Austrian Mothers Against War

Austria for our children

The attack on Austrian neutrality, the rapid armament in the EU and the discussion about Austria becoming a member of Nato are deeply worrying to us all. We refuse to be fobbed off with talk about setting up an EU rapid reaction force for ‘peace-keeping missions’ or ‘crisis management’. Wars have always been fought in the name of fine-sounding words and supposedly noble causes. That is nothing new.

For this very reason we cannot simply sit back and watch war being once again made socially acceptable by Europe and aggressive wars then planned and carried out.

We teach our children to use dialogue as a means to solve conflicts and lo and behold, it functions very well. Conflicts among peoples also need to solved around the negotiating table! Humanity today is perfectly capable of using this method. The explanation why armament is taking place has other reasons which the Austrian Nobel Peace Prize winner, Bertha von Suttner, described in detail in 1909:

‘Let us look around! What are the factors that set the wheels of armament in motion? Is it the people that desire it! In no way! The impetus, the demand always comes from the War Ministries with the well-known argument that one is surrounded by danger and enemies. A climate of fear ensues and general acceptance of war grows. And who is so active in spreading this fear? Military circles again. They are permanently at the ready with an “inevitable” war, especially one that “will start next spring”. War parties exist in every country, and what these parties say is always interpreted by the war parties of other countries as the professed intention of a whole nation.’

We, as mothers, refuse to resign ourselves to what is happening by saying, ‘Those in power do what they want to and we cannot do anything about it...’ Our children must not be allowed to become the future soldiers of belligerent interventions, nor should they have to live with wars or indeed through wars.

As citizens of the neutral country Austria we are most concerned for our families, our country, and the people who also live beyond our borders. It is we who are responsible for what happens in our world. As a rule women have learnt to take responsibility for the family and they know that this responsibility does not suddenly end outside one’s own front door. If we content ourselves with endowing civil responsibility on others (on politicians for instance who have ceased to represent the interests of their citizens), we are acting irresponsibly and we only have ourselves to blame for the scandalous injustice.

For this reason we have joined together in the movement ‘Austrian Mothers against War in the 21st Century’. We would like to invite all like-minded citizens to stand up for a more peaceful world for our children. We will develop concepts and make it clear where we stand; the civilised world of today provides us with ample opportunities. •

Contact address:
Zeit-Fragen (Current Concerns), Austrian editor
P.O. box 177, A-1120 Vienna
Tel.: +43-676 706 47 40
e-mail: redaktion@zeit-fragen.at