FIGHTING UNITS ON THE ATTACKS AGAINST BAYER/MONHEIM, RWE, DEUTSCHE BANK AND SIEMENS

… Issue  No. 11 of Zusammen Kampfen, ( “magazine for the anti-imperialist front in West Europe” published out of Germany ), published in March 1990, featured 4 communiques from Fighting Units … Arm The Spirit translated these communiques, however we never got around to publishing them … what follows are the 4 communiques with, first-off, a brief introduction to the  Fighting Units from the book Art As Resistance …

FIGHTING UNITS

from Art As Resistance

“These militants saw themselves as part of the anti- imperialist front in Western Europe, and they acted in the context of the RAF’s politics. Their concept of developing “coordinated militant projects”, to open a new level in the confrontation, was in line with the course spelled out in the May Paper. These militants, like the RAF, viewed themselves as internationalists. That’s why they named their commandos after foreign martyred anti-imperialists. Starting in 1986, militants began signing their communiques as the “Fighting Unit”, with a corresponding commando name just like the RAF.

These underground activists mainly carried out explosives and arson attacks with a high degree of technical sophistication. For example, one “Fighting Unit” detonated a car bomb outside the headquarters of the ‘Verfassungsschutz’, the federal intelligence agency, in Cologne. These militants never carried out shooting attacks, nor did they direct their actions against persons.

Militants carried out nine attacks in 1986. This highpoint in their activity was followed by a wave of repression. In 1986, many people from the anti-imp spectrum were arrested and sentenced for Fighting Unit attacks. This temporarily halted attacks by the militants. But the paper ‘Zusammen Kämpfen’ was still published periodically until 1991. After the RAF’s attack on the head of the Deutsche Bank in November 1989, the Fighting Units carried out four attacks between December 1989 and February 1990. Two bombs were detected and disarmed. Then there were no more Fighting Unit actions.”

Communique:

Fighting Unit Sheban Atlouf / Conny Wissman

December 10, 1989

Today we attacked the research center of Bayer in Monheim.

At this location Bayer has built the biggest “center for the protection of plants” in the world. In this research center they tested this year 20,000 new pesticide compounds and they will be expanding this research discipline even further, from about 150 million to about 500 million a year. The plants that are raised here and the pesticides that tiamt are produced here form an important support for Bayer’s overwhelming market share in the world market for agricultural products. This represents a new understanding for a more effective production controlled exclusively by Bayer; and by extension they control the peoples and countries which depend on this research and production for their food.

This is one of the fundamental foundations of the power of the Bayer conglomerate which became prominent in the days of fascism and which today one of the largest chemical multi-nationals in the world.

Bio-chemical and gene technologies are both divisions of technology which are exclusively controlled by the imperialist states. These are sectors which allow them to protect their dominance and superiority over the countries in the Third World,as well as ordering the living patterns of people world-wide. At the same time they want to realize, in the strategic sectors of the economies of the imperialist countries, independence with
respect to the Third World.

The FRG has in the last few years risen up in protest against this, and this has caused a number of problems. The result of these protests has been that in growing measures the research and production of genetic technology was transferred to other West European countries and the U.S. To have realized the necessary conditions for this research in this country would have meant  confrontations and resistance. Strenger, the C.E.O. of Bayer has  demanded that there be further research in the FRG calling for as a minimum certain clear political and legal conditions” which are  currently not available.

After the experiences during the hunger-strike and the two years previous to that we want to make a fresh start. We want to rise above the shortcomings of militant politics in the  resistance. These shortcomings became clearly evident and visible during the hunger-strike when the situation ground to a halt and the state wanted to execute the prisoners, and the resistance failed to apply the necessary strength to break the unbending attitude of those responsible. Consequently the demands of the imprisoned were not granted.

We consider it our cause to carry on with this: to change the defensive situation of the militant resistance and thus to go on the offensive wherever the necessary conditions are to be found, in order that the demands of the revolutionary prisoners may gain acceptance.

