Or: go on holidays in Greece, Mrs. Merkel!
Open letter to the German Government
We, the German participants of the international GEN+20 Conference, distance ourselves from your policies. The Global Ecovillage Network unites more then 10.000 villages and communities of all continents. In Germany there is a growing network of ecovillages, communities and transition towns. In cooperation with people and organizations from many countries we generate knowledge and expertise for the regeneration of destroyed landscapes, for community building on all levels, for social enterprise, for decentralized supplies of energy, water, food, healthy water cycles and regional economies. In our work we experience daily that healthy communities cooperating with nature are the basis of a healthy economy.
We want to state it very clearly:
you do not act in our name, when you talk about aid for Greece and Southern Europe, while giving high interest loans, that burden the poorest of the poor, the pensioners, the unemployed youth and the sick in hospitals, who struggle to get care now.
you do not act in our name, when you enforce an economic model in Southern Europe, which makes it dependent on rich countries and destroys their solidarity, dignity, nature and regional economies.
you do not act in our name, when you reject reparation for Greece for the massacres of WWII and the repayment of our debt from this time. With what right do you do this? Do you not know how cruelly the “Wehrmacht” acted in Greece?
you do not act in our name, when you reject a debt cut for Greece. Did you forget that Greece was among the states that back in 1953 so generously accepted a 60% debt cut for Germany and accepted it with open arms into the European Union of States despite all of its guilt? Isn’t it about time to open our arms now and act in solidarity as well?
you do not act in our name, if you punish the Greek people and government for their call for support and for their democratic ‘No’ to your debt-policy with ever tougher conditions.
By your strictness and implacability you are not only ruining the good reputation Germany earned due to the sustainability movement. And you are ruining the European values of democracy and mutual support.
You could act in our name by:
committing yourself to a debt cut for Southern European countries.
Demonstrating publicly that we Germans are ready to to acknowledge our human responsibility and to pay off our financial responsibility for WWII now, at a time when Greece needs it most. With a genuflection in Athens you would write history.
Build on the future! Support model projects, e.g. emerging ecovillages in Greece, that serve as living and learning centres and demonstrate how to build regional energy, water and food autonomy and viable sustainable economies independent of the Euro.
Send a sign: go on holiday in Greece.
