Dear colleague,
today I want to inform you about an outrageous
event which I would have thought to be impossible
in a democratic Germany. Two weeks ago our
colleague Andrej Holm - he is the author of the
PRESOM study on privatisation research in Europe
- was, together with three other persons -
arrested under the allegation of "membership in a
terrorist association". Since then he is under
arrest. The charges against Andrej and the others
are mainly based on the observation, that
- in their scientific publications they use
concepts which can also be found in the leaflets
of a so-called "militant group" which is under
observation by the police in Berlin; as such
concepts the general attorney names
"gentrification" or "precarisation" , about which
Andrej has done extensive research and published
nationally and internationally;
- the intellectual capacity to write such
intellectually high-level pamphlets as are known from the militant group,
- access to libraries which they can use to do
research necessary to draft such texts.
These accusations as such are obviously absurd,
because they apply to the majority of the
scientific community. The fact that they are used
as justification for arrest and severe
accusations is nevertheless alarming. It seems
that a thorough intimidation of all critical
scientists is envisaged, and therefore we are all
possible further targets of such activities.
Meanwhile the protest against this authoritarian
and antidemocratic procedure has become rather
strong in Germany and has by now reached an
international dimension. Last weekend the yearly
conference of the American Sociology Association
published an open letter to the federal general
attorney, analysing the procedure of the
authorities as the construction of a terrorist
group, protesting against the arrest of Andrej,
and requesting his immediate release. I attach
this open letter and invite you to join the list
of signatories. You can do this by writing to the
solidarity group in Berlin at
([log in to unmask]) or by replying to my
present letter indicating your support of the
open letter (which I will then forward to the solidarity group).
Best greetings,
Jörg
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