Anti-Imperialist Cell Communique - November 17, 1993

Statement Concerning The Attack On ’Gesamtmetall’ In Cologne

"The meaning and content of our politics are part of our lives, an inseparable and existential unity, and that’s why we struggle for these."

(Brigitte Mohnhaupt, October 1993)

This evening, we had the second floor of Volksgartenstrasse 54a in Cologne in our sights and we shot at it. This is the offices of the Metal Union Employers Association, ’Gesamtmetall’. The employers who belong to Gesamtmetall are part of the German elite who are directly responsible for determining the social reality of thousands of people both here and abroad. The cancellation of loan agreements in the West German sectors of the metal and electronics industry is a concrete example here of the global capitalist crisis. Gesamtmetall is ready for anything, even strikes. In this present wage dispute, the employers are trying to find out just how much they can get away with here in Germany ; for the workers, this means a decline in their social/material standards. Gesamtmetall has the following alternative options : They either take away jobs in their now accelerated restructuring process and deposit their capital in profitable funds, or they invest elsewhere. While some workers here are trying to figure out how to eventually resist this, at least regionally, Gesamtmetall has already been operating at the international level : Capital is invested in places where maximum profit rates can be obtained. More and more workers are feeling uncertain and are frightened of being forced to a lower social status : The developments which have been forced by capitalism means that they will be discarded and, in some cases, they will face real material distress. Those workers here in Germany who wish to stop being treated in an arbitrary manner by the capitalist elite are a minority. But, in contrast to the union’s strategy, by which the workers are forced to collaborate with Gesamtmetall, the number of those beginning to resist is on the rise.

In answer to the question of how a counter-power from below can be developed here in Germany, these social questions are, of course, one national point of reference. Local resistance alone will never be able to become a real danger to international capital. The strategy of local extortion by organizations like Gesamtmetall can only be broken by an international anti-capitalist struggle. The international elite are responsible for the brutality with which the human labour forces of the Three Continents are exploited. Our militant action against Gesamtmetall follows in logical consequence.

That which binds the anti-imperialist struggle internationally is the subjective radicalism which is militantly displayed in the struggle for liberation, self-determination, and self-organization.

We would like to say something to our Palestinian and Kurdish comrades, to whom we feel most closely bonded : We don’t know what Arafat was thinking when he signed the Gaza-Jehrico Agreement in Washington, D.C. on September 13, or when he took Rabin’s right hand and shook it firmly. We also don’t know about all the deals which were struck between the PLO leadership and the Zionist representatives. But what’s clear is that the resistance struggle will continue, in a variety of forms, and militant/armed actions will be a part of this. For this, the Palestinian comrades are counting on world-wide support. We cannot forget the support which was given to the anti-imperialist movement in West Germany in the 1970s. It’s about time that people here started finally thinking about how they can now give assistance to the comrades in the Near East.

In the Turkish-occupied section of Kurdistan, the situation is escalating every day. The Turkish military have declared an "operation of destruction" for this winter. Because the movement of Kurdish militants continues to grow, the occupiers have resorted to using terror against the civilian population, as was recently the case in the city of Lice. It is well known that they are supported in this by the German government (arms sales, training of terror units by the GSG-9). Thousands of German tourists go on "holiday" every year in Turkey/Kurdistan, although they surely know that they are thereby directly supporting Turkish state terrorism. It is natural that Kurdish comrades are carrying out militant actions in Turkey. The fact that they are also an organized force in the middle of Germany as well was proven on June 24 and November 4 [when Kurdish militants carried out a series of organized attacks on Turkish banks, travel agencies, and diplomatic agencies in several cities across Europe, particularly in Germany - trans.].

Since October 8 and November 4, new trials have been opened in Frankfurt against Rolf-Clemens Wagner and Eva Haule, both of whom fought in the guerrilla and have been in prison for several years. Rolf was organized in the guerrilla at the time when, among other things, the action against Schleyer (head of the German employers’ association) was carried out in Cologne. In this new state witness trial, he is to be convicted of participation in the action against Haig (NATO commander). Eva was arrested during the anti-imperialist front offensive of the mid-80s. The level of confrontation from that period of time must be recreated now. To do that, we need militant/armed actions as a part of an overall strategy, one which is relevant to the reality of the 90s.

Develop the politics of militant/armed intervention in Germany as a part of the international struggle for liberation !

Both here and internationally, the creation of a revolutionary counter-power results from, among other things, a direct confrontation with the ruling capitalist elite !

Attack the elite and their centres during social struggles, which also means : Make progress towards an anti-imperialist front here in Germany !

The important thing is, what type of politics are practiced and how they are materialized. That which was created by the guerrilla between 14.5.1970 and 1.4.1991 is the point of reference for our politics. The existence of an anti-imperialist guerrilla in Germany does not automatically follow from the fact that there are comrades living underground. We must continually struggle to make the guerrilla exist as an offensive political force. It should be the task of all comrades to draw self-determined consequences from that fact.

Militants from the anti-imperialist resistance in Germany

November 1993