1986 was a rupture point, subjective to us because our decision for militant politics was too weak and in general because in the mid 1980s a new situation had emerged around the fight in the FRG and outside of it. After 1986 we had to come to a decision again, we needed a clear concept of how we could continue so that the dimensions of our struggle against imperialism would be more concretely drawn for ourselves. That meant that we had to distance ourselves from the front model, not so much by discussing the question about the functioning of the mechanics of imperialism, but more about the question of how we are to view, in the coming days, our revolutionary process. The repression increased after the offensive and its goal was to force the retreat of the development towards the front and our structure and organization was not capable of meeting that challenge.

BUILDING THE REVOLUTIONARY FRONT

In order to clear away the obstacles of the last few years, we want to engage in discussion all who are fighters, including the guerilla and the resistance, with as our goal the joint organization of a counter-force. Our militant political practice finds its origins in these discussions and are part of them. The revolutionary battle must engage new perspectives with a view towards the growing strength of the FRG and Europe who in every aspect of society through their policy of modernization are going to oppress and alienate. The FRG, as member of the imperialistic organization of states has favored the integration of Western Europe and becomes more and more determined to act as a power for oppression. The strategic plans of the imperialist states whereby they have joined the economic, technological, political) and military powers is barely opposed. The penetration of the socialist countries both guarantees imperialism unknown profits for the next few years and ensures that an important opposition to world-wide imperialist aggression has been nullified. At the same time a situation has developed in the FRG, as a result of the entire dialectic of the anti-people and inhumane politics of those who govern, which gives us an opportunity to subject these imperialist policies and their consequences to discussion and resistance.

The WAA ( rapid nuclear accelerator in Wackersdorf) of which the construction could not be completed in the FRG and through the use of international organization and relations took refuge in France is an example of the fact that in this case at least they were forced to make concessions to the resistance, because it had already for some time become a national conflict.

By linking up with that means for us that we must find a way to build a counter-force with any and all who are of the same mind; a counter-force which will incorporate all who speak out against the system and which offers a revolutionary orientation.

BRINGING TOGETHER THE FIGHTING PRISONERS !

ORGANIZE THE ATTACK !

STRUGGLE TOGETHER!

10 December 1989

Fighting Unit Sheban Atlouf/ Conny Wissman

(Sheban Atlouf is a Palestinian comrade who in 1986 was murdered
by zionist soldiers. Canny Wissman is an anti-fascist who was
murdered by the West German pigs)

(The Fighting Unit Sheban Atlouf was earlier responsible for the
bomb attack at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser technology in
Aken on 24 July 1986. )

Communique:

Fighting Unit Crespo Kepa Gallende

February 4, 1990

Today, on the 4th of February 1990 we attacked the headquarters of RWA ( Rhoinisch Westfalischen Energiewerk –  like Hydro) in Essen with two explosive charges.

RWE is the largest privately owned provider of energy and one of the largest corporations in Western Europe. RWE works exclusively for profit and while we must pay steadily more and more for the energy we consume, RWE supplys electricity at a special rate to industry and also destroys, in all areas of its energy business, the conditions necessary for life; for example the destruction of Ville, an area affected by the mining for brown coal, also the destruction of the forests as a result of the drilling for oil in the DEA (by the previously German Texaco which was bought by RWE), and also through the mining for uranium in Australia and Africa which robs people of their property and exploits their labour in the mines where they must work for starvation wages. It is in the area of nuclear technology and industry  that RWE’s destructive policies most clearly emerge.

Without RWE nuclear industry in the Bondsrepubliek is unthinkable. They profit from the entire nuclear business chain:: from the mining for uranium, the construction of reactors and their management, the production of reactor rods, the start-up of these reactors, the transport of nuclear waste and its storage, the export of and participation in French and German nuclear industry.

