Feminist responds to criticism
Schwarzer: “Must take Russian threats seriously”
May 2, 2022, 4:07 p.m
With a letter to the Chancellor, Alice Schwarzer and other celebrities want to try to stimulate a discussion about arms deliveries and avoid an escalation of the Ukraine war. The action has met with fierce criticism. But Schwarzer doesn’t give up.
Feminist Alice Schwarzer has dismissed criticism of the open letter she and other prominent figures have issued warning of a Third World War as a result of arms aid to Ukraine. They had reached a point where Germany and Western Europe risked becoming a war party, she said on Deutschlandfunk. Foreign Minister Lavrov, for example, is talking about possible nuclear strikes – all of which must be taken very seriously. The only answer to war can only be negotiation.
In a letter to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Schwarzer and other prominent figures appealed not to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine, either directly or indirectly, in order to give Russian President Vladimir Putin no motive for escalating the war. Rather, Scholz should do everything possible “to ensure that a ceasefire can be reached as quickly as possible; a compromise that both sides can accept.” By Monday morning, the letter had been digitally signed by around 140,000 people.
In the ZDF “Morgenmagazin” Schwarzer rejected accusations that Ukraine was being abandoned. Also, one should not move the signatories to the right-hand corner. In surveys, the population was divided on whether heavy weapons should be delivered to Ukraine. You have to discuss that. With the delivery of “assault weapons” one has to ask oneself whether this will be interpreted by Russia as participation in the war. There is a danger of slipping into a Third World War. “That’s what it’s about,” emphasized Schwarzer.
“Don’t overrate military successes”
Schwarzer had already emphasized in the “Bild” newspaper that for the first time in his life he was seriously convinced of the danger of a new world war. While helping the Ukrainians to defend themselves is the right thing to do, it is “a matter of drawing the very difficult line between support for defense and the supply of weapons that Mr. Putin can understand as offensive weapons.” One should also not overestimate Ukraine’s “admirable” military successes in defending against Putin’s troops: “Such selective victories are one thing. Bringing the world’s second nuclear power to its knees is something else.”
After the letter was published, widespread criticism quickly arose. Green party leader Britta Haßelmann said in an interview with the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”: “Where should “compromises” be when Putin attacks a free European country in violation of international law, razes cities to the ground, kills civilians and systematically rapes as weapon is used against women?”