text written by "anarchistischer Funke" (anarchist spark) from germany. reason for this text can be found here: http://libcom.org/forums/news/fai-attempts-letter-bombing-deutsche-bank-ceo-09122011
maybe you can help finding good translations for the quotations.
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1.What is the motivation behind the attempt to hurt or kill people representing the system and what is tried to be achieved with such actions?
The goal of these actions is to show that the system can be attacked and that the resistance is able to attack and kill certain people. It is aimed to build up an atmosphere of fear under the elite.
It is more than unlikely that the elite is getting scared by such actions. These people are so well protected that the chance of a „succesful“ attack is very low. The letterbomb-attack against the chief of „Deutsche Bank“ Josef Ackermann showed that all letters addressed to such elites are getting scanned and checked before they can reach their destination. Due to fact that the motivation for the elite is profit and the conservation and expansion of power, the elite will not be intimidated and they will not overthink or change their behaviour. An example for this is the history of the „RAF“. They knew how to build up an atmosphere of fear, although the effects of their actions were always negativ and it didnt have any positiv effect on the behaviour of the elite.
Another goal is to make symbolic acts of propaganda that are meant to be spread.
It is true that especially militant actions recieve a big echo in the media. That is the reason why letterbombs are so dangerous for the movement. Letterbombs can come upon anybody and therefore create fear inside the population, not like actions that just attack institutions. For example letterbombs can come upon anybody working in the postal system. That is why we called these actions terror. Terror means spreading fear and scare. Terror not only causes people to be scared, but it also causes antipathy against the people that are responsible for such actions. The purposely coverage of the media enhances this effect. It is more than unlikely that these actions help to spread non-hierarchic ideas and that people start figthing for an emancipated society. But a specific attack against the capital of a big company, from which people know that it exploits it's workers, can evoke certain sympathies inside the population, if no worker is getting hurt by the action.
Maybe you have already seen in the last paragraphs that the motivation behind such actions like letterbombs is based on the personification of the capitalist system. Single individuals are outlined as scapegoats and blamed for all the mischief in this society. But the capitalist system is much more complex and it is not dependent on a few exchangable persons or groups. One example for this is the widespread antisemitism where a certain part of our population is blamed for having control over the entire system. But it is important to point out that every single individual has a certain responsibility, because it does not matter how strong someone is bound to this system, everybody has a personal space for making a stand against this system. The source for the daily oppression is not by one group or a few individuals but by everyone who is part of this society and who is not resisting against the status quo. The continuance of this system is not based on certain persons or groups, but on the reproduction of hierarchic behaviour and thinking in every sphere of life. This behaviour and thinking is even more enhanced by institutions.
„Der Staat ist ein Verhältnis, […] ist eine Art, wie die Menschen sich
zueinander verhalten; und man zerstört ihn, indem man andere Beziehungen eingeht, indem man sich anders zueinander verhält.“
-Gustav Landauer-
„...aber vergessen wir nie, das wir Anarchisten weder Rächer noch Richter sein können, wir wollen Befreier sein und als solche muss unsere Aktion in Aufklärungsarbeit und beispielhaften Taten bestehen.“ -Errico Malatesta-
There is no „Good“ or „Evil“. Nobody has the right to judge over the life of another individual, even if that individual has judged over other's life in the past.
2.What are the consequences of such actions for the anarchist movement?
It is clear that letterbombs and other „propaganda of the deed“ (murder of certain human beings) will lead to even more repression. These easy to discredit actions make it an ease for the state to legitimize repression. Because of the generated fear inside of the population, the acceptance for reactionary sanctions and a totalitarian policestate grows. Besides that, the anarchist movement and their ideas are reduced to violence and brutality. Of course the state will always excecute repression on the anarchist movement, especially when we act more offensive. But we should not be surprised, when the effect of these blind and unreflected acions will be that militant actions in general get even more condemned and are made impossible. For all history the anarchist movement faced very hard repression. We are not invoking passivity or zero-tolerance pacifism, but we feel a duty to question our actions and to reinvent them again and again.
Mabye there will always be some people who are attracted by the violence of such actions, no matter what motivation behind these actions is and what goals are tried to being achieved. Violence should never be more important for the anarchist revolutionary than the goal of a society free of domination. The used methods should fulfil the conditions of the intended goal.
„Hass erzeugt nicht Liebe und durch Hass wird die Welt nicht erneuert. (...)Und die Revolution des Hasses würde entweder völlig scheitern oder aber einer neuen Unterdrückung platzmachen, die sich vielleicht anarchistisch bezeichnen, aber nicht destoweniger Unterdrückung wäre und nicht versäumen würde, die Folgen zu zeitigen, die jede Unterdrückung mit sich bringt."
-Errico Malatesta-
We respect and support everyone fighting for a liberated society. Of course everybody has to find his own way, but also be open for constructive criticism from other comrades. The decades-long discussion about such ations always lined out the contradiction mentioned by us and therefore the „propaganda of the deed“ has always been massively criticized. Both militant and peaceful methods are appropriate in the fight for emancipation, because variety is an anarchist attribute. Variety which does not contradict to the anarchist basic idea.
The destruction of the old always has to have the creation of the new in itself.
„Es dauerte nicht lange, bis sich bei den Libertären die Erkenntnis wieder durchgesetzt hatte, dass Terror kein Weg sein konnte und durfte. Das war im Anarchismus theoretisch auch nie anders gesehen worden. Aber die Dynamik, die jene entfesselten, die glaubten, zwischen „revolutionärer Gewalt“ und „Terror“ eine saubere Grenze ziehen zu können, setzte starke Emotionen und zeitweise auch gewisse Sympathien frei.“
-Horst Stowasser-
Peace doesn't work anymore. It used to, before the bosses got there hands on pepper spray and a massive police force. Now all it does is get the protesters attacked by the bosses armies. If we kill, we show them that they are weak and that the system can change. Violence is the answer, especially in the capitalist police states of today.