294 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
294 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
A HERSTORY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CELLS AND ROTE ZORA
|
|
|
|
Armed Resistance in West Germany
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Revolutionary Cells (RZ) first appeared on November 16,
|
|
1973 with an attack against ITT in West Berlin to point
|
|
out the participation of this multinational corporation
|
|
in Pinochet's military putsch in Chile. In 1974, the
|
|
first high-explosive attack was undertaken by the wimmin
|
|
of the RZ against the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal
|
|
Constitutional Court) in Karlsruhe, the day after it
|
|
supported the abortion law, Par. 218; a paragraph against
|
|
free choice on abortion, allowing abortion only in certain
|
|
cases. The wimmin naturally demanded the total right for
|
|
every womyn to have an abortion, as a right to self-
|
|
determination over their own bodies. In the first issue
|
|
of Revolutionarer Zorn (Revolutionary Rage) the RZ
|
|
subdivided their actions into three main categories:
|
|
1)anti-imperialist actions, 2)actions against the branches,
|
|
establishments, and accomplices of Zionism in the FRG, and
|
|
3)actions supporting the struggles of workers, wimmin
|
|
and youth, and attacking and punishing their enemies.
|
|
This thematic spectrum was used in the following years.
|
|
|
|
|
|
One Revolutionary Cell became several Revolutionary Cells.
|
|
Later on, in the late 70's, the militant actions by the RZ
|
|
became also a part of the anti-nuclear movement (at that
|
|
time people marched in thousands against nuclear power
|
|
and reprocessing plants in Kalkar, Wyhl, Gorleban, and
|
|
Brokdorf) and the Anti-Runway 18 West Movement (Anti-
|
|
Startbahn 18 West-Bewegung) in the Rhein-Main area.
|
|
In this context, only one attack with deadly consequence
|
|
was carried out: the Minister of Economy and Transportation,
|
|
Herbert Karry, was assassinated on May 11, 1981 by the RZ.
|
|
|
|
|
|
From 1977 onwards, the militant feminist anti-patriarchal
|
|
wimmin's urban guerilla group Rote Zora (Red Zora) acted
|
|
autonomously and independently, though some wimmin still
|
|
participated in the Revolutionary Cells."Wimmin were
|
|
always a part of the armed groups. Their portion was
|
|
mostly held back. But the times are changing...subversive
|
|
wimmin's groups like Red Zora do exist, indeed still too
|
|
few, but even that will be changing."--Red Zora.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Red Zora attacks predominantly patriarchal institutes,
|
|
companies, and persons representing and building up a
|
|
male sexist society, which is oppressing and exploiting
|
|
wimmin worldwide. They are conducting campaigns against
|
|
porntraders, sex shops, international traders of wimmin
|
|
(those who profit from importing Asian wimmin as "brides"
|
|
for West German men), doctors who are carrying out
|
|
forced sterilizations, the Doctor's Guild ("We see the
|
|
Federal Doctor's Guild as exponents of rape in white
|
|
trenchcoats"), drug companies (notably Schering who
|
|
produced the birth defect causing drug Duogynon), as
|
|
well as computer companies such as Nixdorf and the
|
|
multinational Siemens. Very popular as well was the
|
|
illegal reprinting of bus and streetcar fares. In
|
|
individual cases, Red Zora and the Revolutionary Cells
|
|
have worked together such as in the writing of a
|
|
critique of the peace movement in 1984. In this paper
|
|
they criticised the peace movement as a bourgeois
|
|
movement with an apocalyptic vision. The RZ and Red Zora
|
|
said that the major mistake of the peace movement was
|
|
to concentrate their political goal only on the pres-
|
|
ervation of peace in the metropoles instead of discussing
|
|
the imperialist context between armament and crisis;
|
|
Third World misery and social cutbacks; sexism and racism.
|
|
|
|
Anti-Imperialism Today
|
|
|
|
In the last three years the RZ have concentrated their
|
|
actions on the issue of West German foreigner and refugee
|
|
policies."We want to contribute to the recovery of
|
|
a concrete anti-imperialism in the FRG...Anti-imperialism
|
|
doesn't mean only attacks on the military industrial
|
|
complex and it is more than just solidarity with liberation
|
|
movements worldwide."(Quote from Revolutionary Rage,
|
|
October 1986).
|
|
|
|
|
|
Attacks such as the one on the Center for the Central
|
|
Register of Foreigners in Cologne on the one hand, or
|
|
the kneecapping of Hollenburg (Chief of Immigration Police
|
|
in West Berlin) show the wide field of these militant
|
|
politics. While those who are attacked are responsible for
|
|
the racisr refugee policies in the FRG and West Berlin,
|
|
the intention of the attacks on institutions, whose doc-
|
|
uments, files, and data are being destroyed, is to procure
|
|
a space which isn't controlled or regulated by the state.
|
|
"But our actions will fizzle out ineffectually, if they
|
|
don't contribute to a development of a new beginning
|
|
of anti-imperialism within the radical left"(Quote by the RZ).
