A public voice for humanity, law and peace is needed

Civil courage in Germany in 2025

by Karl-Jürgen Müller

It is no longer easy for me to write about Germany today. So much is in a mess. No quick solutions are in sight. Glossing things over and giving false hope does not make sense.

Elections for the Bundestag 

On 23 February, Germans who are eligible to vote can elect a new parliament and thus indirectly also the new government. Polls1 currently indicate that the CDU and CSU together would win the most votes with 31 per cent (but short of an absolute majority). The AfD is in second place with 20 per cent. However, the AfD is treated as a political pariah and the party will not be part of the government despite a large share of the vote. The FDP and Die Linke are currently running below 5 per cent and it is uncertain whether they will return to the Bundestag. The SPD (17 per cent) and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (12 per cent) must reckon with serious losses compared to the elections three and a half years ago. The Bündnis Sarah Wagenknecht (BSW, currently 7 per cent) is very likely to enter the Bundestag for the first time. Most likely, Friedrich Merz from the CDU will provide the next Federal Chancellor. With whom they will form a coalition remains to be seen.

… promise no improvement

Are improvements in sight with the newly elected parliament and the new government? I am highly doubtful. The German party state is leading a life of its own, with very special dependencies – and not on the citizens. It has become far removed from them.
  In Switzerland, citizens have more opportunities to shape politics. That would mean hope for Germany. Werner Wüthrich has analysed this in his comprehensive book “Wirtschaft und direkte Demokratie in der Schweiz. Geschichte der freiheitlich-demokratischen Wirtschaftsverfassung der Schweiz” (Economy and direct democracy. History of the liberal-democratic economic constitution of Switzerland, ISBN978-3-909234-24-0), Werner Wüthrich explains the blessing of the responsibility of all voters for the country, its economic development and its social peace.
  But there is hardly any talk of direct democracy in Germany anymore.
  Nevertheless, Germany is still officially called a democracy. The principle of democracy is enshrined in Article 20 of the German constitution, the Grundgesetz. It stipulates: “All state power emanates from the people.” In addition to the principle of democracy, there are other constitutional provisions that cannot be abolished according to Article 79, paragraph 3: the principles of the rule of law, social state and federal state. And the guarantee of fundamental rights as well as the division and control of powers are an indispensable part of the rule of law. This is all very good, even if direct democracy is lacking.
  Not least because of its history, Germany has also expressly committed itself to peace in its constitution. The preamble states that the “German people” had decided to “serve the peace of the world”. Article 25 declares “the general rules of international law” an “integral part of federal law. They take precedence over the laws and create rights and obligations directly for the inhabitants of the federal territory.” And Article 26 stipulates: “Acts which are suitable and carried out with the intention of disturbing the peaceful coexistence of peoples, in particular the waging of a war of aggression, are unconstitutional.” They are even “to be made a criminal offence”. That is also very good.

They no longer
adhere to the Grundgesetz

The problem in today’s Germany is that the party state no longer adheres to what the Grundgesetz has formulated very well. There is currently (see above) no prospect of a remedy via elections. The established parties (CDU, CSU, FDP, SPD, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), together with the media serving them and other politically influential lobbies, have created this mess. Redress through the courts has become a lottery. Sometimes the citizen gets justice, often not.2 The various forms of political expression are increasingly restricted. The question is justified: Has Germany in its current stat already reached a point for which the Grundgesetz has provided Article 20, paragraph 4? In order to protect the constitutional order, it states: “All Germans have the right to resist anyone who endeavours to abolish this order if no other remedy is possible.”
  That is an important paragraph in the Grundgesetz. But in practice, invoking it would be a risk, more foolhardy than courageous.
  So, what should we do?
  Doing nothing is unworthy. But staying power will be necessary. At the beginning of 2025, I hope that the country will see the emergence of a public voice of humanity, justice and peace. Germany needs citizens with civil courage.
  Here are four proposals for discussion.

