We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has organized and applied pressure since December. Thank you to everyone who contacted us to express their solidarity, and thank you for your donations!
It is good not to be alone in such situations and to experience practical solidarity.
The “Stop Debanking!” campaign has generated a lot of publicity and kept the issue in the spotlight to this day! With this pressure, Rote Hilfe has managed to retain at least a small part of its infrastructure. But let’s be honest, our scope for action is limited. If an organization like Rote Hilfe, with several thousand members, has only been able to achieve partial success against the bank, then it is clear that smaller initiatives have much less chance.
The association with which we collected money no longer has an account with GLS Bank!
In communication with GLS Bank, it became clear that the bank was only interested in damage control. From our point of view, there was no willingness to make even the smallest compromises. Termination with notice would at least have made it possible to send urgent transfers and prepare an orderly account transfer.
Instead, the bank clearly blamed the association. It claimed that the association could not be reached, making termination without notice unavoidable. This is nonsense: the termination notice was also sent by mail. Advertising emails from the bank continued to be received. The board was available by phone.
According to the bank, the reason for the termination is that the association collected money for ABC Dresden. This would constitute illegal fundraising for third parties. The purpose of the association is to support prisoners. A closer examination shows that the association is actually acting in accordance with its purpose. The bank claims that transfers were received on the account that were not addressed to the association in the recipient or purpose fields. If an association collects money for a campaign or to support a person and the purpose of the transfer is stated as ‘donation for campaign or person xy’ or if a name other than that of the association is used, this would immediately lead to the termination of the account without notice. The association has no scope for action when people transfer money ‘incorrectly’.
The bank calculates at this point that the Money Laundering Act applies and is therefore within its rights. The association would have to invest time and money to take legal action against the fact that it is not actually acting unlawfully. They can simply close accounts without having to prove that anything wrong has been done.
What do mechanisms such as the Money Laundering Act and debanking mean?
The regulations behind this money laundering law form a formal system. The argument is politically charged with the prevention of crime. The focus is on many other actors, most of whom are not or only vaguely named. The real background is to create more opportunities for control and surveillance, all under the banner of fighting crime. But then others are affected. First, it usually hits marginalized groups who have no voice and are affected in this experimental space. Then it affects unpleasant political actors, and then it moves on to the center of society. These patterns are not new. In many areas of society, this approach is used to install control mechanisms. The best example is video surveillance, which is supposed to curb crime but in reality does not prevent it. Instead, it massively monitors public space. Once a formal surveillance system is in place, it will be used.
And so it is currently liberal forces that are trying to save the sacred cow of capitalism with this approach. While the AFD is currently the strongest force in the polls for the next federal election, the infrastructure of anti-repression and anti-prison groups is being attacked!