[Note of Sans Nom: In Germany’s seventh-largest city, Düsseldorf, in the North Rhine-Westphalia region, the “Angry Birds Commando” is a regular topic of conversation.
In August 2024, for example, they claimed responsibility for setting fire to railway signal cables in Mettmann, adding to their previous sabotages against rail traffic: one in Düsseldorf in January 2024, and five others in the same city claimed in May 2023. And since the angry birds can also be generous, last September they published a little manual entitled “Kabel anzünden für Beginner” [“Setting fire to cables for beginners”], which contains a number of homemade delay techniques.
But let’s move on to more recent news: on Thursday night, shortly before 6 a.m. on Friday January 24, a fire broke out in a cable shaft near Eller station, a district in the south-east of Düsseldorf, interrupting rail traffic on the city’s most important freight line, as well as passenger line S1 between Düsseldorf and Solingen. This time, while the Angry Birds Commando’s communiqué no. 3 was written in rhyme, the one published the following day on de.indymedia and entitled “Switch off Deutsche Bahn – Communiqué no. 4” is in the form of an open letter.
Below is a translation, which develops its own vision of collapse, as a contribution to the ongoing debates within the revolutionary movement.]
On Friday morning (January 24), we used tried-and-tested methods to take Düsseldorf’s most important freight line out of service for at least 12 hours. For at least 24 hours, its use was only possible with severe restrictions. In addition to the immediate economic damage, we would like to draw your attention to the following appeal. We would also like to apologize to the travelers affected, and hope that at least a few commuters were able to enjoy a day off as a result.
Dear citizen,
We have been lied to. We’ve been told that our leaders always act in our best interests. We were told that we lived in the best of societies. That we were the envy of the world. That nowhere has it ever been better. That the answer to every question was “technical progress!” and that the answer to all the problems that ensued was “even more!”. We’re supposed to believe that we can live without whales, beetles, bats, forests and clean water, but that without the state, the economy and the police, we couldn’t survive a week. We’ve been led to believe that Elon Musk and his gang will build us a paradise on Mars and download our consciousness into the cloud, but that a life without smartphones and cars is utopian, that economic change is even impossible.
And we were told that everything would be fine if we did our jobs well, voted, and let the politicians do their jobs.
Let’s look at ourselves: sick, cowardly and lazy, we stare at our screens wondering what went wrong. Under the blows of constant propaganda, too stultified and confused to recognize genocide as such, it’s no wonder they can even sell us natural gas, fighter jets and solar power as sustainable. Cancer, diabetes, bad posture, severe depression and many others are no longer exceptional these days, even among the young. We drag ourselves into minimum-wage jobs where we’re treated like sub-humans. We’re then permitted to do things that don’t really make sense to us. But maybe things will get better with the next vacation. Or the new television series. Or retirement. Or simply when the next beer has been drunk.
But there’s hope too: more and more people are seeing through the empty promises of the system. They no longer let themselves be taken for fools by politicians, teachers, newspapers and activists. They know that power relationships don’t change without a struggle, and they’re learning how to wage such a struggle. In addition to willpower and tactical ability, what’s needed is a correct diagnosis, a strategy and a functioning organization. This is what the fledgling movement lacks.
The most urgent problem of this century is technological escalation. Although serious environmental modifications have been carried out since ancient times by so-called civilized peoples, the scale of the destruction that began with the emergence of industrial society is on a whole new level. No place or living creature is safe anymore. All the planet’s ecosystems are damaged or already in the process of collapsing. There is no longer a river to drink from without danger. Once again, the technological system has poisoned all our rivers. This crime alone puts the system on a par with the worst dictatorships. And it must be opposed accordingly – as a resistance movement.
Why as a resistance movement? Can’t culture be changed gradually through persuasion? By larger and larger alternative communes setting a good example? By a grassroots movement? Or by putting pressure on politicians? Or a new party?
No. The driving force behind the escalation of technology and the increasing exploitation of people, animals and nature lies not in erroneous values or convictions, but in the simple fact that this methodology is efficient.
– Human beings will always gather in groups to facilitate their survival. In sufficiently large groups, sub-groups form.
