Greeting from Jürgen Grässlin
to the FILMFEST MERAN 2020
GREETING ON YOUTUBE
See https://youtu.be/EgDakfyZwcs
Dear Mayor Paul Rösch,
dear visitors, dear participants, dear organizers
of the arms critical FILMFESTIVAL MERAN 2020,
Dear friends of peace in South Tyrol and in Italy,
I send you this greeting message from Freiburg im Breisgau on behalf of the ArmsInformationCentre with the GLOBAL NET - STOP THE ARMS TRADE and on behalf of the German Outcry Campaign to Stop the Arms Trade.
Unfortunately, I cannot be with you today for professional and personal reasons which I sincerely regret, because I would have loved to come to Merano! To see you again and also to watch the very interesting films that will be shown at the film week »Deadly Trade - Traffico lethal« with you.
You have nationally and internationally renowned filmmakers and peace experts visiting you today: from Italy, Germany, Great Britain, South Africa and Uganda. So, your programme for FILMFEST MERAN is really appealing!
These film days could only happen because your mayor Paul Rösch made good on his promise and committed himself to this project with all his strength. He was supported by Sissi Prader and Francesco Comina from Human Rights International, HRI, as well as by Dr. Robert Simon from the Euregio Platform on Human Dignity and Human Rights, Euphur, and many other activists.
By putting together this filmfestival, you were able make the idea we had together in Merano in September 2018 a reality- which really makes me very happy.
From Germany, Wolfgang Landgraeber and I were involved for the GLOBAL NET - STOP THE ARMS TRADE, trying to connect you with many interesting people: Daniel Harrich and Wolfgang fill cinemas everywhere with their television and cinema films about Heckler & Koch and the German defence industry. Andrew Feinstein and his team from »ShadowWorldInvestigations« are among the most respected journalists and book authors in this field you will find in the world.
Ralf Willinger from terre des hommes and the former child soldier Innocent Opwonya can report from experience on the fate of children and young people in war zones in Asia, Latin America and Africa.
With Lisa Clark, Giorgio Beretta, Francesco Vignarca from the Rete Italiana per il Disarmo as well as Alex Zanotelli and other peace experts, you have been able engage absolute experts in the Italian and international arms trade as active participants for FILMFEST MERAN.
At the Merano Film Festival, the actions of Italian, British and German arms companies will be critically examined. This is extremely important. Because companies like Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta and Heckler & Koch AG have exported or are exporting small arms - such as pistols, submachine guns or assault rifles - to autocratic, repressive or dictatorial regimes all over the world. Serious human rights violations are committed every day with weapons from these companies.
BAE Systems, Leonardo S.p.A., and Rheinmetall AG unscrupulously supply major weapon systems - such as combat aircraft and wheeled armored vehicles-to crisis and war zones around the world. Rheinmetall's subsidiary RWM Italia in Sardinia produces large-calibre ammunition: this is a German-Italian arms-cooperation leading to the lethal weapons being used Yemen war. For the recipient of these arms, the salafist ruling house in Saudi Arabia, has been proven to use RWM ammunition against civilians in Yemen.
All this is possible because bribes in the millions are often paid in dubious ways to the arms manufacturers, their lobbyists and politicians. Because corruption leads to new arms contracts worth billions. With the film »Shadow World«, Andrew Feinstein and his team shed light on the hidden workings of the arms industry - worldwide.
Countless people have already fallen victim to this unscrupulous arms export policy. Be it that they had to kill as child soldiers or were killed. Be it that they could not escape in time because they were old, or women, or had small children. Be it that as civilians they were shot at on purpose.
Dear visitors of the FILMFEST MERAN,
dear friends of peace,
let us put an end to these inhumane systems of the armament industry and its lobbyists!
Let us massively increase the pressure on politicians so that arms exports to human rights violating and warring states are stopped immediately!
Let us work together for a world without weapons, for a peaceful and just world!
Resistance is possible, as peace organisations all over the world prove with their commitment - for example in direct actions against RWM Italia in Sardinia.
But we will be most successful if we network with supporters in other countries, on all continents. With GLOBAL NET - STOP THE ARMS TRADE we are creating the basis for a globally networked resistance - also through translations into up to seven world languages.
With the criminal charges against Heckler & Koch and SIG Sauer, we have proven that we succeed in bringing those responsible for illegal arms trading to justice and bringing about convictions. See CASES 02 and 04 in GLOBAL NET.
Most recently, in February, we are publishing CASE 05 concerning Leonardo S.p.A. based in Rome in GLOBAL NET. The authors Helmut Lohrer, Andrew Feinstein and in Italy Francesco Vignarca emphatically point out the close connection between arms exports - in this case of military helicopters – and global corruption.
In March, GLOBAL NET will document with CASE 06 - »Deadly Walls« - which companies all over the world supply war weapons to crisis and war zones, the use of which drives thousands of people to flee their homes. However, these companies profit doubly: in addition to the supply of weapons, they also benefit from »Border Security«, the defence against refugees. This is shown in a report by Wolfgang Landgraeber, who is also coming to Merano, and María-Eugenia Lüttmann-Valencia.
In May 2020 we will publish the GLOBAL NET CASE 07, which will show which weapons child soldiers are forced to shoot with globally. You will learn more this week - because Ralf and Innocent will be with you.
And we will land another coup: After the FILMFESTIVAL MERANO, where he will show his film »Death, the weapons, the silence. The »Oberndorf Syndrome«, Wolfgang Landgraeber will reveal the first database on arms-critical films in the world for the GLOBAL NET in April 2020.
In the end I have two wishes:
I hope that the arms-critical film festival in Merano will be a big success: that it may attract many cinemagoers, lively discussions as well as sparkling ideas to stop the arms trade from Italy, from Great Britain, from Germany, worldwide.
And I wish you much strength and courage in your efforts for a more peaceful, fairer and ecologically intact world!
Jürgen Grässlin
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jürgen Grässlin
is Director of the ArmsInformationCentre, spokesman of several peace organizations like the German Peace Society (DFG-VK) and of the campaign »Action Outcry – Stop the Arms Exports!«. In 2018 he founded the GLOBAL NET – STOP THE ARMS TRADE. He was honoured with several prizes for peace, civil courage, human rights and media reports.
Contact:
phone: 0049-761-7678208, mob.: 0049-170-6113759
email: jg@rib-ev.de, graesslin@dfg-vk.de
More information
see www.gn-stat.org, www.rib-ev.de, www.aufschrei-waffenhandel.de, www.dfg-vk.de and www.juergengraesslin.com
Translation: Ruth Rohde