[NetBehaviour] Fwd: Criminalization of critical academic research and political engagement

[Helen Varley Jamieson]

>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2007 16:51:25 +0200
>From:  <anna at mail.nadir.org>
>To:  <nettime-l at kein.org>
>Subject: <nettime> Criminalization of critical academic research and political
>     engagement
>
>
>On July 31 my home was raided by German federal police and my partner
>Andrej Holm was arrested. Our children had to endure a dozen armed
>cops waking them, and us. Andrej is in prison in Berlin-Moabit since.
>There are a number of initiatives protesting against this, including
>two open letters to the federal prosecutor by critical researchers.
>I'm still not able to write a lot, but there is information available,
>most of it on the website of a group trying to support all who are
>concerned: http://einstellung.so36.net/en
>
>A summary: Three people were arrested while alledgedly trying to
>set fire to four army vehicles. Four other people are assumed to be
>members of a terrorist organisation called 'militant group' and were
>observed since last September at least - Andrej being one of them
>(this included tapping of phones also of family members and friends,
>email observation of everybody close etc etc). Since he met one of the
>other three twice this year in so-called conspiratory cirsumstances
>all seven are now suspected to be 'terrorists' - even though it is
>unclear why they met and what was talked about. Current state is that
>the three who are said to have set fire to the army vehicles and
>Andrej are imprisoned. The reasons given by the federal prosecutor
>why Andrej and the three others are suspected to be 'terrorists' are
>extremely incredible: researching gentrification, access to libraries
>and intellectual ability are explicitely mentioned as reasons in the
>arrest warrant. Their treatment in prison is considered similar to
>treatment of members of RAF in the dark ages of the 70s, according to
>the lawyers.
>
>The open letters have already been signed by many international and
>German academics and activists. I'll paste the text below. Please
>consider signing and/or raising public awareness in any possible way.
>A new lawyer's decision about the continuation of imprisonment is
>expected for August 24th, so anything that raises attention before
>that date may be helpful.
>
>Anna
>
>I'm at the moment away from computers most of the time. You can contact
>einstellung[at]so36.net for more information.
>
>==============
>
>http://einstellung.so36.net/en/openletter
>
>
>Open letter to the Generalbundesanwaltschaft against the criminalization of
>critical academic research and political engagement
>
>On 31st July 2007 the flats and workplaces of Dr. Andrej Holm and
>Dr. Matthias B., as well as of two other persons, were searched by
>the police. Dr. Andrej Holm was arrested, flown by helicopter to the
>German Federal Court in Karlsruhe and brought before the custodial
>judge. Since then he has been held in pretrial confinement in a
>Berlin jail. All four people have been charged with membership in a
>terrorist association according to  129a StGB (German Penal Code,
>section 7 on Crimes against Public Order). They are alleged to be
>members of a so-called militante gruppe (mg). The text of the search
>warrant revealed that preliminary proceedings against these four
>people have been going on since September 2006 and that the four had
>since been under constant surveillance.
>
>A few hours before the house searches, Florian L., Oliver R. und Axel
>H. were arrested in the Brandenburg region and accused of attempted
>arson on four vehicles of the German Federal Army. Andrej Holm is
>alleged to have met one of these three persons on two occasions in the
>first half of 2007 in supposedly conspiratorial circumstances.
>
>The Federal Prosecutor (Bundesanwaltschaft) therefore assumes that
>the four above mentioned persons as well as the three individuals
>arrested in Brandenburg are members of a militant group, and is
>thus investigating all seven on account of suspected membership in
>a terrorist association according to 129a StGB. According to the
>arrest warrant against Andrej Holm, the charge made against the above
>mentioned four individuals is presently justified on the following
>grounds, in the order that the federal prosecutor has listed them:
>
>- Dr. Matthias B. is alleged to have used, in his academic publications,
>phrases and key words which are also used by the militante gruppe;
>- As political scientist holding a PhD, Matthias B. is seen to be 
>intellectually
>capable to author the sophisticated texts of the militante gruppe (mg).
>Additionally, as employee in a research institute he has access to libraries
>which he can use inconspicuously in order to do the research necessary to the
>drafting of texts of the militante gruppe?;
>- Another accused individual is said to have met with suspects in a
>conspiratorial manner: meetings were regularly arranged without, however,
>mentioning place, time and content of the meetings; furthermore, he is said to
>have been active in the extreme left-wing scene;
>- In the case of a third accused individual, an address book was found which
>included the names and addresses of the other three accused;
>- Dr. Andrej H., who works as urban sociologist, is claimed to have close
>contacts with all three individuals who have been charged but still remain
>free;
>- Dr. Andrej H. is alleged to have been active in the resistance 
>mounted by the
>extreme left-wing scene against the World Economic Summit of 2007 in
>Heiligendamm;
>- The fact that he  allegedly intentionally -- did not take his mobile phone
>with him to a meeting is considered as conspiratorial behavior.
