The honour of our civilization is at stake

“I fear that the many deaths off the borders of the European Union will continue to be less of an impetus for change and more of a media event,” said Frieder Otto Wolf, President of the Humanist Association of Germany, on Monday evening with regard to the reactions to the capsizing of a refugee ship with several hundred passengers fleeing to Europe. Wolf went on to say that off Lampedusa, “a man-made catastrophe with an announcement has reached a new low.” Although the statements from the churches are to be welcomed, they are “not sufficient in view of the background of many rapidly growing populations in African countries”. Those who sabotage the work of international organizations to promote the possibility of family planning are partly to blame for the conditions from which people are fleeing. He reminded the audience that there is no other continent where there is so much human suffering and misery, which has its many sources in “irresponsible and blind action with European origins.” However, as there are indeed ways and opportunities to “reduce the number of refugees in such a way that the existing isolation becomes unnecessary, these deaths represent above all the inability of our political elites. If people in Africa could hope for a good life in their homeland, then fewer would lose their lives at our borders.” Frieder Otto Wolf made clear his skepticism that the necessary consensus of all responsible people would be reached in the near future. “From a historical perspective, the honour of our civilization is at stake, but hardly anyone seems to be aware of this. In some circles in Europe, the mass, silent death of people seems to be accepted again. I see too little to indicate any real change.” The grief of humanists therefore does not only include lives that have already been lost. “Today, we must not only mourn those who have already died, but also the many people who will lose their lives between the cliffs of our European injustice and ignorance in the future.” And even if he finds it “humanly understandable that we sometimes have a feeling of powerlessness, we must not give in to it. Only those who do not believe in their ability to contribute to an improvement are actually powerless.”