File spoon-archives/aut-op-sy.archive/aut-op-sy_2001/aut-op-sy.0103, message 59


From: "Rowan Wilson" <wilson_rowan-AT-hotmail.com>
Subject: AUT: no border lufthansa electronic sit in
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2001 13:35:44 -0000


Hello all,
please take some time to read this, it's about a future online
blockade of the Lufthansa website against their involvement in
deportations. No date has been set yet, here the last para of this
rather long e-mail:

"We are optimistic. We believe that criticism to deportation flights
is shared by lots of people, so that a massive and international
demonstration will take place. To make sure everyone's
possibility to take part, we will release in time a user-friendly
protest software. And in the meantime protests at airports will
continue."

7th of March 2001
no one is illegal and Libertad!

information: www.deportation-alliance.com and
www.libertad.de/projekte/depclass/demo
contact: online-demo-AT-gmx.net



------- Forwarded message follows -------

Please forward...

Online-Demonstration against Deportation Business
The antiracist network No one is illegal and the solidarity organization
Libertad! call for a virtual blockade against the Lufthansa homepage.


The public criticism against the Deutsche Lufthansa company is growing
stronger. Antiracist activists have continously protested at airports and
travelling agencies and were even present at the yearly shareholders
meeting, accusing the airline of "deportation business". No
one is illegal (http:\\www.deportation-alliance.com) and Libertad!
(http\\:www.libertad.de) are now announcing the extension of these
protests to the world wide web.

If companies engaged in this kind of dirty business are creating their
most important branches in the internet, then this is the perfect
place for a massive protest. Just like a traditional sit-in, thousands
of internet users are invited to show their criticism in a temporary
blockade of the Lufthansa homepage. This is only possible with a large
number of participants, and for that reason no one is illegal and
Libertad! call international groups and organizations to join in the
preparation of this action. So far, the date has not yet been
decided upon, but for the day x we can expect wide-spread participation.

Every year there are more than 30 000 people deported from Germany by
airplane. The Lufthansa company, offering its "world wide net of
connections", sells the vast majority of the so-called "deportee-tickets".
Consequently, "Deportation Class" is big business. But it's not only that.
Since 28th of May 1999, when the Sudanese citizen Amir Ageeb died on board
of a Lufthansa flight as a result of being
ill-treated by three German borderguards, the company is exposed to
constantly growing demands to renounce this dirty business. No one is
illegal has since stressed the legal responsebility of the captain in
case of a passenger travelling involuntarily dying. Consequently, the
captains' association Cockpit has recommended its members to refuse the
boarding of people forced aboard or wearing handcuffs. The public
workers union ÖTV called its members inside the Lufthansa administration
board to take measures to stop the deportation flights.

It got even worse for the Lufthansa management when the company's bad
image was noticed in the United States. In this year's January 29th
issue, the Wall Street Journal dedicated an extensive article to the
debate over the deportation flights - bad publicity, and even worse
so, since Lufthansa had just explained to their shareholders that
the USA was the "future strategic market". A market which Lufthansa
plans to conquer via the internet. In 2005, the eCommerce-portal, today
only selling about 10% of the tickets, shall be responsible for 40% of the
company's total turnover.


Electronic capitalism may be very profitable, but also its risks are
considerable. For that reason, Lufthansa, together with other
international companies like Siemens and Telekom and, not to forget, the
German Federal Police Agency, has become a member of the so-called
"Commission for the Protection of Infrastructure". This circle dedicates
itself - far away from public opinion - to the improvement of police
control over the net. In the executive board rooms fear seems rife
of being targeted by hackers - as CNN, yahoo and Microsoft already had
to experience. And they might be even more scared about an increase
of political net activism.

However, in Octobre 2000, when Lufthansa instructed their lawyers to
intimidate a no one is illegal - activist, they already gave proof for
their receptiveness to net criticism. If an art exhibition against
deportation didn't disappear from the net, Lufthansa would bring him to
court and make him pay a considerable fine. This quite conventional
behaviour resulted in a campaign by dozens of internet projects around
the world who showed their solidarity by mirroring the exhibition in
question on their own sites.

So, one may be curious about Lufthansa's reaction to the coming
online-demonstration. If activists together really would manage to block
the access to the homepage, in spite of the company's high capacities to
maintain its internet presence, it certainly would not contribute to the
customers' trust in the eCommerce portal, where they are to book their
future flights. We are optimistic. We believe that criticism to
deportation flights is shared by lots of people, so that a massive and
international demonstration will take place. To make sure everyone's
possibility to take part, we will release in time a user-friendly
protest software. And in the meantime protests at airports will continue.

7th of March 2001
no one is illegal and Libertad!

information: www.deportation-alliance.com and
www.libertad.de/projekte/depclass/demo
contact: online-demo-AT-gmx.net



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