Europe without Armies? - Campaigning for democracy

GSoA International: 23. November 1996 in Bern

By Roland Brunner, GSoA Switzerland

European situation today: Europe has more armies then democracy. Europe is built in drop-down decisions, implemented, ordered, governed. Governments, ministers and generals decide the future of Europe, its future politics, build ist common army, its armament industry a.s.o

An obvious example for that is the latest meeting of foreign and defense ministers in Ostende on Nov. 20: They decided for a closer cooperation between WEU and Nato with a common weapon industry. As cooperation "on the lowest level" they defined humanitarian interventions.
All this meetings and decisions happen at the top of executiv bodies, in closed circles, without any participation and controll by the citizens.

Danger: The peace movements stand with their back to the wall, in pure defensif situation. We are getting lost between huge global challenges and purly local resistance/activism.
The internationalism of progressiv forces was taken over by the internationalism of the capitals, of enterprises, the globalization of competitive markets and standards.
Leftists and social movements are in this situation endagered to get lost in defending national levels and issues.
Even if in the fog of modern confusion you only want to walk with short steps, you have to know the direction.

We need a common perspective:

Who is going to decide on Europes and the worlds future, on its Armies?
Who is Europe if not its citizens? Who can build a european identity without its citizens?
How could Europe be anything else but a danger if it is not developped as an open minded identity and structure - open for ist citizens and for the rest of the world?

This Europe we have to build, nobody else will do it. We have to campaign for this Europe by working on peoples awareness and participation in this Europe.
Democracy is the participation of citizens and their right to define their interests and future.
Democracy is the ground for a peaceful future within and beyond Europe.
Campaigning for democracy is campaigning against the Europe of bankers, bosses and generals, against the drop-down implementation Europe and its Army.
The question, who will decide on this future, we have to answer.
Can we address to our Europe, to the citizens of the european states, campaigning for democracy, asking for democratical rights, referendums, institutionalized in an european constitution, asking the citizens to decide about the future of Europe without any Army.