From: Tom Burghardt
Subject: ANTIFA INFO-BULLETIN, Radikal Update
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|| * -- UPDATE -- * - September 12, 1996 - * -- UPDATE -- * ||
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R A D I K A L
U P D A T E
_____
_________________________________________________________________
P R E S S R E L E A S E
SOLIDARITEITSGROEP POLITIEKE GEVANGENEN (SPG)
(SOLIDARITYGROUP POLITICAL PRISONERS)
_________________________________________________________________
** Topic: Pressrelease SPG: about the digital Radikal **
** Written 12:07 PM Sep 11, 1996 by tank@xs4all.nl
in cdp:misc.activism. **
-----
Amsterdam, September 9, 1996
German Prosecution starts investigation into the digital
Radikal.
On monday the 2nd of september the BRD State Prosecution
started an official investigation against 'unknown distributors'
of the Radikal-magazine on the Internet. These 'unknown
distributors' are suspected of violating the German law:
129a Abs. 3 StGB : Recruiting for an illegal terrorist
organisation,
140 Nr. 2 StGB : Approval of criminal offences,
130a Abs. 1 StGB : Calling for criminal acts.
The digital version of the Radikal is accessible through
computers in the Netherlands and the United States.
Besides this legal investigation, the German BAW
(prosecution office) has ordered German Internet Providers to
block the access to the digital version of the Radikal. A number
of providers and associations of providers has given in to this
call. This means that all websites of XS4ALL-clients in the
Netherlands and of DataRealm-clients in the USA have been made
inaccessible for German Internet users. In reaction to this
German attempt to censor the Internet mirrorsites (identical
copies) of the Radikal have been put on various computers
throughout the world.
Since December 1995 we, the Solidaritygroup Political
Prisoners, have added the full edition of the in Germany illegal
magazine Radikal to our homepage on the World Wide Web. On this
moment major parts of number 153 and the full edition of number
154 are accessible through the World Wide Web. We decided to do
this after a renewed attempt (one of many over the years) of the
German authorities to silence the Radikal.
The Radikal is a magazine made by and for the radical left
movement in the BRD. The magazine was set up in the mid '70-ies
as a means of communication between various left-wing
organisations. After a series of homesearches, arrests and
long-time prison sentences, it was clear for the makers that they
couldn't continue the magazine on the same basis. It was decided
then to make the future editions of the magazine outside the view
of the German authorities.
Because the German Prosecution couldn't localise the makers
of Radikal, a short period of quietness followed in which no
policeraids etc. took place. Than trouble started anew. This time
it were not the makers of the magazine who were targeted, but the
persons who sold the magazine, bookshops and infocafe's. Through
the years there have been hundreds of police raids, numerous
arrests and many people have spent months and years in jail for
"supporting a terrorist organisation" (i.e. distribution of the
Radikal). As a result of these experiences the distribution of
the Radikal is no longer organised through bookshops etc., but
through a underground network.
Mid June 1995 the German Prosecution stroke again. All over
Germany special units of the police stormed, often with drawn
guns, a great number of houses and left-wing centres. Four people
were arrested and charged with membership of a terrorist
organisation (i.e. making and distributing the Radikal). Four
others, who were not at home at the time of the police raid, went
underground. An enormous amount of things were confiscated by the
police. It was striking that the police especially looked for
digital information. More than a thousand floppy disc's and
various computers were taken for further research. The people
arrested were held in detention under remand for six months and
were only released after payment of 20.000 DM bail p.p. and a
whole set of conditions they had to comply with.
Exactly one year after the raids on June 13, 1996, three of
the four persons in hiding (Uli, Jutta and Frank) turned
themselves in. Supported by 250 sympathisers they reported
themselves at a German court after a press conference. (Matthes,
the fourth person in hiding, stayed away, because he is also
being charged with membership of the AIZ, the Anti Imperialist
Cell's.) At the court the three persons were taken into
detention under remand after which their lawyer filed a petition
for immediate release on grounds of the fact that there was no
reason that the suspects would again run away and that after one
year there's no longer any risk that the suspects would destroy
any evidence.
The petition was only partially successful. On June 15 Uli
and Jutta were released, again with a lot of conditions. They had
to hand in their passports, had to report themselves three times
a week at the police, were not allowed any contact with anybody
against whom an investigation was going on with regard to the
Radikal and they had to pay a bail of 20.000 DM each.
