‘We’ve Had Enough …’

GDR 1989 civil rights members speak out again

zf. In the following, Current Concerns prints an appeal against war and the dismantling of democracy and the rule of law in Germany. The appeal was formulated by persons active in opposition groups in the former GDR who took part in the citizens’ movement that began to form against the GDR dictatorship in September 1989.

Present events have led them to turn to their fellow citizens and not to the government and political parties. In fact, it was their citizens’ movement that essentially brought about the peaceful revolution, and after the fall of the wall, it was due to the efforts of these people that the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) was dissolved, the ‘Central Round Table’ was set up, and the ‘Gauck board’ established with the law pertaining to Stasi documents. However, despite their successes these active citizens have been virtually ignored in the parliamentary system. In addition, little consideration was accorded them when it came to reunification and reconstruction. The question why so few citizens were involved in the reunification process will continue to be asked for many years to come. One thing seems certain: It is evidence that real democracy and sovereignty of the people is blatantly lacking.

It is all the more significant that the civil rights members of 1989 have now been moved to raise their voices once more. By directing their words at their fellow citizens and the fact that they feel reminded of the familiar evils of dictatorship by what is taking place, they call upon us to consider the burning issue of setting up a citizens’ movement for peace and freedom.

Personal experience of the dictatorship in the GDR and clear memories

of political pressure and our own resistance,

of people and our truthfulness being discarded,

of empty phrases and our rebellious verse,

of militaristic behaviour and our passive resistance,

of mental subordination and our solidarity

and our recent experience of the parliamentary democracy of the Federal Republic

have led us to turn

not towards the Chancellor, not to the Red-Green coalition, not to the Opposition parties, but instead to you, ordinary citizens like us.

Communication between the state and society is clearly disrupted

That was the case in 1989 and it is again true today.

We feel increasingly powerless in the face of economic, military and political structures; power politics and lust for profit mean that our interests in the issues that affect our lives are ignored. Confronted with the present problems of our country and of the world, we are increasingly reminded of the evils of dictatorship that we remember so well.

We can decide at a general election every four years which of the many squabbling political parties we wish to vote for.

It is clear to us, however, that the programmes of these parties bear little resemblance to the policies that they are able to actually implement if elected.

The political slogans in the GDR were seldom funny, but they would, thanks to their emptiness, be surpassed by the election hype of today’s parties.

We used to laugh at the voting behaviour of the members of the East German Volkskammer parliament. But our laughter soon faded when we witnessed the way in which the members of the Bundestag (lower house of the German parliament) behave.

We have learned to deal with empty phrases, to notice the way meaning is twisted when catchwords are used, and to let these things wash over us.

Formerly it was catchphrases like: ‘Eternal Comradeship in Arms’, ‘Unbreakable Solidarity’, ‘The Peace Service’ (with gun in hand), ‘Ore For Peace’ (meaning the WISMUT uranium for Russian atom bombs), ‘My Place to Fight for Peace’ and ‘Anyone Not With Us Supports the Terrorists’. In the revolution of 1989, we risked life and limb in order to get rid of the hated and despised GDR system of lackeys and informers.

We had expected that after the end of the Cold War the secret service in the West would be disbanded. Not one of us ever imagined that phone-tapping would increase and that the Stasi video-cameras we had torn down would be replaced with new ones.

We are horrified that while the size of the regular police force has been reduced, the size of the secret services is on the increase, So, was it all in vain? We know where these things lead.

No one ever imagined that one act of terrorism in the United States, however terrible, could be used as a reason to allow seemingly unassailable standards of law and sense of justice in the whole Western world to disintegrate.

We have not forgotten how the ambiguous clauses of GDR political penal law suffocated our minds. We feel strangled when we read of the frivolity of the Minister of the Interior in drafting his Anti-terrorism Act and the correspondingly ambiguous restrictions in other Western states and at European level. We had hoped to be free of such things.

We are astounded and dismayed that our search for justice is being answered with derisive laughter and smug references to the fact that the State is governed by the rule of law.

We are shocked to see how readily high-level politicians have been willing to approve the use of a grotesquely over-powerful military machinery to kill the alleged culprits in the terrorist attacks. Where is the proof of their guilt? It remains secret and apparently unnecessary. Have German politicians already adopted the American enthusiasm for the death penalty?

We are dismayed to learn how often opponents of the military operation in Afghanistan are faced with the stupid argument that war can help in the fight against terrorism. Why does nobody criticise the arms dealers in the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany? Why does the United States try, using every possible means, to prevent the setting up of an International Criminal Court. Naturally, we want an independent court of justice, not the commander-in-chief of the world’s strongest army, to decide whether the evidence presented can justifiably lead to a conviction of those suspected of being supporters of the acts of terrorism.

We are enraged that in this connection discussion of the use of torture has already become socially acceptable. Are the decision makers in Western countries not well on their way to embracing the behaviour, ways of thinking and system of values of a band of terrorists themselves?

We’ve simply had enough

We have had enough because under the flag of freedom and democracy we are not governed in our interests.

We have had enough of allowing ourselves to be treated as mindless and foolish.

We have had enough of empty prattle at party conferences.

We have had enough of representatives of the people who do not represent our interests and celebrate their failure as a success.

We have had enough of a Chancellor who uses his power to get Members of Parliament to say ‘yes’ to war even if military phrases are played down by the use of less violent language, such as ‘taking responsibility’, ‘Germany’s new role in the world’, ‘political capability’ and by talking about women’s rights.

We reject this war

Only a dictatorship needs Party soldiers who will toe the line. Democracy requires mature citizens. We should not let the media, the parties, culture and the economy be forced to conform by loudmouthed functionaries.

The contemptible and shocking circumstances of the Red-Green coalition’s decision in favour of war leave no more room for tactical Party games for the comfort of their own warm backsides.

Let us, for Heaven’s sake, open our mouths and speak out against what is happening.

Let us speak with our children and our parents about this war, about justice in Germany and the world, and about the rule of law, which threatens to slip through our fingers.