Status: 02/24/2023 10:58 a.m
Sarah Wagenknecht and Alice Schwarzer recently polarized with a call against arms deliveries to Ukraine. Numerous politicians and scientists are now taking a stand against it: they have signed a corresponding petition.
The chairmen of the Young Liberals and the Young Union, Franziska Brandmann and Johannes Winkel, have started a petition against the call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to arms deliveries to Ukraine. On the change.org website, under the heading “Manifesto for Freedom in Europe,” they call for defending the European peace order and supporting Ukraine.
“Only if Ukraine can put the aggressor in his place can our precious European peace order, the lesson of two world wars, be restored,” the appeal reads. “Creating that was, is and will remain in the very best interests of German and European politicians.”
“Only a Ukrainian victory can restore the peace order”
Brandmann and Winkel continue to write that one bears the responsibility for restoring the European peace order as quickly as possible. “But stopping arms deliveries to Ukraine would not result in peace, but without a doubt in Putin’s capture of a European democracy and countless dead civilians. Only a laying down of arms by the Russian attackers can bring about an immediate end to the war. Therefore, only a Ukrainian victory will restore the peace order in Europe.”
Most recently, left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht and feminist Alice Schwarzer called for a peace rally on Saturday at the Brandenburg Gate. In a “Manifesto for Peace” on change.org, they warned of an escalation in the Ukraine war, called for compromises “on both sides” and called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to “stop the escalation in arms deliveries”. More than 600,000 people have signed the petition so far.
Answer to petition from Wagenknecht and Schwarzer
Since the petition was published, there has been some harsh criticism. AfD chairman Tino Chrupalla also signed the appeal. Wagenknecht had told the “Spiegel” about possible demonstration participants from the right: “Anyone who honestly wants to demonstrate for peace and for negotiations is welcome at our rally. Right-wing flags or symbols, on the other hand, have no place on it and will not be tolerated. More is not to say about it.”
The two initiators of the “Manifesto for Freedom in Europe” petition do not name Wagenknecht and Weidel’s petition directly, but the text says: “There are people in our country who are now pleading for a cessation of arms deliveries. They emphasize that they agree demands because they are committed to peace. They pretend to act out of charity towards the Ukrainians. They act as if there were no negotiations with Putin in the past. All of this is wrong.”
Many well-known first signers
The FDP politicians Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Johannes Vogel and Wolfgang Kubicki were among the first to sign the petition by Brandmann and Winkel. Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Roderich Kiesewetter and Secretary General Mario Czaja have already signed the “Manifesto”. The Greens were signed by the Chair of the Europe Committee, Anton Hofreiter, and the Green Group’s security policy spokeswoman, Sara Nanni. From the scientific community, the security experts Carlo Masala and Peter Neumann, among others, support the petition.