Vienna: Sea of lights in memory of the Corona dead
Austria’s doctors appeal for reason and humanity
zf. In the early evening of 19 December, around 30,000 citizens gathered in Vienna’s city centre to commemorate the more than 13,000 people who have died as a result of infection with the virus since the beginning of the Corona pandemic in Austria. At the same time, the rally participants thanked all nurses and doctors for their efforts in fighting the pandemic and caring for the sick. In memory of the deceased, participants at the rally held up a candle, their mobile phone lamp or another light for ten minutes to form a sea of lights, after which the participants applauded the nurses and doctors. No speeches were made.
The initiators of the rally were two Austrians from Vienna and Innsbruck. According to the two initiators, they wanted to set a “short, quiet signal”. One of the initiators is quoted with the words: “We believe that a very large majority of people care about each other.”
The rally was supported by around 40 organisations. The newspapers mentioned the Vienna Medical Association, the Volkshilfe, the Samariterbund, Attac as well as trade unions, religious communities and also personalities from politics.
A group of doctors from all over Austria supported the action with a statement, which we document below because of its great importance.
The Sea of Lights Declaration
We, the doctors signing here, would like to raise our hand, right now, when the pandemic of an infection is increasingly becoming a pandemic of emotions.
We would like to pause our work for a moment to take a stand on the targeted disinformation and attacks against science and against health workers.
We are committed exclusively to science, to the findings of thousands of scientists who have been working with heart and soul to protect and save health and human lives since the beginning of the pandemic.
Vaccination is not a political statement. It is not red, green, black, pink or blue.
It should be colourless and neutral. People die every day because they are unvaccinated. They are unvaccinated because they are afraid and because they have been misinformed and continue to be misinformed.
We do not need to show our face specifically, because we are always available to all our patients in our surgeries, hospitals and other health facilities to the best of our knowledge and belief.
We doctors treat all people who need our help equally.
But today we are showing up, not for our own sake or because medicine and science need an advocate, but because we too are only humans and are increasingly concerned about how all that science has produced is being trampled underfoot.
In our hearts we continue to burn to protect as many fellow human beings as possible from this disease, whether through vaccination or other measures.
But today our candles burn for all the people we could not help.
May all the lights shine to give orientation, through the long night of the pandemic, past the fears and aberrations, straight ahead to hope and the knowledge of being part of sanity and humanity.
Together against COVID-19, with each other and for each other.
Doctors vs COVID-19
PS: On the website www.aerztinnenvscovid.info/kopie-einwilligung you can find the very long list of supporters (signed by 4686 doctors so far).
Source: https://www.aerztinnenvscovid.info
(Translation Current Concerns)