Archive for the 'Antifa' Category

B2B x 2

Published October 11, 2011 Antifa , Berlin , the faith , the faith of graffiti 1 Comment

B2B = back to blogging!

It’s been over a month since my last blog post.  I’ve been a little overwhelmed lately with the flood of information that is available online to the point where I can’t write.  I leave tabs open in Firefox to remember all the cool stuff out there: a new online anarchist archive at the University of Victoria in BC, Canada; a book called OurSpace: Resisting the Corporate Control of Culture; Death and Taxes’s Occupy Wall Street Systematically Ignored by Mainstream Media; AP’s Wall Street protester’s dress as zombies in NYC; Occupy Boston at Dewey Street’s downloadable print and post flyers; the Anarchist’s Developments’s article called The Response of Cultural Studies to 9/11 Skepticism in American Popular Culture; a YouTube video about Peter Claussen als Diplomat in der DDR (Peter Claussen is a U.S. State Department colleague of a friend of mine now situated in Berlin and might be a great contact!); an Ai Weiwei photography show at the Martin-Gropius-Bau opening this Friday; and, of all things, a story about the spiritual side of the OWS protests, in which a Tom Beaudoin, associate professor of theology at Fordham University, writes,

“… when they embody visions of a possible future that influence the larger social imagination, and when they sculpt the desires of the protestors themselves for the better.  In these ways, resistance can become symbolic action, protests become like religious ritual — and in those ways, even more important.”

(Made me miss my dad, again.)

B2B also means back to Berlin!!!!!!  I’m heading over on Thursday for a week, and once again, same as my last trip, the stars are aligned for good things.  A series of demonstrations around the world will take place on Saturday, October 15, for “a global revolution.”  I’ve been trying to find a single Web site for the event, which I realize is impossible, but have only come up with various FB sites and YouTube videos.  Knowing what I’ve seen in German stickerland, however, I’m sure there will be some serious street art in Berlin.  I’m also making a short trip to Hamburg this time.  A few people have indicated that Hamburg has a pretty lively street art scene and left-wing political antifa culture.

I also learned today the Stroke Urban Art Fair #5 will be in Berlin this weekend, October 14-16, 2011.  Hot dawg!  SLU students, Spencer-la, and I traveled to Munich in May 2010 to see Stroke #2, and everyone said how the Munich show was much more focused on sales and $$.  Richer clientele.  The Berlin version is supposed to be a little more alternative.  We’ll see.

Okay, off to pack and do laundry.  Count down!

Newest protest stickers

Published July 18, 2011 Antifa , Berlin Leave a Comment

Examples from the May 2011 trip to Berlin in relation to my previous post.  These are all antifa specific.  Others to follow.  I miss collecting stickers in Berlin.  Time to schedule another trip!

By good fortune

Published June 19, 2011 Antifa , Berlin , the faith of graffiti Leave a Comment

By good fortune or great coincidence, I met someone in the Inuit art world who was actively involved in German street art in the late 1980s and early 1990s – working with others in stencils, stickers, and posters.  He contributed to the publication of “hoch die kampf dem: 20 Jahre Plakata autonomer Bewegungen” (“20 years of autonomous movements posters”) and “vorwärts bis zum nieder mit: 30 Jahre Plakate unkontrollierter Bewegungen,” which on Amazon translates awkwardly to “forward to the down with: 30 years of posters of uncontrolled movements.”  When I put “with others” above, he told me that individuals rarely worked alone.  Rather, people worked in collectives—by consensus in small associations for a particular protest, or in more long-term antifa movements and support network for autonomous centers (his words, not mine).  The first publication is available as a PDF PlakatbuchBand1, and it appears to be reviewed online here.  Both publications come with CDs, which may be a little more difficult to track down.

Even though I don’t speak German, I can see in the first publication that some of the themes and graphics found in contemporary stickers date back several years to the mid- to late-1980s, such as “Atomkraft: nein Danke!” (“Atomic energy?  No thanks!”) and “Kein mensch ist illegal” (No one is illegal”).

The other weird coincidence is that this guy from Germany goes by kleiner kosmonaut, and when I looked online, I found this:

Which looks a little like the wallpaper in the Jetson Room at the John Morris Manor B&B where I stayed when my twin nephews graduated from Hobart William Smith a few weeks ago in May.

