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Not Welcome, Mr. President!

German Peace Movement | 22.06.2006 17:10 | Anti-militarism | World

All past attempts at solving political conflicts militarily failed gloriously. War may not be a means of politics any more.. The wars of the US are themselves terror and causes of ever more violence.

NOT WELCOME, MR. PRESIDENT!

Call of the Peace Movement

[Representatives of many nationwide peace organizations and local peace initiatives met in Merlin to plan joint activities on the occasion of the visit of US president Bush in Stralsund. The call to protest stands under the motto “Not Welcome, Mr. President. Bush and Merkel: End Wars and Stop War Plans!” This call published in: Junge Welt, 6/14/2006 is translated from the German on the World Wide Web,  http://www.jungewelt.de/2006/06-14/008.php?print=1.]


We receive US president Bush on his visit on July 14, 2006 in Stralsund with proper broad protest. His arrogant power politics is rejected by a large part of US society. We must make it clear to him that he is not welcome.

To the host, German chancellor Merkel, we demand that Germany not support any war actions against Iran. All past attempts to solve political problems militarily failed gloriously. War may not be a means of politics any more! A war against Iran would cost many human lives and destroy the infrastructure of the land. The civil society that wants to live democratically and in solidarity, peace and free from oppression would be shattered. Nevertheless the US government leaves no doubt that it wants to attack Iran militarily and will not exclude the use of its own nuclear weapons.

Opposition from Europe can prevent these plans. The German government provided considerable assistance to the war course of the US: through the use of military airports, the guarding of US military facilities, the German army deployment in Afghanistan and at the horn of Africa and training- and material assistance for Iraqi troops. This complicity must be ended!

In the 1999 war against Yugoslavia, the German government broke the prohibition of offensive wars binding in international law and anchored in the German constitution. The German government single-mindedly pursues the reorganization of the German army into an intervention army deployable worldwide. With the new “white paper” of Defense minister Jung, the “case of defense” is redefined and worldwide operational missions of the German army are justified and declared normal. In domestic policy, an increasing reduction of social benefits and democratic rights accompanies the so-called “war against terror.” Soon the German army could be engaged domestically. The World Cup serves as a first test run.

Minister of the Interior Schauble wants to utilize information gained through torture and thus demolish the worldwide prohibition of torture. The US government needs European states as close allies for its “coalition of the willing” to wage more “wars against terror.” But the wars of the US are themselves terror and sources of ever-new violence. Control of the most important sources of oil and other energy from the Middle East to Central Asia is central.
We demand:

- No war against Iran
- Withdrawal of occupation forces from Iraq and Afghanistan
- Ending the involvement of NATO, the EU and the German army in worldwide wars
- Punishment of all persons responsible for torture, abuse of prisoners and attacks against civilians
- A nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East
- A new international initiative for worldwide systematic nuclear disarmament as agreed in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
- Establishment of a permanent conference for security and cooperation in the Middle East
- No war for oil or other resources: exodus from nuclear and fossil energy and support of renewable energy.

We urge:

To solve the pressing human problems in the way of global peace, the world does not need war alliances, as for example forged at the G8 summits but rather disarmament and solidarian cooperation. With the obligation of disarmament, we want respect for international law, state sovereignty, borders as well as a civil and social Europe. We need public jobs and investments in childcare, education, health care and environmental protection. To that end, we urge demonstrations on July 14 in Stralsund and across the country on July 13-15!

German Peace Movement
- e-mail: mbatko@lycos.com
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