[Dissent-fr-info] ENTSICHERN CONGRESS || Berlin, 29-30 January 2011

[Dissent! France Info Newsletter]

*ENTSICHERN CONGRESS*
The European Union: Analyse, criticise, dismantle!

Berlin, 29-30 January 2011
http://outofcontrol.blogsport.de/kongress

A considerable part of all legislative and political decisions are
currently made via
the European Union. Expected resistance in the 27 member states is
thwarted by this
”policy laundering” while the financially strongest governments
furthermore dominate
the course. At the same time the EU enlarge its powers through its own
structures
which coordinate cross-border activities as well as advance projects
under its own
direction.

This policy is especially noticeable in the area of European ”homeland
defence” and
its securitization, militarisation and gendarmerisation of social
phenomenons. There
is, however, no increased attention which accompanies the development of
the EU by
now, for example by the social movements. The radical Left, as well,
which is
normally never short of criticism of the state, remains speechless.

One explanation for that could be that the EU, as a political project
with its great
variety and constant change makes it difficult to analyse and to grasp.
For example
the correlation between amendments in one´s own country and the
directive from
Brussels which is the cause for them scarcely becomes apparent or only
at a late
stage – too late to go on the war path against it. Therefore we want to
present a
critical review of the EU and focus on the question as to how the
European Union has
developed in the recent years and where concrete impact on different
areas of our
lives can be experienced. We are particularly interested in the
consequences for the
radical Left. We want to launch a theoretical discussion about the EU
and its
institutions and show examples of the concrete effects of its policy.
The ENTSICHERN
CONGRESS regards itself as counter event to the ”European Police
Congress” which is
supposed to take place in the middle of February again in Berlin.
European police
forces want to meet there for the 14th time with secret services,
military and
representatives of ”security” and armament industry, as well as with
academics. The
promotional event for the police-technical answer to social problems is
financed by
corporations who are rewarded for speaking-time and merchandising for
their products.

*ENTSICHERN CONGRESS*
The European Union: Analyse, criticise, dismantle!

Workshops, discussions, panel events and films on the topic of a view on
the EU which
is critical of the state: analysing behind-the-scenes deals, contracts and
institutions and effects of their policy in the face of financial
crises, shift to
the right, civil-military ”security architecture” and strengthening
”homeland security”.

Please note: The workshops and discussions will be held in german. Any
needed
translation will hopefully be done in self-organised translation corners.

Saturday 29 January 2011

from 10.00 a.m. Breakfast

10.30-12.00 a.m.

Changes brought by the Treaty of Lisbon and the Stockholm Programme
concerning
justice and home affairs policy
The Lisbon Treaty coming into force brought significant changes for the
justice and
home affairs policy of the EU and its member states: The sector of
police and
judicial cooperation in criminal matters has been made collaborative and
now belongs
to the standard in all areas of EU policy. Majority decisions are now
possible, but
on the other hand, the European Parliament has the right of codecision. The
amendments are combined with an upgrading of existing EU-agencies as
well as the
foundation of new ones, for example Europol, Frontex, the
civilian-military External
Action Service or the secret service center SitCen. The introduction
will explain the
present legal and political structure of the EU and scenarios will
outline its
development.
Adeline Otto

12 a.m.-2.30 p.m.

Workshop 1
State project Europe
The state is still the fundamental precondition in order to stabilize the
capitalistic mode of production which is inherently conflicting and
crisis-prone.
Thereby, it is no longer limited to the nation state. Social and
political actors
refer to a far more expanded field today which includes different
dimensions ranging
from global, supranational, and national, regional and local levels down
to urban
district level. Economy as well as the order of the political sphere
have undergone a
differentiation and flexibilisation which is characterized by
overlapping and
superimposed spatial dimensions. In this ”postnational” resp. ”multi-scalar”
constellation it is increasingly up to the European level of statehood
to regulate
the social conflicts.
Jörg Kronauer and Sebastian Wolff

