Wien/ Austria: Informations about EKH and opernball

hey
thanks for your solidarity, which helped us a lot. a lot of people asked for
more information about what is EKH and Opernball. So we tried to do this...
in edition there is a new press release in form of an open letter to the
chief of police. please forward this information and answer to

mail to:  ekh@angelfire.com

Content:
The houses to those who live in it
What the hell is "Opernball" ?
Open letter to the chief of police, Mr.Schnabel

========================================================

The land to those, who work on it
The means of produktion to those who use them
The houses to those who live in it

After the Opernballdemonstration, the following house search in the
Ernst-Kirchweger House / E.K.H. and the medial mad rush, once more we have
to point out some facts:

The E.K.H. defines itself as a free-space for cultural, political and
artistic activities. It was squatted in 1990 by activistes of the viennese
squatting scene and turkish left-wing organisation ATIGF.
As an international, multicultural, antifascist centre it was named after
Ernst Kirchweger, an antifascist who was killed during a demonstration in
the 1960s.
Independent and autonomous structures and activities established in the
house. The Flughafensozialdienst, an organisation to support refugees and
migrants got rooms for cases of emergency for asylum seekers and migrants.
An infoshop ( a cafeteria with political book- and newspaper - offer), a
public library and an archiv,music-experimenting-room, a sound-studio and
workshops developed. The umbrella-organisation of jugoslavian groups and the
office of the newspaper TATblatt moved in. KINOKI shows films and
documentations, the "Volxtheatre Favoriten" produces operas and pieces.
Concerts, discussions and solidarity-events take place.
People from all over the world live in the house. Nobody in the house is
working for personal profit, without payment, just for the interests on the
project itself. We don`t want, and we don`t get subvention or public
support.
With our work, our living-together and political engagement we want to
spread an alternative project of living.
In the last few years our work was accomponied by observing, spying,
police-troops, who every now and then attack the house.
The house defines itself as a place of discussion, information and
resistance against the dominaiting, non-worth-living circumstances of living
here and everywhere else.

some people of ekh
( ekh@angelfire.com)
===========================================

What the hell is "Opernball" ?

The Opernball is a long traditioned, high society event in the viennese
opera in the austrian carneval season. It is a symbol of burgeois prepotence
and it is a meeting of the economy`s "who is who".
In 1987 the bavarian prime minister F.J. Strauss who persueded the raising
of the nuclear reprocessing station in Wackersdorf came to the Opernball.
For the first time massive riots of some thousand german and austrian
autonomous, anti-nuclear, grass root and anarchist protestors took place in
Vienna. From this on the anti-Opernball protests became a symbol of
"rioter`s violence" and police repression. The fairytale of travelling
german autonomous protestors coming to destroy "peaceful" Austria was
established. For years, in times of the Openball, all radical political
groups have been observed, regulary people were arrested and beaten.
In 1989, after the eviction of a squat, the Opernballdemonstration had the
topic: "Eat the rich - Evict the opera, raid the buffet."
One year later, in 1990, the police beat thousands of sympatisants and
protestors through the city. The aim of the massive violance and physical
injury was to threat as many people as possible. In the following years -
compared to the ones before - only a few people went out on the streets to
demonstrate against the ball of the rich and mighty..
In the year 2000 the anti-fascist street carneval party took place in front
of the opera. Thousands of peaceful, creative anti-government protestors
reclaimed the streets. Nevertheless 3 people were arrested and beaten
severly on their way home, by a new invented under -cover police troop,
disguised as demonstrators. ( This police, called the SEK, was originally
invented for the biggest racist razzia, called "operation spring", 1999
where twohundred africans were criminalized as drug dealers; for more
information look at www.no-racism.net, in a while also available in
english.) All were charged and found guilty.
This year blocades of the opera were planned but cancelled after the
minister of interior announced massive repression on every kind of blocade.
Since 19th of febuary 2000 every thursday a demonstration against the
extremly right government marches through the center of the capital.
 http://www.raw.at/sub/texte/texte_andere_sprachen.htm#englisch) Opernball
also takes place on a thursday. A lot of agent provocateurs were smuggled in
the demonstration. Containers were burnt, glasses were broken, police cars
were attacked, barricades were built. Riot police in heavy gear with
water-cannons attacked the demonstration, beat up everybody they could
catch, up to a female teenager on her way home.
Pools of blood decorated the shopping street. The mad rush of the police
lasted three hours, where they tried to beat as many demonstrators as
possible.
42 people, all under the age of 25, were detained and charged with property
demage, breach of the peace, serious physical injury and resistance against
the state violence.
41 of them were released in the next three days, two of them could escape
remand pending deportation.
One heavily beaten up 21-year-old is still jail.
On the 23rd of febuary, at 5 o`clock in the morning police in terror gear
with masks and colts in their hands, supported by a new (on 22nd of febuary)
legalized raiding party made a house search in the Ernst Kirchweger squat.
(more information below)
===========================================