Cities and communities in North-Rheine-Westfalen determine by their shares, of which they hold the majority, the management of this corporation and are therefore responsible for their nuclear policies . The community delegates from this area are nearly all from the SPD and therefore this shows clearly the deceitfulness of the SPD which continues on with a nuclear policy for industry while all the time thy speak out about nothing but stopping the nuclear industry.

RWE began to do business in the nuclear sector in the 1970’s in order that the metropoles could become more independent of the surrounding peripheral countryside and its raw material, and also as a response to 3rd world countries; more as a demand by 3rd world countries for more reasonable prices and the consequent oil crisis. After the sharp rise in the market for nuclear power stations, the pressures of the anti-nuclear movement made further unbridled expansion of  nuclear development impossible. As a result they have become more careful, and they have become busy with the consolidation of their nuclear policies and with the reorganization of their essential sectors. In connection with that they have vested their hope in the protection of their profits by the governments and in the international marketing of their nuclear industry. Examples of this are the sale of French nuclear power the Bondsrepulik, for which RWL is running a new hydro net through Saarland. Another example is the intertwining of coal and atoms, for they want to use the heat of the fast breeder reactors for the gasification of coal in order to make electricity, and in this way also the fast breeder reactor will also be connected tm the hydro net.

THE GOAL OF POLITICS MUST BE THE BREAK WITH THE PREVAILING CONDITIONS.

We fight against a Europe of capitalism by attacking these corporations. We attack those who dictate the living conditions It is those who stand behind these projects and technologies who are creating a fascist and patriarchal society, degenerate and void of any humanitarianism where poverty is just as real as luxury for a few and where the over-regulated environment can only be made bearable through, for instance, the consumption of drugs.

If we are to halt the atomic program we need to have a perspective which is directed towards the entire system and therefore we need a well defined orientation of the revolutionary
movement and militants with the guerrilla must be well organized.

It is for us of fundamental importance that the militants become organized. Our action therefore is taken in association with the attacks by the Commando Wolfgang Beer and with the Fighting Unit Sheban Atlouf/Conny Wissman. Together we want to create the conditions for a new offensive phase which is necessary to give our fight societal relevance. Together with the prisoners, in this new phase,  we want to give shape and substance to the composition of these conditions, and to the thoughts and processes which will lead to the realization of these conditions.

During the hunger-strike of 1989 the solidarity movement reached a scope and breadth which went beyond the boundaries of the resistance movement and which thus gave us a perspective on struggle with a more uniform and homogenous resistance thrust.

Solidarity with the hunger-strikers in Spain!!

At this moment the political prisoners in Spain are fighting the ‘adjustment’ of their imprisonment conditions to the BRD model. The outcome of this fight will also have consequences for the prisoners in the  Bondsrepublik. Through solidarity with the political prisoners a more unified movement becomes possible which will make its influence felt on the entire revolutionary movement in Europe.

FOR THE GROUPING TOGETHER OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PRISONERS!

STRUGGLE TOGETHER!!

WE SEND GREETINGS TO THE SQUATTERS OF GORLEBEN!!

4 February 1990

Fighting Unit Crespo ‘Kepa’ Galende

(‘Kepa’ was one of the Spanish political prisoners who went on hunger-strike in 1981. He was murdered during this hunger-strike. We call ourselves by his name because of the situation whereby the hunger-strike in Spain is becoming more prominent, and also to strengthen our solidarity and increase the pressure.)

Communique:

Fighting Unit Febe Elizabeth

February 25, 1990

WE MUST BREAK THE POWER OF THE CORPORATIONS AND THE BANKS. WHAT MATTERS NOW IS TO LINK UP AT EVERY LEVEL THE ATTACKS OF THE COMMANDO WOLFGANG BEER AND THE OTHER FIGHTING UNITS TO FIGHT TOGETHER FOR THE RENEWED UNITY OF THE POLITICAL PRISONERS IN SPAIN AND AGAINST THE WEST GERMAN PROGRAM OF ISO-TORTURE.

