Revolutionary greetings! I am an anarchist from Istanbul who has been living in Berlin for some time, trying to fight and cling to life, and continue the struggle on a low level. On 25.07.2024 I attended an information event on the abolitionism of the police in a kind of an atelier at the Mehringdamm in Berlin, it was called ‚Abolitionismus – Impulse aus der Praxis‘. When I arrived, I found out that the event was dedicated to a special issue of the magazine ‚Bürgerrechte & Polizei‘. The circles and groups that wrote the articles in the special issue also took part in the speech. Some of them were ‚Cenî Kurdisches Frauenbüro für Frieden‘, ‚Migrantifa Berlin‘, ‚Kampagne für Opfer rassistischer Polizeigewalt (KOP) Berlin‘.

I think this was the third event I attended about abolitionism organized by different groups. There was something that bothered me also in the previous events, but I couldn’t put a name to it. In the last event a question by the audience to the speakers triggered me and made me think about what was bothering me. The question was something like this: ‚The Germany has banned the Compact magazine, there are efforts to ban Grey Wolves, of course not to demand bans from the state, but what is your attitude towards such developments?‘ Two speakers answered in a very diplomatic way. Actually, I don’t have a problem also with diplomatic answers normally, but these diplomatic answers made me even more uncomfortable, and I thought I should find the source of this discomfort. I can roughly categorize the reasons why I feel uncomfortable with individuals and groups that advocate abolitionist ideas into two.

First, I don’t believe that these people have anarchist ideas or are even close to them. They don’t really want the police or the state to disappear, they want the police and the state to have more leftist values (what those values are is of course debatable). I have no problem with some leftists embracing some anarchist ideas, but I am not getting why they make it seem as if they themselves desire an anarchist world. I mean, of course you can want the state (and therefore the police) to disappear, that’s your utopia, but what you can do in practice in the process is very limited, and it’s completely understandable to me. I would not even call this a ‚contradiction‘, but also a very ordinary reality. But in this case, I believe that their aim is not really to abolish the police, but to leftistize or educate the police.

The second part is the part that I don’t understand even more, and maybe that’s why it makes me even more angry. Of course, the capacities of the left-wing is clear, left is not in a position to create mechanisms of self-protection/defense apart from the state, nor is it prepared to fill its place in case the authority of the state diminishes. And this is totally OK for me, this is the reality. However, I am not sure whether those people will cling tightly to the state when the power of the police and the state diminishes, who will not want to leave the comfort zone of the state. In practice, however, directly emotionally clinging to their state, as we saw clearly in the left in Germany during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I gave it as an example in the end of a text I wrote almost two years ago:

„I can also understand that those who are radically opposed to patriotism, can content with the political, economic, and military moves of their countries, and align themselves with their states in war, warlike moments. But I cannot understand why a significant part of the leftists try to portray themselves as enemies of the state and country in times of peace.“

So, for me people should see the weakness of the state, the chaos as an opportunity, not immediately emotionally/practically embrace the state again. But of course, meanwhile every human being wants to live in peace and security, left-wing or not, and this complex relationship with the state and companies is completely understandable to me. But what I expect from -leftist- activists is that they don’t keep repeating these lies about the abolition of the police and the state, or that they see the state as enemy. If they pragmatically say that they are actually interested in empowering themselves, then I have no problem. And although I have been focusing on other issues in recent years, I really want the abolition of all states and their monopolies of violence, the police, and the military. However, as the power of states diminishes, other violent groups and circles may emerge. But as an anarchist I don’t want to be observed, disciplined, controlled, kidnapped, beaten and killed by the state until all groups and circles are nonviolent. I believe that the passion for destruction is a creative passion.

passiert am 25.07.2024