*Open letter to the Generalbundesanwalt schaft 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, including contact with their
lawyers. 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 to
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.

*Initial signatures by:*

Dr. Manuel Aalbers (Columbia University, New York), Prof. Dr. Rowland
Atkinson (University of Tasmania, Australien), Prof. Dr. Lawrence D.
Berg (Canada Research Chair in Human Rights, Diversity & Identity,
University of British Columbia), Prof. Dr. Neil Brenner (New York
University, Sociology), Prof. Dr. Craig Calhoun (President, Social
Science Research Council, and University Professor, Sociology, NYU),
Prof. Dr. Mike Davis (Prof. of Urban History, Irvine/USA), Dr. Michael
Dear (Professor of Geography at the University of Southern
California/Los Angeles), Prof. Dr. Michael Edwards (The Bartlett Centre
for Architecture and Planning, UCL, London), Prof. Dr. Geoff Eley
(University of Michigan, Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor),
Prof. Dr. John Friedmann (University of California, Los Angeles), Prof.
Dr. Herbert Gans (Columbia University, New York), Prof. Dr. Alan Harding
(University of Salford, UK), Prof. Dr. Michael Harloe (University of
Salford, Vice-President) , Prof. Dr. David Harvey (Distinguished
Professor of Anthropology, Graduate Center of the City University of New
York, New York), Prof. Dr. Andreas Huyssen (Villard Professor of German
and Comparative Literature at Columbia University), Prof. Dr. Martin Jay
(Sidney Hellman Ehrman Professor of History, University of California
Berkeley), Prof. Dr. Bob Jessop (Lancaster Universtiy), Prof. Dr. Roger
Keil (York University, Toronto, Canada), Prof. Dr. Rianne Mahon
(Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada), Prof. Dr. Peter Marcuse (Columbia
University, New York), Prof. Dr. Margit Mayer (Freie Universität
Berlin), Prof. Dr. Frances Fox Piven (President of the American
Sociological Association, Distinguished Professor of Political Science
and Sociology, City University New York), Prof. Dr. Andrew Ross (New
York University, New York), Prof. Dr. Saskia Sassen (Columbia
University, New York, and London School of Economics) Prof. Dr. Andrew
Sayer (Lancaster University, Sociology), Prof. Dr. Richard Sennett
(Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics, Bemis
Professor of Social Sciences at MIT, Professor of the Humanities at New
York University), Prof. Dr. William Sewell (The Frank P. Hixon
Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and History
Emeritus, University of Chicago), Prof. Dr. Neil Smith (Distinguished
Professor of Anthropology and Geography, Director of the Center for
Place Culture and Politics, Graduate Center of the City University of
New York), Prof. Dr. Michael Storper (Centennial Professor of Economic
Geography, London School of Economics, and Professor of Economic
Sociology, Science Po, Paris), Prof. Dr. Erik Swyngedouw (University of
Manchester, UK), , Prof. Dr. Peter J. Taylor (Loughborough University,
UK), Prof. Dr. John Urry (Lancaster University, Sociology), Dr. Jennifer
Wolch (Professor of Geography at the University of Southern
California/Los Angeles), Greg Grandin (Professor of History, NYU), Manu
Goswami (Professor of History, NYU), Moishe Postone (Professor of
History, University of Chicago), George Steinmetz (Professor of
Sociology, University of Michigan), Miriam Greeberg (Asst. Professor of
Sociology, University of California Santa Cruz), Jen Petersen (Dept of
Sociology, NYU), Amy Bartholomew (Dept of Sociology, Carleton
University), Gordon Lafer (Professor of Labor Education, University of
Oregon), Richard Walker (Professor of Geography, University of
California Berkeley), Linda McDowell (Professor of Geography, Oxford
University)

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