Kanak Attak

Kanak Attak was an association of people founded in 1998 who set out to " convey a new attitude of Kanaks [people] of all generations to a broad public without ingratiation and conformity ". The activists described themselves as "anti-nationalist, anti-racist and [Kanak Attak] rejects any form of identity politics , such as those based on ethnological attributions." According to the Federal Agency for Civic Education , Kanak Attak was never a group, it was a designated an attitude.

Linguistically, the naming of the group is derived on the one hand from the name for the Melanesian population in New Caledonia (see Kanak (people) , in turn borrowed from the Hawaiian kanaka for man ), and on the other hand from attack (from the French attaque for attack ). The composition of both terms also implies an allusion to the pointedly satirical taken up in konterkarierenden sense as a proper name, in German-speaking countries in xenophobic common connection dirty word Kanaka .

The network no longer exists (presumably since 2002), even if a “resolution to dissolve” has never been published. However, his website is still available.

Foundation and goals

The name of the association goes back to the book " Kanak Sprak " by Feridun Zaimoğlu , who was one of the founding members of the group. The German-Turkish poet, who later resigned, was often perceived as the “spiritual leader of Kanak Attack” when media interest in the group peaked. The initiative arose in 1998 as part of the criticism of the debates about the multicultural society at that time , which were analyzed as latently racist and were approached with artistic and satirical means.

A special feature of the initiative were its own new word creations, in which colonized terms and terms of the majority society ( dominance culture ) were paraphrased, internationalized and overwritten. The dominant immigration discourse around the concept of multiculturalism was criticized as racial and political of identity with the word Mulultikulturalizm .

In a manifesto published in the daily newspaper on January 28, 1999, the group explicitly defined themselves as “not a friend of the Müllenikältüralizm”, but as a self-chosen association of different people who have ascribed “identities” that are almost inherent in the cradle.

Kanak Attak organized political and cultural events mainly for a young audience. In doing so, the initiative tried to break down negative attributes that society ascribed to migrants: an obviously harmless intercultural dance event with a film showing on the topic of a migration society was, for example, based on a "Spiegel" title from April 14, 1997 (topic: migration society) all over Berlin as "dangerous strange ”.

A number of celebrities (mostly with a migrant background) from various fields were involved in the group.

The close connection between Kanak Attak and the art scene in Germany is made clear by a lecture given on June 30, 2012 in Munich, which the former Kanak Attak member Nanna Heidenreich gave the title: “The art of activism. Kanak Attak revisited ”.

Political issue

The focus of the theoretical work and the political campaigns were the German immigration discourse , the issue of legalizing migrants (like sans papiers , no one is illegal ), the effects of Hartz IV , the racist consequences of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 , the immigration law and the fundamental Framework conditions for migrants and the social causes and backgrounds that have a racist effect.

Theoretical foundations of the debates within Kanak Attak included the Homo sacer project by the Italian legal philosopher Giorgio Agamben , the theorem of racist knowledge by Mark Terkessidis and the history of migrant strikes, such as the Ford strike of 1973 in Cologne .

The issue of being white was documented in 2002 through ethnological surveys in white residential areas (short film: White Ghetto ).

Members

Manuela Bojadzijev
Serhat Karakayali
Tobias Mulot
Massimo Perinelli
Sandy Kaltenborn

Texts

From kanak attak:

manifest
We are the ground staff of the "vahşi kapitalizm". Hartz IV and the right to legalization
Speaking of Autonomy of Migration… Racism and Struggles of Migration
Marx's ghosts in the debate about the “autonomy of migration”. A reply to Tobias Pieper. In: analysis & criticism (ak) 487 v. September 17, 2004, p. 34.
The KANAK ATTAK-AHA EFFECT and overcoming the anti-racist division of labor . Conversation. In: ak, Hamburg 2001.

Serhat Karakayali: The friendly immigration society. An analysis of German immigration policy . In: diskus January 2001, Frankfurt a. M.

Serhat Karakayali: Multiculturalism: The Capri fishermen strike back .

Serhat Karakayali: "Six to eight communists, camouflaged in mechanic's coats." The true story of the Ford strike in Cologne in 1973 .

Manuela Bojadzijev, Serhat Karakayali, Vassilis Tsianos: The riddle of arrival - Of camps and ghosts. Work and Migration: Agamben, Negri / Hardt and the State of Emergency of Migration. In: Change of course 03/2003

Manuela Bojadzijev, Serhat Karakayali, Vassilis Tsianos: Papers and roses. The autonomy of migration and the struggle for rights .

Manuela Bojadzijev, Vassilis Tsianos: borderclash - Fortress Europe, polysemy of the border regime, autonomy of migration.

Manuela Bojadzijev, Tobias Mulot and Vassilis Tsianos: Commentary on the Immigration Act .

Manuela Bojadzijev: Twelve square meters of Germany. State action and the concept of autonomy .

Legalization instead of Blanket Computer Searches Migration, Racist Regime and Leftist Anti-Racism - A Conversation with Kanak Attak. Debate between Manuela Bojadÿzijev, Serhat Karakayalõ and Vassilis Tsianos (Kanak Attak) and Thomas Atzert and Jost Müller (Subtropen). In: subtropical

Ellen Bareis: Criminalized Immigration: How To Enforce Legalization? Interview with Ellen Bareis from Kanak Attak. Published in Junge Welt June 2002

Massimo Perinelli: Legalization campaign no longer possible? Anti-racist policy after 1109 - II . In: ILA November 2001

Massimo Perinelli: Strategia Kanak - Right to Global Rights. In the waiting room of the world spirit ...

Micho Willenbücher: Agamben and the end of migrant reformism .

Short films, videos, performance

Video White Ghetto , 2002

Maxi CD

In and under the name of the network a maxi-CD (This song belongs to us) by various artists ( Aziza A. , Boulevard Bou , Don Duric , Elena Lange from " Stella ", Microphone Mafia , Miguel Ayala , Murat G. from DJ Mahmut) was produced and Murat G , Sena ) against racism. On June 30, 2004 the single was indexed.

Kanak TV

Kanak-TV is a special film project of the group in Cologne with the same objective. Kanak TV films are shown at documentary film festivals, but also on the movement's website. Some of them are also available on DVD.