Scientists find out: Gentrification is bad for you!
Gentrification is bad for you. How bad? Just ask a group of German researchers who find themselves accused of belonging to a “terrorist organization”, largely because they published on the subject. Their work on gentrification (among other things) can allegedly be linked through textual analysis to the communiqués of a so-called ‘militant group’ suspected of political extremism. In turn, three persons, who are charged with trying to set fire to three army vehicles outside of Berlin on July 31, 2007, are suspected by the police to be members of that group. In this cycle of suspicions, the ends don’t quite meet.
However, in the eyes of the German police writing texts is not the only crime committed. The researchers are also accused of having “contacts”, mostly resulting from their long participation in neighborhood groups and anti-war movements, to people seen as a being a part of Berlin’s radical left wing scene. Ideas and contacts are mixed by the prosecution into a cocktail of “terrorist activities”.
Gentrification plays a critical part in this story. People in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and other Canadian cities have learned in recent years that a seemingly unstoppable process is changing their cities. Gentrification is the name of the game. It replaces the local corner store with a Starbucks and a low rent apartment with a luxury condo. It evaporates the jobs that allow people to make ends meet. Scholars have studied this process, which takes its name from the root of the word, gentry, used for the English landed aristocracy, since the 1960s. Since the mid-1980s, it has spread as a world wide phenomenon and has changed the face of our cities. While many urban development agencies and municipal governments actively promote gentrification as a strategy of urban renewal, critical researchers everywhere decry the catastrophic consequences for local communities, poor people and the social diversity of cities.
This kind of research has now gotten some academics into trouble. In a bizarre series of developments, the German Federal Prosecutor has accused a sociologist, a political scientist, as well as a student and a social movement activist of “terrorism”. One prominent scholar, Dr. Andrej Holm, is in solitary confinement in a Berlin jail; another one, Dr. Matthias B. has had his apartment raided, his computer confiscated and is under investigation for belonging to a terrorist association. All accused have been charged under a recently more frequently used section of German criminal law, 129a, which was passed in 1976 at the height of the tense period of West German history, when the government pulled out all the stops to defeat the terrorist threat of the Baader-Meinhof group, also known as the Red Army Faction. It is directed in particular at exposing and destroying links between the ‘doers’ and the ‘thinkers’ in movements. From its inception, it has been criticized for allowing the state to criminalize both activists and researchers by claiming that together they form a terrorist association. It seems that 31 years after it saw the light of day, the law has finally created its perfect storm.
We have gotten used to a fair degree of government panic and overreaction since the unfortunate events of 9/11 but the German developments signal yet another step into the wrong direction. Although there is no established link at all between the critical scholarly writings of the accused – some as long ago as 1998 – and the attempted burning of the army vehicles, the connection is nonetheless made. Neither has it been established that the three arrested for alleged arson are members of the elusive “militant group,” an association the accused have denied.
The wider consequences of this development are alarming beyond Berlin. The question on the mind of many critical social scientists everywhere is now: which aspects of their work may lead to their criminalization down the road? If they can do this in Germany, should we be surprised that people are arrested and tortured for their views as it has happened to Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh and fellow academics recently in Iran, who are accused of pro-American propaganda. Tajbaksh and his colleagues have been arrested three months ago and have been detained since. Those arrested in Tehran are in jail for doing work interpreted as threatening by the government there. Have we arrived at the point where thinking critically has become a dangerous activity in the West, too?
Both cases have exposed the vulnerability of critical social science research. But they have also led to an unprecedented wave of protest and reaction among the academic and intellectual communities world-wide. It seems a line has been crossed. At a time when we hail creativity as an urban panacea from New York to Toronto, from Berlin to Shanghai, those who research the downside of gentrification, and expose social exclusion and marginalization will not go silently into the urban night. Critical social science is indispensable for a healthy democratic society. Standing up for free speech and academic freedom must concern us all. When those who are persecuted for their critical academic work are in danger, it is up to all of us to step up to the plate to defend their and our freedoms.
