Press release of the action alliance against the NATO Security Conference from February 15, 2024:

The action alliance against the NATO Security Conference shows solidarity with the International Munich Peace Conference.

On its Internet portal, the state capital of Munich advertises its membership of the international city network “Mayors for Peace”. In his foreword, Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter refers to the inscription “Dedicated to victory – destroyed by war – admonishing peace”, which adorns the frieze of Munich’s Victory Gate. – Mayor Reiter continues: “As a member of the German section of “Mayors for Peace”, I feel committed to this mission!”

On the grounds of wanting to consolidate the budget, the SPD/Volt and DIE GRÜNEN – ROSA LISTE have submitted a motion to the City Council to cancel funding for the Munich International Peace Conference. In view of the fact that funding for the International Munich Peace Conference from the budget of the City of Munich’s Department of Culture amounts to only 6,500 euros, it is obvious that the reference to budget consolidation is merely a pretext.

In a press release dated February 14, DIE GRÜNEN – ROSA LISTE justify their motion by stating that the International Peace Conference is “not a cultural event, but a purely political event” that “does not fit into the budget of the Cultural Department’s funding and task priorities”. After admitting that it is a “comparatively small amount of funding” with little “savings effect”, DIE GRÜNEN – ROSA LISTE admits in its press release that it actually lacks the “political will” to withdraw its application and flatly denies the credibility of the International Munich Peace Conference as a peace initiative.

Without wanting to go into the accusations of DIE GRÜNEN – ROSA LISTE against the International Munich Peace Conference at this point, we recognize in the actions of DIE GRÜNEN – ROSA LISTE an attempt to replace the political debate with the budgetary sovereignty of the city council. DIE GRÜNEN – ROSA LISTE is thus adopting an authoritarian approach that denounces a necessary democratic discourse in the public sphere in an authoritarian manner.

She refers to other organizers in the city that she considers more trustworthy with regard to the topics of war and peace and whose financial support by the city she does not question at all. With this unequal treatment, DIE GRÜNEN – ROSA LISTE is playing a perfidious game aimed at dividing that part of the peace movement that does not correspond to its own political ideas.

We recognize in the actions of DIE GRÜNEN – ROSA LISTE the political will to promote and anchor the “turnaround” in Munich’s civil society. – Uncomfortable voices that do not want to accept the militaristic war course of the Greens are to be silenced. – This is an alarming development!

We ask Mayor Reiter how seriously he intends to take his commitment to uphold the inscription on the frieze of the Victory Gate and prove himself to be a true “Mayor for Peace”.

The alliance against the NATO Security Conference has been campaigning for peace for over two decades. It is common knowledge that we are protesting against a conference that pretends to provide security and in reality creates more and more insecurity with its militaristic machinations. – Democratic discourse in our society thrives on the fact that a wide variety of opinions, including controversial ones, are possible. This applies in particular to issues relating to war and peace. In times of war, the corridor of permissible opinions must not be narrowed. If dissenting opinions are to be cut off and critical voices silenced by the withdrawal of funds, as the Greens – Rosa Luxemburg and the SPD / Volt intend to do with their motion, democratic discourse will be jeopardized.

For us, the International Munich Peace Conference is a forum that is really about security, namely the security of the people and not that of the powerful. We see the attempt to withdraw funding from the International Munich Peace Conference as an attack on the peace movement and civil society as a whole.

Lord Mayor Reiter, as “Mayor for Peace” you should know that we, the Munich peace movement, stand in solidarity with the International Munich Peace Conference. We call on you to resolutely oppose the proposal of the SPD/Volt and DIE GRÜNEN – ROSA LISTE.

If you would like to help the International Munich Peace Conference with crowdfunding, you can do so here: https://betterplace.org/p133397

Action Alliance against the NATO Security Conference

V.i. S. d. P.: Heinz Michael Vilsmeier, Press Spokesman of the Action Alliance against the NATO Security Conference, Spiegelbrunn 11, 84130 Dingolfing, Germany