Can’t make this stuff up!

A.C.A.B. stickers

Published January 16, 2011 Antifa , Berlin , SLU/CIIS 2010 , Stickin' it to the Man Leave a Comment

A.C.A.B. is an acronym that stands for “all cops are bastards,” a punk phrase that can be heard shouted at public demonstrations and protests throughout Germany and many counties in Europe.  The formidable police presence at these events gets little notice in the United States, yet hundreds of videos on YouTube depict violent head-on clashes between armed police and unarmed protesters and passersby.

In prisons in the United Kingdom and United States, the letters A.C.A.B. can often be found tattooed on the front of a person’s four fingers in clenched fist.  Alternately, in various other contexts, the acronym can mean, “always carry a Bible,”[1] “anarcho-communists are beautiful,” and in the photograph below, “acht Cola, acht Bier” (eight colas, eight beer).[2]

Banners and flags with A.C.A.B. appear at European football games, and in April 2010, police in Amsterdam arrested three men at a game for wearing T-shirts with the number 1312.  In January 2011, the men were each fined 330 Euros.[3]

A.C.A.B. stickers depict a range of sentiments from photographs of militant antifa hooligans clad in black standing face-to-face with armed riot police and uniformed Polizei snorting coke, to cartoons of young punks, musicians, and street artists.  In one sticker, a vengeful Bart Simpson and clan are shown running from a calamitous scene of fire and smoke with bottle rocket, wrench, and wooden bat, chasing down dopey and bewildered cops.

The AJAK antifa sticker (Antifa jugendaktion Kreuzburg) shows a photograph of a young man being arrested.  Dressed in green as a mischievous Peter Pan with arms bound in cord behind him, he is escorted into a police car.  The interaction depicted here is not overtly violent, unlike some of the others.

Silvio Meier demonstrations in Berlin

Published December 12, 2010 Antifa , Berlin Leave a Comment

Twenty-seven-year-old Silvio Meier was murdered on November 21, 1992, by neo-Nazis at the U-Bhf Samariterstraße, a train station in Berlin-Friedrichshain, a district in former east Berlin.  From London’s Daily Mail, November 27, 1992, this was one of over 1,800 racist attacks in Germany that year.  From the article, “according to Interior Ministry figures, 1,483 of these were Right-wing inspired.”  Also from the article:

“NOVEMBER 21, Berlin: Silvio Meier, aged 27.

A SQUATTER with Left-wing views, Mr Meier was stabbed in a Tube train in the East Berlin suburb of Friedrichshain.  Friends were badly injured after being stabbed several times. Mr Meier died from his injuries.

Media coverage: The attack was reported in detail on the front pages of all the Berlin newspapers.

Police action: On Tuesday, Sven M, 17, was charged with manslaughter.  He describes himself as a ‘soccer hooligan’, but maintains he is not a member of any Right-wing group.  He claims that before the attack Mr Meier had shot him with an airgun.”

The New York Times, November 24, 1992, describes the event:

“Anarchists and leftists fought a bloody brawl with rightist skinheads at a subway station in eastern Berlin Friday night, and a 27-year-old man, Silvio Meier, who was fighting alongside the leftists, was stabbed to death. A police investigator said one of his attackers wore a patch on his jacket reading, ‘I am proud to be German’.”

Over 3,500 people marched in November 2010 in Meier’s memory.  Graphics this year can be found and downloaded from the Web site www.silviomeier.de.vu.  One poster includes three images of young people participating in relatively non-violent protest.  One portrays a young black man with his arm raised in solidarity.  A second shows a group of young people playing and partying on the street, knocking around, goofing, flipping the bird, laughing.  A third shows a much larger group marching the street; in this case one of the protesters waves a torch on fire.  These images stand in contrast from the more militant images from the demonstration in 2009.  You can also click on the link below for a PDF of the poster.

plakat_silvio-meier10

Here again, we find social media at play.  This year, a blog entitled “Fighting Fire with Gasoline” posted an announcement for Siempre Antifascista November 2010 in Berlin, an international antifascist festival featuring concerts, a demonstration, and conference.

