A-Infos (en) US, Anti-Authoritarian jornal BAAM #27 - Die Falschen auf der Anklagebank ­ On Recent Events in Radical German Activism by Mihi

Hier sitzen die falschen Leute auf der Anklagebank und sollen als Mitglieder einer 
kriminellen Vereinigung nach Paragraf 129 verurteilt werden. Auf die Anklagebank gehören 
Kriegstreiber, Kriegsbefürworter und Rüstungskonzerne. Sie sind die kriminellen 
Vereinigungen. Sie sind anzuklagen. ---- The wrong people are on the stand  and shall be 
sentenced as members of a criminal association according to paragraph 129. Warmongers, 
advocates of war, and the military industry should be here instead. They are the criminal 
association. They are to be accused. ---- From a declaration read at the beginning of the 
trial by the three accused militant antimilitarists ---- On October 16th, three German 
terrorist association "Militante Gruppe" (mg).

They were arrested in summer 2007 trying to
activists were sentenced to prison for 3 to
3.5 years for being members of the place
firebombs beneath German military trucks.
Interestingly, they were not tried for attempted
arson, though the defendants openly admit to
attempting to torch the vehicles in question.
Based on meager evidence, and the need for
state prosecutors to produce felons, they were
tried for (mg) membership.

The only evidence brought against them was that the time,
methods, and goals of their action were simi-
lar to the circumstances surrounding actions
committed by the (mg). The three accused,
as well as the (mg), consider themselves to be
militant antimilitarists.
    Since the involvement of the German army
in the NATO-waged war in Afghanistan, both
the army and private companies delivering
materials or providing services to the German
army have been targets of arson, commonly
targeting vehicles. Some attacks are as sim-
ple as putting a BBQ charcoal lighter on a
tire, some are more delicate time-controlled
kits. These actions stem out of a criticism of
both imperialism and the military industrial
complex. While traditionally pacifists tend to
select non-violent tactics such as rallies and
blockades as well as desertion, these militant
anti-war actions try to actively destroy war
materials or draw attention towards companies
profiting from wars.
Whether or not these means are legitimate
to achieve a certain goal remains disputable.
    The attacks were not conducted
without public debate on the role of
militant tactics in radical movements. Along
with other groups, the (mg) contributed sev-
eral pieces of writing to a series of articles
and claims on attacks commonly summarized
as "militanzdebatte." The debate was mainly
published in the German left radical newspa-
per "Interim" and focused on the targets of
militant politics. It was widely known and
followed in the German radical left and drew
the attention of the German secret service,
which sent in two articles with the goal of
luring readers to access websites monitored
by them, though the data has not lead to any
significant progress on the side of the secret
service. A main topic of discussion was the
state and the use of armed resistance and one
point of dispute was whether militant tactics
should be part of a broader political campaign
or be developed as a tendency in and of itself.
The latter position was presented by the (mg),
whereas most other participants in the debate
(Autonome Gruppen, K.O.M.I.T.T.E.E, Rev-
olutionäre Aktion Carlo Giuliani) took the
first position. Based on the number of pub-
lished writings claiming responsibility for at-
tacks, the (mg) was one of the more active
groups. However, many attacks are carried
out by small autonomous groups and are of-
ten not claimed afterwards. After the arrest
of the three activists in 2007, there seemed
to be a long break in (mg) attacks. This was
brought up in court as evidence that the three
arrested played a significant role in the (mg).
An article published by the (mg) in the most
recent issue of the German left radical maga-
zine "Radikal" (Issue 161, summer 2009),
however, challenges this view. The article
closes the debate and declares that their goal
to establish militancy as an independent phe-
nomenon within the movement has failed. In
the same issue they declare responsibility for
a series of attacks committed after the arrests
of the three now sentenced. They attribute
their silence to increased state repression ex-
perienced during the G8 summit in Heiligen-
dam, as well as personal reasons unrelated to
the attacks. Despite the position presented by
(mg) in their final article, militant methods,
including the incineration of vehicles, are
still widely used tactics among left radicals
in Germany.
    This renders the recent trial purely political.
By sentencing activists based on anti-terror
laws, the state tries to intimidate radicals and re-
move their public support. Nevertheless there
is wide support for militant antimilitarist and
anti-imperialist tactics. The sentencing led to
a series of demonstrations across Germany.
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