Raids Against 'Interim' Autonomist Zine In Berlin

On June 12, 1997, more than 500 police in Berlin carried out a series of raids aimed at criminalizing the weekly autonomist publication 'Interim'. State agents searched several houses in the Berlin districts of Friedrichshain, Neukolln, and Kreuzberg. Several individuals were charged with various felonies including "rewarding or supporting illegal actions". Police also raided several printing presses.

A successful criminalization of the Interim would, in practical terms, be much more of a blow to the German radical-left than the recent state campaign against the underground publication Radikal, because whereas Radikal has only been sporadically published over the past few years, Interim has appeared *every week* since the late 1980s. Published as a forum for discussion for Berlin's radical-left autonome scene, the magazine has political relevance all across Germany, as it provides an anonymous forum for publishing communiques from militant action groups, mobilizations for demonstrations, and debates on politics and strategy.

The following is a translation of a statement issued by Interim following the recent raids.

Interim has been published weekly for nine years. State surveillance, repression, and investigations have not stopped it from appearing. The 1995 Verfassungsschutzbericht' [annual report from Germany's Office to Protect the Constitution] stated that "a high degree of trust and discipline among the makers of the magazine" have prevented the authorities from being able to close it down. But now the powers that be feel they can do just that.

Therefore, we'd like to say the following:

1. There is no permanent Interim editorial group, nor a fixed publishing location. The magazine is continually made and put together by different people.
2. If any papers were found anywhere during the police raids which also appeared in the Interim, that doesn't mean a thing. The Interim has a public mailing address, anyone can send us papers or documents, and as far as we know, it's not a crime to receive mail.
3. The cops dismantled printing presses, confiscated computers and files, filed charges against individuals. It's ridiculous to think that this will stop the Interim. Because the Interim is a communications CONCEPT: uncensored, according to the law, published according to its own rules in the interest of an anonymous exchange about theory and praxis of undogmatic left-radical politics. As long as the ruling powers are bent on destroying society, a radical resistance movement will be necessary, and it's not possible for a discussion of this necessity to take place within the boundaries of the laws of the powers that be. If Schonbohm [former General, now Interior Minister in Berlin] tries to stop our communication exchange by confiscations and arrests, he might just as well try to handcuff a mountain stream. If forced to operate entirely outside of legal boundaries, that's what we'll do, and there will always be people willing to make this communications concept possible and who can run it and diversify it.
4. We view the raids against part of the Interim's structures at this point in time as a flanking maneuver in the war which Schonbohm and Ladowski have declared. At a time when resistance to their cleansing policies is increasing - inner-city actions, university congresses, mobilizations by squatters, the homeless, and immigrants - the state wants to eliminate the forum by which all these forms of resistance can be linked together.

Even if we aren't able to continue the discussion about our politics (our politicians??), one thing is clear: Schonbohm has declared war, and we will react. Repression breeds revolts. We promise that the next issue of the Interim will be published on time, with the theme of how we can go on the offensive against those who want to cleanse the city [before it becomes Germany's capital again]. All those who wish to participate in this discussion will find ways of getting their texts to the Interim.

Interim - Weekly Berlin Info

In order to do something about the criminalization of the Interim, Trend Online in Berlin has set up a Solidarity Homepage for the publication with news about the recent raids, and we at Contrast.org have set up a mirrorsite. This is to be seen as an expansion of the publication, not a substitute for it. Interim is a weekly hardcopy publication and plans to stay that way.

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