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Conference at University of Hamburg cancelled after intelligence agency intervention

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04 April 2023

Press release published by AStA of the University of Hamburg and Network for an Alternative Quest on 3 April, following the revoking of permission for a conference at the University of Hamburg following the intervention of the Hamburg domestic intelligence agency (Büro für Verfassungsschutz Hamburg).

Image: Julian Denstorf, UHH/Denstorf

Press release: Attack on academic freedom and critical exchange at the University of Hamburg

The rooms for the conference "We Want Our World Back," which is scheduled for the Easter weekend (April 7–9) and expected to host 1,300 attendees, including prominent scientists, intellectuals, and activists such as John Holloway and María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, have been revoked for political reasons. The conference is part of the series "Challenging Capitalist Modernity", in which three other conferences have already taken place at the University of Hamburg in the last 10 years.

The President of the University, Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren, has decided not to make the premises available after having received a non-public letter from the Büro für Verfassungsschutz Hamburg, the Hamburg state agency responsible for domestic intelligence, accusing the conference of political extremism. The General Students’ Committee (AStA) of the University of Hamburg, who are the organizers of the conference “We Want Our World Back” with the support of the Network for an Alternative Quest, condemn this political decision, which is obviously directed against academic freedom, the autonomy of the student body and the critical intercultural discourse at the university, as follows:

“This decision by the university administration is completely unjustified and a critical intrusion into the necessary exchange of ideas among students about perspectives on how our future world can be shaped. This interference represents an attack on academic freedom and contradicts everything the University of Hamburg, our university, stands for.”

Out of necessity, the AStA takes legal action against this decision by the university administration. Despite the administration‘s ongoing refusal to engage in talks with us, the AStA remains open to dialogue. Furthermore, we have published the declaration linked below, calling on the university to make its premises available to the conference. It has already been signed by hundreds of professors, academics and initiatives, with most of the signatures arriving within a few hours. The current list of signatories is available on the AStA’s and the Network for an Alternative Quest’s respective websites.

Furthermore, we will be introducing a resolution under participation of multiple status groups (students, professors etc.) at the next session of Hamburg University’s Academic Senate (Akademi­scher Senat). The resolution is directed against attempts by the Landesamt für Verfassungsschutz to influence the content of academic conferences and activities at the University of Hamburg.

In addition, the AStA is planning a series of critical seminars and talks on the history and role of the Verfassungsschutz, as there is an obvious need for awareness-raising with regard to the political function of the domestic intelligence service.

Regardless of all this, the conference will take place in Hamburg during the planned period. Further information will follow shortly.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us sozialebewegung [at] @asta.uni-hamburg.de and presse [at] networkaq.net.

With kind regards,

AStA of the University of Hamburg  Network for an Alternative Quest

https://www.asta-uhh.de  https://networkaq.net

3 April 2023

Initial signatories

Wissenschaftler*innen:

Noam Chomsky, Laurate Professor of Linguistics and Professor Emeritus

Dr. Nazan Üstündag, Boğaziçi University

Dr. Mechthild Exo, Hochschule Emden/Leer

Prof. Norman Paech, Universität Hamburg

Dr. Iris Mendel, Universität Graz

Prof. Christine Löw

Prof. Jason W. Moore, Binghamton University

Michael Albert, Economist

Prof. Andrej Grubačić, Department Chair California Institute of Integral Studies

Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Professor Emeritus University of Coimbra

Prof Priyamvada Gopal, Postcolonial Studies, University of Cambridge

Dr Raul Zelik, University of Vienna

Raul Zibechi, Journalist and political theorist

Dr Hannes Jung, Science4Peace Forum

Dr. Michaela Tzankoff, wiss. Mitarbeiterin, Zentrum für Weiterbildung

Dr. Sören Deister, Akademischer Rat a.Z., Fakultät für Rechtswissenschaft, Mitglied im

Akademischen Senat der Universität Hamburg

Felix Bode, wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, Rechtswissenschaft, Universität Hamburg

