The Bremen Interventionist Left (IL) According to his own statements, he exposed an undercover agent at the beginning of January. He is said to have met with the Office for the Protection of the Constitution every two to four weeks since the end of 2017. The IL sees itself as “left-wing radical and undogmatic” and therefore as part of a nationwide alliance to change social conditions.
At the request of the taz, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution described the use of confidants as “essential”. The IL has a “tactical relationship to violence”: Even if it is not violent itself, the group avoids “a clear commitment to absolute non-violence”. In some cases she even works with violent actors. “It accepts acts of violence during protests and offers them a platform,” said a spokeswoman for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
The IL is primarily involved in the planning of large actions. Examples from last year are the protests against the AfD party conference in Riesa or against the founding of the AfD youth party in Giessen. These protests actually resulted in violence, However, this came almost exclusively from police officers.
The practice of so-called “trusted persons” is highly controversial – at the latest since the NSU murders were investigatedat least since it became public, that the former head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen, is himself listed as a right-wing extremist after right-wing extremist and conspiracy ideological statements.
Attack on personal rights
However, the use of “trusted persons” is also criticized because of its social dimension: If informants build up friendships over the years, maintain political relationships and simulate personal closeness, This results in a massive breach of trust, and often an attack on personal rights.
The exposed undercover agent was organized in the IL and other Bremen political groups for more than seven years. Seven years of weekly plenums, discussing together, arguing, finding consensus, seven years of preparing protest actions, going to demonstrations, being angry, excited, sad, outraged, relieved together.
During this time, the informant is said to have made close friendships within the group and had romantic relationships. “We are shocked, stunned, saddened and angry by this betrayal,” the IL said in a statement.
The case of the undercover investigator who monitored the Rote Flora in Hamburg for over six years has shown that how persistently traumatizing the use of “trusted persons” can be for those affected. Some of those affected were able to sue there successfully.
There is increasing discussion nationwide about the surveillance of left-wing structures and political repression
The publication of the Bremen case comes at a time when there is increasing discussion nationwide about the surveillance of left-wing structures and political repression. In Hamburg, future civil servants now have to sign that they do not belong to any “group of people” that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution mentions.
When left-wing MP Deniz Çelik criticized the red-green Senate’s plans for a rule request, The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution wanted to sue him. The rule request is about having applicants for public service checked by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The lawsuit has now been withdrawn.
Almost at the same time the Reds received help all accounts canceled. Regularly will – based on the US model – called for a ban on Antifa. After the attack on the Berlin power grid, Berlin Justice Senator Felor Badenberg (CDU) announced that she would take even tougher action against “Antifa” in the future.
Senator refers to Berlin attack
Dem New Germany Bremen’s Interior Senator Eva Högl (SPD) points out in one opinion to the undercover agent in the Bremen IL also about the attack on the Berlin power grid. It is still unclear who is responsible for the arson attack.
For the Bremen Interventionist Left, the process of coming to terms with it is only now beginning. The people who had close friendships with the exposed undercover agent for over seven years, who worked together on a voluntary basis against the AfD, climate change or global injustice, and who also lived together with him, are not yet ready to comment publicly on the case.