>
>Andrej H., as well as Florian L., Oliver R. und Axel H., are detained
>since 1st August 2007 in Berlin-Moabit under very strict conditions:
>they are locked in solitary confinement 23 hours a day and are allowed
>only one hour of courtyard walk. Visits are limited to a total of half
>an hour every two weeks. Contacts, including contacts with lawyers,
>are allowed only through separation panes, including contact with
>their lawyers. The mail of the defense is checked.
>
>The charges described in the arrest warrants reveal a construct
>based on very dubious reasoning by analogy. The reasoning involves
>four basic hypotheses, none of which the Federal High Court could
>substantiate with any concrete evidence, but through their combination
>they are to leave the impression of a terrorist association. The
>social scientists, because of their academic research activity, their
>intellectual capacities and their access to libraries, are said to be
>the brains of the alleged terrorist organization.
>
>For, according to the Federal prosecutor, an association called
>militante gruppe is said to use the same concepts as the accused
>social scientists. As evidence for this reasoning, the concept of
>gentrification is named - one of the key research themes of Andrej
>Holm und Matthias B. in past years, about which they have published
>internationally. They have not limited their research findings to an
>ivory tower, but have made their expertise available to citizens
>initiatives and tenants organizations. This is how critical social
>scientists are constructed as intellectual gang leaders.
>
>Since Andrej Holm has friends, relatives and colleagues, they now also
>are suspect to be terrorists, because they know Andrej. Another
>accused individual was blamed for having the names of Andrej Holm and
>of two others charged (but not jailed) in his address book. Since the
>latter are also deemed to be terrorists  this is how guilt by
>association is established.
>
>Paragraph  129a, introduced in Germany in 1976, makes it possible
>for our colleagues to be criminalized as terrorists. This is how,
>through  129a, the existence of a terrorist group is claimed.
>
>Through these constructs, every academic research activity and
>political work is presented as potentially criminal  in particular
>when politically engaged colleagues who intervene in social struggles
>are concerned. This is how critical research, in particular research
>linked with political engagement, is turned into ideological ring
>leadership and terrorism.
>
>We demand that the Federal Prosecutor (Bundesanwaltschaft) immediately
>suspend the  129a-proceedings against all parties concerned and to
>release Andrej Holm and the other imprisoned from jail at once. We
>strongly reject the outrageous accusation that the academic research
>activities and the political engagement of Andrej Holm are to be
>viewed as complicity in an alleged terrorist association. No arrest
>warrant can be deduced from the academic research and political work
>of Andrej Holm. The Federal Prosecutor, through applying Article
>129, is threatening the freedom of research and teaching as well as
>social-political engagement.
>
>Initial signatures by:
>
>Dr. Manuel Aalbers (Columbia University, New York), Prof. Dr. Rowland Atkinson
>(University of Tasmania, Australien), Prof. Dr. Lawrence D. Berg (Canada
>Research Chair in Human Rights, Diversity & Identity, University of British
>Columbia), Prof. Dr. Neil Brenner (New York University, Sociology), Prof. Dr.
>Craig Calhoun (President, Social Science Research Council, and University
>Professor, Sociology, NYU), Prof. Dr. Mike Davis (Prof. of Urban History,
>Irvine/USA), Dr. Michael Dear (Professor of Geography at the University of
>Southern California/Los Angeles), Prof. Dr. Michael Edwards (The Bartlett
>Centre for Architecture and Planning, UCL, London), Prof. Dr. Geoff Ely
>(University of Michigan, Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor), Prof.
>Dr. John Friedmann (University of California, Los Angeles), Prof. Dr. Herbert
>Gans (Columbia University, New York), Prof. Dr. Alan Harding (University of
>Salford, UK), Prof. Dr. Michael Harloe (University of Salford, 
>Vice-President),
>Prof. Dr. David Harvey (Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, 
>Graduate Center
>of the City University of New York, New York), Prof. Dr. Andreas Huyssen
>(Villard Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Columbia
>University), Prof. Dr. Martin Jay (Sidney Hellman Ehrman Professor of History,
>University of California Berkeley), Prof. Dr. Bob Jessop (Lancaster
>Universtiy), Prof. Dr. Roger Keil (York University, Toronto, 
>Canada), Prof. Dr.
