"Adbusting”: Berlin and Helsinki activists demand asylum for conscientious objectors
(11.07.2024) Joint workshop
Adbusting is a form of street art. Activists hijack advertising posters and give them a new meaning using paint, glue, scissors and paper. The solidarity adbustings were created last weekend in Helsinki. Anti-war activists from Finland, Germany and Belarus brainstormed suitable changes during a joint workshop at a networking meeting. They then tackled the advertising posters to turn them into adbustings calling for asylum for conscientious objection. "It was great fun to deal with the topics of asylum and conscientious objection in such a creative way and to express our solidarity," says Lara, one of the participants.
Plant hope!
The borrowed posters from Berlin now adorn the city centre of Helsinki. The advert for a musical currently being performed in Berlin calls for asylum for conscientious objectors after the activists have changed it: "Plant hope! Grant asylum for war resisters from Russia and Belarus now!".
Petition instead of mobile phone advertising
Instead of advertising new mobile phones, for example, the posters refer to a petition to the EU Commission. The slogan on a former mobile phone advert suggests: "Asylum for War Resisters from Russia and Belarus!" And on the screen of the advertised phone is the answer "Sign now:" This is followed by a QR code that leads directly to the corresponding petition of the "Object war campaign".
Ending Putin’s war?
The adbusting of adverts by a dubious agency works in a similar way, irresponsibly persuading people that they can write books for horrendously high fees. "Looking for a clever way to end Putin’s war?" is now written on the posters instead of the advertising slogan. The person wearing glasses replies: "Grant asylum to War Resisters now!" Next to it is the aforementioned QR code with the link to the petition.
Doing meaningful things
On another poster, a smiling man advertising an expensive-as-fuck private university tells the public: "I deserted Putin’s war. Now I can contribute to society." Underneath is the demand: "Grant asylum to war resisters now!" and the QR code.
Dont rest in peace
The activists also took to task a poster of a suspected scam online platform for share trading, almost entirely in super-cool black. "Don’t rest in peace. Asylum for war resisters from Belarus and Russia now!" now reads the caption.
Foxes and BVG out of place
Berlin’s ice hockey team and the Berlin transport company have also been misplaced after Helsinki: the slogan "Dont be a War Dog! Be a Peace Fox" and a link to the website of the Finnish Union of Conscientious Objectors now adorn the poster.
Asylum instead of armament
Instead of giving more and more money to the Nazi preppers in the Bundeswehr and Putin’s energy companies like Rosatom, we should develop non-violent forms of struggle to put pressure on war-mongering dictators like Putin!" says Roderich Supersonnenwetter, spokesperson for the action group (AfKj!). "Granting conscientious objectors and deserters asylum as a matter of course is one way to make it more difficult for Russia to wage war in Ukraine!"
Object was campaign
The organisers of the Object War Campaign agree. With a petition to the EU Commission, peace organisations from all over Europe are trying to achieve a change in the current asylum policy. More information about the "Object War Campaign":
https://objectwarcampaign.org/en
Media reported on actions
The group "Asylum for conscientious objectors now!" (AfKj!) has already attracted attention with adbustings in the past. According to the Berlin-based daily newspaper "Tagesspiegel", it hijacked 20 advertising display cases in the summer of 2023 to demand asylum for conscientious objectors: https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/20-werbeplakate-in-berlin-umgestaltet-aktivisten-fordern-mit-adbusting-recht-auf-asyl-fur-kriegsdienstverweigerer-aus-russland-und-der-ukraine- 10277119.html
Is adbusting a crime?
But are the activists even allowed to do that? Presumably they are. The only court case in Germany in the last 15 years for adbusting ended in 2018 in Berlin with a dismissal. Despite three years of investigations and over 1,000 pages of files, the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) was unable to prove what and how much damage was caused by adbusting. Since then, various public prosecutor’s offices throughout Germany have ruled that the unauthorised opening of advertising display cases and the hanging of one’s own posters is not a criminal offence. The Federal Constitutional Court ruled against the Berlin police in December 2023. The court ruled that a house search for adbusting was illegal. Borrowing and sticking up posters is likely to fall under the de minimis threshold.
More info:
https://objectwarcampaign.org/en
DFG-VK Berlin, eMail, July 11, 2024
Keywords: ⇒ Action Reports ⇒ Asylum ⇒ Belarus ⇒ CO and Asylum ⇒ Conscientious Objection ⇒ Finland ⇒ Germany ⇒ Russia