Florian Muhl, research assistant Erziehungswissenschaften, Universität Hamburg

Hannah Ofterdinger, research assistant, Law, Universität Hamburg

Maria Kopf, research assistent, Universität Hamburg

Prof. Dr. Ingrid Lohmann, Fakultät für Erziehungswissenschaft, Universität Hamburg

Prof. Dr. Udo Mayer, Fachbereich Sozialökonomie, Universität Hamburg

Steffen Haag, wiss. Mitarbeiter und Doktorand, Universität Hamburg

Achin Vanaik, Retd. Professor, University of DelhiAlex Demirovic, Apl. Prof. Dr., Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main

Alpa Shah, Professor of Anthropology, London School of Economics

Anna Rebrii, PhD student, Binghamton University

AP Anthony Dest, Lehman College (CUNY)

Ass. Prof. Bengi Akbulut, Concordia University

Ass. Prof. Targol Mesbah, CIIS

Byron Mauricio Acosta Rangel, Professor Universidad del Cauc, P.H. candidate Colombia

Claire Pentecost, Professor Emeritus, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Dipl.Psych. Michaela M. Müller

Dr Kuba Szreder, lecturer Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw

Dr Les Levidow, Senior Research Fellow, Open University, UK

Dr Natasha Tanna, University of York, UK

Dr. Aaron Vansintjan, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Vermont

Dr. Alexander Neupert-Doppler, Philosoph, Vertretungs-Professor an der Hochschule Düsseldorf

Dr. Alexandros Schismenos, Post-Doc, Aristotelian Universitiy of Thessaloniki

Dr. Ana Cecilia Dinerstein, University of Bath

Dr. Andreas Rentz, Zentrum für Holocaust-Studien des Instituts für Zeitgeschichte Münchnen

Dr. Ben Ó Ceallaigh, Aberystwyth University, Wales, Britain

Dr. Christa Wichterich, Soziologin

Dr. Federico Venturini, University of Udine, Italy

Dr. Francis O'Connor, Wageningen University

Dr. Friederike Habermann

Dr. Gilberto Lopez y Rivas, Professor investigador del INAH Morelos Mexico

Dr. Gregory Sholette, Social Practice, Queens College, City University of New York

Dr. Jeanette Ehrmann, Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Dr. Kamuran Akin, Humboldt Universität, Berlin

Dr. Kateřina Vráblíková, Senior Lecturer in Politics, Dept. of Politics, Languages & International

Studies (PoLIS), University of Bath

Dr. Malav Kanuga, Postdoctoral Fellow, Media, Inequality and Change Center, University of

Pennsylvania

Dr. Max Oliver Schmidt, Evangelische Akademie zu BerlinDr. phil. Dieter Plehwe, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung GmbH

Dr. Silvia Marcos, Mexico

Dr. Stella Christou, Scuola Normale Superiore

Dr. Thore Prien, Seminar für Soziologie, Europauniversität Flensburg

Dr. Ulrike Flader, Universität Bremen

Dr.med.Dipl.Psych.Barbara Hofner

Dr*in Muriel Gonzâles Athenas, Innsbruck University, Austria

Elise Boyle Espinosa, PhD candidate, University of Aberdeen

Emmanuel Rozental, Pueblos en Camino adhere, Colombia

Erik Swyngedouw, Professor of Geography, The University of Manchester

Frederike Habermann, Commons-Institute

Gulay Kilicaslan, Assistant Professor, Department of Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University

Harriet Friedman, Professor Emerita, University of Toronto

Hon.-Prof. Dr. Frieder Otto Wolf, Freie Universität Berlin

Jack McGinn, London School of Economics, Middle East Centre

Jason Prince, Concordia University

Jens Wissel, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences

Jonathan Schmidt-Dominé, Mitarbeiter Institut für AVL, Universität Frankfurt

Julio Linares, Anthropology Department, London School of Economics

Kirsten Huckenbeck, Dozentin FB 4, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences / Redakteurin

Liisa L. North, Professor Emerita, York University

Lorenzo Velotti, PhD student, Scuola Normale Superiore

Luis Moreno-Caballud, Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Pennsylvania