“According to the RASH site an international Antifa action day is planned for the 11th of November 2010.  The Antifa conference with speakers from different countries I am so looking forward to is planned for the 12th to 14th of November.  The yearly Silvio-Meier demonstration will also take place during the festival weekend 19/20th.  You are all encouraged to use the ‘Siempre Antifascista’ logo for your actions and send the reports to the RASH web site!  Remembering means fighting! Kick fascism out of the subcultures!”

The same “Fighting Fire with Gasoline” blog later tells of the Silvio Meier remembrance demonstration in 2010 in which neo-Nazis fire-bombed a shop in Berlin.  The post also states:

“[The] right of centre government decided to apply its ‘extremism’ label to governmental funding of so-called civil initiatives, which mostly act against neo-nazis and racism.  I don’t think Antifa groups are going to have to go back to black and white flyers, most did not get too close to state funding anyway.  But some initiatives especially in the East where doing a good job but I think they will have to sign a clause which says that they support the constitution.  That may be the reason why the Silvio-Meier demonstration 2010 will take place under the banner: ‘Fight the Nazis, fight the state!’.”

ctrl + alt + T

Published December 7, 2010 "The Process is the Product" , Antifa , Technology/2.0 Leave a Comment

Firefox came out recently with a handy free add-on called ImTranslator that allows one to select text from any digital source, hit ctrl + alt + T, and receive an immediate translation.  Easy to install and easy to use.  If you like it, you can make an online donation to help cover costs, I assume.

Here is an example from antifastreetart’s About page:

Nachdem dies mit dem deutschen Faschismus vernichtet wurde, entstand im konservativ geprägten Nachkriegsdeutschland mit dem Beginn der 68er Bewegung ein neuer Anlauf, die Menschen vor allem durch politische Plakatkunst zu erreichen. Unter dem Motto „Kreativität gegen Kapitalismus!“ wurden so tausende Plakate unter die Bevölkerung gebracht….

that translates in a blink of an eye to this:

After this was destroyed with the German fascism, a new approach originated in the conservatively stamped post-war German land at the beginning of the 68th movement to reach the people above all by political poster art. Under the motto „ creativity against capitalism! “ thousands of posters were brought thus under the population….


Sticker exhibition – subjects and topics

Published September 2, 2010 "The Process is the Product" , Antifa , Berlin , SLU/CIIS 2010 , Stickerz , the faith of graffiti Leave a Comment

It’s too hot today to go back to Cambridge to collect stickers.  (Boo hoo….)

I am, however, organizing what I have from my last two trips to Berlin, and here below are the subjects and topics I’ve come up with so far to write about as text panels for the upcoming street and sticker art exhibition.  Some subjects are quite broad, while others are specific to socio/political issues during the last 5-6 years, and still others reference German history dating back to the 1940s.  So many subjects overlap that it’s difficult to sort them out sticker by sticker.  (I can write about that, too.)

ACAB (all cops are bastards)

Anarchy

Animal rights

Anti-capitalism

Antifa (a huge topic covering a range of different issues)

Anti-Nazi

Autonomy

Bambiland.blogsport.de (Reclaim the Gardens) (gentrification)

Die Linke (Left Party)

DKP

Economy (Germany, EU)

FAU (Free Workers Union)

Gender and sexuality

German national statehood

Inforiot

May Day (May 1st)

MLPD (Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany)

NPD (National Democratic Party of Germany)

Nuclear energy/green energy/environment

Pirate Party Berlin (government Internet monitoring, data communications, privacy, civil rights)

Protests and demonstrations (CT – see list on Delicious)

Religious freedom

Resistance

Revolution

Silvio Meier (demonstration)

Soccer (anti-Nazi) ultras and fan clubs

Solidarity

Squatting (commercialization, gentrification)

Space invaders against…

SPD

Surveillance

Tempelhof airport (commercial development)

“a healthy opposition to ideologies” (I miss my Dad today)

Published July 11, 2010 "The Process is the Product" , Antifa , Berlin , Gallery/Center of the Universe , SLU/CIIS 2010 , Stickerz , Stickin' it to the Man , Street Art , the faith of graffiti Leave a Comment

A link from Infoshop leads to a Web site called Little Black Cart, which is a combination blog and shopping cart for books, mags, ‘zines, etc.  Reading topics include: anarchism, communism, culture, green anarchy, situationist, insurrection, anarchy, autonomism, and surrealism.  Here is what they write about Situationists.

