Together with the publicist Alice Schwarzer, Sahra Wagenknecht called for a peace demonstration. Image: dpa / Rolf Vennenbernd
inland
First anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For the day after the sad anniversary, left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht and the controversial publicist Alice Schwarzer have called for a peace rally in Berlin.
In their recently written “Manifesto,” the left-wing politician and Schwarzer warn of an escalation in the Ukraine war and call on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to “stop the escalation in arms deliveries.”
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And further:
“Negotiating means making compromises on both sides. With the aim of preventing hundreds of thousands more deaths and worse. We think so too, and half of the German population thinks so too.”
More than half a million people have now signed this pamphlet. “MirrorColumnist Sascha Lobo describes this alliance as a “peace advocate”. He accuses them of pursuing a perpetrator-victim reversal and of demanding peace primarily for themselves.
In order to bring the signatories and sympathizers closer to the extent of such a compromise, Green politician Erik Marquardt makes a drastic comparison.
Because what Wagenknecht, Schwarzer and the half a million signatories hide: A compromise would mean that Ukraine would have to give up parts of its territory and sovereignty. Russia would be the occupying power. The horror of Butscha showed impressively what the population in the affected regions could be threatened with.
Marquardt compares the Russian invasion with a burglar in your own home. The demand of the peace demonstrators is like this: “when people demand that an armed, violent burglar should finally be given the living room just because he claims that he actually owns the bathroom as well.”
Approval gathers under the tweet. A user suggests that the police could also be abolished according to this logic.
Merz: Wagenknecht plays into Putin’s hands
The SPD parliamentary group also made it clear in a tweet: “Anyone who wants peace must oppose Putin’s warmongering!” Meanwhile, CDU leader Friedrich Merz also dedicated his newsletter on the anniversary of the war to the topic of peace. “Every even remotely compassionate person must share in the desire for peace”he clarifies in it.
Friedrich Merz accuses Schwarzer and Wagenknecht of ignoring Ukraine’s sovereignty.Image: IMAGO/Jens Schicke / imago images
The path of Wagenknecht and Schweizer is completely wrong. Because they and their movement would play into the hands of Putin and sheer violence. Because they disregarded the right to self-defense and the sovereignty of Ukraine. Merz writes: “As a result, their so-called ‘Manifesto for Peace’ is a capitulation to the sheer military violence of Putin and his regime.”
Merz believes that the decision of the UN General Assembly, which calls on Putin to withdraw his Russian troops from Ukraine, makes more sense. The states had voted on this the evening before the anniversary, sending a clear signal: The world is on Ukraine’s side.
For many activists, those interested in politics, parents and people who have just finished school, one thing is clear: we need new subjects. Preferably one for each problem. At the same time, the basic subjects should of course continue to be taught. How exactly all this can be packed into a timetable is little debated.