Workshop 2
Manifestations of networked security: gendarmerie forces and emergency aid
In various initiatives the European Union tries to establish an increasing
militarisation of classical areas of ”national security”. Civil
components are
embedded into the foreign and military policy which are gaining strength
due to the
Lisbon Treaty. The member states are building police units which can
also operate
under military command. Although separated in police and gendarmerie
formations in
formal terms, these structures meet in joint trainings and military
missions. At the
same time civilian-military structures are created as well in the
European emergency
aid. Dominance in disasters is secured by satellites and drones,
encrypted situation
pictures and a monopolized crisis communication in ”situation centers”
of the secret
service. Counterinsurgency and ”emergency aid” will shape conflict
occurrences in the
future both within and outside the EU.
Christoph Marischka, Matthias Monroy

2.30-3:30 p.m.
Break
3.30-6.00 p.m.

Workshop 1
Surveillance from above: satellites and drones as instruments of an European
”security policy”
The players of a new ”security architecture” of the EU fight in many
areas which they
have chosen themselves: on the shores of Somalia against alleged
piratery, in the
Mediterranean against illegalized migration and within the own frontiers
against
”terrorism” and political uproar. Earth observation satellites and
drones belong to
the new, highly complex tools for this so-called ”crisis management”
currently being
developed and tested, which is boundless at the nation state as well as
a global
level. The recently intensified European security research, the
”civilian” one in
particular, but also the militarisation of the space policy are two
areas in which
billions of Euros are invested. With the help of these examples we want
to address
some basic questions regarding the implications of the European
”security policy”.
Malte Lühmann, Volker Eick

Workshop 2
A view to the future: ”Early detection” and ”radicalization”
”Extremism” means on a EU-level ”radicalization”: Advices, manuals, a
comic and a
data collection are supposed to forward the control over deviating
behaviour. Being
targeted in particular are ”Extreme Right/Left, Islamism, Nationalism,
critics of
Globalization etc.” Under the ”extremism” discourse, whole communities
are placed
under general suspicion. On board again is the interior ministry of North
Rhine-Westphalia. Measures euphemistically called ”prevention” are
accompanied by a
trend to search personal and object data by means of software („Data
Mining“).
Permanent dragnet investigation in police databases strives for nothing
less than to
foresee crimes and interprets the found connections as ”risks”. In this
workshop we
will present the ”early detection” concepts and social techniques of EU
police forces
and discuss possibilities for intervention.
Albrecht Maurer, Matthias Monroy

6-7.00 p.m.
Break

7.00 p.m.

Cracks in the Fortress Europe
Strategies of cross-border resistance: experiences, analyses and
perspectives of
various spectra and players – panel discussion.
Resistance against the European Union, which is experiencing a
considerable increase
in powers due to the Lisbon Treaty, appears to be in a very poor shape. The
increasing monitoring and sanctioning becomes obvious particularly in
police and
juridical collaboration and their agencies Frontex, Europol or Eurojust
as well as in
Internet regimentation. There are few cross-border networks and
structures that
oppose the progressing militarisation of social conflicts. A radical
rejection of
this quasi-state neoliberal project, however, needs to position itself
towards
difficult questions: how can we articulate critique without complying
with national
patterns? Which stand do we take on the popular demand of ”another”, a more
democratic EU as it is presented by liberal currents? How can we network
in a
transnational way without losing the relation to resistance practice?
Why is there no
perceivable movement against the excessive surveillance and control of
the EU? Where
is the radical Left which otherwise readily practice in radical
criticism of the
state? Where to address protest and resistance? All social movements
have to find
answers to these questions in the face of the growing power of the EU.
Thereby left,
Anarchist and radical left structures have definitely an edge in
cross-border
organisation and mobilisation: in order to criticize the EU migration policy
activists from all over Europe come together in No Border-camps for decades,
campaigns and action do not remain only symbolic. Around the summit
protests against
G8, G20, WTO, NATO and EU, too, developed networks and friendships which
can be
activated seemingly effortless for new protests. What are the conditions
for a
resistant cross-border organisation against the European security
architecture? In
the panel discussion we will analyse various perspectives of
transnational movements.
After an inventory of both unsuccessful and promising policies against
the EU we want
to gauge how we can put our radical dissent to practice.
We will discuss with:

