The antiracist network No one is illegal and the solidarity organization Libertad! call for a virtual blockade against the Lufthansa homepage.

The public criticism against the Deutsche Lufthansa company is growing stronger. Antiracist activists do not cease their protests at airports and travelling agencies and were even present at the yearly shareholders meeting, accusing the airline of deportation bussiness. No one is illegal (http:\\www.deportation-alliance.com) and Libertad! (http\\:www.libertad.de) are now announcing the extension of these protests to the world wide web.

If companies engaged in this kind of dirty bussiness are creating their most important branches in the internet, this is just the place for a massive demonstration. Just like a traditional sit-in, thousands of internet users are invited to show their criticism in a temporary blockade of the Lufthansa homepage. This is only possible with a large number of participants, and for that reason, no one is illegal and Libertad! do call international groups and organizations to join the preparation of the activity. Until today, the date has not been decided, but for the day x we can expect a broad participation.

There are more than 30 000 people every year deported by airplane from Germany. The Lufthansa company, offering its "world wide net of connections", does sell the wast majority of so called "deportee-tickets". Consequently, "Deportation Class" is big bussiness. But it's not only that. Since 28th of May 1999, when the Sudanese citizen Amir Ageeb died on board of a Lufthansa plane being ill-treated by three German borderguards, the company is exposed to always heavier demands to renounce from the dirty bussiness. No one is illegal subsequently stressed the juridical responsability of the captain in case of death of a passenger not travelling voluntarily. Finally, the captains' association Cockpit started to recomend its members to refuse the boarding of persons who are forced to do so or even are wearing handcuffs. The public workers union ÖTV called its members inside the Lufthansa administration board to take measures to stop the deportation flights.

It got even worse for the Lufthansa management board, when the company's bad image was noticed in the United States. The 29th of January this year, the Wall Street Journals dedicated an extense article to the debate about the deportation flights - bad publicy, and even worse, as Lufthansa just had explained to their shareholders that the USA would be the "future strategic market". A market, which Lufthansa plans to conquest by internet. In 2005, the eCommerce-portal, today only selling about 10% of the tickets, shall be responsible for 40% of the company's total turnover.

Electronic capitalism may be very profitable, but also its risks are considerable. For that reason, Lufthansa, together with other international companies like Siemens and Telekom and, not to forget, the German Federal Police Agency, has become a member of the so-called "Commission for the Protection of Infrastructure". This circle dedicates itself - far away from public opinion - to the improvement of police control over the net. In the executive boards one seems to fear being targeted by hackers as CNN, yahoo and Microsoft already had the possibility to experience. And even more they might be scared about an increase of political net activism.

However, in Octobre 2000, when Lufthansa instructed their laywers to intimidate a no one is ilegal - activist, they already gave proof for their receptiveness to net criticism. If an art exposion against deportation wouldn't disappear from the net, Lufthansa would bring him to court and make him pay a considerable fine. This quite conventional behaviour resulted in a campaign by dossins of internet projects around the world, who showed their solidarity by mirroring the exposition in question on their own sites.

So, one may be curious about Lufthansa's reaction to the coming online-demonstration. If activists together really would manage to block the access to the homepage, in spite of the company's high capacities to maintain its internet presence, it would surely not contribute to the customers' trust in the eCommerce portal, where they shall book their future flights. We are optimistic. We believe that criticism to deportation flights is shared by lots of people, so that a massive and international demonstration will take place. To make sure everyone's possibility to take part, we will release in time a simple handed protest software. And in the meantime, protests at airports will continue.

7th of March 2001
no one is illegal and Libertad!

information: www.deportation-alliance.com
contact: online-demo@gmx.net