– The more resources a group needs for its way of life, the more it competes with other groups.
– Social groups that seek to gain power no matter the cost will always, in the long run, prevail in a state of competition against those who do not, or who do so in a limited way, for example because they are constrained by concern for the long-term consequences for humans and the environment.
– The unbridled quest for power leads to a resource-hungry lifestyle, and thus to more states of competition.
A less abstract way of putting it: it doesn’t matter how habitable, peaceful and sustainable your abandoned farm is – if the system needs your land, the police will come and take it. And they’ll come with better weapons than yours.
Because of the mechanism succinctly described here, it doesn’t matter whether you can convince the politician or the police chief of your program. If it doesn’t increase the power of the system, in the long run it will either be replaced, put back on track, or the whole system (in this case: Germany) will be replaced by another, less cautious and therefore more powerful system. The same goes for business leaders, and so on. The idea that we can control technical and therefore social development and shape it to our will is largely an illusion.
The only realistic option is therefore to make the use of industrial technologies physically impossible. This is easier than it sounds, and can be achieved by a relatively small proportion of the population. Due to the highly interconnected nature of the modern global economy, a severe economic crisis in one of the industrialized countries, or the interruption of raw material exports from a major supplier country, would have serious consequences for countries and their industries worldwide. Such crises can be intensified, or even triggered, by coordinated acts of sabotage (depending on the scale of the movement, possibly accompanied by strikes, riots, occupations and civil disobedience). The scarcity of resources and extreme weather events play into the hands of resistance. If the industrial system were brought down, it could never be rebuilt, because the resources which, at the start of the industrial era, could still be exploited fairly easily, with picks and shovels so to speak, can now only be found at extreme depths. So you need a high-tech apparatus that’s already FUNCTIONING to extract the components and fuels needed for this apparatus. Not even the electrical grid can be reactivated after a national blackout.
However, the scenario of a sudden collapse of all civilization remains the stuff of disaster movies and apocalyptic cults. Historically, such events have lasted for decades and have been seen by many contemporaries as periods of renewal. It should also be stressed that IN ALL SCENARIOS, the system will collapse. The only thing that depends on us is how much of the planet will remain at that point.
In addition to attack, it’s important that people are as prepared as possible for the slow disintegration of the system. The growing crises towards which the world is inevitably heading will make community self-sufficiency more attractive and necessary for a growing number of people. This, in turn, reduces dependence on the state and thus increases the potential for resistance. It is also important that the situation is explained with patience and consistency. As many people as possible need to know that this is not an attack on them, but on a culture that has led them astray for too long. This subtle indoctrination needs to be broken down bit by bit. In doing so, the central message must never be watered down or relativized to gain short-term sympathy. Only when confidence in the system has been definitively shaken will radical solutions receive widespread support. But only if the movement has already coherently defended its point of view.
But why this poor train? It’s so sustainable! The question shows just how far the discussion has strayed from the real meaning of the words. Sustainable does not mean: technique A releases 10% less toxic substance B than technique C. A crop or technique is sustainable if it can be used in the same place for several thousand years without destroying it. Only a sustainable culture can be truly peaceful, because it alone does not depend on repeated conquests. In the truest sense of the word, nothing in the rail industry is sustainable. Not steel, not plastic, not aluminum, not diesel, not even electricity, no matter the source. But in the final analysis, it’s not the train that’s the issue. It’s not a question of whether it engages in war logistics (it does), supports land grabbing from indigenous peoples (it does), exploits its employees (it does) or, with its routes, cuts up the remaining forests and grasslands into smaller and smaller pieces, preventing wildlife migrations (it does). It’s a fitting target, as it allows us to strike peacefully at the whole system and its commodity transport routes. Electricity pylons, fiber optic cables, logistics companies, pipelines and factories are also legitimate targets.
If you’ve read these lines, you’ve already left the restricted domain of information intended for you. You probably already have serious doubts about the authority of the ruling elite. We ask you to reflect on the ideas contained in this short text. Examine them; contradict them where they need to be contradicted; then do what needs to be done. The world needs you. We need you.
Angry Birds Commando
Translated by Act for freedom now!