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<div class="gmail_quote">
<div class="gmail_quote">Call for support in the struggle against
Stuttgart 21 – please circulate<br>
widely<br>
<br>
<br>
Dear Friends,<br>
<br>
we, activists against “Stuttgart 21 (S21)” in Germany are asking
for<br>
your solidarity and support in our struggle to stop Europe's
“largest<br>
infrastructure-project”, to protect our city and to achieve true
democracy.<br>
<br>
Two days ago, Thursday September 30th, the escalation began: a
massive<br>
police force - using water-canons, pepper spray and batons -
pushed<br>
aside over 10.000 peaceful protesters, who were trying to
protect their<br>
park and its trees with acts of civil disobedience, simply
refusing to<br>
get out of the way. The demonstration of state-power was
shocking. Over<br>
300 protesters were injured, some seriously, many of them<br>
school-children, who had been participating in a students
protest-march<br>
officially scheduled for that day a long time in advance. Four
people<br>
had to have eye-surgery after being hit by the water-canon, one
may<br>
loose an eye. In the night the shredders moved in and began
turning the<br>
beautiful old trees into sawdust in front of thousands of
shocked but,<br>
strong and peaceful demonstrators. Yesterday, 100.000 (one
hundred<br>
thousand) demonstrated peacefully against this act of state
violence –<br>
the largest protest against S21 ever.<br>
<br>
Below we give some background-information on the project. But it
is<br>
important to consider that this struggle is not just about a
railway<br>
station in a German provincial-capital.<br>
It is about overcoming the arrogance of those in power, it is
about<br>
peoples voices being heard, it is about real democracy. And it
will not<br>
only affect people in Stuttgart or in Germany: if we stop
Europe's<br>
“largest project” in the centre of one of its most conservative
and<br>
economically powerful corners, we can change Europe from the
bottom up!<br>
<br>
Please sign on the letter below (and attached) – asking for an
end of<br>
police-violence, a moratorium and to let the citizens of
Stuttgart<br>
decide – and send your signatures to<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:johanneslauterbach@gmx.net" target="_blank">johanneslauterbach@gmx.net</a>
and <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:carol.bergin@gmx.net" target="_blank">carol.bergin@gmx.net</a><br>
by Saturday 9th October.<br>
We will deliver the letter with the list of signatories to the
local,<br>
regional and federal government and also to the media.<br>
<br>
Please, also send messages of solidarity and support to the
activists –<br>
we will try to publish these and read them at the rallies<br>
<br>
In solidarity<br>
Johannes Lauterbach and Carol Bergin<br>
Colibri e.V.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Background:<br>
<br>
The Stuttgart 21 project is advertised as part of the
“Magistrale for<br>
Europe”, a high-speed railway line from Paris/France to<br>
Bratislava/Slovakia. As such, it is part of the neoliberal EU
agenda,<br>
which places infrastructure in the service of corporate
interests above<br>
the interests of local communities. It involves the building of
an<br>
entirely new railway station in the centre of Stuttgart, which
will be<br>
built deep underground as a drive-through station to replace the
19th<br>
century terminus. To achieve this<br>
a large section of the city's central park with hundreds of
beautiful<br>
old trees will be destroyed<br>
one of the best working railway stations in Germany, with easy
one-level<br>
access to all trains, will be turned into a narrow tunnel,
threatening<br>
to become a bottle neck due to limitations in size of the tunnel
and<br>
forcing passengers to climb up and down long stairways<br>
parts of the railway building – a national heritage – are being<br>
dismantled: this destruction has already started and roused the
anger of<br>
tens of thousands of citizens<br>
the tunnel is posing a potential threat to precious
mineral-water<br>
sources, which are located a few miles downhill<br>
a series of tunnels will be built into sensitive geological
formations,<br>
threatening the stability of Stuttgart's hillside, and likely
going to<br>
produce massive additional costs<br>
Estimates calculate the resulting gain in travel time at 1-2
minutes.<br>
But then, this project offers huge real-estate deals and<br>
billion-Euro-contracts for tunnel-building companies – which we
now know<br>
to have close ties to decision-makers.<br>
While billions of Euros (estimated costs officially are 4.1
billion,<br>
critical sources estimate rather 10 billion) are lavished on
this<br>
prestige-project, urgent improvements in the local and regional
railway<br>
system – needed to help remove traffic from the roads to reduce<br>
fuel-consumption and carbon-emissions – are being neglected in
the name<br>
of speeding up long distance-travel by a few minutes.<br>
<br>
From the early planning stages in the nineties, this project
was<br>
opposed by a growing citizens movement. A faked
citizens-participation<br>
was offered, in which the one issue not to be discussed was, if
the<br>
project should be built at all, or if there were any
alternatives.<br>
Demands for a referendum – backed by over 60.000 signatures
(more than<br>
10% of Stuttgart's population) – were denied by those in power.
