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Demo-Aufruf englisch

For a Free Tomorrow

Appeal for a demonstration in Cologne on Saturday, March 15, 2008 at 2 pm

A variety of political parties, citizens' groups and professional institutions appeal to everyone in Germany to participate in a demonstration against the increasing surveillance of German citizens by the state and the economy. On Saturday, March 15, 2008, we will protest in Cologne in a demonstration themed “For a Free Tomorrow”. Participants will be meeting at 2 pm on the Roncalli-Platz (“Domplatte”) in Cologne.

Not only since the 9-11 attacks, the German federal government has been passing increasingly rigorous laws concerning surveillance of the population. Especially minister of the interior Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble has proven a very outspoken supporter of this policy, having proposed several measures whose conformity with the German constitution is questionable. The thorough data retention of all communication data concerning telephone, mobile phone, internet and email (exercised since January 1st, 2008) alone is a severe limitation of all citizens civil rights and hardly acceptable in a free, democratic state.

Criminalistics experts agree that those surveillance measures don't have a notable positive effect on the prevention of terrorism and crime. Those laws are simply a large-scale waste of taxpayers' money and endanger our democracy by limiting freedom of speech and violating individual privacy.

Many parties and organisations from Cologne and whole of Germany have decided not to watch this pointless, expensive violation of civil rights in silence any longer. Therefore, in Cologne, they formed an alliance against the federal governments surveillance plans and for the promotion of civil rights.

Members of this alliance are:

the Cologne-based citizens' group "Freiheit ist Sicherheit" (“Freedom is Security”)
the Arbeitskreis Vorratsdatenspeicherung (working group on data retention)
the Chaos Computer Club Cologne
Die Grünen Köln (Green Party Cologne)
FoeBuD e.V.
Die Linke.Köln (Left Party Cologne)
der Bezirksverband Köln der Piratenpartei (Pirate Party Cologne)
der Landesverband NRW der Piratenpartei (Pirate Party North Rhine-Westphalia)
der Verband der freien Lektorinnen und Lektoren (Free Lectors' Association)

The appeal is supported by:

Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Landesverband NRW
DGB
Die Linke Landesverband NRW
Die Linke Ortsverband Bergisch-Gladbach
Deutsche Journalistinnen- und Journalisten-Union in ver.di
Freie Ärzteschaft e.V.
Piratenpartei Landesverband Hamburg
Piratenpartei Landesverband Rheinland-Pfalz
Kein Mensch ist illegal
Reflect
AG unabhängiger Dermatologen (AGuD)
Die Neue Richtervereinigung

We appeal to all citizens to participate in the demonstration on March 15th and thereby show our government that the citizens of Germany are willing to be out on the streets for their freedom and their civil rights.

Our objectives are:
Stop all tracking of telephone, mobile phone, email and internet communication (data retention)
Stop of the plans to secretly search computers by using remote forensic software (online search)
Stop of the collection of biometrical data of innocent citizens
No recording of Passenger Name Records in air traffic and no exchange of this data with other countries
No automatic screening of cars' license plates on public roads
Stop of all planned laws that would result in an even more thorough surveillance of all citizens
Review of existing surveillance laws

“For a Free Tomorrow” - March 15th, 2008, 2 pm, meeting at the Roncalli-Platz (Domplatte)