2,747 signatures
Petition is addressed to: Committee on Petitions (Petitionsausschuß)
Alarmed by statements by European leaders gratuitously portraying Russia as a threat to all of Europe if it is not stopped in Ukraine, professionals from several countries have drafted a manifesto in favour of diplomatic solutions, peace and disarmament.
While we unequivocally condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, we believe that these statements, including those of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, are aimed solely at ‘manufacturing consent’ among citizens around rearmament.
The accelerated rearmament they propose will certainly have a very negative impact on public services, will erode the welfare state, will increase public debt and, above all, in the absence of arms control agreements, will make war with an atomic power like Russia more likely.
We ask for your signature to tell our governments to work for peace and not for arms companies.
Reason
Alarmed by the Orwellian language that has taken hold in European political discourse—where war is seen as the path to peace, while peace is said to lead only to more war—we call for sanity.
We, the European citizens, have become involuntary passengers on a train driven by leaders who, under the declared pretext of "making Russia bleed," choose to ignore the disastrous consequences of a conflict in which we will all be losers.
On the eve of past European conflicts, such as World War I, courageous intellectuals from the warring nations—including Jean Jaurès, Romain Rolland, Bertha von Suttner, and Bertrand Russell—publicly spoke out for peace, though sadly, their voices were not heeded.
Today, the silence of intellectuals across all countries is deafening. Like the rest of European citizens, they seem worryingly anesthetized. And when someone dares to raise their voice in favour of diplomacy, they are immediately slandered as a "puppet of Putin."
We unequivocally condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a violation of international law. However, we also recognize that this tragedy is partly a consequence of the persistence of a military organization, NATO, labelled as "defensive," which, far from dissolving after the fall of the communist bloc, continued expanding right up to Russia’s borders—despite high-level promises made to Russia at the time.
The war in Ukraine has now lasted three years. The casualties on both sides far exceed one million, including the dead, wounded and permanently maimed, though neither country provides official figures.
On top of that, millions of Ukrainians have fled the country—some to Western Europe, others to Russia—all seeking to escape the violence. A true human disaster.
Donald Trump's United States, more focused on what it perceives as China's growing power and the situation in the Middle East, seems determined to exploit Ukraine while also indebting Europe, further weakening its social welfare systems for the benefit of the U.S. military industry.
And our governments, refusing to accept that, given the imbalance of forces, the war is lost, continue to support the Ukrainian president by promising more weapons and money so that the Ukrainian army can fight to the last man or woman.
All of this while they push for the rapid militarization of our nations under the spectre of an impending conflict with Russia.
Have our leaders considered that, since the arms limitation agreements signed during the Cold War—so crucial in maintaining peace—no longer exist, a military confrontation with a nuclear power like Russia could lead to a third, and this time final, world war?
We call on politicians not to forget the two great wars that bloodied the continent in the last century. Abandoning George Orwell’s newspeak, they must work actively in favour of diplomatic solutions.
It is the only way to prevent future massacres that devastate nations for the mere profit of the powerful arms industry.
Fernando Aguiar González
Javier Aguirre Santos
Luis Alegre Zahonero
Tariq Ali
Luis Alonso
Txetxu Ausín Díez
Daniela de Barros Barreto
Olga Belmonte García
Constantino Bértolo
Marie-Hélène Caillol
Jorge Cano Cuenca
Marta Castellanos Garcés
Alberto Conde
Juan Luis Conde
Federico Corriente Basús
Inés Delgado-Echagüe
Graciela Fainstein Lamuedra
Thomas Fazi
Carlos Fernández Liria
Amelia Gamoneda
Marysol García Martínez
Susana Gómez López
Belén Gopegui
Ulrike Guérot
Gabriele Gysi
Pollux Hernúñez
Maite Imbernón
Corinna Kirchhoff
Bernard Legros
Félix Manzarbeitia Arambarri
Bernd Marizzi
Elisa Martínez Garrido
Ricardo Martínez Llorca
Pilar Muñoz
Emilio Muñoz Ruiz
Viviana Paletta
Pepe Peña
Kees van der Pijl
Rafael Poch-de-Feliu
Manuel Quejido Villarejo
Joaquín Rábago
Hauke Ritz
Andy Robinson
Jorge Rubio Redondo
Matilde Sáenz
Javier Sáez de Ibarra
José Luis Santalla
Fernando Sanz Santa-Cruz
Berta Sarralde
Michael von der Schulenburg
Federico Soto Díaz-Casariego
Peter van Stigt
Olegario Torralba
Luis Torrego Egido
Jorge Valdano Sáenz
Share petition
Petition details
Petition started:
03/13/2025
Petition ends:
09/10/2025
Region:
European Union
Topic:
Security
This petition has been translated into the following languages
Translate this petition now
new language versionDebate
No CONTRA argument yet.
Why people sign
Tools for the spreading of the petition.
You have your own website, a blog or an entire web portal? Become an advocate and multiplier for this petition. We have the banners, widgets and API (interface) to integrate on your pages. To the tools
Europe needs peace and stability. It was built to be a peace project, it should remain a peace project.