About half a million people have already signed the “Manifesto for Peace” by Alice Schwarzer and Sahra Wagenknecht. A new peace movement is growing in Germany and perhaps also in Switzerland. But that’s not good news.
Of course, the number of 200,000 people who died during the Russian extermination campaign in Ukraine in the first year of the war is appalling. We all hope that the war will end soon and that the conflict can be resolved at the negotiating table. A pious hope, however, as neither side is ready for a long-lasting ceasefire.
Will soon only the Russian weapons have to speak?
In their manifesto, Schwarzer/Wagenknecht now call for an immediate halt to the “escalation of arms deliveries”. But who says the guns will shut up if Germany and other countries stop supplying tanks to Ukraine? Soon only the Russian weapons will speak and create those facts that Putin has always declared as the target of war.
Ukraine is then no longer a sovereign state, but is once again part of the Russian Empire. And Putin can plan the next attack on breakaway neighbors in peace. So far not a single syllable has passed his lips that seriously suggests he is ready to make peace unless he dictates the terms.
Put pressure on the German and Ukrainian governments
So Schwarzer/Wagenknecht is addressing Putin less than those who essentially want to talk: the Ukrainian and German governments. They want to be put under pressure with the cry for peace. Germany should stop supplying arms and Ukraine should be willing to compromise instead of defending itself with weapons. “Negotiating means not giving up,” write Schwarzer/Wagenknecht, “Negotiating means making compromises on both sides.” That’s the scariest sentence in the manifesto.
It is simply politically indecent for Schwarzer/Wagenknecht to demand that the Ukrainian victims of the Russian offensive war lay down their arms so that the Germans can have peace again. It is against any sense of justice to demand compromises from innocent Ukrainians in the same way as guilty Russians. It is already higher Machiavellianism or Putinism if you want to force peace in this way.
Schwarzer/Wagenknecht do not want to treat the Russian war criminals in their call for peace any differently from the Ukrainian war victims. At one point in the manifesto it says: “The Ukrainian people brutally attacked by Russia need our solidarity.” That could have been a good start, but it’s the only sentence that doesn’t equate Russian perpetrators with Ukrainian victims, obscuring the relationship of violence.
In the manifesto, Putin is attacked, Zelensky the aggressor
Putin is taking advantage of Schwarzer and Wagenknecht’s call for peace, which they want to gleefully launch into a Twitter video and thus strengthen the aggressor Russia.
Russian President Putin only appears in one place in the manifesto, and there as an attacked person who, should Crimea be snatched from him again, could strike desperately, as Schwarzer/Wagenknecht fear. Ukrainian President Zelensky also appears only once in the manifesto, as a potential aggressor demanding more and more tanks, fighter jets, long-range missiles and submarines, and Schwarzer/Wagenknecht worries whether he intends to “kill Russia all the time”. defeat. the line”. .
And so Russia is suddenly the victim of the Ukrainian president. This time-tested perpetrator-victim reversal creeps into the peace movement time and time again. The only thing missing is that, in the old peacemaking tradition, the real bad guys and evildoers are sought in the White House in Washington and in NATO.
Schwarzer and Wagenknecht can also be heard in Switzerland
At the initiative of women like Alice Schwarzer and Sahra Wagenknecht, a new but sinister ‘peace movement’ is emerging, ready for peace at any price, which would mainly be at the expense of Ukraine. On February 25, they want to demonstrate for the first time in front of the Brandenburger Tor for this peace.
Also in Switzerland, a demonstration of the more left-wing alliance “End War” and the “Swiss Peace Movement” is planned for February 25 in Zurich. On March 11, the right-wing movement “Moderate” wants to march on the Bundesplatz with Swiss and peace flags.
What characterizes the new ‘peace movement’ is that it unites forces from the extreme left to the extreme right. All political directions are represented. In addition to Sahra Wagenknecht and her husband Oskar Lafontaine, the first signatories to the manifesto also included moderates such as former EU commissioner Günter Verheugen of the SPD, Greens such as Antje Vollmer, conservatives such as CSU politician Peter Gauweiler and Martin Sonneborn, head of the satirical group. the political party”.
The manifesto also attracts far-right extremists
While Sahra Wagenknecht opposes support from the AfD, her pro-Putin manifesto also attracts right-wing extremists, lateral thinkers, former corona deniers and die-hard pacifists, who now loudly proclaim that peace can only exist with Russia, not against Russia. Many initial signatories to the manifesto have called for the failed “Arise!” van Wagenknecht. supported, in which last but not least, people who reject everything left-liberal and waking and queer feel at home.
A colorful protest alliance forming. At 53, Sahra Wagenknecht is almost a teenager in the new peace movement. One of her staunchest followers, along with her husband Oskar Lafontaine, is Brigadier General A. D. Erich Vad, who was known until now for his false predictions about the war (he predicted a quick defeat for Ukraine).
Freedom is limitless, at least above the clouds
Churchmen such as Margot Kässmann campaigned warmly for the manifesto. In addition, many people from the culture. One of the first to sign was conductor Justus Frantz, who performed in Russia in the middle of the war in 2022 and saw himself as a “bridge builder”. The singer-songwriter Reinhard Mey is also there, for whom unlimited freedom has always hung above the clouds.
Among the writers, the German book prize winner Eugen Ruge from Russia stands out in particular, who denounced the demonization of Russia months ago. From Switzerland, only the Weltwoche, which has been chasing every dictator for years, has warmly campaigned for the manifesto.
The philosopher Jürgen Habermas tries to square the circle
The philosopher Jürgen Habermas published his own call for negotiations in the Süddeutsche Zeitung halfway through this week.
He lingers for a long time on the formulation of whether one must “beat Russia” to make peace possible. Habermas prefers the more defensive formulation that “Ukraine must not lose”. Like Schwarzer/Wagenknecht, he insists on a compromise, but without concealing the fact that Putin is still not open to discussion.
The compromise, as the philosopher imagines it, is like squaring the circle: on the one hand, the Russian side must not retain any territory beyond the time before the start of the war on February 23, 2022, on the other hand, Putin must to save face. Habermas argues unequivocally against himself in his plea for negotiations, pointing out that negotiations are wishful thinking at the moment.
When Ukrainian author and musician Serhiy Zhadan received the Peace Prize from the German book trade last fall, he warned against Europeans calling their compatriots’ refusal to surrender without resistance an “expression of militarism and radicalism”. There is a false pacifism that argues from the ‘comfort zone’ and ultimately amounts to ‘swallowing the total, uninhibited evil’. (aargauerzeitung.ch)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
