international appael against the war in Afganistan

[Claudia Westermann]

German parliament will decide on Friday, if they will send troups to 
Afghanistan
( not before Christmas naturally - calming people ).
Schroeder proposed a vote of confidence ( 4th time in republic's history ) 
and relates it to the question of sending troups or not.
There are 334 votes needed. The governmental coalition has 341 votes. So 
will there be enough voices saying 'no' ? ( this would mean the end of the 
coalition.  A few days ago, there were 8 'no' voices )
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http://www.medico-international.de/

Frankfurt/Main (Germany) 14th November 2001

International Appeal against the war in Afganistan
International Appeal

of Nobel Prize Laureates, Poets, Philosophers, Intellectuals and Human 
Rights Defenders
FOR AN IMMEDIATE END TO THE WAR AGAINST AFGANISTAN

Military measures intended to support the arrest of a terrorist have turned 
into a large-scale attack on one of the poorest countries in the world, as 
well as on its population, which is tormented by hunger and poverty and 
threatened by uprooting and death.
As little as the gap between rich and poor in the world was the cause of 
the murderous attack on Sept.11, all the more are the attacks against 
Afghanistan deepening this gap and thereby multiplying reasons to hate the 
West and its civilization. In the future the West will be less identified 
with its best qualities, with democracy, a constitutional order and 
prosperity than with its shadowy sides, with a lack of respect, arbitrary 
acts and violence.
With every bomb that falls and every western soldier who kills on Afghan 
soil, the rich part of this world closes its eyes to the suffering of the 
peoples in the south. Even the appearent successes presently do not change 
this. With its offensive the West is not only undermining the idea of a 
collective legal effort to counteract terror, but is also betraying its own 
principles. In the final analysis this undeclared war is no longer being 
waged to combat terrorism but rather to preserve a reputation of military 
invincibility. Finally, with every day that war is waged there and with 
every new security law passed here (in the western world) , that very 
freedom which is supposedly being defended is threatened and those 
refugees, who are the products of this military action and its 
consequences, are marginalized.
On September 11, not only did thousands of people suffer an agonising 
death, but even western civilization suffered a defeat. Those murdered in 
the attack will not be restored to life through the war against the 
Taliban. With every day of war the risk of a still greater moral and 
political disaster increases. It is still possible to learn from the 
failures experienced up to now. There is still a chance to return to 
negotiations and to reach a political solution which attempts to 
reestablish a legal order and to provide for justice and social equality in 
Afghanistan and in the world.
13th November, Frankfurt (Germany)

First Signatories:

José Saramago (Portugal, Nobel Prize in Literatur 1998) - Günter Grass 
(Germany, Nobel Prize in Literature 1999) - Adolfo Pérez Esquivel 
(Argentina, Nobel Peace Prize 1980) - Rigoberta Menchú Tum (Guatemala, 
Nobel Peace Prize 1992) - José Ramos-Horta (East Timor, Nobel Peace Prize 1996)
Adonis (Ali Ahmad Sa'îd Esbir) (France/Lebanon) - Orhan Pamuk (Turkey) - 
Mahmoud Darwisch (Palestine) - Ogaga Ifowodo (Nigeria) - Harold Pinter 
(Great Britain) - Faraj Sarkohi (Iran)- Juan Villoro (Mexico) - Abdourahman 
A. Waberi (Djibouti/France) - Sean McGuffin (Ireland) - Christa Wolf (Germany)
Uri Avnery (Israel) - Monseñor Samuel Ruiz García (Mexico) - Danielle 
Mitterrand (France-Liberté, France) - Dr. Paz Rojas Baeza (CODEPU, Chile) - 
Akin Birdal (Human Rights Defender, Turkey) - Dr. Jean Ziegler (Delegate of 
Suisse to the United Nations) -Günter Gaus (Germany)
Prof. Giorgio Agamben (Italy) - Prof. Neville Alexander (South Afrika) - 
Prof. Francis A. Boyle (USA) - Prof. Judith Butler (USA) - Prof. Hajo Funke 
(Germany) - Prof. Axel Honneth (Germany) - Prof. Walter Jens (Germany) - 
Prof. Steve Lukes (Great Britain/Italy) - Prof. Jean-Luc Nancy (France) - 
Prof. Bertrand Ogilvie (France)
This international appeal was initiated by the german, Frankfurt based, non 
governemental organisation medico international (Nobel Peace Prize for the 
Campaign against Land Mines 1997). The author is Prof. Micha Brumlik, 
University of Frankfurt (Germany).



Der Deutsche Bundestag entscheidet jetzt, ob Deutschland zum ersten Mal 
nach der Kapitulation vom 8. Mai 1945 an einem Krieg teilnehmen wird, 
dessen politische Ziele nicht im mindesten definiert sind und der auch 
nicht mehr vom Hauch einer humanitären Legitimation gedeckt ist. Wir, die 
Initiatoren dieses internationalen Aufrufes, bitten die Abgeordneten des 
Deutschen Bundestages, dem Eintritt Deutschlands in diesen Krieg ihre 
Zustimmung zu verweigern. Ein Krieg, der mit der vermeintlichen Wende im 
aktuellen Verlauf nicht beendet ist.