The Ukrainian writer Serhij Zhadan is honored with the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. Without justice there would be no peace for his country, he stressed in his acceptance speech. A position that the publicist Harald Welzer does not share. He sees the long-lasting applause of the audience as an “ethical overexertion”.
The sociologist and publicist Harald Welzer has criticized the minute-long standing ovations for the Ukrainian author Serhij Zhadan at the awarding of the Peace Prize in Frankfurt’s Paulskirche. In Germany, everyone felt constantly called upon to adopt the perspective of the attacked Ukrainians, said Welzer at the Lit.Cologne Spezial in Cologne. In fact, Germany is not a war party, but a third party with all the possibilities that this opens up for the benefit of Ukraine. “This permanent mix-up, which leads to applause lasting several minutes when such statements are made, is this overexertion in terms of ethics.”
In his speech in Frankfurt, Zhadan criticized that some European intellectuals and politicians accused the Ukrainians of refusing to surrender. This speaks of a false pacifism. Apparently, some are willing to “swallow total, uninhibited evil once again” in favor of personal material gains.
Welzer said in Cologne: “Honestly said – another critical comment, which I’ll probably get into trouble for again: the change in civilized speech, which is expressed, among other things, in certain sentences by the Peace Prize winner in relation to the opponents – I understand that psychologically from his perspective, I don’t want to criticize at all – but they are not a contribution to civilization, they are part of a decivilizing process that has been initiated by others. And the actual cultural achievement of us, the third parties, would consist of exactly that that you don’t allow yourself to be drawn into this decivilization process.”
Welzer emphasized: “No one (…) would in any way alienate any individual, a single Ukrainian, from every word that is uttered. Why not? Because they are affected, because they are attacked, because they are already are at war. And then having that position has every form of legitimacy. But it’s not the same as being a third party. And that confusion has been going on since the beginning of the war.” In the situation of a third party one has a much wider range of action and can mobilize not only material defense but also solidarity through other means and diplomacy to end the conflict.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Welzer has repeatedly spoken out against supplying Ukraine with heavy weapons. This would only prolong the war and delay a negotiated solution.
(This article was first published on Tuesday, October 25, 2022.)