On February 25, 1990, we attempted to carry out an attack on the headquarters of the Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt-Eschborn. We don’t know why the charges did not explode. In any case, we had set the time to 15 minutes and it is not possible that a pig patrol could have defused the bomb in that time. At this time it is very difficult for us to say anything about this action because it failed.

The Deutsche Bank is a concept for all who fight for a life outside the capitalist program of development. Everyone is confronted by it as a power which determines current politics. The Deutsche Bank was, and is here and worldwide a centre of corporate strategy, and it decides the managerial policy of governments throughout the Bundesrepublik. Also today, it is in the frontline now that the imperialists are determined to put under subjection the East European peoples. What the nazis were unable to complete in WW2, they will now achieve by means of capitalistic penetration.

The Deutsche Bank works behind the scenes with others around the arrangements being taken towards the restructurings which are being carried out to prepare the Bunderepublik for the West European high-tech society. In every way they are dictating the destruction of our living conditions in favour of their projects. It is the power of the banks and corporations which we must break.

For us, it was a decisive experience to see, during the hunger-strike of the prisoners in 1989, that the largest mobilization that there ever was during a hunger-strike could not result in a better coalition. This mobilization failed to demonstrate a politically explosive strength which, in a political unity with the prisoners and other people for whom this coalition had gone into the streets, could have brought pressure on those responsible so that they could have been forced into making concessions. This mobilization did achieve concession from several states and small groups of prisoners were brought together, but they refused to let go of their extinction-project against the prisoners.

That is also exactly the reason why the  political prisoners in Spain, again at this moment, must fight for collectivization; because we were unable to defeat the West German program for iso-torture.

So, for us, the question has since become: how do we expand into a revolutionary movement capable of realizing our objectives against the prevailing powers.

We invite discussion with everyone who fights for a different life, irrespective of the area in which they are active, with everyone who is of the opinion that we want and need each other to defeat the concentrated power of the imperialists with success. We are for a revolutionary process in which the different initiatives of all comrades have their own place and importance and are related to each other and see their relatedness, because issues and questions are discussed among each other and solidarity is obtained concerning the political situation We would also like to discuss different ideas about the revolutionary process. That means, for us, building up the revolutionary front. Today that is still just as important as 8 years ago. This means taking an idea and bringing it to life. The hunger-strike made it clear to us that we need to develop a revolutionary process and that we need to fight for a political idea and by doing that we will have created for ourselves the opportunity for sharp political interventions, such as the militant attacks against central installations owned by banks and corporations, and through our discussion with comrades from the guerrilla and the other Fighting Units, which have become very important.

The attacks by Commando Wolfgang Beer and Fighting Unit SA/CW presented us with the opportunity to place our action in a concrete relationship with the Fighting Units CKP and HHE, and thus, together with them, we have created the initial beginnings of a revolutionary organization. This is the revolutionary basis on which we can now proceed from and on which we want to determine our future common path.

After our action we left behind a sheet of paper which has either never been found or was suppressed. It said:

“Fighting Unit Febe Elizabeth
Solidarity with the hunger-striking political prisoners in Spain!
Collectivization Now!
25 February 1990”

That was our opportunity to focus our initiative on the fight of the political prisoners, which is still of importance here. It is our concern that the prisoners be put together in groups. We want them to be able to take part in discussions, which is important for us at this moment.

The Spanish prisoners are at this time fighting against the West German insistence on iso-torture, and this time they must win.

PUT THE FIGHTING PRISONERS TOGETHER

PUT CLAUDIA, BERND AND GUNTHER TOGETHER

FIGHT TOGETHER FOR SELF-DETERMINATION

HAFFENSTRASSE MUST STAY

STRUGGLE TOGETHER

Fighting Unit Febe Elizabeth

( note: Febe Elizabeth was an El Salvadoran union leader and outspoken government critic, a leftist and a member of the National Federation of Salvadoran Workers (FENASTRAS). She was killed in October 1989 when the FENASTRAS headquarters was bombed. The FMLN named their November 1989 offensive in her memory. )

Communique:

Fighting Unit Huseyin Husnu Erolglu

February 27, 1990

On February 27, 1990 we attacked the Siemens School for Communications and Computer Technology. These new information and communication technologies represent a gigantic market for Siemens. They make it possible for capitalists to modify their entire production processes. The “office of the future” and the “factory of the future;”  these subjects taught during management training will only lead to more profit and exploitation in the factories and offices. There is no room for creativity, for learning, for independent thought and meaningful work. Meanwhile,  rationalization discards many people from the production process.  There is no place for them in the society of tomorrows.