Mag. Dr. Andreas Exner, operative Leitung des Regional Center of Expertise Graz-Styria, Zentrum

für nachhaltige Gesellschaftstransformation der Universität Graz, Österreich

Mahmoud Patel, University of the Western Cape

Matthias Schmelzer, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena - Institute of Sociology

Michael Becker, Mitglied des Instituts für Sozialforschung Frankfurt am Main, Lehrbeauftragter an

der Hochschule Darmstadt

Michael Edwards, Honorary prof., University College London

Michael T. Taussig, Professor of Antropology, Columbia University, New YorkMilena Rodríguez Aza, Doctorante en el Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades - BUAP

(México) Colombiana

Nicholas S.M. Matheou, University of Edinburgh

Nina Tzankoff, Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin, Lehrstuhl für Öffentliches Recht und Sozialrecht

Olga Kopenkina, Independent curator, lecturer New York University, Fordham University.

Patrick Bond, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of Johannesburg

Prof Federico Demaria, Ecological Economics and Political Ecology, University of Barcelona, Spain

Prof Julie Chateauvert, Elisabeth-Bruyere School of Social Innovation ta Saint Paul University,

Canada

Prof Simon Tremblay-Pepin, Elisabeth-Bruyere School of Social Innovation at Saint Paul

University, Canada

Prof, Dr. Timm Kunstreich, em. Ev. Hochschule für Soziale Arbeit und Diakonie Hamburg

Prof. (Dr.) Anuradha Chenoy, former Dean of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru

University, New Delhi

Prof. Barry K. Gills, Global Development Studies, Helsinki University

Prof. Dr. Andrea Mühlebach, Universität Bremen

Prof. Dr. Aram Ziai, Chair of Development and Postcolonial Studies, University of Kassel

Prof. Dr. Bernd Belina, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt a.M.

Prof. Dr. Dip.Ing. Kurt Bader, Universität Lüneburg

Prof. Dr. Dirk Martin, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences

Prof. Dr. Götz Bachmann, Universität Bremen

Prof. Dr. Heinz-Jürgen Voß, Sexualwissenschaftler*in, Merseburg

Prof. Dr. Jens Wissel, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences

Prof. Dr. Julika Bürgin, Hochschule Darmstadt

Prof. Dr. Oliver Bierhoff, Fachhochschule Bielefeld, Fachbereich Sozialwesen

Prof. Dr. Susanna Spindler, Soziale Arbeit & Migration, Hochschule Düsseldorf

Prof. Em. Kariane Westrheim, Uni Bergen / Chair of EUTCC

Prof. John Holloway, Autonomous University of Puebla, Mexico

Prof. Margara Millan, National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM

Prof. Nayanika Mathur Anthropology, University of Oxford

Prof. Norma Rantisi, Concordia UniversityProf. Raymond Craib, American History, Cornell University

Prof.Dr. Brigitte Young, Politikwissenschaftlerin, Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster

Professor Laurence Cox, National University of Ireland Maynooth

Sebastian Friedrich, Sozialwissenschaftler und Journalist

Sherry Millner, Professor in Film, College of Staten Island, City University of New York

Simon Sutterluetti, Universität Bonn, Institut für Medienwissenschaften

Sophia Wathne, PhD student, Scuola Normale Superiore

Sowmya Maheswaran, Institute for European Ethnology, HU Berlin & Berlin Institute for Empirical

Integration and Migration Research

Susana Draper, Professor of Comparative Literature, Princeton University

Thomas Wallgren, Professor of philosophy, University of Helsinki

Torsten Bewernitz, Redaktion Express und Hochschule Darmstadt.

