AROUND THE WORLD
East German jail peace activists ing common axes:
1.
Rejection of all systems of nuclear destruction.
A call on the Honecker govern-
2.
"a unilateral first step to ment to take on hunger strike
The development of independent peace groups in East Germany became generally known after the publication of the January 1982 Berlin Appeal by the veteran opposition communist Robert Havemann
Eppelmann, leader of the radical wing of the East German Lutheran
These groups grew up in with the older struggle of conscientious objectors, with the demand of a layer of young people for a form of civilian service, or a real "peace service."
Facing an extreme militarization of daily life, these groups protested in many forms both inside and outside the Lutheran youth centers. In this way, a "mini-
Pastor question), militarism in the schools, critical culture, the specific problems of women (the real nature of the "equality" the regime boasts about). They also included problems of daily life, of the communities, sexuality, and the problems of homosexuals.
As it became clear that the Geneva negotiations were likely to end in failure and when the Soviet Union announced initiate momentum toward disarmament in order to promote confidence" (the Dresden Appeal), even if the Cruise and Pershing missiles deployed on the other side of the Berlin Wall.
Setting up of a nuclear-free zone in central Europe, the area of greatest tensions in the present status quo. the Rostock Appeal, which was issued in mid-November and which we give below.
The East German bureaucrats struck back rapidly. After the big peace demonstrations in West Germany were over, they launched a wave of repression in several provincial cities, in particular in Weimar and Potsdam.
mass movement"
which raised a number of themes and promoted a number of discussions.
Among the issues brought up were the destruction of the environment (which is tional level by circulating petitions in catastrophic demonstrated in Halle last June on this were called upon to sign had the followthe installation of new SS-21 and SS-22 missiles, the peace movement faced a new
The peace groups responded on a napon o sen at the pro
A dozen young peace activists were arrested on the most absurd charges. In East Berlin, Barble Bohley and Ulrike main leaders of the group called Women for Peace were arrested on
They are charged mainly with having had contacts with women belonging to the British peace movement organisation END, with the West German Greens and French journalists.
The Rostock Appeal The signers of this appeal, who include both Christians and non-Christians, were dismayed by the statement issued by the German Democratic Republic's National Defense Council on October 25, 1983, announcing plans to deploy Soviet tactical missiles systems.
On the basis of our humanist or Christian commitment and our conviction that no new war must ever again spring from German soil, we are totally convinced that the deployment of these missiles will not reduce, but increase the threat of war to the German people;
it is intolerable for us and our children to have to live in the future alongside these systems of nuclear destruction in our own country;
applying these measures would mean abandoning the Swedish proposal for a denuclearized zone in central Europe, which has been accepted as valid up to
Therefore, fully realizing what is at stake, we protest against the measures decided on by the National Defense Council. ment with the decision of the Synod of the Evangelical [Lutheran] Church adopted on September 20, 1983, which called on the government of the German Democratic Republic to exercise its influence in the Warsaw Pact to assure that no short-range nuclear missiles were deployed in the GDR, either during the Geneva
We appeal to the National Defense Council to reverse its position without
We call on all those who are not ready to reconcile themselves to a more and more real possiblity of the destruction of human life to sign this appeal and send it to the chairperson of the GDR National Defense Council and to E. Honecker.
The stakes are too high for us to be able to leave the choice of life or death to politicians and the military. 26
In this, we are in complete agree-
Rostock
November 11, 1983.
These two women have rejected in advance any offer to deport them to West Germany. In January, they started a hunger strike, demanding their immediate release.
European women meet to plan 'Women Against the Crisis'
Tribunal for 1985 The first international co-ordination meeting for the Women Against the Crisis' Tribunal planned for International Women's Day 1985 took place in Brussels on January 14 and 15.
This proposal was initially made at the European-wide conference on Women and Work in Turin in April 1983 (see International Viewpoint No 33, June 27, 1983). That conference revealed that throughout Western Europe women are facing similar is as a result of the economic crisis and the efforts of the governments and bosses to make the working class pay for the crisis and the arms race.
This has led to attempts to divide the workforce by giving some workers (male, white, middle-aged) more right to
International Viewpoint 30 January 1984