   * Adeline Otto
   * Kriss Scholl
   * Detlef Hartmann
   * René Paulokat

Sunday 30 January 2011

11a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Workshop 1
The right wing in Europe tries to seize power
Informations about activities, strategies and networks of the extreme
right wing in
Europe.
Various right currents are active within the EU and beyond. Some of them
have
considerable influence on political decision-making processes in their home
countries. Furthermore the extreme right has a significance, as well, in the
institutions and committees of the EU. Which are the strongest right
currents in
Europe and what is their significance for us? How far is their influence
reaching?
This workshop wants to provide a summary of the current situation as
well as an
analysis of it.
Carsten Hübner

Workshop 2
Two sides of a barricade
A glance at the international changes in strategy of prosecuting
authorities at
summit protests in the last ten years indicates their ever improved
adjustment to new
tactics of resistance. This workshop attempts to analyse the
biopolitical dimension
of European conflict management
on the basis of the history of repression since the ”Summer of
Resistance“ in 2001.
Thereby we will examine parallels to other areas as the repression
against football
fans. Based on the assumption that police forces increasingly succeed to
make
unexpected surprises foreseeable and providently impossible, we want to
gauge in the
workshop under which conditions creative resistance remains successful.
Angela Furmaniak, Kriss Scholl

1-2.00 p.m.
Break

2-4.00 p.m.

Workshop 1
EU police databases and a campaign: ”Against DNA-collecting mania”
Since the EU has provided itself with money in Maastricht and with
borders in
Schengen it is inflationarily expanding mechanisms of repression and
control. Our
lecture is dedicated to an essential factor for this development: the
databases in
policing fields from SIS to the DNA analysis files of Europol.
Initially, we will
give you an overview of the relevant EU data processing architecture.
Then we will
discuss in more detail about an aspect of state surveillance which is
currently
rather neglected: DNA databases of the police which are supposed to be fully
networked on August 26, 2011 with the end of the Prüm Treaty. Moreover,
the exchange
of DNA profiles with the US is being planned. The campaign ”Hands off my
DNA –
Against the DNA-collecting mania” is planning protest actions in
spring/summer 2011
which shall be presented and discussed.
Markus Murmelstein, Susanne Schultz

Workshop 2
Financial markets, struggles and the reconstruction of Europe?
„Krisenlabor Griechenland“, (”Greece – A crisis laboratory”) is the
title of an
analysis of the debt crisis written by J. Malamatinas and me
(AssoziationA, January
2011). We see it as an all-out attack on the living conditions in Europe
and and
beyond with the objective to create a historically new capitalistic
command of the
living sources of value. I would like to report on that and to discuss
with you the
resulting questions of resistance.
Detlef Hartmann

Also on the programme:

Sunday 4.30 p.m.
Final discussion
Next Steps?

Exhibition: Rage and Revolt in Greece
A historically unprecedented removal of all social networks and rights
that had been
fought for over centuries has terminated the common basis for social
peace in Greece
in response to the crisis. While the words are missing to describe the
drastic
consequences for the people, a strong movement on the streets produces
images of rage
and revolt. Margarita Tsomou collects these images as documents of the
crisis. This
collection of photographs from archives of friends, bloggers and
activists shows
moments from the riots during December 2008 as well as from the general
strikes and
demonstrations in the Greek year of crisis 2010.

Culinary supply by the people´s kitchen ”Le Sabot”

More: http://outofcontrol.blogsport.de/kongress

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