Ulrich Brand, Politikwissenschaftler, Universität Wien

Vijay Kolinjivadi, Postdoctroal Fellow, University of Antwerp

Vilma Almendra, Pueblos en Camino Adhere Colombia

Walden Bello, PhD Sociology, State University of New York at Binghamton

William I Robinson, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of California at Santa Barbara

Fachschaftsräte der Universität Hamburg:

FSR Lehramt Universität Hamburg

FSR Sozialökonomie Universität Hamburg

FSR Sozialwissenschaften Universität Hamburg

FSR Kriminologie Universität Hamburg

FSR Erziehungswissenschaft Universität Hamburg

AStAen:

Freier Zusammenschluss der Studierenden, FZS

AStA Uni Hannover

AStA Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

AStA Uni FrankfurtWeitere Unterstützende:

Adriana Guzman Arroyo, Feminismo Comunitario Antipatriarcal

Ahmet Yaman, speaker of the Kurdish community Switzerland

Akiko Ahrendt, Rundfunktanzorchester Ehrenfeld/ ZDF Magazin Royale

Alan W. Moore, author, activist, art historian

Alessandra Pomarico, Indepdent curator, New York / Lecce

Alexander Glasner-Hummel, social scientist, Mitglied des Landesverbandes DIE LINKE Baden-

Württemberg, Heidelberg

Ayreen Anastas, Artist, USA

Azar Mahmoudian, Independent Curator, Tehran

Azra Talat Sayeed, Chairperson for International Women's Alliance, IWA

Beate Schwartau, Alumnae Universität Hamburg

Begonia Santa-Cecilia, artist, Brooklyn

Bettina Gottschlich, "Familie für den Frieden"

Birgit Albrodt, "Familien für den Frieden"

Cansu Özdemir (LINKE, Hamburger Bürgerschaft

Carola Ensslen, MdHB, DIE LINKE

Carolina Achilles

Christiane Schneider, Vice President Hamburger Bürgerschaft (ret.)

Civan Akbulut, Mitglied im Integrationsrat Essen

Claudia Korol, Feminist writer and educator, Argentina

Connor Hayes, PhD student

Connor Murphy, Sinn Fein MLA

Cornelia Kerth, social scientist, Chair VVN-BdA

Daniel Brown, PhD student at the London School of Economics

Dario Azzellini, political scientist, author

David Morgan, journalist and writer

Deniz Celik, MdHB, DIE LINKE

Dipl.Ing. Horst D. GöllnitzDipl.Soz. Micha Hintz, Lehrbeauftragter an der Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, der

Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft Ludwigshafen und der Europäischen Akademie der

Arbeit in der Universität Frankfurt

Dmitry Vilensky, artist, Chto Delat, St. Petersburg / Hamburg

Dörte Simon-Rihn

Doug Nicholls, GFTU General Secretary

Dr Derek Wall, writer

Dr Radha D’Souza, writer and social activist

Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley, anthropologist

Dr. Alan Moore, Indepedent curator and Art Historian, Madrid

Dr. Carsten Krinn, AWO Esslingen

Dr. Cornelia Lange

Dr. Günter Rexilius, Priv.Doz., Dipl.Psych. Psychol. Psychotherapeut

Dr. Kerem Schamberger, Medico International

Dr. med. Michael Wilk, physician

Dr. Sarah Glynn, writer

Dr.med.Beppe Savary-Borioli, MP Forum Alternativo Ticino/Schweiz

Dr.med.Dipl.Psych. Barbara Hofner

Elena Aguayo

Elke Dangeleit, anthropologist, journalist, politician, DIE LINKE, district parliament Friedrichshain-

Kreuzberg von Berlin)

Emilio Fantin

Ernst Krefft, physician

Estella Schmid, writer and political activist

Esther Winkelmann, romanist

Françoise Vergès, writer, theorist, antiracist feminist activist, public educator, independent curator,

Paris

Gabriel Kuhn, author, Stockholm/Schweden

Gisela Rhein, 'Familien für den Frieden'

