The leader of the Social Science Section at the Goetheanum has expressed his shock and disgust at the Russian invasion of Ukraine. If the armed conflicts that have now begun are not stopped immediately, millions of people will suffer as a result. War should no longer be a means of politics in Europe.
Häfner sees the tug-of-war between East and West over Ukraine as the result of a collective paralysis of consciousness: "Crises are normal. But it is not normal to react to today's crises with yesterday's answers. The tensions in and around Ukraine must not be an occasion to fall back into the outdated bloc thinking of past decades, but an occasion to finally overcome precisely that."
The developments of the past weeks have led to a hopeless narrowing of thinking and politics. Old reflexes and rivalries determined actions. Häfner: "The traditional logic of black or white, NATO or Russia, is wrong. Ukraine needs a path that leads not to a warlike past but to a peaceful future: Active neutrality, self-determination and collegial cooperation beyond military blocs. This could also solve the tensions within Ukraine: Cultural autonomy of the different language and ethnic groups, equality of rights and peaceful cooperation across borders.
No country has as long and good experience with neutrality and political self-determination of its citizens as does Switzerland. Therefore, the Swiss government should immediately address all fighting parties as an honest and neutral mediator with an appropriate proposal. Even if success cannot be predicted with certainty, such an initiative would be a ray of hope in these dark times.