3 September 2011: Sabotage, blockade, impede the Nazi march in Dortmund!
For 3 September 2011 Nazis mobilise for a demonstration at the so-called “Nationaler Antikriegstag” (National Anti-War Day) in Dortmund. Again they will use this yearly Nazi event which exists since 2005 to propagate an racial-nationalist oriented anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism which is constantly combined with racism, anti-semitism, anti-Americanism and historical revisionism.
The Nazi scene in Dortmund
Dortmund has become a stronghold of so-called ‚autonomous nationalists‘ in Germany. Due to the movement of important neo-Nazi activists from the whole of Germany to Dortmund the Nazi scene in Dortmund is well-equipped with personnel. Additionally, they run their own internet store and a Nazi centre at the Rheinische Straße and thus can fall back to a materially well-established infrastructure. Besides the organisation of the “Nationaler Antikriegstag” (National Anti-War Day) they spread leaflets in the city of Dortmund or in front of schools and also organise other demonstrations. From time to time they commit planned attacks against residential and cultural projects of the political left as well as attacks against people who are not willing to accept right-wing propaganda and who are commited to activities against Nazis.
Since around 2009 the new neo-Nazi group „Skinhead-Front Dortmund-Dorstfeld” presents itself in public. The brutal attack against the alternative pub “Hirsch Q” where at least one pub visitor was injured with knife caused a stir. The neo-Nazis acted with utmost brutality against the pub visitors. This attack, although one of the most brutal ones, was not the last in a long row of right-wing attacks in Dortmund. Recently, the „Skinhead-Front Dortmund-Dorstfeld” was in the headlines again when its members made racist remarks against two women in a subway train and attacked them. Only one day later they provoked clashes at a fair.
The dynamics of Nazi marches in Dortmund
In the last seven years ‘autonomous nationalist’ in Dortmund were able to establish the big march at the ‚National Anti-War Day‘as an important date in the calendar of the action-oriented extreme right. While in 2005 about 200 neo-Nazis participated in the demonstration their number rose to 1,100 in 2008. This ‘success story’ was curbed in the last years: in 2009 and 2010 the legend of the ‘National Anti-War Day” which Nazis from Dortmund had cultivated in years of mobilisation across Europe was dismantled when the police in Dortmund allowed the Nazis only stationary manifestations without march through Dortmund. The character of the march as an event was thus severely damaged. It is a fact that the organisation of big marches is getting more and more difficult for neo-Nazis – although this is rather due to the restrictive approach of the police than due to activities of antifascists.
The municipality and its Nazis
The reasons why neo-Nazis could spread around Dortmund are that the municipality for years denied that there is a Nazi problem in Dortmund and that neither the socialdemocrat local government nor the local police took any measures or had any concepts against Nazis. Only antifascist activities in the last years have activated the local political structures. By now local decisionmakers at least demostrate symbolically against Nazis. Consequent public relation activities by autonomous antifacist groups have lead to a perceivable improvement. For example the municipality bought the house at the Rheinische Straße 135 which the Nazis had rented as their ‘national center’. Additionally, the budget for projects ‘against right-wing extremism’ was dubbled to 200,000 Euro. It has to be noticed, however, that these activities were only possible because of extern public and political pressure. That these measures are not enough to sustainably weaken the Nazi scene in Dortmund is obvious. Ongoing and consequent activities against the extreme right are necessary.
Dortmund Calling
That is why all autonomous antifascist groups in Dortmund together with numerous antifascist and (radical) left-wing groups from the whole of North Rhine-Westphalia call out to impede the Nazi march on 3 September 2011. With a radical left-wing demonstration at the evening before the march (2 September 2011) the Dortmunder Antifabündnis (short: DAB; Dortmund Antifascist Alliance) wants to contribute to a substantial and content-related discussion about Nazis and societal structures which bring about Nazis and fascist attitudes. After the demonstration a concert is planned. Additionally, we do not only plan activities against Nazis during their ‘action weeks’ before the ‘National Anti-War Day’ but we also want to go public with our own political ideas. For the activities on Saturday we offer a Convergence Center (with sleeping places, food, information, etc.), an information system for activities against the Nazi march and of course also a legal team.
The last years have shown that these measures alone are not enough to gain capacity to act if there are absurdly superior police squads that are able to block whole districts of Dortmund. To be able to act flexibly in spite of strong police presence we focus on the journey to Dortmund this year. For this purpose we have developed a flexible, multi-stage concept to ensure our capacity to act during the whole day. More information on this can soon be found on our Website. Please join the travelling groups starting from different towns in North Rhine-Westphalia or come to Dortmund directly. Let’s make the “National Anti-War Day” a desaster!
Against neo-Nazis, historical revisionism and the German reality!
Sabotage, bloackade, impede the Nazi march on 3 September 2011!
The following groups support this call for activities on 3 September 2011:
http://alerta.noblogs.org/aufruf-unterstutzer_innen/#support