>Rianne Mahon (Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada), Prof. Dr. Peter Marcuse
>(Columbia University, New York), Prof. Dr. Margit Mayer (Freie Universitt
>Berlin), Prof. Dr. Frances Fox Piven (President of the American Sociological
>Association, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology, City
>University New York), Prof. Dr. Andrew Ross (New York University, New York),
>Prof. Dr. Saskia Sassen (Columbia University, New York, and London School of
>Economics) Prof. Dr. Andrew Sayer (Lancaster University, Sociology), Prof. Dr.
>Richard Sennett (Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics,
>Bemis Professor of Social Sciences at MIT, Professor of the Humanities at New
>York University), Prof. Dr. William Sewell (The Frank P. Hixon Distinguished
>Service Professor of Political Science and History Emeritus, University of
>Chicago), Prof. Dr. Neil Smith (Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and
>Geography, Director of the Center for Place Culture and Politics, Graduate
>Center of the City University of New York), Prof. Dr. Michael Storper
>(Centennial Professor of Economic Geography, London School of Economics, and
>Professor of Economic Sociology, Science Po, Paris), Prof. Dr. Erik Swyngedouw
>(University of Manchester, UK), , Prof. Dr. Peter J. Taylor (Loughborough
>University, UK), Prof. Dr. John Urry (Lancaster University, Sociology), Dr.
>Jennifer Wolch (Professor of Geography at the University of Southern
>California/Los Angeles).
>
>Sihn here:
>http://www.policing-crowds.org/petition.html
>
>==========================
>
>
>http://www.freeandrej.net.ms/
>
>To Monika Harms
>Federal Prosecutor of the Federal Court of Justice
>
>Brauerstrae 30
>
>76135 Karlsruhe
>
>On August 1, 2007, the socially committed Berlin sociologist, Dr.
>Andrej H., was detained upon the order of the office of the federal
>prosecutor. The order followed a police search of his residence and
>the residences of three other academics. All three are suspected of
>being members of an organization called "militante gruppe" ("militant
>group"/mg), which is being investigated by the federal prosecutor's
>office in accordance with 129a StGB on suspicion of the formation of
>a terrorist association. The arrest warrant issued for Dr. Andrej H.
>is justified by two "conspiratorial meetings he is said to have had
>several months ago with an individual taken custody during an arson
>attempt on federal armed forces vehicles in "Brandenburg an der Havel"
>in late July.
>
>We strictly oppose the use of violence as endorsed and practiced by
>the "militant group." At the same time, however, we strongly object
>to the notion of intellectual complicity adopted by the federal
>prosecutor's office in its investigation. According to Dr. Andrej
>H.'s legal representative, accusations concerning his membership in a
>terrorist organization have been made on the following grounds:
>
>- the office of the federal prosecutor possesses no information
>concerning the nature of Dr. Andrej H.'s meeting with the suspected
>arsonists; their suspected participation in the "militant group" is
>based on the fact of the meetings alone;
>
>- according to the federal prosecutor's office, Dr. Andrej H.'s
>involvement in the terrorist group can be deduced from his
>intellectual engagement in subjects broached in the writings of the
>"mg"; a 1998 publication of Dr. Andrej H. contained various "key
>words and phrases" also found in the texts of the "militant group"
>(including, for example, the term "gentrification" widely used in
>urban sociology),
>
>- the suspect, with a doctoral degree in political science and, as
>an employee of a research institute, had access to libraries where he
>could inconspicuously do the research required for the founding of a
>militant group".
>
>Such arguments allow any piece of academic writing to be potentially
>incriminating. The rationale followed by the federal prosecutor's
>office is a direct threat to all those who pursue and publicly defend
>critical studies in the sciences, humanities, arts, and media.
>Critical research, even in combination with social and political
>activism, cannot be labeled terrorist activity.
>
>We hereby petition the office of the federal prosecutor to drop the
>charge that Dr. Andrej H.'s academic writings constituted intellectual
>participation in a terrorist organization. Nothing in Dr. Andrej H.'s
>scholarly work justifies an arrest warrant. This line of reasoning
>represents a fundamental threat to intellectual and academic freedom.
>
>Likewise, we hereby petition for an immediate cease in the
>investigation of Dr. Andrej H. in accordance with  129a StGB, which
>calls for an especially harsh detention and restrictions in legal
>defense.
>
>August 9, 2007
>
>
>Sign here:
>http://www.gatdesign.de/andrej/petitionlist_e.php
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
____________________________________________________________

helen varley jamieson: creative catalyst
helen at creative-catalyst.com
http://www.creative-catalyst.com
http://www.avatarbodycollision.org
http://www.upstage.org.nz
http://www.writerfind.com/hjamieson.htm
____________________________________________________________