely have heard of INDECT or EuroDac. What is the Stockholm program? And why exactly are long-haired software developers part of the defense industry?

Every once in a while, when a new law – such as the german law on data retention – is broadly criticized or even deemed unconstitutional by the courts, the fingers are quickly pointed at the European Union. The new legal guidelines are said to be dictated by Brussels, and said guidelines must be implemented on the national level.
Hence, the logical conclusion would be to scrutinize EU politics more closely.
Aside from pushing it’s neo-liberal and neo-colonial economic agenda down the world’s collective throats, the EU is also engaged in a massive build-up of its domestic and foreign security apparatus to cement its position as global player on all fronts: geostrategical and economical, with regard to energy and resources on one hand, and so-called “intellectual property” on the other.

Know your enemy.

The Stockholm program is the manifestation of both the EU’s aggressive legal regulation practices and its technical armament. Basically, it’s a 5-year-plan against freedom. Amongst many things, the program’s intent is to outfit Frontex with its own infrastructure. On top of all the equipment provided by Germany, Italy, Greece and others, which is currently used by border patrols to hunt down refugees, Frontex is to be equipped with its own boats, observation drones, helicopters and various other military gadgets, and as soon as possible.
Within Europe’s borders, rearmament progresses equally quickly. The INDECT project boosts law enforcment to a new level: software-based risk/danger analyses are to help recognize criminal actions – before they’ve even been committed. What might sound like science fiction is referred to as “predictive analytics”, and is the hottest trend in contemporary so-called security-research. The INDECT project is to be fed with all kinds of available data that could somehow prove promising, this includes footage from traffic and CCTV cameras, activities in social networks such as facebook, bank dealings, customer profiles and of course the massiva amounts of data already held by police, attorney-generals and various intelligence agencies. For easy access to this database new, complex software is being used, capable of handling differing types of information.
This range of security policies serves the purpose of exerting ever more control over the EU’s citizens, in order to facilitate and intensify the efficiency at which its wageslaves can be exploited.

Europe’s security architecture didn’t appear out of nowhere, though, it’s carried onwards on many a player’s shoulders: armament companies, software developers, but also universities and research facilities on a quest for EU funding and acclaim. It comes as no surprise that Germany occupies leading positions in this field of research.

With multiple crises looming, there’s a fair amount of fear of losing control over a potentially unruly population. Seeing as capitalism won’t function without an endless cycle of crises and recovery – not now, nor ever – and the costs incurred by said crises will not be paid for by the ruling class (and especially not Europe’s elite!), the only way forward is to pour yet more money and resources into the perfection of their security and control apparatus.

..and Action!

The aim of our series of rallies is to both ask critical questions of the European Union, and to highlight local hubs of Europe’s security architecture, robbing them of their perceived anonymity. For too long, the EU has been neglected in critical leftwing and radical discourse. Our goal is to combine our international analysis with local action. Our critical mass versus their critical infrastructure.
Shortly before the 1st of May – international labor day – we’ll use our bicycles to pay a visit to the protagonists of the european police congress, the military industrial complex, and political figureheads. Because their war is a war against us – mobilize against the European Union!

4/29/10

Out of Control Berlin

http://outofcontrol.noblogs.org

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