The political turmoil that has grappled Thuringia in the past week, its consequences on a regional and national level are unparalleled in the fifteen years CGE Erfurt’s existence.
Founded on the idea of promoting intercultural and international understanding, the tolerance and equality of all humankind, CGE stands for a local and international network of collaborators, partners and volunteers from more than 10 countries on 4 continents who work with us on a regular basis.
We are well aware of our unique position and nature in Thuringia – and of the responsibility that comes from our status as ambassadors of internationality and an intercultural way of life. We spend our professional and personal lives in the attempt to bring this perspective to the Thuringian and Erfurtian context. By our nature, and from the core of our convictions, our view of the world is, thus, an anti-discriminatory – and an anti-fascist one.
The recent political maneuvers of the AfD with their willing aides in FDP and CDU stand against the very values we were founded to promote, and, thus, we cannot be silent:
We call upon all democratic parties and activists in Thuringia to stand by the values engrained into it by history itself to defend Thuringia and Germany against those who seek to destroy the pillars of our democracy.
We ask you to join us and thousands more on February 15th in a show of democratic strength, to overcome opportunistic power-politics and the temptations of easy answers in a complex world – for a better life for all in this country we call home. Let us stand with our fellow democrats, regardless of where they are from, which language they speak or whose praises they sing!
On behalf of CGE Erfurt e.V.,
Dr. Ammalia Podlaszewska, Maryna Bykova, Moritz Borchardt
Members of the Board
The statement in German can be found here.
