The Primacy of Repression

Comprehensive Access

As confirmed by the German Interior Ministry's Parliamentary State Secretary, Peter Altmaier (CDU), the German government is insisting on an expeditious broadening of police powers within the EU. Foreign authorities must, above all, be allowed comprehensive access to national databanks, including the "exchange of photos, fingerprints or DNA data." In the future, the exchange of data between individual EU states should be just as easy as "between North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria, between Hamburg and Bremen."[1] To make this possible, Altmaier points to "technical obstacles" that must still be overcome. These obstacles were discussed among politicians, administration officials and technicians from the repression industry at the Police Congress in Berlin this week.

Crisis-Proof

The so-called security industry, which was well represented at the European Police Congress, is considered in business circles to be a crisis-proof boom sector. Alongside profiting from private demand, it is mainly benefiting in various ways from government programs. The specialized enterprises are not only profiting from the traditional rearmament of state repressive organs, but also from the introduction of new technology, including biometric processing.[2] The German industry is making additional profits from EU programs, that, under German government pressure, are making police cooperation more comprehensive and thereby imposing standardization of technical norms. In all, this amounts to billions. According to a study published a few months ago by the Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI) and the Berenberg Bank in Hamburg, the "global market for security services" could double from US $113 billion in 2005 to US $230 billion by 2015.[3]

Purchase Stocks

The study predicts a great opportunity, particularly for German enterprises. According to the paper, "Germany is already in a good position in numerous basic technologies,"[4] including for example, information and communication technology, biotechnology, optical and sensory technology. In reference to state subventions - that will reach 120 million Euros by 2010 - to universities and research institutes as well as to private enterprises for research in repression, the study predicts that it "is to be expected that the existing core competence in many innovative, hi-tech areas will be enhanced." "The opportunities should therefore be particularly good for German enterprises," to be able to take the "leadership in technology" in diverse technologies of repression. This branch, the study further explains, must "very clearly be identified as a branch of the future." The Berenberg Bank authors recommend purchasing stocks - the sector of repression will "open many opportunities to investors."[5]

Secure Affluence

The authors of the study deter all illusions concerning the source of this sector's boom and the wealth flowing to the investors. Besides various other factors, the authors particularly stress "a considerable financial asymmetry leading to a higher potential threat through criminality." Poverty due to unemployment is a contributing factor. Criminality has drastically increased, in comparison to the 1970s. The authors discern that the "asymmetry is growing" giving a premonition "that criminality could increase." For the authors, this means both "domestically" and "between nations."[6] This "trend" could be counteracted with stronger repression. The study demonstrates that the investments for repressive measures - calculated per capita of the urban population for analytical purposes - is several times more in Germany than the global average.[7] The authors laconically write, "it is to be observed that with the increase in affluence, the tendency to want to secure or protect it, grows."

Repressive Fusion

That this is already affecting state activities and structures, can be seen with the example of the most recent cooperation accord with the alleged civilian Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW). According to this accord, signed Jan. 29, 2009, the THW's occasional cooperation with the Federal Police is now on an on-going basis and "even more intensively organized."[8] The federal police reported that even in the past, it could count on the THW, for example for the "floodlighting of an area in the context of assisting a manhunt." This will be used more often in the future and demonstrates how the margin of maneuver has been significantly extended. Just last December (2008), the THW signed an accord also with the German military for overseas cooperation and thereby increased its availability for aiding repression.[9] But the reinforcement of the THW's cooperation with police and military exposes the growing fusion of government instances under the primacy of domestic and foreign repression.

[1] "Wir brauchen ein internationales Polizeirecht"; news.de 11.02.2009
[2] see also Vorwärtsdrängend, Verdächtige and Weichenstellung
[3], [4] Hamburgisches WeltWirtschafts Institut, Berenberg Bank: Sicherheitsindustrie. Strategie 2030, Hamburg 2008
[5] Als Beispiele für Firmen mit "vielversprechende(n) Perspektiven" in der Repressionstechnologie nennt die Studie unter anderem Bosch Sicherheitssysteme, Dräger, Panasonic (Netzhaut-Untersuchung), Rheinmetall und Siemens.
[6], [7] Hamburgisches WeltWirtschafts Institut, Berenberg Bank: Sicherheitsindustrie. Strategie 2030, Hamburg 2008
[8] Bundespolizei und Technisches Hilfswerk schließen Vereinbarung zur intensiveren Zusammenarbeit; www.bundespolizei.de 29.01.2009
[9] see also Hilfstrupp fürs Militär