The
U.S. Betrays Its Core Values
By
Gunter Grass
8 April, 2003
BEHLENDORF, Germany -- A war long sought and planned for is now underway.
All deliberations and warnings of the United Nations notwithstanding,
an overpowering military apparatus has attacked preemptively in violation
of international law. No objections were heeded. The Security Council
was disdained and scorned as irrelevant. As the bombs fall and the battle
for Baghdad continues, the law of might prevails.
And based on this injustice,
the mighty have the power to buy and reward those who might be willing
and to disdain and even punish the unwilling. The words of the current
American president -- "Those not with us are against us" --
weighs on current events with the resonance of barbaric times. It is
hardly surprising that the rhetoric of the aggressor increasingly resembles
that of his enemy. Religious fundamentalism leads both sides to abuse
what belongs to all religions, taking the notion of "God"
hostage in accordance with their own fanatical understanding. Even the
passionate warnings of the pope, who knows from experience how lasting
and devastating the disasters wrought by the mentality and actions of
Christian crusaders have been, were unsuccessful.
Disturbed and powerless,
but also filled with anger, we are witnessing the moral decline of the
world's only superpower, burdened by the knowledge that only one consequence
of this organized madness is certain: Motivation for more terrorism
is being provided, for more violence and counter-violence. Is this really
the United States of America, the country we fondly remember for any
number of reasons? The generous benefactor of the Marshall Plan? The
forbearing instructor in the lessons of democracy? The candid self-critic?
The country that once made use of the teachings of the European Enlightenment
to throw off its colonial masters and to provide itself with an exemplary
constitution? Is this the country that made freedom of speech an incontrovertible
human right?
It is not just foreigners
who cringe as this ideal pales to the point where it is now a caricature
of itself. There are many Americans who love their country too, people
who are horrified by the betrayal of their founding values and by the
hubris of those holding the reins of power. I stand with them. By their
side, I declare myself pro-American. I protest with them against the
brutalities brought about by the injustice of the mighty, against all
restrictions of the freedom of expression, against information control
reminiscent of the practices of totalitarian states and against the
cynical equations that make the death of thousands of women and children
acceptable so long as economic and political interests are protected.
No, it is not anti-Americanism
that is damaging the image of the United States; nor do the dictator
Saddam Hussein and his extensively disarmed country endanger the most
powerful country in the world. It is President Bush and his government
that are diminishing democratic values, bringing sure disaster to their
own country, ignoring the United Nations, and that are now terrifying
the world with a war in violation of international law.
We Germans often are asked
if we are proud of our country. To answer this question has always been
a burden. There were reasons for our doubts. But now I can say that
the rejection of this preemptive war on the part of a majority in my
country has made me proud of Germany. After having been largely responsible
for two world wars and their criminal consequences, we seem to have
made a difficult step. We seem to have learned from history.
The Federal Republic of Germany
has been a sovereign country since 1990. Our government made use of
this sovereignty by having the courage to object to those allied in
this cause, the courage to protect Germany from a step back to a kind
of adolescent behavior. I thank Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his
foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, for their fortitude in spite of all
the attacks and accusations, from abroad and from within.
Many people find themselves
in a state of despair these days, and with good reason. Yet we must
not let our voices, our no to war and yes to peace, be silenced. What
has happened? The stone that we pushed to the peak is once again at
the foot of the mountain. But we must push it back up, even with the
knowledge that we can expect it to roll back down again.