Opinion<br>
polls show, that 54% of citizens are against the project (with
only 35%<br>
in favour). There were massive demonstrations, growing in
numbers every<br>
week. A new movement emerged: the “park-protectors” – who
prepared<br>
themselves for non-violent action with over 2.000 people having
pledged<br>
to chain themselves to the trees when the chainsaws move in.<br>
But building permissions were pushed through and this summer the<br>
machines started to attack the old railway building.<br>
The authorities however, underestimated the peoples willingness
to<br>
resist. Immediately mass rallies with ten thousands of
protesters took<br>
place in addition to acts of peaceful civil disobedience,
blocking the<br>
streets for hours. Since July, people are guarding the park and
the<br>
building site around the clock, providing early warning. And an
amazing<br>
new culture has emerged in the centre of the city, with people
holding<br>
meetings in the park, sharing food and talk, joining in
art-performances<br>
and strangers having conversations in the public buses. With the
state<br>
now using massive police force against its own citizens this
struggle<br>
has reached a new dimension.<br>
<br>
article in English about S21:<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/rail-plan-could-be-terminal-for-merkels-coalition-2047321.html"
target="_blank">http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/rail-plan-could-be-terminal-for-merkels-coalition-2047321.html</a><br>
<br>
further info (in German only):<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.kopfbahnhof-21.de/"
target="_blank">www.kopfbahnhof-21.de</a><br>
<br>
videos from protest:<br>
blockades and police-action 30.09.10:<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c17cIyO3S4Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player"
target="_blank">www.youtube.com/watch?v=c17cIyO3S4Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player</a><br>
killing trees 01.10.10 early morning:<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goXwtSKJNqU"
target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goXwtSKJNqU</a><br>
Demonstration 01.10.2010: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZgogP5jCCY"
target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZgogP5jCCY</a><br>
<br>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>
Open letter / Offener Brief<br>
<br>
To / an<br>
Angela Merkel, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany<br>
Stefan Mappus, Minister-President of the federal state of
Baden-Wuerttemberg<br>
Wolfgang Schuster, Mayor of Stuttgart<br>
<br>
We, active citizens, civil-society organisations and social
movements<br>
from all over the world are deeply concerned about the recent
events in<br>
the city of Stuttgart related to the controversies about the<br>
infra-structure project „Stuttgart 21“.<br>
We are shocked to hear that, police used water-canons,
pepper-spray and<br>
batons against citizens engaging in peaceful acts of civil
disobedience<br>
on 30th September, injuring hundreds of people, including many<br>
school-children.<br>
Germany has a reputation as a democratic country, which owes its<br>
existence to active citizens taking to the streets in the face
of state<br>
oppression. We are very disturbed to hear that, in this country
today<br>
police-force is used against its own people to implement a
highly<br>
controversial project.<br>
<br>
Given that:<br>
- the Park “Mittlerer Schlossgarten” and its trees have a
special place<br>
in the heart of the people of Stuttgart<br>
- opinion polls show, that over 50% of citizens in Stuttgart and<br>
Baden-Wuerttemberg are opposed to this project<br>
- there have been increasing numbers of reports giving evidence
of<br>
potential technical problems and uncertainties in costs, some of
of<br>
which have even reached international media attention (see
article in<br>
The Independent from 09th August 2010)<br>
- people already have been severely injured and any further
enforcement<br>
would result in an escalation<br>
we call upon you<br>
- to stop the use of police-force,<br>
- to put a moratorium on the project, and<br>
- to let the people of Stuttgart decide<br>
<br>
We would highly appreciate to see Germany setting an example in
peaceful<br>
and democratic conflict resolution, that is giving priority to
the<br>
concerns of citizens<br>
<br>
(Germans trans.)<br>
Wir, aktive Bürgerinnen und Bürger, Organisationen der
Zivilgesellschaft<br>
und soziale Bewegungen aus der ganzen Welt sind tief besorgt
über die<br>
jüngsten Ereignisse in Stuttgart bezüglich der Kontroversen um
das<br>
Infrastruktur-Projekt “Stuttgart 21”.<br>
Wir sind schockiert zu hören, daß die Polizei Wasserwerfer,<br>
Pfeffer-Spray und Schlagstöcke gegen Bürgerinnen und Bürger
einsetzte,<br>
die friedlich zivilen Ungehorsam ausübten und dabei hunderte
Personen<br>
verletzte, darunter viele Schulkinder.<br>
Deutschland ist im Ruf eine Demokratie zu sein, deren Dasein
aktiven<br>
Bürgerinnen und Bürgern zu verdanken ist, die im Angesicht
staatlicher<br>
Unterdrückung auf die Straße gingen. Wir sind sehr verstört zu
erfahren,<br>
daß in diesem Land heute Polizeigewalt gegen die eigene
Bevölkerung<br>
eingesetzt wird, um ein hoch umstrittenes Projekt durchzusetzen.<br>
<br>
In Anbetracht, dass<br>
- der Park „Mittlerer Schlossgarten“ und seine Bäume der
Stuttgarter<br>
Bevölkerung ans Herz gewachsen sind<br>
- Meinungsumfragen zeigen, daß 54 % der Bürgerinnen und Bürger
das<br>
Projekt ablehnen<br>
- es eine zunehmende Anzahl von Berichten gibt, die auf mögliche<br>
technische Schwierigkeiten und Kostenunsicherheiten hinweisen,
über die<br>
selbst in der internationalen Presse berichtet wird (s. The
Independent<br>
vom 09. August 2010)<br>
- bereits viele Menschen schwer verletzt wurden und eine weitere<br>
Erzwingung nur zu einer Eskalation führen würde<br>
rufen wir Sie auf<br>
- den Einsatz von polizeilicher Gewalt zu beenden<br>
- ein Moratorium über das Projekt zu verhängen und<br>
- die Bevölkerung Stuttgarts selbst entscheiden zu lassen<br>
<br>
Wir würden es sehr begrüßen, wenn Deutschland ein Beispiel für
eine<br>
friedliche und demokratische Konfliktlösung geben würde, bei der
die<br>
Sorgen der Bevölkerung im Mittelpunkt stehen.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
************<br>
<font color="#888888">Alexis J. Passadakis<br>
Attac Germany<br>
0170-2684445<br>
030-50187650<br>
<br>
</font><br>
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