„Give peace a chance“, sang John Lennon in 1969. Today it is above all war that is getting a new chance. The hawks are triumphant in the talk shows and at NATO conferences; war is allowed to keep forcing its logic of violence, manipulation and lies upon the world. It devours people and matériel, the peace of souls and the hard-earned prosperity of citizens. Enough of this! The authors will no longer accept this development. As of today we are launching the „Friedensnoten“ campaign.

In the words of Jacques Brel: we have „nothing but a chanson to drown out the drums of war“. But that does not matter. Songs can unfold a great power. They speak to people’s minds and hearts alike. Everything in the way of insight that is needed to resist the madness of war has long since been expressed by great lyricists and musicians. In today’s media clamour, these voices calling us to humanity are heard far too little, or worse still: publicly defamed.

In the time that now follows, various authors will take turns presenting and commenting on the peace song of their choice. Please, dear readers, take part in the campaign. Share songs and texts on all your channels under the hashtag #friedensnoten

When you look at the developments of the past four years and the resulting present stance of Western European governments on war and peace, you want to sink into the ground, so frustrating is the diagnosis.

• A war is raging in Eastern Europe, kept going among others by the German government through arms deliveries and the constant propaganda of almost all mainstream media.
• The German government consistently refuses to investigate the largest attack on German energy supply since the Second World War.
• The representatives of German foreign policy rely on denial and escalation, professing unconditional solidarity with the state of Israel, whose government is driving forward the genocide of the Palestinian civilian population. At the same time, with hatred of Putin and Russophobia, they beat the drums of war in Ukraine.
• Instead of de-escalating, several Western European governments, the German one among them, are preparing us for a military confrontation with Russia.

Cancel culture continues undisguised: artists critical of the government lose their stages, sceptical journalists lose their jobs, and scientists who arrive at inconvenient results are no longer part of the scientific discourse. On top of that, there is hardly any reckoning with the coronavirus policy, though this would be bitterly necessary for the pacification of society. Necessary proposed solutions on the subject of environmental protection have been crowded out by the single-minded fixation on the topic of CO2, and that to the exclusion of all counterarguments — even when these were compiled by expert Nobel laureates.

Under the circumstances described, it is not at all easy for us to bring the revival of Friedensnoten 2.0 into being — we are doing it nonetheless. Frustration and horror are great; hope and love are greater.

All the topics named above have the potential to divide us further. Where people were still united over corona, they perhaps drifted apart again over the subject of Ukraine. Having discovered common ground when it comes to doubts about the CO2 narrative, people are no longer nearly so united over the current Israel-Palestine conflict. We should see these differences as a chance to reflect. To listen to one another, always to make the attempt to see and understand the other’s plight, however contrary it may be to our own convictions, to stay in conversation … we will need one another.

In this season, artists themselves have their say, speaking about their own peace or anti-war songs, granting the reader an insight into their work and revealing to us why one song or another came into being.

There will be a few „old acquaintances“ among them, artists who have been committed to peace for years: Morgaine, Diether Dehm, Alexa Rodrian, Yann Song King, Markus Stockhausen, Tino Eisbrenner, Wolfgang Wodarg, Kilez More, Karsten Troyke and many more …, and who knows, perhaps one or another who was still cautious during corona will now find their way to us and wish, just as we do, to fill in the old trenches.

Playing demos and flash mobs, writing essays and songs, producing videos, organising solo concerts and festivals and much more is exhausting – my colleagues could sing you a song about that. All the more do we rejoice when the family of inconvenient, courageous artists grows and people come together on the subject of peace, no matter how loud the war sirens wail.

What began as a sprint has become a marathon. That is why we are all the more delighted about every new face in the peace movement that enriches us with its art. Thank you to everyone who has stayed loyal to Manova, and before that Rubikon, over the past years.

We begin with „A’isch“, an étude I wrote at the end of 2023. Words failed me at the time, so together with my friend and colleague Matthias Niemyt of A-MAZE-ING Music I gave the instrumental piece its images. Life goes on even amid the rubble, children always find ways to play, bomb craters become slides, ruins become a sports ground, clowns try to cheer the children’s hearts for a few minutes so as to escape the horror for a moment. People give one another strength and try everything to survive and to keep a spark of hope alive. „A’isch“ — I am alive. Two more pieces by Alexa Rodrian and me will follow in this season, engaging with the theme lyrically. In „A’isch“, the guitar takes on the role of the soundtrack; the images of the children speak for themselves.

Dedicated to the people of Gaza and to my friend Nadim Helow and his family.