Freedom of expression
and freedom of information

One, to make 2025 the year of freedom of expression and information. This fundamental right, guaranteed in Article 5 of the German Grundgesetz, is of vital significance for political participation and a dignified life. In recent years, the state’s questioning of freedom of expression and information has increased significantly. Representative surveys now find that a majority of people in Germany state that it was no longer possible to openly express one’s opinions on certain topics. Alarm, alarm! should be the outcry of all citizens with civil courage.

Fit for peace, not for war

Two, the political goal of being “fit for war” must be questioned more resolutely and replaced by the goal of being “fit for peace”. The plan to make Germany fit for war is linked to massive threats against other countries, namely Russia. The “Operationsplan Deutschland”3 of Boris Pistorius’ ministry, publicly announced in March 2024, is intended to gear all of Germany’s political, economic and social life towards war. Russia is explicitly declared the enemy.
  The claim that Russia was threatening Germany is a propaganda lie. There is a great danger that this propaganda lie and its aggressive consequences will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Anyone who takes an increasingly attitude towards another country should not be surprised if at some point the other country actually defends itself. The consequences for Germany would be catastrophic. Before the end of the Cold War, it was clear that the Federal Republic of Germany had an army to prevent a war. In a hot war, West and East Germany would have been the battlefield, which in the end would have been completely destroyed and probably become uninhabitable. War was not an option for most political leaders in Germany at the time.
  However, there is another reason why war is unacceptable: Not only the war itself, but even the preparations for war mean brutalisation in the feelings, thoughts and actions of the soldiers, but also of the population as a whole. In war, all values are turned upside down. In war, people lie, cheat and steal, destroy and murder. The “citizen in uniform” is no longer in demand. The fate of the severely injured war veterans of the US Army, but also of the German Bundeswehr today, bears eloquent witness to what “fitness for war” does to people. “20 suicides of US veterans every day”4 is just one of the many headlines that make it clear what is at stake.

A register for the rule of law

Three, Germany needs a public register of state breaches of the law and denied legal protection. In an interview in December 20245, Helmut Roewer, former President of the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Thuringia (1994–2000), explained in detail why, in his opinion, Germany is no longer a constitutional state. Helmut Roewer has been sharply attacked for many years. This type of campaign against politically contrary people has become typical of Germany. Shouldn’t we instead listen to what a person has to say and think for ourself?

Compassion and community building

Four, compassion and forming of genuine communities arm us against inhumanity, injustice and warmongering. A public voice of humanity, justice and peace becomes stronger when people with these concerns come together in many places on an equal and equal footing and speak out publicly.
  Two years after the adoption of the Helsinki Accords in 1975, prominent citizens of Czechoslovakia, including the country’s future president, Václav Havel, formed a group and published a text they called Charta 77. This charter listed the human rights that had been guaranteed to all citizens of Czechoslovakia by the Helsinki Accords. The Charter contrasted this with the political reality in the country – a reality that often violated people’s rights. The group was persecuted by the state but remained active until the collapse of the socialist regime – civil courage.
  40 years later, well-known German personalities, including civil rights activists from the final phase of the GDR, wanted to pick up where they left off. Following the exclusion of so-called right-wing publishers from the Frankfurt Book Fair, they formulated a petition called Charta
 2017 and pleaded “for freedom of expression, for democratic coexistence, for respectful debate”.6 The group was fiercely attacked. Unfortunately, it is no longer active.
  Today, invoking once again what is a guaranteed right, but is repeatedly disregarded in political reality, would be an expression of civil courage and could lay the foundations for a public debate. It doesn’t take much, just measured action, wisdom and a little courage. •



1 https://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/insa.htm
2 For example, the success rate of appeals to the constitutional court is currently around 1.5 per cent (see https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1412487/umfrage/bverfg-erfolgreiche-verfassungsbeschwerden/).
3 https://www.bundeswehr.de/resource/blob/5761202/5101246ca9de726f78c4d988607532fc/oplan-data.pdf
4 https://www.friedenskooperative.de/friedensforum/artikel/taeglich-20-suizide-von-us-veteraninnen
5 https://apolut.net/im-gespraech-helmut-roewer/
6 https://www.openpetition.de/petition/online/charta-2017-zu-den-vorkommnissen-auf-der-frankfurter-buchmesse-2017#petition-main

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