Siemens has played a prominent role in demanding exploitive  working conditions: introduction of Sunday work, flex hours, the decline in safety procedures and regulations, an increase in short term labour contracts. Siemens earns good money through the exploitation of black labour in South Africa. Siemens is one of the largest corporations in Western Europe, and just so that it  can make a profit, is prepared to engage in inhumane projects.  During the period of Nazi fascism, Siemens profited from the  merciless exploitation and murder of concentration camp prisoners  who laboured in the production of weapons.

KWE, Interatom, RBU and Alkem, these have made Siemens one of the largest nuclear corporations in the world, and it, among others, sells nuclear reactors to France, Austria, and Argentina.  Siemens has even sold a reactor to South Africa which can now make an atom bomb. Here and all over the world, Siemens sells computers to pigs and to Secret Services, as well as to reactionary and fascist governments in South America, Africa, and Asia. Today they support with their products the government of  Cristiani in El Salvador; they are directly responsible for the mass murder of the people of El Salvador. The misdeeds of this corporation would be enough to fill several thick books!

The monopoly of  technological advancement in the metropoles serves to extend world-wide repression into eternity. This system offers people no perspective; it offers no solution to any societal problems, problems which it has itself produced: unemployment, economic uncertainty, sexism, overt racism, destruction of the environment, daily starvation of peoples of the continents – South America, Africa, and Asia, and genocide
in several countries where people are fighting for their liberation. Mountains of paper are written about these developments, and anyone who has any sensitivity left is being
confronted by them everyday.

Our object is the development of resistance which is rooted is the deep contempt for this system, a resistance which attacks these destructive, projects and attempts to achieve political objectives, and thereby justifies the societal relevance of our
battle.

During the last hunger-strike it became clear that we were politically and practically incapable of changing the attitudes of those responsible. The rulers would have cooly
murdered prisoners instead of giving in to their demand for association together. For us, this is directly connected with our  quest for a real perspective on life, i.e. how can we get, from a murderous, capitalist interest group, these demands granted: an end to isolation torture, an end to such inhumane projects as atom and gene technology,  an end to the exploitation of the Tricontinents.

We now need a new phase, and after the hunger-strike we have decided to give further development to militant politics as a political factor. Militant politics is for us one means by which we can affect the current power relationships and blocs,. We consider it important that a communal discussion take place among  those who are ready to do battle here. We go on the attack now  because we want to continue the process that was initiated by the  Commando Wolfgang Beer of the RAF, also the Fighting Unit Sheban
Atlouf/Conny Wissman, the attack with molotov cocktails against a  branch of the Deutsche Bank in Hamburg, and the action by the Fighting Unit Crespo Kepa  Gallende, all of which got our support.

On November 30, 1989the prisoners from GRAPO and PCE(r), as well as the libertarians started a hunger-strike for association. At this moment the situation for them has become a matter of life and death. A couple of them are already in a coma,  and it is in this situation that the prisoners are tortured with methods developed in West Germany i.e. force feeding and “coma-resolution”. What in the past year was prevented at any cost i.e. the prisoner collective, must now be broken up also in Spain. The destruction-project against the prisoners has a uniform standard, after the West German model. Against this we can only fight together!

COLLECTIVIZATION OF THE. REVOLUTIONARY PRISONERS!

STRUGGLE TOGETHER!

February 27, 1990

Fighting Unit Huseyin Husnu Eroglu