Fire and flames for the profiteers of fear: OptoPrecision attacked
On the night of 26.11.2024, we attacked OptoPrecision’s headquarters in Bremen-Horn with incendiary devices. We set fire to two parts of the building. To help us were stones, Molotov cocktails and several liters of flammable mixture.
OptoPrecision GmbH is a company based in Bremen. In the Security Systems division, the company develops surveillance technologies for the police, security authorities and the armed forces. The product catalog ranges from various laser and LED light sources to customized complete systems for complex observation and surveillance tasks on land and at sea. The company caught our attention thanks to its close cooperation with the Saxony police. Together with the Görlitz Police Department, OptoPrecision has developed a mobile camera system to ensure reliable, daylight-independent images for the identification of people and vehicles. This year, the use of the PerIS personal identification system has made the rounds in the press. The system, thanks to administrative support, has been tested in Saxony and also used at least in Lower Saxony, Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg and Baden-Württemberg.
Specialized technology for undercover investigations
The cops are always intent on snooping and meddling in our private lives. OptoPrecision provides the technology for this. The company offers infrared laser illumination systems specifically intended for undercover investigations by repressive authorities, designed to allow clear images to be obtained from hundreds of meters in poor visibility conditions. Periodically we learn that the cops have been watching comrades for months or years. OptoPrecision willingly accepts the orders of the repressive authorities. The company is therefore jointly responsible for the psychological terror, the sleepless nights, the isolation, the fear of house searches and also for the fact that the comrades are in prison. We therefore consider our attack as a concrete contribution to the fight against repression. A fiery greeting to our comrades in prison and fugitives!
Surveillance technology has always been an important tool of the repressive apparatus. The digitalisation of society and the ever-new technical horizons will allow the state to expand its public order powers more and more in the future. Even now, the radical left, the anti-racist and anti-authoritarian movement are too often threatened by this development. A pessimistic view of the future must presuppose that the right-wing governments and authorities of tomorrow are being armed today. Ultimately, this will not only affect those who struggle but all people who deviate from a state standard, who have a “wrong” background and/or who are in a precarious economic situation. It is therefore not surprising that OptoPrecision not only accepts commissions from cops, but is also involved in the bloody business of European borders. The company’s website features technologies for so-called “border protection”. The following excerpt from their webpage reveals the image the company has of humanity:
“The tasks of border protection include monitoring national borders and areas close to borders on land, at sea and from the air. The challenge of defending borders is to monitor people and objects over long distances in different weather and light conditions.”
OptoPrecision’s technology is used to control, hunt and ultimately kill people.
Anonymity instead of law and order!
OptoPrecision also offers surveillance technologies for public spaces and thus benefits from the “smart” city, where people are constantly monitored. A development that we must stop. In total surveillance, everything must be measured and any abnormal behavior must be immediately prevented, so that it can be directly criminalized. Even the last niches of self-determination are destined to become a relic of the past. The streets and squares of Bremen are being equipped with more and more high-resolution cameras in the name of security: the railway station district, Hillmannplatz or Gröpelingen. Wherever liberal Bremen suspects that there is something uncomfortable, there is monitoring. At the same time, social structures are being shut down and drug addicts are being treated like savages. In urban areas there is no place for an anonymous and dignified life.
Those who want to get to the top, can fall down
The founder, managing director and owner of OptoPrecision is Dr. Martin Nägele. He runs the company as a kind of patriarch and is responsible for business decisions. The private address known to us of Nägele is a villa in Bremen-Oberneuland, H.C-Junge-Weg 15, but we don’t want to limit ourselves to Nägele and OptoPrecision. There are several companies operating in the same industry. Take for example T-Systems which, thanks to Burning Ideas, was recently attacked in Berlin.
Our attack is also a warning to all others who profit from surveillance and repression. It will be difficult to prevent them from turning this society into a progressive dystopia of profit and surveillance. It will be equally difficult for them to prevent their smart infrastructures from burning down from time to time.
It also depends on us whether the situation will remain as it is. Let’s take responsibility for fighting for an anti-authoritarian world. Let’s set fire to the system of surveillance, marginalization and isolation!
In memory of Kyriakos Xymitiris.
[Posted in German in https://tumulte.org/2024/11/articles/feuer-und-flamme-den-profiteurinnen-der-angst-optoprecision-angegriffen/ | Translated into Italian and published in https://lanemesi.noblogs.org/post/2024/12/04/attacco-incendiario-contro-optoprecision-azienda-sviluppatrice-di-sistemi-tecnologici-di-sorveglianza-e-controllo-in-memoria-di-kyriakos-xymitiris-brema-germania-26-novembre-2024/]