Roger Keil
Director, The City Institute at York University
Ute Lehrer
Associate Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University
Toronto, August 12, 2007
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Der Generalbundesanwalt beim Bundesgerichtshof
c/o Ermittlungsrichter Hebenstreit
Herrenstraße 45
D-76133 Karlsruhe
Germany
Der Generalbundesanwalt beim Bundesgerichtshof
Brauerstraße 30
D-76137 Karlsruhe
Germany
Open letter against the criminalization of critical academic research and political engagement
On 31st July 2007 the flats and workplaces of Dr. Andrej Holm and Dr. Matthias B., as well as of two other persons, were searched by the police. Dr. Andrej Holm was arrested, flown by helicopter to the German Federal Court in Karlsruhe and brought before the custodial judge. Since then he has been held in pretrial confinement in a Berlin jail. All four people have been charged with “membership in a terrorist association according to § 129a StGB” (German Penal Code, section 7 on ‘Crimes against Public Order’). They are alleged to be members of a so-called ‘militante gruppe’ (mg). The text of the search warrant revealed that preliminary proceedings against these four people have been going on since September 2006 and that the four had since been under constant surveillance.
A few hours before the house searches, Florian L., Oliver R. und Axel H. were arrested in the Brandenburg region and accused of attempted arson on four vehicles of the German Federal Army. Andrej Holm is alleged to have met one of these three persons on two occasions in the first half of 2007 in supposedly “conspiratorial circumstances”.
The Federal Prosecutor (Bundesanwaltschaft) therefore assumes that the four above mentioned persons as well as the three individuals arrested in Brandenburg are members of a “militant group,” and is thus investigating all seven on account of suspected “membership in a terrorist association” according to §129a StGB.
According to the arrest warrant against Andrej Holm, the charge made against the above mentioned four individuals is presently justified on the following grounds, in the order that the federal prosecutor has listed them:
- Dr. Matthias B. is alleged to have used, in his academic publications, “phrases and key words” which are also used by the ‘militante gruppe’;
- As political scientist holding a PhD, Matthias B. is seen to be intellectually capable to “author the sophisticated texts of the ‘militante gruppe’ (mg)”. Additionally, “as employee in a research institute he has access to libraries which he can use inconspicuously in order to do the research necessary to the drafting of texts of the ‘militante gruppe’”;
- Another accused individual is said to have met with suspects in a conspiratorial manner: “meetings were regularly arranged without, however, mentioning place, time and content of the meetings”; furthermore, he is said to have been active in the “extreme left-wing scene”;
- In the case of a third accused individual, an address book was found which included the names and addresses of the other three accused;
- Dr. Andrej H., who works as urban sociologist, is claimed to have close contacts with all three individuals who have been charged but still remain free;
- Dr. Andrej H. is alleged to have been active in the “resistance mounted by the extreme left-wing scene against the World Economic Summit of 2007 in Heiligendamm”;
- The fact that he – allegedly intentionally -- did not take his mobile phone with him to a meeting is considered as “conspiratorial behavior”.
Andrej H., as well as Florian L., Oliver R. und Axel H., are detained since 1st August 2007 in Berlin-Moabit under very strict conditions: they are locked in solitary confinement 23 hours a day and are allowed only one hour of courtyard walk. Visits are limited to a total of half an hour every two weeks. Contacts, including contacts with lawyers, are allowed only through separation panes. The mail of the defense is checked.
The charges described in the arrest warrants reveal a construct based on very dubious reasoning by analogy. The reasoning involves four basic hypotheses, none of which the Federal High Court could substantiate with any concrete evidence, but through their combination they are to leave the impression of a “terrorist association”. The social scientists, because of their academic research activity, their intellectual capacities and their access to libraries, are said to be the brains of the alleged “terrorist organization”. For, according to the Federal prosecutor, an association called “militante gruppe” is said to use the same concepts as the accused social scientists. As evidence for this reasoning, the concept of “gentrification” is named - one of the key research themes of Andrej Holm und Matthias B. in past years, about which they have published internationally. They have not limited their research findings to an ivory tower, but have made their expertise available to citizens’ initiatives and tenants’ organizations. This is how critical social scientists are constructed as intellectual gang leaders.
Since Andrej Holm has friends, relatives and colleagues, they now also are suspect to be “terrorists”, because they know Andrej. Another accused individual was blamed for having the names of Andrej Holm and of two others charged (but not jailed) in his address book. Since the latter are also deemed to be “terrorists” – this is how “guilt by association” is established.
Paragraph § 129a, introduced in Germany in 1976, makes it possible for our colleagues to be criminalized as “terrorists”. This is how, through § 129a, the existence of a “terrorist group” is claimed.
