If you support the call to action below, please send an email to zentralstelle@ulm.de, include your company name and your name, and, if possible, also attach a scan of your signature. For more details, see the text below:
Ulm, January 14, 2022
Joint appeal by Mayor Katrin Albsteiger (Neu-Ulm), District Administrators Heiner Scheffold (Alb-Donau District) and Thorsten Freudenberger (Neu-Ulm District), and Ulm Mayor Gunter Czisch:
For several weeks now, people in many cities across our country have been gathering to protest against COVID-19 measures and an allegedly impending “vaccine mandate.” These gatherings, which have so far—at least here—remained peaceful, are causing us increasing concern. We are concerned about the polarization and coarsening of our society, but also that tensions are continuing to rise and the situation is escalating. We also see this as a growing threat to our ability to live together in harmony—and ultimately to our free and democratic constitutional order.
The media coverage and the response on social media obscure the fact that these groups represent a small but decidedly “vocal” minority that manages to draw disproportionate attention to its views. In the process, we lose sight of just how harsh the reality of the coronavirus has become in hospitals and in the care sector. The protests ignore the superhuman efforts and the constant strain endured by those who must bear the heaviest burdens during this pandemic. And they fail to acknowledge the grief and suffering of those who have lost loved ones to the coronavirus or who have been robbed of their vitality by Long COVID.
In every society, there are differing opinions and values. Open societies are characterized by their willingness to allow and tolerate such differences. Our Constitution addresses this issue very wisely by declaring freedom of assembly and freedom of expression to be fundamental rights. But it also requires compliance with rules and laws that have been legitimately established.
These seemingly spontaneous walks are, as we all know, carefully orchestrated and meticulously organized. But while the participants show their faces openly, the organizers remain hidden. They do not act openly; they remain anonymous. This naturally raises the suspicion that they are concealing their true goals and intentions as well. The cat-and-mouse game they play reveals a profoundly anti-democratic mindset: only rules that benefit them personally are accepted. This is also consistent with their approach of not refuting facts, but rather sowing doubt and stoking mistrust toward “those at the top” or anonymous “elites.”
The duration of the pandemic, the uneven distribution of its burdens, and the resulting upheavals, fears, and worries—all of this has worn us down and eroded our initial sense of solidarity. Amid all this, however, we must not lose sight of where the real threat lies: Our common enemy is the virus, and it is this enemy we must fight. The danger it poses cannot be denied, but determining the best way to counter it has proven difficult. Over the past two years, the scientific community has learned a great deal about the virus, sometimes even discarding and refuting earlier findings. This is by no means a failure of science—quite the opposite: science is constantly learning.
We should all take a cue from this: remain open—even to ideas and insights that don’t fit into our own worldview—step outside our own “filter bubble,” and try to see things from a different perspective for a change. That’s what would do us good. Critically but rationally, calmly but seriously—that’s how we should respond as a community to this truly immense challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The four initial signatories invite other local governments, associations, institutions, organizations, and private individuals to join the call in order to give a voice and a face to the previously largely silent majority in the state who support the COVID-19 measures.
To do so, please send an email to zentralstelle@ulm.de, including the name of the organization and the signatory, as well as—if possible—a scan of your
signature. Your support will be documented and published in a public list. Thank you for your support.
Dr. Heiko Schmid, the district administrator of Biberach, was one of the first to declare his support for this statement.
Contact:
City of Ulm – Public Relations and Representation
Marktplatz 1
89073 Ulm
zentralstelle@ulm.de