|
|
|
|
|
|
Since the early 70's, the RZ and Red Zora have launched over
|
|
200 attacks. Red Zora's most comprehensive and successful
|
|
attack campaign so far has been the deposit of incendiary
|
|
bombs in ten branches of the Adler Corporation, one of
|
|
West Germany's largest clothing manufacturers selling
|
|
discount clothing in the FRG, produced by low paid
|
|
wimmin in South Korean and Sri Lankan factories.
|
|
"The wimmin at Adler in South Korea struggle against the
|
|
exploitation of their capacity for work and are putting
|
|
up a fight against the daily sexism. They call for support
|
|
from the FRG for their struggle. As a result, the shitty
|
|
living and working conditions of wimmin in the vacuous
|
|
production centers of the three continents and especially
|
|
those of Adler in South Korea and Sri Lanka are
|
|
becoming more widely known here through leaflets, events,
|
|
and actions in front of Adler's retail centers. In these
|
|
actions, anti-imperialism can be practical."(Quote from
|
|
Red Zora, in their Adler statement.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
In a later released statement from Red Zora, the
|
|
consideration was again concretized that the attacks
|
|
were the correct strategy:"Consciousness had already
|
|
been raised through the leaflet actions organized by
|
|
human rights groups (Terre des Femmes) and independent
|
|
church groups. So preparatory work had been done. The
|
|
wimmin in South Korea have taken control of and defended
|
|
their own situation."They went on strike to protest low
|
|
minimum wages, lay offs, deplorable work conditions, and
|
|
rampant sexism from West German foremen."So it was
|
|
possible that the struggle there (by the wimmin in
|
|
South Korea) and the struggle here (by Red Zora) are
|
|
compatible. We aren't fighting for the wimmin in the
|
|
Third World,"they said,"we're fighting alongside them."
|
|
This defines Red Zora's struggle against imperialism.
|
|
|
|
|
|
In 1987, when Red Zora and their sister group in
|
|
West Berlin, the Amazonen, fire bombed ten Adler outlets
|
|
throughout West Germany, they caused millions of dollars
|
|
in damages. Because of this, Adler was forced to meet
|
|
the demands of the textile workers. Red Zora and the
|
|
Amazonen clearly proved that militant resistance can be
|
|
very effective.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Both the Revolutionary Cells and Red Zora have anti-
|
|
authoritarian structures and a decentralized decision-
|
|
making process for choosing targets. As well, they point
|
|
out that militant direct actions are just one part of
|
|
the revolutionary movement. Although they participate in
|
|
extensive and far-reaching legal work campaigns and
|
|
social movements through their militant actions, these
|
|
actions aren't of any more importance to handing out
|
|
flyers or leaflets, going to demonstrations, having
|
|
sit-ins, publishing newspapers, educating people,
|
|
squatting houses, or organizing strikes at work.
|
|
"We don't have a hierarchical system for choosing actions.
|
|
Thinking in hierarchical divisions puts actions in a
|
|
perspective of priveledge and is prone to a patriarchal
|
|
way of thinking."(Quote by members of the RZ in an
|
|
interview that appeared in Autonomie, 1980.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Besides the RZ and Red Zora, there exists several other
|
|
militant autonomous groups who are all integral components
|
|
of the revolutionary movement in West Germany and West Berlin.
|
|
Most of these groups originate from the mass social
|
|
movements of the 80's. They all work independently of each
|
|
other and issue political statements of their actions,
|
|
much like the RZ and Red Zora, but unlike them, many of
|
|
these groups haven't been around very long.
|
|
|
|
|
|
In 1986, at the peak of resistance aginst the nuclear power
|
|
plant in Brokdorf and the nuclear reprocessing plant
|
|
in Wackersdorf, thousands of people participated in demon-
|
|
strations as a part of the anti-nuclear movement. During
|
|
this time, several hundred attacks were made by militant
|
|
autonomous cells against certain companies and
|
|
corporations to protest their involvement in the
|
|
nuclear industry. The most popular activity at this time
|
|
was sawing down electric power lines that were directly
|
|
connected to the nuclear power plants. Around 2-300
|
|
attacks were made. Some of the militant autonomous groups
|
|
from this period have survived into the present. Others
|
|
have disbanded and have gone on th influence and form
|
|
other groups. Following is a list of a few of these groups.
|
|
It would be impossible to name all of them.
|
|
|
|
-Revolutionare Handwerker: involved in direct actions against
|
|
nuclear plants by sawing down electric power lines. No longer
|
|
active.
|
|
-Amazonen: Sister group of Red Zora, but independent of them.
|
|
Two people are currently in jail for being members of the
|
|
Amazonen.
|
|
-Zornige Viren: on January 2, 1989, attacked the Gen-Institut
|
|
(Gene Institute) at the University of Darmstadt causing
|
|
DM2,000,000 in damages.
|
|
-Autonome Zellen Alois Sonnenleitner (AS): autonomous anti-
|
|
nuclear cell. Destroyed excavators, trucks, and building
|
|
site of Hofmeister AG (an NPP company) by setting fire
|
|
to them. Alois Sonnenleitner was an elderly man who was
|
|
killed in Wackersdorf by the cops in 1986. Still active.