Frank is until now held in isolation under aggravated
circumstances. The Prosecution claims to have proof that he
collaborated on the release of Radikal editions 153 & 154 during
his period in hiding. Up till now his lawyers were not allowed
look into his dossier.
New actions against the Radical took place on June 17 this
year when in a number of German cities again houses were searched
by the police. This time persons suspected of having a
subscription to the Radikal were targeted. By way of their
payments they were accused of supporting a terrorist
organisation. Besides this they were suspected of letting others
read the Radikal (recruiting for a terrorist organisation). For
us this was another reason to put the latest issue (154) of the
Radikal again on the Internet.
Despite the fact that we, the Solidaritygroup Political
Prisoners (SPG) Amsterdam, declared before that we put the
Radikal on Internet, the German Prosecution started an
investigation against "unknown persons." This is a frequently
used strategy. With an investigation on name, the Prosecution can
only get permission to tap the phones etc. of a limited amount of
people, while an investigation against "persons unknown" gives
them much more possibilities. With this in mind it wouldn't
surprise us if one of these days in Germany the police will again
kick in a lot of doors in relation with the investigation against
us.
The German Prosecution seems to be pretty confident at the
moment and states that from the confiscated goods, they managed
to compile a lot of information about the Radikal, her makers
(m/f) and her structures. But we wonder if they are going to be
equally confident about their actions against the digital
Radikal. Censorship on the Internet creates best-sellers. With
respect to the Internet this is a very important case. For the
first time a European government tries to censor political news
on the Internet. (Until now such action was only directed against
porn on the Internet.) If the German Prosecution succeeds in
their attempts to censor the Internet, the Radikal will be the
first but definitely not the last. Fortunately there are many
people active around the theme of censorship on the Internet and
though they don't all support us ideologically, many declare
themselves to sympathise with the struggle for the continuation
of the Radikal on the Internet and accordingly place copies of
the magazine on their Websites. On this moment the Radikal is
already accessible through more than twenty addresses over the
whole world. If the German Prosecution wants to sustain their
attempts to block the digital Radikal they will have to block all
these providers and will finally block Germany from the rest of
the Internet.
-----
Read the Radikal now at:
1. http://burn.ucsd.edu/%7Eats/RADIKAL/
2. http://www.jca.or.jp/~taratta/mirror/radikal/
3. http://www.serve.com/~spg/
4. http://huizen.dds.nl/~radikal
5. http://www.canucksoup.net/radikal/index.html
6. http://www.ecn.org/radikal
7. http://www.well.com/~declan/mirrors/
8. http://www.connix.com/~harry/radikal/index.htm
9. http://www.ganesa.com/radikal/
10. http://www.denhaag.org/~radikal
11. http://www.knooppunt.be/~daniel/radikal
12. http://emma.unm.edu/radikal
13. http://www.tacacs.com/radikal/"
14. http://www.dsvenlo.nl/vvd/radikal/
15. http://www.why.net/home/static/radi
16. http://users.abcs.com/dockmstr/mirror/radikal/index.htm
17. http://www.xs4all.nl/~jeroenw/radikal/
18. http://home.ipr.nl/~radikal/
19. http://www.dreamy.demon.co.uk/occam/
20. http://www.ibmpcug.co.uk/~irdial/live_free/
21.http://zero.tolerance.org/radi/index.htm
22.http://www.meaning.com/library/radikal/
23.http://www.xs4all.nl/~irmed/radikal/
24.http://www.walli.uwasa.fi/~tviemero/radikal
25.http://www.sko.it/~sfede/radi/index.htm
26.http://www.bart.nl/~sz/index.html
And naturally as usual at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/radikal/
From here we want to wish Frank in prison and Matthes where
ever he is lots of strength. The struggle continues !!
Please write to Frank (he will probably be replaced to Koln
soon). His temporary address is :
Frank Grossinsky
p/a Ermittlungsrichter Wolst am BGH
Herrenstr.45a
76125 Karlsruhe
Germany
(All post will be read and censored by the police!)
11-9-1996
Solidariteitsgroep Politieke Gevangenen, (SPG Amsterdam)
tank@xs4all.nl -- http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank
** End of text from cdp:misc.activism. **
*****************************************************************
++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
++++ if you agree copy these 3 sentences in your own sig ++++
++++ see: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++