Through these constructs, every academic research activity and political work is presented as potentially criminal – in particular when politically engaged colleagues who intervene in social struggles are concerned. This is how critical research, in particular research linked with political engagement, is turned into ideological ring leadership and “terrorism”.
We demand that the Federal Prosecutor (Bundesanwaltschaft) immediately suspend the § 129a-proceedings against all parties concerned and release Andrej Holm and the other imprisoned from jail at once. We strongly reject the outrageous accusation that the academic research activities and the political engagement of Andrej Holm are to be viewed as complicity in an alleged “terrorist association”. No arrest warrant can be deduced from the academic research and political work of Andrej Holm. The Federal Prosecutor, through applying Article § 129, is threatening the freedom of research and teaching as well as social-political engagement.
Signed,
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Statement of three of the accused in one of the § 129a proceedings against the militant group (mg)
On the morning of July 31, 2007, our apartments were searched by officers of the Federal Criminal Police (BKA) at the directive of the Federal Prosecutor (Bundesanwaltschaft). The charge put forth is membership in a terrorist association, the so-called militant group, on the basis of to § 129a StGB.
Only through this incident did we learn that the authorities have been investigating us for almost a year. These preliminary proceedings have allowed the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) and other federal agencies to surveil and invade our private sphere all the way into its most intimate realms. Our partners, friends, families and colleagues have all been affected by these surveillance measures. Our longtime friend and colleague Andrej H. has been arrested. The father of three children has since been detained in preterial confinement in Berlin-Moabit.
The Federal Prosecutor (BAW) justifies these massive attacks on our civil liberties in the arrest warrant with an array of outrageous constructs.
We gather the following allegations against us from the few documents available to us as yet:
- Two of us are said to have authored scholarly publications allegedly containing »key words and phrases that have also been used in writings of the ›militant group(s)‹«. The BAW also attests that we possess the »intellectual capabilities« required for composing the mg statements claiming responsibility for their attacks. Furthermore, the BAW claims that we have access to libraries which we can use for research. Andrej is also said to have been involved in organizing protests against the G8 summit, concentrating on topics that the mg, too, has used as rationale for their attacks.
- One of us is also accused of having authored a journalistic article about a public conference where speakers discussed a 1972 militant attack. The mg allegedly also wrote about this attack some months earlier. This provides evidence, according to the BAW, that the author is a member of the mg.
- In two cases, the BAW accuses us of having contacts with individuals who are suspects in another – so far inconclusive – criminal investigation against the mg. Both contacts are primarily job-related. Furthermore, all of us are charged with »having multiple contacts to the extreme left-wing scene in Berlin«. It is not mentioned that we also maintain countless contacts to political parties, community organizations, trade unions and social movements.
What we conclude from these charges:
Any scholar or journalist who writes on specific topics and uses libraries arouses suspicion. Anyone who has contacts to people deemed suspicious by the BAW may become a suspect herself. Anyone who seeks to protect his/her right to privacy and anonymity may also become a suspect. In case all three moments of suspicion converge, it must be -- in this logic -- a terrorist association.
Notwithstanding the absurdity of all this, the consequences for our everyday life have been devastating: For a year now, our phone conversations have been listened to, our emails surveilled, our internet use monitored, our flats have been kept under surveillance, and all our moves have been followed by means of mobile phone data. Possibly undercover informants have been spying on us. Partners, friends, colleagues and family members have also become targets of the investigations. Right now, we cannot surmise the extent of this spying operation.
While we are still at large, our friend and colleague Andrej H. is detained on the basis of the same allegations. He is held under very strict conditions in solitary confinement, he can see his family only for an hour every two weeks, and communication with visitors is allowed only through separation panes.
In Germany, this form of investigation of particular political attitudes has a long and dark history. As former citizens of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) we are particularly sensitized to this.
We demand the immediate suspension of the § 129a proceedings, the return and deletion of all the data gathered on us, and the release of all the indicted from jail, including the three accused of attempted arson. In accordance with the rule of law they should not even be in pre-trial confinement, as there is no danger of their fleeing. Their arrest became possible only via the dubious construct of »forming a terrorist alliance«.
The whole proceedings are an utter scandal. They make very clear that the investigation paragraph 129a needs to be abolished.
Berlin, August 11, 2007
For the accused in this proceeding:
RA Wolfgang Kaleck
Immanuelkirchstr. 3-4
10405 Berlin – Prenzlauer Berg
tel.: 030 – 44679218