The monthly digital letter for peace and democracy addressed to the citizens has existed since 2014. It was already presented in this newspaper on 29 September 2015. Again, we draw attention to the fact that it has appeared on its own homepage (www.bürgerbrief-für-Frieden-und-Demokratie.de) since January 2017 and can also be subscribed free of charge via e-mail (info @ Bürgerbrief-für-Frieden-und-Demokratie.de) .
Why this citizens’ letter? Aren’t there already many internet portals with often interesting information, so that one hardly has an overview? Precisely because of that! We do not add new information, but we choose information in order to make it easier for others to get information with a topic. We (briefly) summarise information and interesting opinions from various sources and link them with the original article. In this way, each reader can be informed by the summary and, secondly, if the interest is deeper, the source can also directly be called and studied.
Only sometimes we give a short comment to the source, if this seems necessary to us. Apart from that, we do not give any comment and we avoid polemic debates, which on some portals in the blogs take place excessively and rather hinder a quiet opinion. Our “commentary” on world events is the selection of the sources to which we refer. Here, of course, subjectivity flows in, because our overview is certainly not complete, although the editorial team is collecting diligently. And the choice is shaped by what we consider to be important, informative, interesting and serious, and what we come to know. It is like gathering sea shells on the beach: we take the best ones we see.
The thematic selection results from the title: peace and democracy – as well as their threats and safeguarding or active shaping in the current public life. We are convinced that peace and democracy can only be secured steadily if we citizens actively shape this process. To do this, we must certainly use our democratic institutions that we have. But it is not enough that we just “work to rule”, that is that we just vote, when we are summoned to the elections, and otherwise rely on our elected representatives or get annoyed with them. No, democracy and peacekeeping is a much broader form of public life. There are vivid activities of various kinds in Germany in many places. We also report on this in order to ultimately support networking, which then is in everyone’s own hands. You just have to know.
We want to contribute to the spread of a political culture that engages in “bottom-up” debates and ultimately comes alive in decisions. To this end, we need much more and better directdemocratic elements in Germany, which, in principle, are envisaged at the federal level, too. And we need imagination and courage for ethics to be not only informed, but also to act. For we citizens are the sovereign.
The editorial team
(Translation Current Concerns)
Our website uses cookies so that we can continually improve the page and provide you with an optimized visitor experience. If you continue reading this website, you agree to the use of cookies. Further information regarding cookies can be found in the data protection note.
If you want to prevent the setting of cookies (for example, Google Analytics), you can set this up by using this browser add-on.