Open letter from the town of Königs Wusterhausen to the Federal Government

written by the town council

Esteemed Federal Chancellor Scholz,
Esteemed Ministers

As an organ of local self-government, our entire attention is focused on the living conditions of our citizens, on the provision of social, economic and cultural infrastructure.

The challenges of the past years, whether as a result of the so-called refugee crisis or the pandemic policy, have already overextended the personnel and financial capacity of the municipalities several times.

Instead of being able to devote ourselves to the many urgent core tasks, we are clearly facing the next crisis.

Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine almost immediately triggered a spiral of escalation that is spinning ever faster and threatens to become a full-scale global crisis.

In complete contrast to all other conflicts, there is no perceptible effort at diplomacy on the part of the German government. Weapons alone and completely unleashed sanctions measures are to be the sole means of choice this time. A forced military build-up goes hand in hand with this.

We do not want to presume to know what the right means are in this political situation. But what we do know for sure is the fact that Germany does not have the mineral resources, raw materials and energy choices to be able to maintain its economy and a minimal prosperity of its population independently of other countries in the world. The countries on which we depend usually have their own contrary “value system”, often they have been waging wars against their own or other peoples for years.

So do we want to be at war with all these countries in the future?

We watch these kinds of developments with stunned horror, especially in view of the consequences that are already foreseeable.

A policy that insists that there can only be a military solution to this conflict accepts death and destruction – especially for tens of thousands of bystanders and innocent people.

In addition to the immediate consequences of the war in Ukraine, the sanctions war is also having an impact on those who are actually completely uninvolved, the people in the so-called Global South. Due to the almost complete jungle of sanctions, enormous quantities of fertiliser and grain exports from Russia and Belarus were effectively blocked. Apart from Ukrainian grain exports, the problem persists. An expansion of famines in many already beleaguered countries is the result. Is this in the spirit of a “values-driven” policy?

The consequences of the sanctions policy against Russia are now also having a noticeable impact on us. Energy and food prices are rising at an increasing pace, the historic 45.8% increase in producer prices in August indicates that the 10% inflation forecast for September will merely be an intermediate stage on the way to new records.

As early as July, the Savings Banks and Giro Association reported that if inflation persists, 60% of German households will no longer be able to build up reserves, and deposit growth will have fallen by 98% compared to 2020. At that time, inflation was 7.9%.

The stabilisation measures now pithily announced as a “double whammy” in the amount of 200 billion euros do not solve the fundamental problem; the symptoms are being fiddled with where a critical reflection of the measures taken and a change of direction would be necessary.

The reports of definitive company closures and insolvencies are piling up. Many businesses that have already been hit by the pandemic policy are now finally running out of steam due to high costs and a simultaneous collapse in turnover.

We are facing incalculable losses due to company closures, production relocations abroad, recession and consumer restraint. Entire industries will disappear and Germany will lose its last locational advantages. Rising inflation will lead to a massive flight of capital, and the already battered financial system threatens to collapse. The extent of the overall damage is incalculable.

Unemployment will explode, at the same time the number of refugees will increase, the social systems are already completely overloaded. The resulting social and political unrest is inevitable.

All further developments are foreseeable without helping the people in Ukraine.

We therefore call on you to refrain from anything that prolongs this war and to do everything to ensure that the weapons remain silent. Both in the war of arms and in the economic war!

We would like to conclude with the words of Willy Brandt, which have lost none of their validity: “Peace is not everything, but everything is nothing without peace.”

Source: https://www.koenigs-wusterhausen.de/1024101/Offener-Brief-der-SVV-vom-20_10_2022-Usch-1.pdf, 20 October 2022

(Translation “Swiss Standpoint”)