Giulia Gabrielli, artist, Whitney Museum ISP fellow, New York / Venice

Gloria Luz Rascón MartínezHeike Geisweid, Lawyer

Heike Rösch, Chair - Allenstein / Betreutes Wohnen

Heike Sudmann, MdHB, DIE LINKE

Hywel Williams MP, Plaid Cymru, Wales

Ilija Trojanow, author

Jakob Jakobsen, artist, Copenhagen

James Kelman, Booker Prize Winner novelist, Scottland

Janet Biehl, author and artist

Jesal Kapadia, artist, Brooklyn

John Hunt, journalist

John Kastan, The Jewish Board

Josef Mühlbauer MA, Autor, PhD-Student, Queeranarchist

Jutta Gernert

Katharina Günther, islamic studies

Kitty Kraus, artist, Berlin

Lord Hylton, House of Lords, UK

Lydia Förster, Verein Familien für den Frieden e.V., Darmstadt

Marco, Open Protest Network

Mark Mason, US Domestic and Foreign Policy Analyst

Marko Ulvila, politician, Finland

Marleen Rothaus, artist

Martha Rosler, artist, Brooklyn

Metin Kaya, DIE LINKE. Fraktion in der Hamburgischen Bürgerschaft Frieden, Migration, Sport,

Netzpolitik

Mizgin Ciftci, DIE LINKE

MPA, artist, Los Angeles

Naomi Anne Kubota, Die Linke, VVN-BdA, former research assistant Humboldt-Universität zu

Berlin

Natascha Sadr Haghighian, artist, Berlin

Nick Hildyard, policy advisor

Nika Dubrovsky, Artist, Germany and UKNikolay Oleynikov, artist, Chto Delat, St. Petersburg / Lecce

Norbert Trenkle, Krisis

Olga Kopenkina, Independent curator, lecturer New York University, Fordham University.

Pierre Joris, poet

Rahila Gupta, Chair - Southall Black Sister

Raúl Sánchez Cedillo, president of Fundacion De Los Comunes

Reem Shadid, curator, Director, Beirut Art Center, Beirut

Rene Gabri, Artist, USA

Rita Bilal, Familien für den Frieden

Ruth Stiasny-Seligmann

Sabu Kohso, writer, theorist, New York / Tokyo

Sasha Lilley, writer and journalist, USA

Seval Gümüs, activist, kurdish, Demokratischen kurdischen Gesellschaftszentrum e.V. Mitglied im

Forum der Kulturen Stuttgart

Sina Reisch, Ende Gelände

Stephan Jersch, MdHB, DIE LINKE

Stephanie Rose, MdHB, DIE LINKE

Stephen Smellie, Branch Secretary, UNISON South Lanarkshire

Suely Rolnik, psychoanalyst, cultural critic, and curator, Sao Paulo

Susann Schölzel

Ullrike Röding-Gilberg, internationalist

Uwe Gottschlich, "Familie für den Frieden"

Vahram Aghasyan, artist, Yerevan

Valentina Leduc Navarro, Regisseurin

Walter M. Garcia, teacher in Florida U.S

Xóchitl Leyva Chiapas

 

Initiativen und Gruppen:

Antifaschistische Aktion Lüneburg/Uelzen

Arbeitskreis Zivilklausel an der Uni KasselAutonomedia, Non-Profit Publisher, Brooklyn

Autonomen Ringvorlesung "Krieg & Frieden"

Cafe Knallhart

Café Libertad

Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC)

Feministas de Abya Yala

FG DeKolonial e.V. - Fachgesellschaft für rassismuskritische, postkoloniale und dekoloniale

Theorie und Praxis

Freund*innen der kurdischen Freiheitsbewegung Braunschweig

Gefangenen Infos

Hoenkeldruck

Initiative Demokratischer Konföderalismus

Institute of David Graeber

Kaffee Kollektiv la gota negra GbR

Kaffeekollektiv Aroma zapatista e.G.

Lützerath Lebt

MAF-DAD (Verein für Demokratie und Internationales Recht)

MAF-DAD e.V

Mittelbau Initiative Hamburg

Peace in Kurdistan Campaign

PM Press

Quijote Kaffee GmbH

Schöner Leben Göttingen

Solidarity Economy Association

Students For Future Kassel

Tejiendo Redes y Rebeldías

Unrast Verlag

Ventana al Sur

Vereinigung Demokratischer Juristinnen und Juristen

Ya Basta Netz Deutschland