…ums Ganze! is an anti-capitalist alliance currently consisting of 11 groups based in Germany and Austria. It was founded in order to organize radical left critiques and analysis supra-regionally in both theory and practice. The term “…ums Ganze!” can be roughly translated as “…to the whole (thing)!” and means that the alliance’s focus lies in an anti-authoritarian analysis and critiques which cover the whole complexity of state, nation and capital.

…umsGanze! made its first appearance during the anti-G8 protests in Heiligendamm, Germany, in 2007. For that, the alliance organised several discussions in many cities and it’s own block on the big demonstrations criticizing the attitude of a personalised criticism of the G8 as “the spider in the web”, which leaves open many points of access to right-wing pseudo anti-capitalist politics. Rather, we aregued, the summit of the eight should be seen as an expression of the political within capitalist rule, nonetheless still worthy of a practical and analytical intervention.

Many of the groups emerged from or were politicized by the large antifa campaigns active in the 1990s against a wave of nationalist and racist activity which erupted in the wake of German re- unification. The issue of German nationalism and identity was picked up again in 2009. In this year, Germany celebrated several anniversaries such as 60 years of the new constitution and 20 years of reunification. Politicians, institutions and the media exploited these celebrations in order to propagate a new German nationalism, which was “cleared” of “the two dictatorships” (the so called “extremism theory” puts Hitler-Germany and the GDR next to each other to pose itself as the only true democracy) and which had learnt from history. In the campaign “State. Nation. Capital. Shit. Against the rule of the false freedom!” …ums Ganze! undertook a fundamantal, anti-capitalist criticism of the ideology of nationalism and the German nation as a whole, promoting an anti- national, anti-authoritarian communism as the only emancipated and progressive form of living.

The current crisis of capitalism always was part of the analysis within …ums Ganze!, but it was usually integrated within other actions and campaigns rather than having its own emphasis. This changed in 2012, when …ums Ganze! was one of the organizers of the “M31 – European day of action against capitalism” in Germany. The escalating effects of the crisis within Europe – especially the destruction of any social guarantees in Southern Europe which had been gained through fights in the last decades – and the key role of Germany in this authoritarian crisis-management was taken as a reason to attempt to overcome the chauvinist and racist German discourse (“lazy Greeks wasting our money”) and express solidarity to the people being harmed the most by the crisis. Since the crisis is an international phenomenon, our resistance should try to be the same, and that’s why M31 took place in many countries in Europe. From this project on, …ums Ganze! has begun to make border- crossing connections and co-operation systematically – This platform is one consequence of that connection.

Currently, …ums Ganze! still is working around this issue. In a shift of its politics, the alliance opened itself to wider cooperations and joined the anti-crisis-network “Blockupy”, which organised two days of actions against crisis and capitalism in Frankfurt in 2012 and 2013. The idea behind that was evolved through the analysis of a new political situation: since the crisis exposes the capitalist contradictions more and more brutally every day, many, who until recently might have called themselves “unpolitical” are now interested in alternatives and listen to an anti-capitalist left more frequently. So the actual stance of a radical left today should be to take its critiques, analyses and alternatives into the general brawl more offensively rather than to stay at home and write clever analyses.

Due to the specific position and role of Germany within the crisis as well as heavy refugees-protests within the whole country, …ums Ganze! simultaneously works on racism and the danger of right- wing crisis-solutions in several networks and alliances, like the German wide network “Fight Racism now”.

The groups do not only work on the supra-regional level, but have high priorities in staying active locally. Each …ums Ganze!-group is therefore also involved in local initiatives, for example against job-centers or for the “right to the city”.