Peace demonstration in Bonn’s Hofgarten, 1981.
Image: picture-alliance
Is it enough to demonstrate against Putin’s war on the streets? A pacifism at the expense of others only serves one’s own well-being: Why I can’t sign the appeal against over-armament. A guest post.
What happened on February 24th and since then? The unthinkable, the incomprehensible: a brutal war in Europe, on our continent, which had gotten off so lightly in a troubled world over the past decades! This is a historic turning point. There is no other comparison: just as Hitler’s Germany invaded neighboring Poland in 1939, Putin’s Russia is waging a war of aggression against its neighboring country Ukraine. And violates all the rules and treaties that have so far made up the European peace order, disregards international law, and destroys European peace with Ukraine.
Putin commits fratricide. The number of dead is unknown, the number of refugees is in the millions, the destruction of towns and villages is incalculable, the suffering of the people is endless. The pictures make you sad and angry and desperate. They must be cause for reflection – about Western, European politics, about peace ethics, peace movements, peace politics.