The Situationists (or Sits) were artists from various countries who formed a group in the 1950s called The Situationist Internationale. They critiqued modern society in its various economic, social, and political aspects. They wanted to bring Marxism up to date, to construct a theory of what was going on in society that was preventing people from being able to live fully and act freely. The result was a critique that centered around everyday life, rather than on abstract economic forces. The idea of the “Spectacle” (the empty roles and values and passive rituals that modern life both perpetuates and relies upon) was at the heart of this.

The Situationists were characterized by a healthy opposition to ideologies (if you think of ideologies as sets of ideas that people pledge allegiance to, stop thinking critically about, and only defend). As part of that opposition the Sits denied that there was such a thing as Situationism, doing their best to fight off the stultifying, paralyzing effects of dogma and the party line.

I think I got “a healthy opposition to ideologies” from my Dad, a Congregational minister who left the church to become a professor at a community college and a maximum security prison.  I remember him talking about why he left the church, in that he felt the church as an institution in general was heading in the wrong direction.  This was in the early 1970s during the height of the Vietnam War and civil rights movements.  He said that he felt he would be a better minister working with those from a disadvantaged working class and others who deserve equal opportunities in life.

Shepard Fairey, a RISD grad, quotes the Situationists as an influence in his own work as a street and sticker artist.  His Obey Giant campaign “manufactures quality dissent since 1989.”

I have come across a number of German stickers in the past five years that reflect Situationist perspectives, which will be the subject of one of my text panels for the upcoming exhibition at SLU, “Contemporary Street Art in Berlin as Cultural Expression and Political Protest.”  Quiet mornings are helping me formulate the exhibition in my mind, and I realized today that the subject headings in my sticker database will form a perfect framework for these text panels.

In the context of German street art, I’d say that anarchy is not about lawless chaos.  Rather, according the Oxford English Dictionary (via Wikipedia), it refers to “A social state in which there is no governing person or group of people, but each individual has absolute liberty (without the implication of disorder.)  But is bound by a social code.”

Patterns

Published July 2, 2010 "The Process is the Product" , Antifa , Berlin , Stickerz , Stickin' it to the Man , the faith of graffiti 2 Comments

Having recently watched the 2008 film The Baader-Meinhof Complex, I may be starting to get a better understanding of the historical context and meaning of antifa stickers that I’ve found in Berlin during the last five years.  There is so much I don’t know (so much!) that I wouldn’t dream of trying to write anything in depth about it now.  Christopher Hitchens reviews the film here in his August 17, 2009 article in Vanity Fair (Stickerkitty’s birthday #51).

I’ve also been reading Hans Fallada’s Every Man Dies Alone, which tells the true story of a couple who distributed postcards advocating civil disobedience in various public places in Nazi-controlled Berlin during World War II.  Much of the story takes place in the neighborhood in Prenzlauer Berg where I stay when I go there – Greifswalder Strasse, Jablonski Strasse, etc., all a block or two away from the Hotel Greifswald.  I’ve figured that Otto and Anna Quangel were in some ways the first “sticker artists” in that part of the world.  The story reveals, however, that the postcards had little effect, since most were handed over to authorities upon their discovery.  Not so with stickers of today!

To cap it all off, in doing a little research on the film, I learned about something called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon that describes how people find patterns of synchronicity in their everyday worlds.  The Best of Wikipedia puts it like this:

“The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon occurs when a person, after having learned some (usually obscure) fact, word, phrase, or other item for the first time, encounters that item again, perhaps several times, shortly after having learned it.”

I can go back to sleep now.

Kittens

Published June 26, 2010 Antifa , Berlin , Stickin' it to the Man Leave a Comment

By (another) coincidence, I came across Kittens, an English-speaking journal produced within a network called Junge Linke gegen Kapital und National (which translates to “Young Left against Principle and Nation”).

Looks like more summer reading for Stickerkitty….

Here is a Junge Linke sticker I found in Berlin in 2003-04.  I’ll dig around for others more recent.

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