18.11.2015 The physicians' peace organisation, IPPNW, is deeply shocked and appalled by the murderous hate of the Paris assassins. Our deepest sympathy goes out to the victims and their families. In view of the terror in Europe, we also remember the victims in Beirut, the Airbus crash over the Sinai desert and those in Ankara as well as the untold dead and injured in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya. After the terror attacks in Paris, we appeal to the German government not to answer violence with violence and, in so doing, restrict basic liberties.
Despite our grief, we can not allow ourselves to be provoked by the so-called "Islamic State" (IS). The idea of conquering the IS is an illusion. Instead, we call for the strengthening of democracy and the rule of law, as well as a culture of tolerance. These values can only be protected by non-violent and preventive methods. The reaction of the Norwegians to the Breivik attack in 2012 was not more hate, but more love, more openness and more democracy.
One of the most important preventive measures of Islamist terror is a culture of welcoming refugees who have fled their countries precisely because of this terror and war. If we exercise solidarity and actively integrate these people into our society, we can deprive extremism of its breeding ground. Help for the huge refugee camps in the Near and Middle East is part of this. But, if we sacrifice our values, such as freedom, democracy, human-rights, tolerance and equality, on the altar of security and the war against terror, then in the end the extremists will have triumphed.
We reject military intervention which would cost the lives of millions of people and destabilize entire regions, lead to further migration of refugees and create good recruiting conditions for the IS. We stand up for peace in the Near and Middle East through negotiation, cease-fires and the cessation of the supply of arms to the region. Those who wish to overcome terror must confront the division between rich and poor and the exploitation of natural resources, end wars and replace the logic of war with the logic of peace.
Contact: Angelika Wilmen, Press relations officer, IPPNW, Tel. 030-69 80 74-15, Cell: 0162 205 79 43, German Section of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), Körtestr. 10, 10967 Berlin, E-mail: wilmen@ippnw.de, www.ippnw.de
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