15.05.2022 Jasmin Schweizer
The flood of images and messages that clog my brain passages every day overwhelm me. Just close my eyes and wait for it to pass....
This is the beginning of my lyrics to the art2o song THE END, which I wrote because of the devastating forest fires in Australia. The global warming, the loss of biodiversity and how all this is connected with the still ongoing pandemic, in short; how we deal with this planet and what effects this will have on all of us, let me write these lines.
And since February 24, 2022, another dimension of the inconceivable has been added.
For many years I worked with victims of violence. I am very familiar with powerlessness, helplessness, the feeling of being at the mercy of others and all the psychological and physical stress that goes along with it. Just letting it happen to you, like the mouse sitting in shock in front of the cat, unable to move or flee.
No one wants to be a victim.
But currently it seems that we are all doomed to be defenseless mice sitting in front of the one cat and unable to do anything. The fear of nuclear war makes us become helpless victims. We watch, let it be done with us.
How could we have come to believe that nuclear weapons, in the hands of a few states, guarantee security and peace? How could we believe that people, or rather men, who have held a huge abundance of power for years, do not change and aim for even more power because power goes to their heads? Rutger Bregman writes in his book 'Human kind' about power as a drug and quotes the British historian Lord Acton, who already in the 19th century said: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
History shows it again and again. This kind of security cannot work. The war in Ukraine is the best proof. I don't want my song to become the sad truth: BUT WHEN IT COMES TO AN END I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND WHY WE LET THIS HAPPEN CAUSE WE KNEW IT BEFORE.
What can we do? Stop being victims!
I support ICAN. A non-profit organization that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 and is working for a world without nuclear weapons. A first but crucial step towards security worthy of the name.
If the course is not set now, this train will inevitably take us to disaster. If not Russia, who will push the button or threaten to do so to satisfy its hunger for power?
I am convinced it is far from THE END - but it is up to us - from the bottom up.
translated from the original German version
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