Open letter to the chief of police, Mr.Schnabel
Owner of the Golden Key to the E.K.H.
(given to him at a public discussion about police brutality and youth)

After the house-search in the E.K.H. on the 23rd of february 2001, police is
proud of attacking the "bastion of the autonomous", the so called "center of
the chaos" (source: mediaprint 23.2.2001).
Wild weapons have been confiscated:
The search after the famous "cache of the anarchists" (Quotation ORF, ZiB
25.2.2001) was, according to the statements of the police, a so called great
success. Cobblestones from various political agitation-tours and study trips
to training camps in lybia, jordan, cuba, sibiria and anares have been
surveied and found for a size of 10 x 10 cm, others have been decamouflaged
as candles. These weapons have been confiscated.
Furthermore 5 liters of highly explosive wallcolor, were found in the cache.
In addition we are said to have developed a special pitch. It is the
well-known "Präzessionsschläuderkrähenweitwerfen
("precise-sling-crowsfeet-wide-throwing") which is detailed presented in
the NeueKronenZeitung from the 25.2.2001. We are sorry, but until now we did
not achiv the recognition of this kind of sport as an olympic disciplin,
because we could not agree on the rules yet. In reality, we don`t have any
idea how this "Präzesionsschläuderkrähenwerfen" should function.

Stop joking-the situation is serious enough
In the course of the Opernballdemonstration it came to heavy police-attacks
against demonstrators, suspects and uninvolved persons. According to police
information from the 26th of february 2001 there are investigations against
90 persons. One person is still kept in custody.
The so called "street-battle" was a police mad rush on demonstrators. 42
persons have been arrested. Meanwhile it is evident, that many people have
been beaten and mistreated by police. None of the arrested persons is older
than 25 years - this is what youth politics looks like in Vienna !
In the early morning, there was a brutal raid against left-winged
structures. The E.K.H. has been brutally attacked and criminalized by police
and media. Doors have been broken, human beings have been dragged out of
their beds with colts, handcuffed thrown to the floor.
This is an attempt to silence critical voices who are questioning the ruling
conditions. The right-extreme/ right wing government in Austria must be able
to count on a braod basis, not only in times of election campaigns. To take
vigorous action is a well working method in Austria.
The action may appear as a levying of hallucinized caches but police
consciously attacked left wing structures.
This course of events can only serve the threatening of political activists
and may be used as an example.
An autonomous centre like the E.K.H. is an easy target for state arbitrary
measures. But moreover we ask ourselves, who profits from this ? It will
always be useful for the powerful.
Every government needs human beings, but no human being needs governments.
It is evident for us, that every government is able to force such actions.
Resistance starts where the established borders, defined by the repressive
state, are went beyond without permission. The opposition must be beaten
back beyond the borders.
The police attacks of the 22nd and 23rd of february fit in the picture of a
government with FPOE contribution, who politically prepares racist attacks
in the streets, support politics which contempts women and follows
revisionism of history.
Such politics needs to be answered in various forms of protests. Legal
protest is part of state and social structure and cannot radically change
society. The different forms of protests against the dominating should have
one common aim: the unlimited possibility of all to move and live in a free
way in a society without monopols of violence. It is impossible for us to
see the protests in Vienna apart from global protests against neoliberal
interests. Still the wealthy Europe profits from hundreds of years
colonizing huge parts of the world. Neoliberalism, also persueded by the
FPOEVP government, encreases the difference in a violent capitalistic
structur.
This government quits subvention for political/non-conform projects with the
same aim as the assault of the autonomous center. We don`t get subvention
and we don`t want to get subvention. We want to decide by ourselves, how and
where we live and how we formulate and realise our demands.
The autonomous center, E.K.H., is beside all (self-) critics an attempt to
learn to live a society without capitalism.

They cannot threat us - they connot stop us
Solidarity with all political prisoners - immediatly release the last
detained of the Opernballdemonstration
Abandonment of all legal proceeding

some people of ekh
( ekh@angelfire.com)