Well, isn’t that convenient?

It’s fair to call me cynical. In recent times, cynicism about the means and motives of our rulers has proven itself to be the most reliable predictor of their behavior.

Today the newswires and the netteries are alive with talk of “terror plots in Germany! Americans targeted! In the next month!” Americans yearn hopefully for news of raids by the Sicherhe Stas German security forces to thwart these fiends. Even the most cynical of Americans are saying “Bush is in trouble, crank up the Terra wolf.” But it occurs to me that my friends are being good Americans, that is, being “US-centric”, that events in Germany may just have something to do with events in Germany.

Perhaps the cause of being cynical is having more information than the average bear. I long ago realized I couldn’t rely on official information sources, and have learned to look elsewhere for information. keep reading and I’ll share with you what the “unofficial” sources are talking about wrt Germany.

I’d just been reading stories like this one from wsws.org:

German police carried out a series of highly coordinated raids against anti-globalisation and left-wing organizations across Germany on Wednesday. Nine hundred police searched a total of 40 locations in the cities of Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen and other towns in northern Germany. The raids were authorised by the General Attorney’s Office on the basis of Paragraph 129a of German law, i.e., that the organisations raided were involved in the “creation of a terrorist organisation.” According to the Attorney’s Office, terrorist attacks were being prepared primarily in connection with the G8 summit to be held in Germany this summer.

In Berlin, hundreds of police were involved in raids throughout the suburb of Kreuzberg. Police conducted an extensive search of the Mehringhof complex of apartments and shops, including a bookstore and bakery. Raids were also carried out in other offices and apartments in Kreuzberg, in which computers, hard discs, printers and files were confiscated. Police also shut down a Berlin-based computer server used to coordinate the activities of left-wing and anarchist groups.

In the northern city of Hamburg police raided an alternative cultural centre, Die Rote Flora. Large numbers of police stormed the building early Wednesday morning confiscating 10 computers and other documentation.

Dozens of other sites were also subject to police raids in Lower Saxony, Bremen, Brandenburg und Schleswig-Holstein. The main targets were farms, which federal prosecutors declared were suspected of being planning and supply centres for protesters.

and this on IndyMedia:

Yesterday a nationwide search of left projects and individuals was taking place in Germany. The Federal Supreme Court prosecutor Monika Harms aimed with these searches on a criminalization and split of the broad resistance against the G8. The raids proved to be a total failure.

The intended intimidation of the left scene and the entire G8 protest movement did not succeed. Yesterday evening, more than 10.000 people in several German and European cities took to the street, to express spontaneously their solidarity. [Is it truly only Americans that are clueless as to how to resist repression? -Lauritz] The wave of repression has triggered an even larger mobilization against the G8 summit that will take place from 6-8 of June in Northern Germany. Thanks Miss Harms, you scored an own goal!

Comparing the different raids in 40 places reveals the picture of an uncoordinated and aimless operation of the investigation authorities…

Many search orders were justified with the accusation of membership of a terrorist association of the authors of the book “Autonome in Bewegung” (Autonomous in movement). This book, which is already published in a third edition, was used to justify the searches of bookshops, editorials, archives and other left projects. The book is available in any bookshop for €20,- and has never been an object of criminal prosecution.

The alternative Internet platform “so36.net” was searched as well. Thereby, the complete content of the mailbox of a lawyer and a lawyer’s office was confiscated.

The search of another person was motivated with the suspicion of participation in an arson attack on the Dussmann Company. The accused person was observed with Internet surveillance. According to the search order he is accused of having done an extensive Internet research about the Dussman Company. This is the only evidence that should prove his participation in the attack.

If this is supposed to be the juridical practice of the future, the doors are opened for arbitrariness: anyone visiting an Internet portal risks to be subjected to criminal prosecution.

A wave of raids and repression using “terrorism” laws was met with a quick and large scale show of protest, and a vow to continue to organize against the G8. Does this “teror alert” signal a heightened wave of repression about to make land? And does visiting IndyMedia and wsws.org risk being subject to criminal prosecution?

After Madrid and London, the risk of a large scale terrorist attack in Europe can never be entirely dismissed. But the time is more than convenient.

Finally we understand that in hegemony, work is freedom. Freedom means we cede everything else to the authorities.