From: Brad Dolan <bdolan@USIT.NET>
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 20:13:39 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Another shoe drops
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.3.95.970626075210.29797D-100000@use.usit.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain





---------- Forwarded message ----------

Raids Against 'Interim' Autonomist Zine In Berlin

     On June 12, 1997, more than 500 police in Berlin carried out
a series of raids aimed at criminalizing the weekly autonomist
publication 'Interim'. State agents searched several houses in the
Berlin districts of Friedrichshain, Neukolln, and Kreuzberg.
Several individuals were charged with various felonies including
"rewarding or supporting illegal actions". Police also raided
several printing presses.
     A successful criminalization of the Interim would, in
practical terms, be much more of a blow to the German radical-left
than the recent state campaign against the underground publication
Radikal, because whereas Radikal has only been sporadically
published over the past few years, Interim has appeared *every
week* since the late 1980s. Published as a forum for discussion
for Berlin's radical-left autonome scene, the magazine has
political relevance all across Germany, as it provides an
anonymous forum for publishing communiques from militant action
groups, mobilizations for demonstrations, and debates on politics
and strategy.
     The following is a translation of a statement issued by
Interim following the recent raids.

---
"You Can't Ban A Concept"

Statement From Interim Magazine - June 12, 1997

     Interim has been published weekly for nine years. State
surveillance, repression, and investigations have not stopped it
from appearing. The 1995  Verfassungsschutzbericht' [annual report
from Germany's Office to Protect the Constitution] stated that "a
high degree of trust and discipline among the makers of the
magazine" have prevented the authorities from being able to close
it down. But now the powers that be feel they can do just that.
     Therefore, we'd like to say the following:

1. There is no permanent Interim editorial group, nor a fixed
publishing location. The magazine is continually made and put
together by different people.

2. If any papers were found anywhere during the police raids which
also appeared in the Interim, that doesn't mean a thing. The
Interim has a public mailing address, anyone can send us papers or
documents, and as far as we know, it's not a crime to receive
mail.

3. The cops dismantled printing presses, confiscated computers and
files, filed charges against individuals. It's ridiculous to think
that this will stop the Interim. Because the Interim is a
communications CONCEPT: uncensored, according to the law,
published according to its own rules in the interest of an
anonymous exchange about theory and praxis of undogmatic left-radical
politics. As long as the ruling powers are bent on
destroying society, a radical resistance movement will be
necessary, and it's not possible for a discussion of this
necessity to take place within the boundaries of the laws of the
powers that be. If Schonbohm [former General, now Interior
Minister in Berlin] tries to stop our communication exchange by
confiscations and arrests, he might just as well try to handcuff a
mountain stream. If forced to operate entirely outside of legal
boundaries, that's what we'll do, and there will always be people
willing to make this communications concept possible and who can
run it and diversify it.

4. We view the raids against part of the Interim's structures at
this point in time as a flanking maneuver in the war which
Schonbohm and Ladowski have declared. At a time when resistance to
their cleansing policies is increasing - inner-city actions,
university congresses, mobilizations by squatters, the homeless,
and immigrants - the state wants to eliminate the forum by which
all these forms of resistance can be linked together.

     Even if we aren't able to continue the discussion about our
politics (our politicians??), one thing is clear: Schonbohm has
declared war, and we will react. Repression breeds revolts. We
promise that the next issue of the Interim will be published on
time, with the theme of how we can go on the offensive against
those who want to cleanse the city [before it becomes Germany's
capital again]. All those who wish to participate in this
discussion will find ways of getting their texts to the Interim.

Interim - Weekly Berlin Info

---
Interim On The Internet

     In order to do something about the criminalization of the
Interim, Trend Online in Berlin has set up a Solidarity Homepage
for the publication with news about the recent raids, and we at
Arm The Spirit have set up a mirrorsite. This is to be seen as an
expansion of the publication, not a substitute for it. Interim is
a weekly hardcopy publication and plans to stay that way.

Trend Online's Interim Solidarity Page:
http://www.berlinet.de/trend/interim/

Arm The Spirit's Interim Mirror Site:
http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats/INTERIM/index.htm

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
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 on our listserv
called ATS-L. For more information, contact:

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

E-mail: ats@etext.org
WWW: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/archives/ats-l
MRTA Solidarity Page: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats/mrta.htm
FTP: ftp.etext.org --> /pub/Politics/Arm.The.Spirit