this past week, the Green party in Hamburg voted in favour of
supporting a decision to build a coal-fired power plant in Moorburg.
THE HAMBURG EXPRESS has covered the ongoing debate about Vattrenfall's
Moorburg plant for quite some time now.
With so many alternatives, coal is not an option. I recognise the need
for electricity, and for energy companies to invest in new power
plants. But coal power plants? There are just too many other
possibilities- nuclear power is one, but so is solar power, wind
energy, geothermal energy, and many other sources of electricity - to
convincingly say that Moorburg's power plant has to be coal-fired.
But in addition to the options we have in terms of technology, there is the urgent need to reduce CO2 emissions.
in the year 2008, when climate change is a scientifically proven fact
and CO2 emissions are to blame, the go-ahead given to Vattenfall is a
slap in the face of this entire planet's inhabitants.
I don't believe we should all give up our cars today, and stop
flying to our holiday destinations, and radically change our lives with
immediate effect. Or use considerably less electricity (and only 45% of
you believe this, as our THE HAMBURG EXPRESS weekly poll shows).
There is a step-by-step process that is manageable (and tolerable)
to seriously reduce CO2 emissions gradually but steadily. The process
includes interim solutions, like having hybrid cars before switching
entirely to electric cars (excuse the pun). It includes raising the
consciousness about CO2 emissions and registering, in our collective
mind, the levels and CO2 signatures.
And many other little steps that take us closer to the goal of
meeting our energy, transportation, food, and other needs while doing
so sustainably, in a way that the climate (and the whole environment)
can handle us.
But this process does not, I repeat emphatically: this process does not include building new coal-fired power plants.
Therefore I hereby distance myself, my publishing company EXPRESS
NEWS MEDIA, and its newspaper THE HAMBURG EXPRESS from the decision to
allow the coal power plant in Moorburg to be built.
The Green party may be in power, we may be in a democracy, but that
decision is made by a few powerful people in the city's government and
Vattenfall alone. Certainly not by me, and I doubt that anyone in the
future will concur with the Moorburg decision.
So let's breathe this air while we still can in Hamburg.
Having gone back and forth between Europe and the US for the last 20 years, I have seen the continuous
worsening of the American standard of life for working Americans.
I see a direct connection to the U.S. moving towards a post-industrial society, in whichmoney was not spent on real values like infrastructure, health care for and education of its citizens,and innovation in industry
other than the weapons industry. Instead, neo-liberal
ideas were heralded almost everywhere, whether at the university
where I graduated, in the media, by the business
community, by individuals.
So far, neither the German Parliament nor the German Government has recognised the crimes committed by the Turkish Ottoman Empire against the Armenians as Genocide.However, on the 21st April 2005 the German Parliament paid its respects to the victims of the crimes committed by the Ottoman Empire. The main opposition party at the time, the Christian Democrats, had moved a motion to pay respects to the victims of the Turkish atrocities, mainly Armenians but also Greeks and Albanians. The Parliamentary factions even agreed upon a common resolution and this resolution was unanimously passed in June 2005; strangely the word Genocide was conveniently avoided.The main concern for the German parliamentarians was again not the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, but the reconciliation of Turks and Armenians. Already in the second paragraph Johannes Lepsius was explicitly praised for his engagement for the Armenians. The plan of turning Lepsius´s house in Potsdam into amemorial to his work was hinted at, in this passage of the resolution: “Especially the work of Dr Johanes Lepsius who energetically and effectively campaigned for the survival of the Armenians should not be forgotten and with the aim of improving the relationship between Armenians, Germans and Turks should be maintainedand tended to.”At the same, it has been proven that Germany indeed carries a considerable burden of guilt for the Armenian Genocide. Moreover, it is also well-known that Johannes Lepsius, the Evangelical theologian and apparent friend of the Armenians, was a German Nationalist and supporter of the German Kaiser’s expansionist policy. He despised the Turks and was like many Germans of the time an anti –Semitic.In July 2008 the Parliamentary faction of the German Socialist Die Linke, asked for more information in the form of a Parliamentary question regarding the founding of the Memorial House in Potsdam: 35 kilometres from the German Reichstags building in Berlin.Die Linke expressed doubts concerning the suitability of the Lepsius House as a place where “the relationship between Armenians, Germans and Turks could be improved”.Die Linke reminded the Parliament that the collection of official documents published by Johannes Lepsius in 1919 in connection with the Armenian Genocide contained openly manipulated documents. It can be assumed that not only was Lepsius involved but also the Foreign Office. As at the end of the war Germany was concerned about being appropriate blame forthe Armenian Genocide. Therefore in 1919, in order to diffuse the criticism before the Peace negotiations, the German Foreign Office gave Lepsius the task of publishing the German documents related to the Armenian Genocide.Lepsius was seen as a staunch friend of the Armenians and also enjoyed good standing abroad, therefore his work came under less public scrutiny and was accepted if not entirely believed.Unfortunately, the true reason behind Lepsius publishing his collection of documents was simply to deflect blame for the Genocide away from the German military and Emperor Williams Government. As a German Nationalist Lipsius certainly did not want Germany’s participation to become known, his task was to select documents in such a way as to prove that onlythe Turkish Government carried out the deportations and the annihilation of the Armenians. Today the Foreign Office still refuses to accept responsibility for the manipulations, but does not deny that documents in Lepsius´s publication were manipulated. This dual position is a common acrobatic feat of diplomatic departments worldwide and therefore the following statement should come as no surprise.“Lepsius´s publication, “Germany and Armenia 1914-1918” is considered to be manipulated”. With this statement the German government has for the first time admitted what journalist and publisher Wolfgang Gust had discovered many years before.Moreover, the Government officially declared that the collection of documents published in 2005 by Wolfgang Gust was based on documents which had been kept undisclosed in the political archive of the Foreign Office. This official statement is especially important as Wolfgang Gust in contrast to Johannes Lepsius examined the role of Germany in the Armenian Genocide with an open and critical eye. This made him very few new friends in certain circles which preferred not to have Germany involved in another Genocide. Three years after the German parliaments resolution the German Government still avoids using the word Genocide in any of its statements, preferring formulations such as “tragic event”or “historical tradegy”.The position of the Foreign Office was made clear in the last paragraph of the statement in answer to the Links Parliamentary question. “The German Government believes that the historical confrontation with the events from 1915 to 1917 is the primary concern of the countries involved; Turkey and Armenia.”(This is an indirect denial of Germany’s role in the atrocities, despite evidence found in the Foreign Office archives to the contrary.)In the USA and France such a statement from a leading Parliamentarian or Government Minister would more likely have led to strong protests and letters to the editor from the organized Armenian community. Armenian Organisations are working all over the world to ensure the officialrecognition of the Armenian Genocide deliveringfacts to those Governments which still are hesitant in recognising the brutal events as Genocide. In view of this, the reaction of the Armenian organisation in Germany, where after France the most Armenians live within the EU, is unexplainable.The “Central Council of Armenians in Germany” in its wisdom did not criticise the scandalous statement of the German government but criticised the Linken for posing the question.For the “Central Council” it was of little consequence that the German government used words gleaned from Turkish propaganda material, such as “tragic event” or that “the evaluation of the events should be left to historians”.Moreover, they raised no voice of criticism that the word “Genocide” was again left unmentioned in an official government statement dealing with the annihilation of Armenians within the Ottoman Empire.One really has to question their priorities and indeed their loyalities.
