On March 27, a conference took place in Berlin, “Dialogue instead of weapons – nonpartisan action against the war.” It was organized by the East German Advisory Board of Associations, founded in 1994.
The initial impetus to hold this conference came through two letters by former NVA officers, Sebald Daum and Manfred Grätz, who, on January 31st, called like-minded associates to become active and to publicly counter the campaign to hold Russia entirely responsible for the war in Ukraine. This created a lot of support and interest, not only in Germany, but also in France among retired military.
The meeting was called to help create a new peace movement across party affiliations and ideological differences. The organizers stressed that it is not enough to call for “peace,” but to demand “peace with Russia,” which means “ending the US/NATO war in Ukraine and its potential enlargement to the rest of Europe but also stop the deindustrialization of Germany by the US.”
While the nationwide transport strike that day and sickness of some key speakers prevented quite a few from attending, nevertheless about one hundred participants were there. In the end a joint resolution was accepted (see below).
Among the key speakers were the chairman of the German Peace Council, Gerhard Fuchs-Kittkowski; physics professor and peace activist Prof. Joachim Wernicke; writer and famous former spy in NATO Headquarters for the GDR, Rainer Rupp; Prof. Wilfried Schreiber (Welttrends, economist and former NVA officer); and Wolfgang Effenberger (author and former West German military officer). Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who was presented as chairwoman of Civil Rights Movement Solidarity (BüSo), opened the second part of the program with her speech (see manuscript). Quite a few people appreciated getting to know her personally at this occasion, and to correct, in some cases, slander-based wrong assumptions.
The proceedings, including submitted speeches and background material, are being publicized now by the organizers; RT.de published a summary report about the event; Chinese TV attended.
The Resolution, “Dialogue Instead of Weapons—Peace with Russia” reads as follows:
We, the participants of our forum today, call upon all peace-loving people to join our protest against war and for a just peace.
In the great danger in which our peoples currently find themselves, we no longer have time to argue about party political differences and different socio-political orientations. Instead, we must focus on what unites us!
The future of our children and grandchildren, and the preservation of human life on our Earth, require that Germany and its economy do not fall victim to a policy of a Western “rules-based order” that wants to “destroy” Russia and is preparing for war against China.
The U.S. and NATO are standing with their military might on Russia’s borders, arming Taiwan against China, and thus threatening the security of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China.