|
|
-Revolutionare Viren: fighting gene technology, human genetics,
|
|
and biotechnology.
|
|
-Anti-rassistische Zellen: carrying out actions against Shell.
|
|
-Kampfende Einheiten: "Fighting Units".Anti-imperialist cells
|
|
attacking military industrial complexes. One cell, Kampf-
|
|
ende Einheit Crespo Cepa Galende, named itself after an
|
|
ETA (Basque guerilla organization) fighter who was killed
|
|
by the Spanish authorities. Made an attack on a border
|
|
police security building.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The militant direct action groups in West Germany and West
|
|
Berlin have received widespread support from the larger
|
|
movements there, including from some of the more liberal
|
|
organizations. This is partially because the underground
|
|
cells are dependent on the larger movements and, as well,
|
|
are active in them. Their actions address issues that many
|
|
people are already educated on and sympathetic to. For
|
|
example, Red Zora has gained wide popular support because
|
|
their actions appeal to the massive feminist movement
|
|
already existing in West Germany, where the leftist and
|
|
radical media has been doing much work for some time now to
|
|
educate the public on issues involving sexism, wimmin's
|
|
oppression and exploitation, and wimmin's rights to the
|
|
control of their own bodies. While the RZ doesn't claim as
|
|
much support as Red Zora, in 1987, supporters of the
|
|
Revolutionary Cells published the book Der Weg zum Erfolg
|
|
(The Way to Success), explaining their strategies, politics,
|
|
and actions. Less than a week after the book hit the shelves
|
|
of radical bookstores, the entire printing (around 3000) was
|
|
sold out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The high degree of effectiveness of many RZ and Red Zora actions
|
|
wouldn't be possible without popular support. By themselves,
|
|
their actions would only serve to alienate them from the struggle.
|
|
Moreover, with the support of the mass movements, members of the
|
|
RZ and Red Zora are able to work among the numbers of people active
|
|
in the struggle without exposing their underground identities.
|
|
In their herstory, only one womyn has been arrested for membership
|
|
in Red Zora, but due to lack of evidence against her, the charges
|
|
were dropped. The RZ, however, has had a few convictions over the
|
|
past 16 years. Ingrid Strobl, most recently was sentenced to five
|
|
years in prison on the 9th of June 1989 for being a member of the
|
|
RZ. Her sentence is the longest issued to any of the convicted
|
|
RZ members. While prisoner support is an important task that
|
|
consumes a great amount of time, most of the work is done by
|
|
the larger movement, and the RZ and Red Zora can continue organ-
|
|
izing actions against oppressive, imperialist companies and
|
|
corporations.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other revolutionaries sentenced to prison:
|
|
-Erik Prauss and Andrea Sievering: accused of membership in the
|
|
"terrorist" organisation, Red Army Faction (RAF),and a bombing of
|
|
Dornier, a war corporation, which caused 1.3 million DM in damages.
|
|
Each was sentenced to 9 years in prison on January 18, 1989.
|
|
-Norbert Hofmeier, Barbara Perau, Thomas Thoene, and Thomas Richter:
|
|
accused of membership in the RAF and a bombing. Sentenced all together
|
|
to 32 years on January 20, 1989. Sentencing judge (Arend) also
|
|
sentenced Ingrid Strobl.
|
|
Hofmeier-10 years, Perau-9, Thoene-9, Richter-4.
|
|
|
|
|
|
In both of the trials involving the mentioned people, the BAW
|
|
(Federal State Prosecutors) and the judges were alledging that
|
|
the accused people were members of the RAF, but this was the
|
|
false claim of the court to get these people stiffer sentences.
|
|
Both attacks (the one at Dornier, and the other at the border
|
|
police security building) were claimed by the Kampfende Einheiten.
|
|
This group works independently from the RAF. But since the RAF is
|
|
defined as a "terrorist" organization by the state, conviction
|
|
as a member can carry a longer sentence. Kampfende Einheiten
|
|
isn't defined as such and would not be subjected to as heavy
|
|
a sentence. So the BAW and the judges set up the construct of the
|
|
Whole-RAF (Gesamt-RAF) and claimed that Kampfende Einheiten is
|
|
a part of the RAF.
|
|
|
|
|
|
At the trial of Erik and Andrea, Eva-Haule Frimpong, an imprisoned
|
|
member of the RAF, stated on the witness stand that "in 4 years,
|
|
no one but myself has been caught from the RAF. The twelve comrades
|
|
of the resistance who were supposedly arrested since then (the
|
|
six from Kiefernstrasse nor the people from Stuttgart) were not
|
|
organized in the RAF." (Quote by Eva on November 29, 1989).
|
|
|
|
|
|
-Fritz Storim: sentenced to one year in prison. A teacher, accused of
|
|
supporting the RAF. Supposedly a member of the autonomous newsjournal SABOT.
|
|
|