AGE Platform Europe: Let’s draw lessons from the past and unite for freedom, justice and peace!
Following the recent violent attacks in France, AGE Platform Europe firmly condemns these atrocities and wishes to express its concern about the future of our common European values of solidarity and democracy, pointing out the need for EU countries to adequately respond to those threats in avoiding further stigmatisation and strengthening fundamental rights and equality within the European Union.
Just a few days ago, 2014 ended year-long commemorations to mark the start of the First World War, and we collectively remembered the atrocities that happened last century and wished that this would never happen again. Yet, within a week, 2015 started in horrific chaos with the terrorist attacks in Paris. Strong emotion arose and sent shockwaves all across Europe and worldwide. Many AGE Platform Europe members remember similar awful events in not so distant history – atrocities which we hoped would never happen again and which united Europeans in the post-war time and helped them overcome respective prejudices, intolerance and hate and, eventually, launch a European integration built on solidarity, tolerance, respect and dialogue.
“We hoped that the terrible experience of past wars would teach us how important peace is instead of war, cooperation instead of conflict, and tolerance instead of ideological exclusivity for our future. Sadly, nothing can be taken for granted. What happened in Paris happened to all of us, and all of us are called to react – not only the 1.5 million gathered in Paris, but many millions in Europe and across the world,” said Marjan Sedmak, President of AGE Platform Europe, adding, “We must not allow this terrorist attack or others to draw us into a spiral of reciprocal hatred and intolerance. Fundamentalism cannot be stopped with other forms of fundamentalism.”
