At Occupy Frankfurt, Calm Anarchy Has Staying Power
Protesters' tents in front of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt in November. The encampment has about 50 tents.
By JACK EWING
Published: December 15, 2011
FRANKFURT — The Frankfurt version of the Occupy Wall Street movement has many of the trappings of the New York City original, including a tattered cluster of tents, a location close to the beating heart of financial power and a diverse group of activists trying to come up with a unifying demand.
But the Occupy Frankfurt encampment, spread out on the front lawn of the European Central Bank, is missing one feature of Zuccotti Park in New York: the police.
The Frankfurt authorities, who control the park in the middle of the city, have taken a tolerant attitude toward the encampment, while the activists have generally behaved themselves since taking up residence in October. As a result, there have been none of the polarizing confrontations seen in New York and other cities, much less any violence or pepper spray.
By anarchist standards, the Frankfurt activists are an orderly bunch. They have an outdoor kitchen that serves meals of donated food, a Web site and professional public relations operation, and a tent for community meetings.
“If all demonstrations went so well we wouldn’t have much to do,” said Michael Jenisch, a spokesman for the Frankfurt Ordnungsamt, or Office of Public Order, which issues permits for public gatherings and has been monitoring the Occupy Frankfurt encampment.
“If they have the staying power, they can camp there all winter,” Mr. Jenisch said. That attitude contrasts with that of the authorities in cities like New York, Oakland or Boston, where the police have evicted protesters from public space, and also with other financial centers in Europe.
In Zurich, for example, police cleared an encampment in November, arresting 31 people who resisted, according to Reuters. Earlier this month, police in London sent a letter to local businesses that appeared to link members of the Occupy movement with terrorist groups, according to the Guardian and other newspapers.
The Frankfurt encampment of about 50 tents is not exactly a picture of German order. The residents have trampled much of the small park to mud. Several sawed-off oil drums, apparently used for fires, lie about. Atop a knoll, someone has built a sculpture out of bent bicycle frames, toy dolls and empty beer bottles.
But there have been no arrests of Occupy Frankfurt activists, and residents of the camp described the local police more as allies than antagonists. A 42-year-old man who would give his name only as Jay, and said he was originally from North Carolina, described how the police had intervened when a group of rightist youths started shouting insults and trying to provoke a fight.
“The way I see it, they don’t bother, they protect,” Jay said, as rain began to drum on the plastic tarp covering the outdoor kitchen, where he was helping to serve a communal breakfast of donated bagels and peanut butter. “We have never had a problem with the police.”
Likewise, the Frankfurt police have never had a beef with the protesters, said Manfred Vonhausen, a police spokesman. “The people there have been totally calm,” he said.
The activists chose the site next to the E.C.B. to protest what they consider the bank’s aloofness from the democratic process and the austerity it is helping to impose on indebted countries like Greece. But the protesters do not seem to be very aware of the central bank’s policy actions, like its rate cut last week.
Leftist movements have a long history in Europe, and the German police are used to dealing with neo-Nazis, extreme-left “Autonomen” and other groups with much more of a hang for violence than the Frankfurt campers, who do not even rate a permanent police presence.
“The U.S.A. is not as used as the Europeans to dealing with these movements,” said a 50-year-old Occupy Frankfurt resident who would identify himself only as Uwe. He was managing an information stand fashioned from plastic tarps and wooden freight pallets, where passers-by could pick up leaflets and perhaps make a donation to help pay for portable toilets and other camp infrastructure. The protesters have been careful not to obstruct heavily traveled walkways that lead through the park from a nearby streetcar stop.
A few minutes later, Uwe, wearing a rumpled red overcoat, assumed the role of tour guide for a group of students in their last year of secondary school. He lit a hand-rolled cigarette as the students gathered around him in a semicircle, then described how the activists had rigged up a computer server in one of the tents.
“Very interesting,” said Nikolay Schiljahin, one of the students. A classmate, Sandro Kaufmann, said he agreed with protesters that “banks have too much power” but he was not quite ready to join the cause. “They need to form their arguments better,” Mr. Kaufmann said.
There was a list of demands on the Occupy Frankfurt Web site, www.occupyfrankfurt.de, but it was removed after some people complained it did not reflect the consensus of the group. Now the Web site says simply, “We are a community with many different ideas and goals, that nevertheless is in agreement that we want to set limits on the power of capitalism, money, banks, markets and governments.”
“The course of action looks different according to the individual member,” the Web site adds.
But the activists are resolute in their rejection of violence. This month, after a letter bomb was sent to Josef Ackermann, the chief executive of Deutsche Bank, Occupy Frankfurt issued a press release within hours condemning the attempted attack. Mr. Ackermann’s office is in a high-rise building a short walk from the Occupy Frankfurt site.
Though the headquarters of the European Central Bank looms over the site, the protesters have made no attempt to obstruct its business. When the bank’s governing council met in early December, a lone protester wearing a mask handed out leaflets near the bank entrance.
The camp generated a flurry of news coverage when it first appeared, but it has largely disappeared from the pages of German newspapers. Anti-capitalist movements are not really news in Germany, where the Left Party, with roots in the East German Communist regime, has seats in Parliament.
Residency in the park, part of the Taunus Anlage, a green ring that surrounds the central business district, also seems to have dwindled. Though there are about 50 tents, residents concede that some but not all are still occupied overnight. City officials counted only 20 people outdoors at the site one evening this week, but did not attempt to check how many more people might have been inside tents.
Still, the movement seems to have more general appeal than the traditional protest groups. It has served as the focal point for weekend protest marches that have drawn thousands of people.
“Some of the Saturday demonstrations have been the biggest in Frankfurt for years,” said Harald Fiedler, chairman of the Frankfurt branch of the Confederation of German Trade Unions, which has donated a large tent to the protesters and provided other support. “They speak to a broader public.”
Mr. Fiedler predicted that the movement would gain new momentum when the weather turned warm again. At least some protesters are determined to tough it out until then. “It can get cold,” Jay conceded. “But you got to adapt.”
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/business/global/at-occupy-frankfurt-calm-anarchy-has-staying-power.html?pagewanted=1&_r=4
